Article June 5, 1915 Issue

The beliefs of Pastor—are so fundamentally different...

Judge Clifford P. Smith

The Baltimore (Md.) News

The beliefs of Pastor—are so fundamentally different from Christian Science that he could hardly be expected to speak of it accurately, but his sermon on this subject which you published recently, was not fair even to himself, for it put him in the position of speaking in an oracular manner without insight or appreciation.

The main thread of the sermon in question was woven about a series of mistaken suppositions regarding the position of Christian Science toward the item of human experience called death. The philosophy of Christian Science was supposed to be as follows: Whoever dies commits mortal error; death is the greatest of errors, and one's failure to overcome it here and now leaves him hopeless,—he has failed in the last moment of his trial. The conclusion drawn from these premises was that the death of Christian Scientists disproves the truth of Christian Science. The fallacy of this conclusion, however, begins with the falsity of its premises, for they do not represent the teachings of Christian Science in a single particular.

The position of Christian Science with reference to the change called death is simply that of original and unadulterated Christianity. When Christ Jesus said, "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death," and when he said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," he lifted up an ideal which will sooner or later draw all men. But it is not only in the belief called "this world" that we have hope in Christ; the true idea must reign in our thoughts until the mortal qualities of human consciousness are wholly eliminated. The passing on of a Christian Scientist no more disproves the truth of Christian Science than the same event in the experience of St. Paul disproved his statement that "we live, and move, and have our being" in God. Like St. Paul, Christian Scientists have perceived the truth of being; they have complete authority for it in the teaching and example of the Master. They have themselves experienced a satisfying degree of proof, and they do not regard any human event as final or capable of closing the door of opportunity. Jesus said, "I live by the Father," and, "All live unto him."

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