Editorial April 23, 1910 Issue

A SURE FOUNDATION

Archibald McLellan

The one great difference between Christian Science and practically all other religions is that it insists upon the present-day possibility of those "signs" which Jesus declared should follow upon the works of all who believe in him. It insists that the mere preaching of the gospel is not enough to show that those who take upon themselves the name of the great Master are in truth his followers, but that the "signs" which were to follow the doing of the works by which Jesus himself proved his Messiahship, must be present. It is therefore incumbent on Christian Scientists especially to see that they are not barren of the good works which characterized Jesus' earthly ministry; to see that they are "doers of the word, and not hearers only," for he that is "a doer of the work," St. James tells us, "this man shall be blessed in his deed."

The church which all these centuries has based its claim for existence on its fulfilment of Christ's command, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," has been and is strangely unmindful that the truth of the preaching was to be demonstrated in a practical way; that when the Master commissioned his followers, he required them not only to preach the gospel, but to do the works of healing the sick and suffering ones of earth which he did and which he had taught them how to do.

After Mrs. Eddy's discovery, in 1866, of the "Science of divine metaphysical healing" (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 24), she proved the truth of her discovery by works of healing, confirming it again and again before she devoted herself to the organization of the church which was to revive the primitive Christianity which healed the sick,—the church which is proving today that "the best sermon ever preached is Truth practised and demonstrated by the destruction of sin, sickness, and death" (Science and Health, p. 201); and it is because the Church of Christ, Scientist, differs in this regard from the established sects of Christendom, that it has authority and excuse for being. If it were merely another sect added to the hundred or more which differ from each other only in their interpretation of technicalities of doctrine, there would be no cause for the interest which people rightfully take in it, nor would its works justify the hope of suffering humanity.

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