Article October 31, 1914 Issue

The one thing lacking in the sermon reported in the...

Richards Woolfenden—Blackburn, England

Weekly Telegraph

The one thing lacking in the sermon reported in the Telegraph, in which the Rev. Mr.— delivered an attack on Christian Science, is the note of originality. Those who have followed the press reports in recent years have become accustomed to this kind of utterance. There is usually the same choice of text, the same outline in its treatment of the subject, the same quotations from American divines, and the same misquotations from the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." The question naturally arises, Why should this stereotyped form of attack be followed in dealing with a subject that has probably aroused more antipathy in recent years than any other topic of public discussion? Is it not because the opposition is well-nigh exhausted and finds difficulty in gathering new material for a fresh sortie?

The reverend gentleman's own confession in the matter is the most damaging indictment one could bring against the self-appointed critics of Christian Science. He tells us that in turn he has fulfilled his vow actively to oppose all forms of evil—systems of thought and propaganda—which came his way. There is no evil in Christian Science, however much he may offer protest to the contrary. All the evil he can find lies in his own perfervid imagination of a system of thought and action which is already working wonders in every part of the globe in the elimination of all that is unlike God and heaven and harmony. Christian Science is the greatest temperance reform movement in the world, and is probably making more total abstainers than all the church organizations put together. For this reason alone, therefore, it is entitled to the respect and admiration of every People's Mission in the world today.

If the critic had given more time and thought to Mrs. Eddy's teaching in Science and Health, he would have hesitated before making the recent lecture in the Blackburn Town Hall the occasion of such an unwarranted and unnecessary attack. In the first place, he would have avoided the mistake of quoting sentences without their context, as, for instance, when dealing with the atonement he quotes Mrs. Eddy as saying, "One sacrifice, however great, is insufficientto pay the debt of sin." This is found on page 23 of Science and Health, but instead of being a reference to the Saviour's sacrifice, as the critic would have us believe, it is an allusion to the self-sacrifice necessary on the sinner's part in order to avail himself of the practical benefits of atonement. To read it in its proper setting is to see the sentence in a new and truer light altogether. For the sake of your readers who are not yet familiar with the Christian Science text-book, I will present it to them here with the preceding and the following sentence of its context: "Wisdom and Love may require many sacrifices of self to save us from sin. One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires constant self-immolation on the sinner's part." Such statements, treated in the way they deserve, show the dignity and the practical value of Mrs. Eddy's contribution to the doctrine of atonement. On the contrary, our critic's misuse of one sentence puts him out of court entirely as a trustworthy guide to anything like a true synthesis of the subject.

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