Article September 16, 1911 Issue

The atonement is, as Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health...

George Shaw Cook

Galesburg (Ill.) Republican Register

The atonement is, as Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 23), "a hard problem in theology," but many have found that her explanation thereof in the chapter Atonement and Eucharist, is reasonable and satisfying. In the discussion of this and correlated subjects much confusion arises in the thought of some students, because of the misuse of the word Christ by translators of the Bible and others. The terms Jesus and Christ are not synonymous, although the word Christ is frequently used where the word Jesus should be employed. Properly speaking, Christ is the eternal, spiritual idea of God and is as universal and omnipotent as God; whereas Jesus refers to the man who was endowed with the divine Spirit of Christ, "without measure." This marvelous spiritual endowment was what enabled Jesus Christ to be the perfect Wayshower for mankind. It was the Mind "which was also in Christ Jesus," and which Paul admonished Christians to have in them, which enabled Jesus to heal the sick, cast out sin, and raise the dead. Hence it should be plain that something higher than the human personality of Jesus was responsible for those mighty works. This is evident from his own words, for he said, "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works."

Thus it will be seen that Mrs. Eddy has reasonable grounds for her statement to which some critics object: "The material blood of Jesus was no more efficacious to cleanse from sin when it was shed upon 'the accursed tree' than when it was flowing in his veins as he went daily about his Father's business. His true flesh and blood were his Life; and they truly eat his flesh and drink his blood, who partake of that divine Life" (p. 25). However, that Mrs. Eddy does not minimize that which she refers to in her book as Jesus' "intense human sacrifice" (Science and Health, p. 54), is indicated by the following quotation from the text-book: "If all who ever partook of the sacrament had really commemorated the sufferings of Jesus and drunk of his cup, they would have revolutionized the world. If all who seek his commemoration through material symbols will take up the cross, heal the sick, cast out evils, and preach Christ, or Truth, to the poor,—the receptive thought,—they will bring in the millennium" (p. 34).

That Mrs. Eddy steadfastly pointed to Christ Jesus as the Wayshower and Exemplar of mankind, there can be no doubt on the part of any one who will read her writings with an "open mind." That hundreds of thousands have, through the study of Christian Science, gained a vastly improved concept of God, there can be no question. That they have likewise gained from this study a greater understanding of the nature of Christ Jesus, there can be no doubt, and there is abundant proof for all who seek it that this study has enabled them to a considerable degree to cast sin and disease out of themselves and others.

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