Article October 18, 1913 Issue

My attention has been called to the Rev. C. S. Ryder's...

John W. Doorly

Southport (England) Visiter

My attention has been called to the Rev. C. S. Ryder's remarks on Christian Science at the sale of work in aid of the Children's Sanitarium. This critic speaks of Christian Science as a revival of Gnosticism, although admitting that there is an element of truth in it. He evidently has a high opinion of the powers of Gnosticism, or he would never have given it credit for the results of the Christian Science movement. In an age when the critic's own church, in company with every other church, is complaining of the lack of interest in spiritual things, and of difficulty in convincing people of the power and reality of Jesus' teachings, in this same age, Christian Science, which he cheerfully brushes aside as Gnosticism, has succeeded in building up the most remarkable spiritual movement that mankind has ever known, and through its teachings has redeemed unnumbered people from a hell of disease and sin.

The truth is, that Christian Science is revealing to men the power and availability of that "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" which makes "free from the law of sin and death," and it is proving that this law is the law of God, and is, therefore, as redemptive today as it was nineteen hundred years ago. Does the critic suppose that his friend in Liverpool became a Christian Scientist because he had known nothing better, when he was probably, like most Christian Scientists, brought up in the orthodox faith? Is it not time this dogmatic judging of another religion, of whose real teachings the critic very often knows nothing, should give place to the righteous judgment commanded by our Saviour when he said, "By their fruits ye shall knew them"? The critic might have improved the opportunity by dwelling upon the good Christian Science has brought to mankind in causing them to turn more unreservedly to God, and thus have accomplished something toward breaking down the religious intolerance of which we are all so tired.

Humanity is today tired of the husks of mortal belief; it is demanding results and not dogma, and the church which accomplishes such results will inevitably grow in spite of every criticism. Gnosticism is just as much like Christian Science as it is like the teachings of our Saviour; that is, they have absolutely no connection.

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