Article June 4, 1910 Issue

For the past forty years Christian Science has been...

Alfred Farlow

Fort Worth (Tex.) Record

For the past forty years Christian Science has been quietly healing sin and sickness, and its beneficiaries and adherents in all parts of the world witness unhesitatingly that they are better than they were before they came under the influence of its teaching. They declare that they are better neighbors, better business men, better husbands and better wives, and as a rule their neighbors speak also of their increased goodness and cheeriness: therefore we might ask, as did the Master, For which of these good deeds do ye stone us?

The gentleman declares that "the Christian Science text-book purports to be equal in authority with the Bible, and is studied with far more zeal than the infallible Word of God." A testimonial may not be out of place here. When I became a Christian Scientist I was a member of an orthodox church and a student of the Bible. In my childhood days I won several prizes from the Sunday School of which I was a member for committing to memory verses and chapters in the Bible. As I grew older I was unable to reconcile the purely material construction of the Scriptures with my growing sense of the infinite love of God. Later on I became alarmed at my condition of mind and grew despondent and melancholy. I commenced to feel that I was a hypocrite in retaining my membership with the church under the circumstances. I resolved to have a talk with my pastor, and if he could not dispel my doubts and fears, withdraw from the church and fight it out alone. Just at this time Christian Science came into my life, and while it saved me from sickness and despondency, it also saved for me the Bible.

Thousands have testified that they have been redeemed from skepticism and infidelity in regard to the Word of God, and are now studying and defending the Bible which they once cast aside. It is quite true that Christian Scientists study their text-book with zeal, and believe that the book teaches the truth, but I doubt if any Christian Scientist has ever made a comparison in his own mind regarding the Bible and the Christian Science text-book. He regards the latter as a key to the former. He loves the Bible more than ever, and his love for it increases daily, owing largely to the fact that Christian Science has rendered it both more intelligible and more practical. It is probable that in his weekly sermons our critic says much by way of explanation of his understanding of the Bible teaching. It is probable, too, that his sermons are sometimes published. If in reading these sermons people were spiritually quickened and helped, would he consider it a great offense in them if they were to make a frank statement of the fact? I think your readers will readily agree that the mere fact that Christian Scientists love and honor and study the Word of God more than they did before they had read Mrs. Eddy's writings, disproves the gentleman's charge. It is anomalous to suppose that a great body of intelligent persons have become intensely interested in God's Word by their zealous study of a book which is opposed to the Bible.

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For the past forty years Christian Science has been...

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