Article March 14, 1914 Issue

In a recent issue of the Advertiser reference was made to...

David Anderson

Geelong (Australia) Advertiser

In a recent issue of the Advertiser reference was made to Christian Science as a religion which grips by its immediate solace and which is growing in numbers in Australia. For these reasons, will you permit a brief correction of the statement that "the guaranty of an ideal heaven to come, and of the absence of all ills here and now," satisfies Christian Scientists.

The Presence of abounding ills in mortal experience is fully recognized in Christian Science. The overcoming of these ills constitues its raison d'être and explains the fact that it brings solace. The heaven of the Christian Scientist is not what a modern versifier expresses as "an upper flat, with Credo on the front door mat." In the text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy has written, "Heaven is not a locality, but a divine state of Mind in which all the manifestations of Mind are harmonious and immortal" (p. 291); and on page 40 we read, "To enter into this kingdom, the anchor of hope must be cast beyond the veil of matter into the Shekinah into which Jesus has passed before us." To the Christian Scientist, therefore, heaven represents harmony, and Christian Science shows that this harmonious condition of mind is attainable here and now in proportion as man attains to the conscious recognition of the ever-presence of God, or in other words, in proportion as he attains the Mind "which was also in Christ Jesus."

May I also say, if by "everlasting and unvarying liturgy" is meant that the subjects of the Christian Science sermons are treated with cast-iron similarity, this is not true. These subjects cover a very wide range of theology, and no one of them is ever treated twice in precisely the same way. The provision in the Christian Science Manual, which provides that the Bible and the Christian Science text-book shall be the only preachers of the denomination, is nothing more than a wise precaution that the representation of Christian Science set forth in the church services should always be that of absolute accuracy, and of this the text-book is the only standard.

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