Article August 19, 1905 Issue

Convincing Evidence

EDWARD M. YOUNG.

Many essays and books, more or less convincing, have been written with the purpose of proving the truth of Christianity, a subject of the greatest importance to all mankind.

In courts of equity those whose duty it is to sit in judgment are supposed to give in their verdict in strict accordance with the evidence. Should the evidence conflict, more credence is given to the circumstantial than to any other. However diverse opinions may be in all other matters, there is little if any difference expressed concerning the ideality and perfection of the life and teachings of Christ Jesus; but to realize its practicability, to experience and manifest daily that exalted life which he demonstrated, has always been considered impossible of attainment by others. After the remarkable transformation which comes to the faithful student of Christian Science, he becomes aware that, in common with many others, he had previously entertained a very faulty sense of the nature of God and of the work of Christ Jesus, and that his concept of holiness was a thing apart from that of wholeness. Jesus' words, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," and Paul's injunction, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God," these counsels have seemed quite useless if not preposterous, and an individual who suggested the possibility of their fulfilment has been declared visionary, to say the least. Jesus was not an ascetic. He came eating and drinking, and was most accessible to people of all classes. In many respects he was a non-conformist, but he lived the two commandments on which hang all the law and the prophets, yet he claimed for for all which he did not also claim for all his brethren.

In spite of Jesus' life and teachings, God has been worshiped as a being afar off, and it remained for another age and another inspiration to produce unmistakable circumstantial evidence that man is in reality at-one with his Father. A rapidly increasing number of Christian Scientists, who were blind but now see, who were lame but now walk, who were sick with divers diseases but now are manifesting health and happiness, having returned like the prodigal to the Father's house, witness to the genuineness of the discovery of Mrs. Eddy. They are living testimonials to the benefits of her life and labors, and they present a body of circumstantial evidence which the court of the world's judgment can neither ignore nor reject. If Christian Science is to be judged by its fruits, then the unbelievers are placed unmistakably on the defensive. True, even though one were raised from the dead, some would not believe. There is a religious conviction that Christ Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and it was he who said, "These signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

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