Article September 25, 1909 Issue

Christian Science is a religion, and it applies to the whole...

Olcott Haskell

Alameda (Cal.) Argus

Christian Science is a religion, and it applies to the whole man and reveals the law of his being. Then obedience to this law should save him from bodily sickness as surely as from mental and moral ills. This was abundantly proved in the life of Jesus and in the experiences of the early Christians; and it is today shown in the healing under Christian Science of practically every known disease.

Some expressions used by Christian Scientists are not always understood by those who hear them, and these expressions are sometimes deemed meaningless or absurd, but it should be remembered that the Christian Scientist is learning to look at things from a spiritual and absolute view-point, using the term "unreal" to designate that which is mutable and transitory, and reserving the term "real" to be used (in absolute sense) only of that which is immutable and eternal. The mistakes made by a pupil in working a mathematical problem are "unreal" in the absolute sense, because they are not permanent facts supported by mathematical law; yet in a limited human sense these very mistakes are all too "real" and are sure to cause the student trouble until are are corrected.

So, it is with human sin and suffering; the Christian Scientist does not ignore these, for he admits that they are mistakes which need to be corrected and overcome, while still maintaining that they are not sent by God and are not sustained by the Principle of man's being—otherwise they could never be eliminated. As in the science of astronomy it is necessary to look beyond the immediate evidence of the senses to state correctly the relative motion of the sun and our earth, so in Christian Science it is often necessary to look deeper into the real facts of life than our mistaken physical senses can take us, but this never requires the Christian Scientist to be untruthful in his statements or in any manner to deceive his patient. Jesus said to his students, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." These words sound the key-note for all Christian Science practice.

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