Article August 6, 1910 Issue

Thinkers, as well as the merely curious or indifferent,...

Ida Hodnett

Montgomery (Ala.) Times.

Thinkers, as well as the merely curious or indifferent, are seeing a remarkable movement termed Christian Science spread throughout the world, rapidly in some localities, slowly in others. From the start, over forty years ago, the term provoked comment of all kinds, caustic, humorous, severe, wondering. The same varying comment continues today, coming up from new sources as Christian Science dawns upon differing phases of human thought in the nooks and crannies of the world. In thousands and tens of thousands of instances caustic comment has changed to grateful appreciation and blessing, as a glimpse has been caught of its helpfulness in human conditions. All this indicates that Christian Science has arrived. It is far enough above the horizon of obscurity to be recognized by both thoughtful and curious as "a most remarkable movement."

In any age the teaching and living which portrays a new, or what seems a new, concept of God meets surely with opposition, ridicule, abuse. In the past, it met the hemlock cup, the cross, the fagot and stake, the devouring lion, the headsman's axe, the Inquisition. We are perhaps unconscious of the deep hold upon us obtained by prevailing concepts imbibed from association, from the press, from the literature of the period, and we resent views which differ from those that thus hold us. Yet any observer of the history of the world's mentality may perceive, even if but faintly, that the human concept of God has continually changed. Looking still more closely, we see that according to the concept held of Deity in any age, by any nation, has developed the distinguishing marks or characteristics of that nation. It is quite true that in some instances an exalted concept has been formed theoretically by advanced thinkers without its taking hold of the every-day thought of the people at large. In such a case, the "Word" has not been "made flesh,"—has not become of practical significance,—and the beautiful theory is not the prevailing concept.

Has Christian Science presented a new concept of God? Let us see. Take this statement of the nature of God, which is accepted theoretically by those churches termed evangelical: "There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible" (Articles of Religion). Does Mrs. Eddy in her statement of the nature of God differ from the fundamental idea contained in the foregoing? By no means. On page 587 of Science and Health, the text-book of Christian-Science, we have her definition of God, as follows: "The great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence." Elsewhere Mrs. Eddy says that these synonymous terms "are also intended to express the nature, essence, and wholeness of Deity" (Ibid., p. 465). This statement, unfolding a view of God which uplifts and vivifies the receptive human consciousness, emphasizes that just quoted from "Articles of Religion." It also emphasizes the Scripture, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord;" from which follows inevitably the human need of making manifest the divine image and likeness in which man is formed or expressed: "And thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." We grow to the likeness of that which we love.

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