Article September 4, 1909 Issue

It would be well and profitable, we think, if this critic...

J. C. White, M.D.,

San Francisco (Cal.) Bulletin

It would be well and profitable, we think, if this critic would bear in mind that all, or nearly all, of the Christian Scientists have been members or attendants of the churches of the land, many of them very intelligent people; and after years of this experience have chosen the Christian Science method of "searching to find out God."

The cause of this departure is most evidently in the weakness or spiritual poverty of the pulpit—the theoretical in lieu of the practical—the vague utterance of the mysterious and the miraculous in place of the plain, practical, and vital truths. The effect of any act or of an expressed truth is measured by the depth of the sentiment from which it springs. When the "Word" is preached in "Christ's stead," the ministry will not want for hearers, nor will it be necessary to resort to modern methods to support the church. In this respect the Christian Scientists are models for all of the other churches.

My personal experience and observation is that they are a "peculiar people"—not given to vituperation and demnation, nor to lack of charity or intelligence. If "by their fruits" we are to know them, they by far surpass all other professed Christian denominations. Their mode of worship is more nearly allied to that of the Friends or Quakers. I believe that their success in reforming and curing people is due to their method of teaching people to understand God and their individual relation to their creator. Plato said that "virtue is a knowledge of God." Jesus said, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Man cannot love God without knowing Him in some degree.

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