Article July 29, 1916 Issue

Religion Made Practical

CLARENCE W. CHADWICK

The very first evidence of sincerity in religion is the practical application of it. A theoretical Christian, one who professes belief in God but who does not spiritually understand the Science of being, must fail to convince the multitudes of the practical nature of Christianity. He believes, but he does not know, that God is Love, and that Love is therefore the only real power of the universe. He believes that there is an opposite power to Love, and right here he breaks faith with practical Christianity.

So the student of Christian Science soon learns that he must be practical or else renounce his right to be called a member of the household of a demonstrable faith. The teaching that "Truth is demonstrable when understood" (Science and Health, p. 323) is what has awakened him to the truth of Christian Science. He may have spent years in studying the Bible, yet if his research was from the standpoint of the reality of sense-testimony, he cannot establish the fact of his being an authorized representative of the Master's teachings, because he has failed to grasp the practical or saving import of the Scriptures, failed to see that the power of God to heal is just as operative today as in the past. This very failure may have caused him to declare that he did not even believe in God's willingness or ability to heal. Let us analyze this condition of thought.

Would not such an admission immediately brand the student of Christian Science as an unreliable witness or representative of his Father? If he did not know that God's power is practically available to do what Jesus and his apostles did through an understanding of it, would he be in a position to bear reliable or trustworthy testimony in the court of Spirit? If he were thinking and acting simply from the standpoint of blind faith or belief, would he not be bearing false testimony as to the nature of God and of His spiritual universe? Even though he were honest and humble enough to say, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief," this of itself would be of no practical benefit to mankind. It is not what any one believes about God, but what one knows and can prove, that is going to reform the world. It is not preaching about God but the proving of God's power that makes Christianity an efficient faith.

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