Article March 26, 1910 Issue

A late issue says that "Christian Science denies the...

Alfred Farlow—Mountain View, Cal.

Signs of the Times,

A late issue says that "Christian Science denies the vicarious atonement of Christ. It denies that his sufferings and death were, in a substitutional sense, sacrificial." May I call your attention to the fact that Christian Science accords exactly with the vicarious atonement of Christ Jesus which is described in the Scriptures. The Master's death was vicarious in the sense that he voluntarily allowed himself to pass through the trying ordeal called death, when he might have escaped thereform if he had disregarded the welfare of mankind. He said, "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" This implied that he might have been delivered from these testing experience if he had considered no one but himself. His experience was a pure sacrifice and demonstrated his unbounded love, while it also proved certain facts concerning the Science of being which were necessary for mortals to understand in order to work out their salvation according to Scriptural admonition. It is useless to quibble over the nature of death. It is sufficient to know that it is the greatest calamity that befalls mortals, and that it is a part of the consequence of sin, which the Saviour came to destroy. While Christian Science recongnizes the phenomenon called death, it maintains that there can be no such reality as death, since God who is Life, is ever present. Jesus recognized this fact when he said of the damsel, "She is not dead." He positively denied death, and he proved the truth of his proposition when he presented the damsel alive, having destroyed the appearance of death through his understanding of divine Life.

Christian Science agrees with the Scriptural teaching that "without shedding of blood is no remission." It only differs with some other theological beliefs as to the significance of the Scriptural words. Every step of the Master's experience from birth to ascension was absolutely essential to the salvation of the world. The world is justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, because through his experience they were enabled to waken to spiritual understanding of Truth, which, when practised, redeems mankind from sin, sickness, and death.

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