Article October 21, 1916 Issue

When vituperation and personal abuse in the pulpit supersede...

Mrs. Elizabeth T. Bell

Charleston (S. C.) Post

When vituperation and personal abuse in the pulpit supersede the methods of the gentle Nazarene, "the time is out of joint." What the thinking world demands today is less talk and more proof; and the declaration of the man in the temple, "One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see," was more convincing than all the wordy arguments of the Pharisees, who sought to brand as unorthodox whatever was above their spiritual grasp. What was unorthodox to them is orthodox today, and Christian Science is the complete recognition of Jesus' orthodoxy. Ignorance of the operation of spiritual law may call it "religious intoxication," as on the day of Pentecost; but this does not change the unalterable fact. Religionists cannot escape the demand, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," and Christian Scientists do not try to do so. They stand squarely on the basis of God's perfection, and man as expressing that perfection,—not sinful, sickly, mortal man, but spiritual man, created in God's image. Christian Science shows how to evangelize the mortal step by step, until it shall be changed for the immortal. Today evidences of this evangelization are on every side. More honesty, patience, purity, and love mark the lives of Christian Scientists, with the natural outcome of better health, less desire to evangelize the neighbor, and more to make their own lives approach the standard of perfection. Is not this Christianity?

Is Christian Science scientific? Yes, because demonstrable; its every statement being susceptible of proof. It does not cease with the demand, Be ye perfect; but shows how to obey this demand intelligently. Does Christian Science heal? The world is belted with churches built on the foundation of healing; not simply physical healing, but regenerated lives. Every few days a new church is organized. All this has been accomplished in a half-century.

As to the insinuation of "enlarged treasuries," I quote from an editorial in The Ogden (Utah) Examiner:—

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Poem

Spiritual Understanding