Article May 13, 1916 Issue

In an article entitled "The War and Christianity," which...

H. L. Eddison

Portsmouth (England) Times

In an article entitled "The War and Christianity," which appeared in the Portsmouth Times, the writer expressed the conviction that pain and misery are sent by God and inevitable. Surely such views are not in keeping with the teachings of Christ Jesus, whose mission was always to heal suffering by the destruction of sin, disease, and death. Referring to this ministry of good, Jesus declared, "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." Is it then possible to conceive that the Father worked through the Son to reverse His own will,—that He was responsible for conditions Jesus persistently destroyed?

Is it not time for Christians of all denominations to recognize that the Master, far from attributing pain and misery to God, labored by word and deed to deliver humanity from all suffering? When he healed the sick and sinning, when he raised the dead, did he not prove the power of God, who is Love, to destroy the works of the devil? In unmistakable terms he spoke of the woman who had a "spirit of infirmity eighteen years" as one "whom Satan hath bound." When about to raise Lazarus from the dead, he acknowledged the fact of eternal life in his gentle reproach to Martha, "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" And this same Christ Jesus, who rebuked the fever, opened the eyes of the blind, fed the hungry, and raised the dead, still speaks to all who suffer, saying, "If I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you."

Christian Science, in complete accord with the Master's teaching, not only urges upon all Christians the imperative necessity of obedience to the divine command "Heal the sick," but also offers proof, in innumerable cases of the healing of "mind, body, and estate," that Mrs. Eddy is correct in her assertion that "God will heal the sick through man, whenever man is governed by God" (Science and Health, p. 495). Christian Scientists do not deny the existence of pain to the material senses. On page 460 of Science and Health we read: "Sickness is more than fancy; it is solid conviction. It is therefore to be dealt with through right apprehension of the truth of being;" and on page 23 it is written that "suffering is an error of sinful sense which Truth destroys," and that "eventually both sin and suffering will fall at the feet of everlasting Love." Today, as yesterday, whenever and wherever the belief of life divorced from God sins and therefore suffers, Christian Science, in obedience to the Christ of the gospels, still offers salvation through the right understanding of God, in whom "is no darkness at all."

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