Article December 8, 1917 Issue

The attitude of Christian Science on the subject of prayer...

Rose A. Lilly

Muskegon (Mich.) Chronicle

The attitude of Christian Science on the subject of prayer seems to have given excuse for considerable comment by our critic. The sentence in full on page 6 of Science and Health from which he quoted only a part, thereby grossly misrepresenting the sense intended to be conveyed, reads as follows: "To suppose that God forgives or punishes sin according as His mercy is sought or unsought, is to misunderstand Love and to make prayer the safety-valve for wrong-doing." In other words, as Mrs. Eddy says in a preceding paragraph on the same page, "Calling on Him [God] to forgive our work badly done or left undone, implies the vain supposition that we have nothing to do but to ask pardon, and that afterwards we shall be free to repeat the offence."

There are probably no religionists whose thoughts are given over to prayer so much as the Christian Scientists. The stress laid upon prayer in the teachings of Christian Science is shown by the fact that the entire first chapter in its textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," is devoted to this subject. It should not be taken for granted that Christian Science prayer is any the less sincere or effectual simply because it differs from the generally accepted form of supplication. Quite to the contrary, in its point of difference probably lies its effectiveness in the scientific healing of the sick, which doubtless accounts for the attention and sometimes antagonism it attracts from other religionists whose prayers, though sincere, have failed to accomplish these results.

That Christian Science does heal the sick, our critic to the contrary notwithstanding, is testified to by hundreds and thousands of good people who have been raised from couches of pain and invalidism to lives of usefulness through its ministrations. The Congressional Record January 5 and 6, 1915, contains accounts of fifty-seven cases of healing by Christian Science, supported by sworn testimony, covering thirty-six diseases, among which are tuberculosis, cancer, tumor, double curvature of the spine, locomotor ataxia, blindness, deafness, drink and drug habits, and so on. There is so much evidence on every hand of Christian Science healing that the gentleman's remarks on this subject are quite without excuse. Another point on which he should have informed himself before misinforming his hearers is the part taken by Christian Scientists in the war. It is a well-known fact that Christian Scientists have given most liberally for war relief work. It was reported in the Christian Science Sentinel of June 9, 1917, that up to May 31 the treasurer of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, had received $310,739.40 for war relief work, $264,474.74 of which had already been disbursed, and this work is going on unabated.

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