Article March 18, 1905 Issue

As we understand the office of the Christian ministry, it...

A. Willis Paine

Los Angeles (Cal.) Herald

As we understand the office of the Christian ministry, it is to teach by example and precept the highest spiritual import of the Bible, to promulgate, elucidate, and make practical the teachings of Jesus Christ; and he who falls short of this defaults in his holy mission. The Bible, from cover to cover, teaches that God is all power, that He is infinite and absolute, that it is He who forgives sin and heals all diseases. The Bible also teaches that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God, that through his sonship, his relation to the Father, his conformity to the will of the Father, his understanding of God and man, he healed all manner of sin and sickness, and overcame death. No one can believe that Jesus made a mistake or spake falsely when he said that all who believed on him should do similar works.

Christian Scientists are striving to do the will of the Father, to overcome, in themselves, all sense of sin, jealousy, hatred, revenge, and every other material propensity that stands between them and a true understanding of God, to get the beam out of their own eye, that they may see more clearly to assist their brother. They ascribe all power to God and acknowledge none other.

Now a startling problem confronts us. It is being considered in the pew and out of it. It is being discussed in private and in public. Many are looking aghast that the pulpit, which should stand as a unit for the allness, supremacy, and absolute power of God, against all that is unlike Him, should or could call to its aid, or for a moment countenance, a system which utterly repudiates God by attributing all power to the human mind, thereby ignoring the divine power. The very first command is to have no gods, no powers apart from Him. This command is as binding today as when first uttered. Is it any wonder that so many are seeking a fold where God's allness is proclaimed, and not only uttered but manifested in loving works; where the vagaries of the carnal mind are being overcome by a realizing sense of the divine Mind; where the daily strife is to vanquish the false human senses by knowing more of God and His law? A. Willis Paine.
Los Angeles (Cal.) Herald.

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