May I draw attention to the fact that there must be something much more than "curious" in the teaching of Christian Science, if it can appeal to the spiritual hunger of mankind. The simple fact is that, no matter what critics may say, Christian Science is the return to primitive Christianity. It is new, inasmuch as it is a revolt from what the speaker himself termed the husks of the dogmas of which men are wearying; but it is old indeed, inasmuch as it is merely a return to the gospel preached by Jesus in the first century of the Christian era, a gospel which was itself the culmination of the knowledge of the Christ which had been coming to humanity through the monotheistic religion of the Hebrew people for centuries previous.

Jesus of Nazareth said of the father of the Hebrew people, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad." It is obvious that Jesus did not mean that Abraham had seen the son of Mary; what he did mean was that Abraham had that vision of Truth, that dim perception of the Christ, which manifested itself in his revolt from the hideous polytheism of the surrounding nations, and his proclamation of monotheism. This perception of Truth was manifested when he crushed back the instinct which the influence of the old Moloch worship would have led him to in the proposed sacrifice of Isaac, substituting in its stead the ram caught by its horns in the thicket. This was Abraham's vision of Truth, a vision which constituted him the father of the people of Israel, who remained alone the chosen people, until the day came when the Christ was accepted by the Gentiles also.

The vision of Abraham was perpetuated by the patriarchs and by Moses, in those stern provisions of the law which, in a rude age, repressed the sensuous and fierce passions of the people within bounds approaching more nearly to Principle than the unchecked license of their fathers. It was Moses who showed the people that the God of Israel was manifested through that supreme intelligence which separated the Red sea before the hosts of Pharaoh, and brought the water from the rock in the wilderness. This vision of the Christ as gained by Abraham, and perpetuated and enlarged by Moses, was necessarily an ever-broadening one, and was expressed by the prophets in their revolt against burnt sacrifices, particularly in the well-known words voiced through Isaiah, "I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats." So, little by little, the truth grew, and the light became brighter, until' there came the forerunner of the Christ, the man who preached the gospel of the baptism of water. And then, at last, there came that full illumination of Truth, when the baptism of John gave place to the baptism of Jesus, who baptized not with water, but with fire, and with the Holy Spirit.

The baptism of water had been the type of moral purity. The baptism of fire was that renunciation of self contained in the stern demand that the followers of Jesus the Christ should deny themselves utterly and take up their cross and follow him. Only as these disciples learned to deny themselves utterly, could they claim their spiritual selfhood, could they begin to perceive the depth of wonderful meaning in the saying to Nicodemus, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." As they began to understand this utter denial of the flesh, they began to understand why it was that Jesus claimed for them, equally with himself, the title of sons of God. He was indeed Jesus the Christ, because in him the vision of the truth about God, which in the Greek text of the New Testament is expressed in the phrase, the scientific knowledge of God, was manifested in its full force. This was why Paul bade the Philippians let that Mind be in them which was also in Christ Jesus; for so surely as the Mind of Christ is manifested, does the man in whom it is manifested walk in the footsteps of Christ, deny himself utterly, take up his cross, and demonstrate his sonship with God.

Those, Jesus said, who believed in him would be able to do his works. It was the Mind of Christ which in the first century enabled Jesus to heal the sick, to cleanse the sinner, to raise the dead, and to overcome all the phases of materiality, conquered in such incidents as walking on the water and feeding the multitudes.

It is surely, then, just what Jesus and none other than Jesus, declared it, the proof of a man's Christianity that he should do the works he had done; and this brings us to the second reference to Christian Science in your columns, a defense of vivisection and denouncement of Christian Science. It is the belief of the critic that the beasts of the field and sinning humanity are equally the creation of God. It is his belief that God has placed certain material conditions in the hands of humanity for its own help. God, wrote John, is Love; yet, according to this critic, divine Love has fashioned dogs and rabbits that they might be tortured and subjected to pain and anguish for the amelioration of the diseases of men, brought about through human sin; for it is through sickness that men die, and, in the words of Paul, it is sin which brought death into the world.

Christian Science denies this utterly. It says that the creation of God is spiritual, for God, as Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, is Spirit, and the image and likeness of God is spiritual. In God's kingdom is nothing but harmony and joy, for God is Love. The kingdom of God, Jesus said, is within you, and here and now, as man lets the Mind that was in Jesus Christ dwell in him, will he enter the kingdom of God, walking forward in the footsteps of Christ, until he gains, though never through death, the knowledge of life eternal. "This is life eternal," Jesus said, "that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Jesus was the way. He gained, through the overcoming of death, the consciousness of life eternal, and those who believe in him and do his works, will gain first that understanding of the kingdom of God within which will lead forward to the final demonstration over death, which Jesus made first for them on Calvary.