Article December 30, 1911 Issue

The Rev. Mr.——has, we very much regret to say,...

Kingston (Ont.) Standard

The Rev. Mr.——has, we very much regret to say, only made a bad matter worse by endeavoring to explain away his attack on Christian Science. He asks us to tell what Christian Science is, and to set forth its good. But that is quite apart from the mark It is not what Christian Science is; it is what Christianity is—and is not. Our point, simply, is this: that a Christian clergyman is not fulfilling his true mission as a Christian, but rather is transgressing it, when he assails another religion. The groundword—the fundamental basis—of any religion is "on earth peace, good will toward men;" and no clergyman is living up to that idea or ideal who assails his fellow men or the manner in which they worship God. And to say, as this critic did, that one cannot be a Christian Scientist and a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ at the same time is simply to laugh oneself out of court. If the clergyman does not know it, he should know it, that the Bible is the daily handbook of the Christian Scientist, and that every true Scientist reads his Bible every day of his life. And if he does not know it, he should know it, that the Christian Scientists believe so supremely in God that they are willing to leave everything in His hands, taking it literally that He is in fact omnipresent and omnipotent and that as a loving Father He will ever guard them.

And this is the religion that a clergyman attacks! Well, we fancy if he can stand it, Christian Science can. We can only say, however, that his idea of a Christian is not our idea. A Christian is to be judged not by his professions but by his deeds. Whether we agree or disagree with Christian Science, with Methodism, Anglicanism, Presbyterianism, Roman Catholicism, or any other religion, we can at least show the faith that is in us, and show also our own Christianity by refraining from attacking them.

What the Standard is aiming to do is not to defend Christian Scientists from the charge that they are not followers of Christ, for that charge answers itself, but to defend Christianity itself from being held responsible for the utterances of clergymen whose very attacks are wholly opposed to every idea of genuine Christianity. A man cannot be a real Christian and strike at his fellow Christian, whether the latter's religion be Roman Catholic or Protestant—and we say this not in any personally offensive sense, but merely from a consideration of Christianity in the general acceptance and understanding of that term. If each Christian sect in the country is to be assaulted by every other sect, then indeed may Christianity well pray to be delivered from the hands of its friends.

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