Article October 6, 1906 Issue

Jesus was a practical idealist in a spiritual sense; he...

Willard S. Mattox

News and Observer

Jesus was a practical idealist in a spiritual sense; he opposed matter at every step, and laid stress on the spiritual rather than the physical. He said among other things, "The flesh [matter] profiteth nothing," and Christian Science follows his leading in inculcating the allness of Mind or Spirit and the unprofitableness of the flesh. Christian Scientists believe that you can only judge a system by its fruits, and upon that exacting basis they are willing to rest their claims that their religion is both Christian and Scientific.

What is it to be a Christian? It is not enough that a man shall say, "I am a Christian because I believe in Jesus Christ." Jesus himself said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." So, then, a modern Christian is under fully as great an obligation to practise Jesus' teachings as were the Christians of the first century or two after the crucifixion. The early Christians had imbibed Jesus' notions about Spirit and matter. They had heard Paul's preaching, that "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other." As a result of Jesus' teaching, the early Christians, according to Gibbon, healed the sick and raised the dead, without resort to material remedies, just as Jesus did and exactly as he had taught them to do. If the healing of the sick by prayer, by spiritual means only, was one of the characteristics of a Christian in the time of Paul, what has happened that it should not be a requisite of Christianity to-day? Christian Science heals the sick and reforms the sinful by a transformation of the mind, after the manner Jesus taught, and, inasmuch as it obeys his injunctions, keeps the commandments, has one God, and inculcates the Golden Rule, it is Christian.

What is Science? The word itself is derived from the Latin, meaning "to know." Then Science is knowing. It is positive knowledge; not conjecture, not speculation, but definite, provable knowledge, arranged and classified in an orderly manner.

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