Article October 2, 1915 Issue

Your report of a sermon delivered at Newburyport presented...

Judge Clifford P. Smith

Newburyport (Mass.) Herald

Your report of a sermon delivered at Newburyport presented an incongruity which is one of the signs of these times. "The sermon was of an evangelistic nature throughout," so your report read, yet it included an attack on Christian Science.

A genuine evangelist is one who proclaims good tidings. Such is the meaning of the title, and such has been the nature of truly evangelistic work since the time of Philip, the original evangelist mentioned in the book of Acts. An evangelist must be willing, and in some degree able, to speak as did the evangel who heralded the beginning of the Christian era: "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." It would seem, however, that the adjective "evangelistic" has been taken at Newburyport, and elsewhere, to describe the manner and method of a preacher who is censorious and oracular concerning other religions than his own.

The feature of the sermon which you made most prominent was this: "Intellectually weak enough to be a Christian Scientist." A more thoughtless gibe was never delivered by a minister or headlined by a newspaper. In the very utterance of these words the reverend gentleman furnished evidence of the fact that a Christian Scientist must have the strength of thought and character which will enable one to think for himself and follow his religious convictions, in spite of jeers from the representatives of older churches. In this situation, a Christian Scientist can say, as did Paul, "When I am weak, then am I strong."

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