Article October 2, 1915 Issue

Church

ROBERT L. SAWYER

All who anticipate joining a Christian Science church will find rich profit in a careful study of the definition of church as given on page 583 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," for it is fitting that we should have a clear conception of what this step means in order that the line of separation from whatever is foreign to the nature of our new alliance may be sharply drawn. Humanly speaking, there is a vast difference between knowing and doing; yet according to the Bible one without the other is incomplete. Jesus told his students that only as they continued in his teaching were they truly his disciples, and that if they fulfilled this condition, they would be able to do the same works which he did. At another time he said, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." This is the true motive for joining a Christian Science church, that we may be "doers of the word, and not hearers only."

In this instance church is defined by our Leader as "the structure of Truth and Love," and only that which is constructively true and loving can be a part of this church. We may rest assured that our concept of this structure can never be too high or too pure, nor shall we ever be in danger of guarding its portals too persistently. We read in the first chapter of Job that "when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, ... Satan came also among them." While it goes without saying that no student of Christian Science has yet attained anything approximating perfection, still each should watch that sympathetic mesmerism does not induce him to allow error entrance to that which symbolizes our highest concept of church.

As the flowers of the field manifest the measure of God's love by their quiet loveliness, so the true Christian Science church seeks to manifest only "whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle," in accordance with Mrs. Eddy's further definition of the true meaning of church. Here again we see that understanding of the letter alone is insufficient as a qualification; we must not only rest upon or know Truth, but we must proceed from or express Principle. Honest seekers for admittance to a Christian Science church have no cause for discouragement if they are asked to wait until further preparation shall make the new step more true to the natural order of progress and growth. If there is real love for the inquiring one, the application committee must in his interest see that he is reasonably free from that which may become a disability both to himself and the church body of which he wishes to become a member.

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