Article September 11, 1915 Issue

The sermon in a recent issue by the Rev. Mr.—,in...

S. T. Downs

Madison (Ind.) Democrat

The sermon in a recent issue by the Rev. Mr.—,in which he attempts to discuss the teachings of Christian Science, serves to show the injustice as well as the absurdity of taking a portion of an argument from its context and thereupon directing an attack. For instance, the statement quoted from the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, "There is no matter" (Science and Health, p. 278), is a declaration of absolute truth, and the attempt to refute it by reading the first verse of Genesis certainly indicates that our brother has not read carefully what leads up to or follows the statement from Science and Health. There is nothing connected with the statement which denies the record of creation as expressed in the first verse of the Bible, nor does that verse, or the first chapter of Genesis, say a word about matter. Christian Science teaches, as did the Master, that God is Spirit, and that the first chapter of Genesis is the true record of creation, and sets forth the fact that the universe, including man in God's image and likeness, is really spiritual. It was Mrs. Eddy who pointed out the fact that the record of belief in the creation of matter is given in the second chapter of Genesis, and she shows by the record itself how the belief in an opposite to God, Spirit, has produced all the sin, sickness, and misery the world has ever known. Christian Science makes it very clear that Christ Jesus came to restore to us man's God-given dominion, as recorded in the first chapter of Genesis.

There is nothing in Mrs. Eddy's writings to justify the statement of the speaker that she "makes Christ out an impostor by claiming that he pretended to die," which is based on a quotation from page 45 of Science and Health, "Jesus' students, not sufficiently advanced fully to understand their Master's triumph, did not perform many wonderful works, until they saw him after his crucifixion and learned that he had not died." This quotation is part of the conclusion to a very clear and helpful discussion of the triumph of Love over hate, of the power of Life over death, and that the resurrection proved that man in God's image and likeness is spiritual, not material. The statement, in other words, is a part of Mrs. Eddy's great message of emancipation and deliverance from all error, as proved by Jesus in the victory over the grave and death, and she shows how the great Teacher revealed that death is the unreal, while "Spirit is the real and eternal" (Science and Health, p. 468).

The same lameness of argument and intent to disprove at any cost is shown in the statement that "Mrs. Eddy makes Jesus out a liar," when on page 75 of Science and Health, in referring to raising Lazarus from the dead she says, "Jesus restored Lazarus by the understanding that Lazarus had never died." Our critic could not have read this page without knowing that Mrs. Eddy bases her argument on the statement of Jesus, "Out friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep," and the explanation which follows, "Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. The critic to make his point quotes only the final statement by Jesus in the following verse: "Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead." It is very evident that the Master made this statement out of concession to the spiritual blindness of his followers, and that his first statement was one of absolute truth. Jesus refused to make this concession when he raised Jairus' daughter, but he boldly said, "She is not dead, but sleepeth," and the record is that "they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead." But he proved the spiritual fact that he audibly declared.

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