Article March 19, 1910 Issue

First, our critic says there is no place in Christian Science...

Frederick Dixon

Weston-Super-Mare Gazette

First, our critic says there is no place in Christian Science for the atonement. It would perhaps have been wiser, though I admit it would have been more difficult, for the critic to explain what the doctrine of the atonement exactly is. He is perhaps not aware that the vice-principal of the Theological College at Lichfield, after declaring that the Miltonic view, besides "offending one's moral sense," "logically and rapidly leads us to undiluted Arianism," recently proceeded to discuss what he termed "four typical modern theories of the atonement," as a prelude to developing a fifth one of his own. If your contributor would like to explain which of the orthodox views is his own, I shall be very happy to explain the Christian Science view.

Secondly, he objects to the teaching of the allness of Spirit and the nothingness of matter. Now unless he is prepared to deny the infinity of Spirit, he will be forced to admit the nothingness of matter, unless he would like to maintain that the spiritual and the material are one, and so submerge himself in undiluted pantheism. His argument that if a man hit his head against a brick wall he would be convinced of the reality of matter, is one which would have drawn from the ineffable Mr. Littimer the remark that, speaking scientifically, he was "young, very young." Perhaps he would like to hear Professor Huxley's reply to a gentleman who thought he could demolish the fabric of idealism by this particular argument. "Coxcombs," said Huxley, "vanquished Berkeley with a grin, and common-sense people proved the reality of matter by stamping on the ground or some such irrelevant proceeding."

Third, he maintains that Christian Science is carried on for gain, and that Mrs. Eddy made a large fortune by healing. The latter statement is entirely untrue, but not more so than the former. Many Christian Science workers have made considerable financial sacrifices, and probably they would be making larger incomes did they devote their time to the ordinary business of the world.

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