Article March 21, 1903 Issue

The Purpose and End of Christian Science

Alice Jennings

Macon (Ga.) News

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE is not on the plane of any system of medicine or human mode of treatment, and its work is far beyond the mere healing of sickness. Its whole purpose is to demonstrate the supremacy of Mind, the only Cause, of which man is the manifestation.

Had that divine Mind been obeyed by mankind and the life-rules of the Man of Galilee been adopted by applying his Principle to concrete problems, the world would never have sunk into the darkness of the succeeding ages. But when the Holy Spirit was cast out of religion, and false ambition, worldliness, and temporal power crept into its precincts, the realization of the divine law of Life was lost. Then, in the suffering which followed error, the appeal was made to faith in some material means of relief, instead of to the power of righteousness and spiritual law, which are the antidote for sin and all its consequences. Thus the leading religious systems of the times advocated less the importance of spiritual renewing to remove the cause of sickness, than the retrograding alternative of resorting to matter in the desire to neutralize the effects of sin. Christ Jesus, however, when healing, showed the necessity that sin be forsaken and forgiven, that is, destroyed; and in explaining the inevitable penalty for sin and the way to gain freedom from suffering, he said, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee."

It may be useless to conjecture how long ago we might have had the kingdom of God on earth had Jesus Christ's system of healing—relieving the human mind of error by the Science of divine Mind-healing—been universally accepted. We know, however, if we believe the Lord's Prayer, that His kingdom is to come to us as we become individually responsive to the demands of the divine Life, and aid in the establishment of this kingdom of Truth and Love in the hearts and experiences of men. The question we should each ask ourselves is, What am I doing to help in the upbuilding of this kingdom? How useful have I been in leading others so to live that we can say, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ"? How much have I done to verify that prayer of the Master and further its efficacy in the understanding and lives of others?

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