Article March 11, 1911 Issue

"A. E. D." may not have been able to "detect any...

George Shaw Cook

Rockford (Ill.) Star

"A. E. D." may not have been able to "detect any downright old-fashioned Christianity" in the Christian Science church services, but the difficulty may be that "A. E. D." has not gone back sufficiently far in seeking an example of "downright old-fashioned Christianity" with which to compare Christian Science methods. Let us go back to the primitive church of the early Christian era, and we find that the effect of "downright Christianity" in that time was to heal the sick as well as the sinning. If we go back to the record of Jesus' ministry, we find that, "as his custom was," he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and "stood up for to read." In the Christian Science church services Lesson-Sermons, consisting of citations from the Bible and from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," are read in lieu of personal preaching. Silent prayer is offered, followed by the audible repetition of the Lord's Prayer. Hymns are sung by the congregation, as usual in Christian churches. It is definitely known that attendance at these services very often results in healing. May it not be possible, then, that Christian Science church services compare favorably with those of the "old-fashioned" Christianity of the time of Jesus and his early followers?

It is a mistake to think that Christian Scientists believe they can bring to pass anything they wish merely by "willing it to be so." On the contrary their teaching is in strict accord with the teaching of Jesus, who said, "Not my will, but thine, be done." If Christian Scientists are faithful to the teaching of Mrs. Eddy on this subject, they will be found striving to let God's will be manifested in their every experience. While some Christian Scientists were not previously affiliated with religious organizations of any kind, the great majority of them were formerly members of orthodox churches and many of them were earnest students of the Bible before taking up the study of Christian Science. No body of people can be found who are greater Bible students than are Christian Scientists as a class, and none will be found who derive more practical benefit from this study than they.

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