Article December 9, 1916 Issue

It is no mean undertaking for a scholastic theologian to...

Robert S. Ross—Buffalo, N. Y.

The Courier

It is no mean undertaking for a scholastic theologian to speak or write dispassionately of a school that differs so widely from his own as does Christian Science. Because of this there were a few statements in the report of a recent sermon that need correcting. For example, the critic said that "unless their faith is gradually to descend into a blind and besotted fanaticism," Christian Scientists "will see its limitations; and when they need a physician or surgeon will send for one." If one accepts the proposition that God, good, is both omnipresent and omnipotent, one must also admit that there is never an instant when God is not only available but capable of meeting "every human need" (Science and Health, p. 494). Asa turned from God to medicine and died; and does not Paul assure us that "the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword"? Surely it is not "blind and besotted fanaticism" to have more and more faith in Spirit, God, and less and less in matter.

The critic says that one reason why he is not a Christian Scientist is that he cannot assent to the teaching of the unreality of matter. For the same reason he could say that he is not a Christian. The teachings of Christian Science and Christianity are identical on this as on every other point. Speaking of material existence, or the flesh, Jesus referred to it as "a liar, and the father of it." What is the father of a liar but a lie? Reasoning in another direction, Christian Science says that God, Spirit, Mind, is the one and only creator. He made all, and it must be spiritual, not material. In each case the conclusion is the same: matter is not because Mind is.

If matter is proved by Christian metaphysical analysis to be unreal, any system based on this unreality must likewise be unreal. The only real science is that which interprets God, Truth. In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual" (p. 468).

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