Article February 7, 1914 Issue

In a report of the Rev. Mr.—'s second lecture on the...

M. I. Whitcroft

Clifton (England) Chronicle

In a report of the Rev. Mr.—'s second lecture on the "Signs of the Fourth Gospel," reference is made to the teaching of Christian Science. If the lecturer has read the textbook of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, he will have found its teachings in strict accordance with the Bible. On the other hand, if he has not read Science and Health, he is scarcely in a position to state what it does or does not teach. The miracles performed by Jesus (and miracle merely means object-lesson or illustration) were in demonstration of the practical truth of his teaching, similar miracles being performed by the disciples and the early Christians in obedience to the Master's command, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. . . . And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; . . . 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." Surely this was practical proof that the knowledge of Truth frees us from the bondage of sickness and sin. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." It is strange that the reverend gentleman fails to see that perfect health must be the outcome of spiritual understanding, for one might quote numberless passages from the Bible that show health to be a condition of mind, not matter, the result of a knowledge of and obedience to divine law. In Isaiah we read, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; . . . they shall run, and not be wearly; and they shall walk, and not faint." To the sick man at the pool of Bethesda Jesus said, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee."

In Science an Health (p. 69) Mrs. Eddy says, "Mortals gain the sense of health only as they lose the sense of sin and disease," and Christian Scientists the world over are daily proving the truth of these words, and that to the degree in which the sense of sin and disease is destroyed in mortal, or, as St. Paul calls it, the "carnal mind," does it cease to be manifested in the body. It is very certain that we cannot be "raised into a region where bodily health would not count" (to quote our critic) while still holding to the belief in the reality of a material body. But, through growth in spiritual understanding, we shall be raised into that region, or state of consciousness, that perception of the allness of Spirit and the unreality, the nothingness of matter, which Jesus possessed, and which enabled him to set aside every so-called material law and to walk on the water, feed the multitude, heal the sick, and raise the dead.

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