Article July 3, 1915 Issue

In Mr.—'s article on Christian Science there are several...

Thomas F. Watson

Hanford (Cal.) Sentinel

In Mr.—'s article on Christian Science there are several misstatements which should be corrected. That the teaching of Christian Science is not a perversion of the Scriptures, as this critic claims, is proved by the many cases of those healed, not only of their physical diseases, but of alcohol, tobacco, and other evil habits, through its ministrations. Mrs. Eddy further states (p. 404): "Healing the sick and reforming the sinner are one and the same thing in Christian Science. Both cures require the same method and are inseparable in Truth."

Christian Science does not teach that sin, sickness, and death are non-existent to material sense, but its teaching that sin, disease, and death do not proceed from God, who is infinite good, coincides with the Scriptural statement that "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." Mrs. Eddy has shown very clearly how "sin, sickness, and death are comprised in human material belief, and belong not to the divine Mind" (p. 286). The critic's statement that "the will is a powerful factor in resisting disease," is not the teaching of Christian Science, for Science and Health states, "Human will-power is not Science ... and its use is to be condemned" (p. 144). Healing in Christian Science is accomplished through prayer, and James says, "The prayer of faith shall save the sick."

This critic commends Christian Scientists for their "endeavor to hold fast to the Bible," but declares the teaching of God's omnipresence is "pernicious and unscriptural." The psalmist wrote: "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." And in Jeremiah we read, "Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord." Mrs. Eddy tells us in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 114): "Christian Science teaches: Owe no man; be temperate; abstain from alcohol and tobacco; be honest, just, and pure; cast out evil and heal the sick; in short, Do unto others as ye would have others do to you."

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