Article October 31, 1908 Issue

TARDY ACKNOWLEDGMENT

GEORGE S. POWELL

Thinkers who have not studied Christian Science are beginning to see that this much discussed and misunderstood Science is working marvelous changes in the spiritual and physical experiences of those who study and practise its teachings, and that it is exerting a wonderful influence in the world for better thinking and better living. Recent statements by some of those prominent in religious thought show a trend towards a measure of acknowledgment of Mrs. Eddy's great and beneficent work in restoring to the world the Christianity taught and practised by Christ Jesus. A divine of international reputation, who is generally recognized as a man of great intellectual force, says in a recent magazine article: "Christian socialism springs from the neglect of the principles of stewardship inherent in Christian religion. The process was the same in the aggregation of Christian Science, which seems to have such a strong hold in your country. It seems to arise, it would seem to me, from the neglect of the truth of the power of mind over matter and of the sanctity of the healing art."

It is now about a third of a century since Mrs. Eddy startled both the religious and medical beliefs of the world with her statement of the Science of Christianity as set forth in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." It is difficult to imagine anything more at variance with the established beliefs, along spiritual lines, than the teachings of this wonderful book. Who is it that, acting on the theory and practice of human wisdom and experience, would dare put forth a book, the teachings of which they knew would be rejected by human wisdom? Does not the accumulated evidence of the past thirty years or more prove conclusively that in giving to the world the Christian Science text-book our Leader was responding with a sublime faith to the call of Him "in whom we live, and move, and have our being," and thereby putting into the thoughts of men the new-old leaven of Truth, which will work with renewed vigor until the whole lump is leavened and the "earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Through this knowledge men shall see old things pass away and all things become new; a belief in sorrow exchanged for the knowledge of joy, hate for love, sickness for health, and death for life, proving the correctness of Jesus' sayings: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free;" and, "Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die."

Had Mrs. Eddy been guided by human wisdom and experience, Science and Health would never have been written; but, obeying the call of divine wisdom, she ignored human wisdom and experience and, following steadfastly the Truth revealed by the Galilean Prophet as her guide, she pressed "toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," clearing away the accumulated debris of creeds and dogmas and gloriously proving the truth of the apostle's saying, that "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." Even the attempt to utilize Christian healing in connection with material means, as is now being done by certain religious teachers, is in effect a tardy acknowledgment of what Christian Science has done and is doing for mankind, but that this line of endeavor in no way tests or utilizes Christian Science, must be recognized by all thoughtful people. Mrs. Eddy says, "If Mind is foremost and superior, let us rely upon Mind, which needs no cooperation from lower powers, even if these so-called powers are real" (Science and Health, p. 144); and this statement clearly harmonizes with the Scripture, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

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