The Mind referred to in Christian Science is not the...

Oak Leaves

The Mind referred to in Christian Science is not the finite human mind which is supposed to have its abiding-place in the brain of mortal man, but the infinite, divine Mind—that Mind "which was also in Christ Jesus." It was this Mind, which is God, divine good, to which Christ Jesus referred when he said, "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." Christian Scientists believe that this same universal Father, the same infinite, divine intelligence or Mind which "was also in Christ Jesus," is present today and is potent today just as it was twenty centuries ago. It is no reasonable argument against the sanity of this belief to say that Christian Scientists do not always succeed in healing their cases and that they do not always heal their patients immediately. No Christian Scientist considers that he has yet attained sufficient spirituality and goodness to heal as Jesus did,—instantaneously and infallibly,—although he knows that it will some time be possible, for Jesus himself said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do." If Jesus did not mean what he said, it remains for some one to explain what he did mean by this declaration.

My critic complains that in my last letter I did not squarely "meet the issues between Christian Science and common Christianity," but that I allowed my pen "to wander over the familiar messages of historic Christianity from the beginning." Permit me to say that a writer on Christian Science could not well do otherwise, for the simple reason that Christian Science is "common Christianity," if by that is meant the primitive Christianity of Jesus and the apostles. Mrs. Eddy does not claim to have originated, invented, or created anything in giving Christian Science to the world, but simply to have discovered, revealed, and restored to humanity that which has for centuries, to a greater or less extent, been obscured by materiality.

Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit