Article July 14, 1906 Issue

Thirty years ago there was in the United States one...

Cripple Creek (Col.) Times

Thirty years ago there was in the United States one church with seven communicants who adhered to the faith of what is now called Christian Science. To-day there are six hundred and fifty-seven chartered churches, two hundred and seventy-seven organized missions, and forty-two thousand communicants according to the church figures. Christian Science as a discovery is forty years old; as the creed of an associated body of believers it is but thirty. In 1889 New York had three recognized paractitioners of the Scientist faith; to-day it has one hundred and thirty-seven. Chicago has two hundred and thirty-two and Boston one hundred and forty-nine. In London there are thirty-nine healers, and in San Francisco before the earthquake there were the same number.

Every Scientist edifice is paid for as it is built, and this policy of the church has been the only reason for the failure to complete the church building in Cripple Creek, which was designed along liberal lines immediately after the fire. The membership here is small, but said to be growing constantly.

The growth of the Church in this country and the widening influence of its doctrines is an interesting study in religious history. Christian Science, so-called, is founded on the belief and teaching of Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, and is summed up in defining God as infinite Mind; that there is but one substance; namely, Mind; all else is the idea, expression, or reflection of infinite Mind or Spirit. Himself Spirit, God can create only that which is spiritual. Matter thus is only a belief; in itself it is nothing. Out of the erroneous belief in matter proceed sin, sickness, and death, which are distortions of ideas. And here comes in the therapeutical or practical sequence. Men and women are healed morally and physically, by waking from their material delusions or dreams. There is no life in matter; mortal mind, not body, is the pleasure taker and sufferer.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Thirty years ago there was in the United States one...

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access