Article July 19, 1913 Issue

I have no desire to trespass upon the work of the regularly...

Robert S. Ross

The Auburn (N.Y.) Citizen

I have no desire to trespass upon the work of the regularly appointed and authorized committee on publication of the Christian Science movement in New York state; nevertheless, as a former Auburnian visiting in your city, a former member of the Citizen staff, and as a beneficiary of the healing and regenerative power of Christian Science, I humbly ask for space enough in your paper to answer the recent attacks made by a clergyman and another critic upon Christian Science and its Discoverer and Founder, Mrs. Eddy. This task becomes particularly pleasing to me because of the fact that Christian Science came into my life at a time when I was sorely in need of help physically and morally. There are hundreds of my Auburn friends and acquaintances who will testify to the fact that since Christian Science came to me I have been a better man and a more useful citizen.

One of our critics is the pastor of a local church. In order the better to illustrate what I have to say, I ask him to let his thoughts wander back to those days when the meek Nazarene prophet trod the hills of Galilee and the valleys of Judea; to go back to Bethlehem, to Jerusalem, to Gethsemane, and to Calvary; also to go over the various events in the life of the Founder of Christianity—follow and study them. I ask him to consider the appearing to humanity of a higher order of worship, of the Messiah or Christ, whose teachings, it was prophesied, would overthrow the false teachings of entrenched religious and ethical systems of that day; also how Herod caused every male child in Bethlehem and the coasts thereof to be killed in the hope that prophecy might not be fulfilled and that Jesus and his troublesome truth might be among those slain. I ask him to consider the occultism of those days practised under various names; the charge brought against Jesus by the then religious leaders, namely, that he cast out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils, when he healed the sick, reformed the sinning, cleansed the lepers, raised the dead, assuring his followers that they and others throughout all time should be able to prove their discipleship only by repeating his works. Jesus said that we should know them by their works, and by their works alone. Referring to his marvolous demonstrations of the power of God, a God whom the faithful John defined as Love, Jesus said: "These signs shall follow them that believe [understand my teachings]; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

I ask this clergyman to consider how Jesus, the Godappointed, whom Mrs. Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" describes as the best and most scientific man that ever trod the globe, was stoned, spat upon, tortured, and finally crucified, surely not because he was a bad man, but because his teachings were so pure and so far above the standards of his day that they caused sensualists to hate him. They said, Crucify him, because he maketh himself the son of God! Let our critic contemplate the experiences of Paul and his fellow apostles, whose followers for three hundred years performed many mighty works of Christian healing. Gibbon relates in his history of the Roman empire that the raising of the dead was a common occurrence among the early Christians, but that these works ceased in the third century.

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