Article July 14, 1917 Issue

The statement accredited to an evangelist in a recent issue...

Aaron E. Brandt

The Greensburg (Pa.) Record

The statement accredited to an evangelist in a recent issue gives one the impression that he felt called upon to say something startling against Christian Science in defense of his generally repudiated doctrine of a personal devil, and whether it had an intelligent meaning or not did not matter. It is safe to say, without serious risk of mistake, that neither the evangelist nor any of his auditors knew what he meant, and the statement could have no meaning as applied to Christian Science. Christian Science was discovered by Mrs. Eddy in 1866, through a revelation of Truth which came to her while reading the Bible and instantaneously restored her to perfect health from a condition believed fatal by her friends. Mrs. Eddy afterward made known her discovery to the world, and it is proving itself to be the greatest blessing that has ever come to mankind, having healed many thousands of hopeless invalidism and of so-called incurable diseases by revealing the truth contained in the Scriptures.

Christian Scientists do not, as claimed by the evangelist, find it necessary to deny the virgin birth of Jesus, or the cross, in order to remove a wart from the index finger. Far from denying what is good or true in the Scriptures, they can and do affirm the truth of the Bible and the teaching of the Master by the very works which Christ Jesus said should "follow them that believe." There is no better way of affirming such truth.

These works are not wrought, however, and cannot be so wrought, through a belief of a "personal devil." It is necessary to have an understanding of what the word devil means. When understood, the devil or evil can be cast out as Jesus directed his followers to do. On pages 190 and 191 of "Miscellaneous Writings" Mrs. Eddy says: "The meaning of the term 'devil' needs yet to be learned. Its definition as an individual is too limited and contradictory. . . . It could not have been a person that our great Master cast out of another person; therefore the devil herein referred to was an impersonal evil, or whatever worketh ill. . . . In Mark, ninth chapter and thirty-eighth verse, it reads: 'Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name.' Here is an assertion indicating the existence of more than one devil . . . By no possible interpretation can this passage mean several individuals cast out of another individual no bigger than themselves. The term, being here employed in its plural number, destroys all consistent supposition of the existence of one personal devil. Again, our text [Luke xi. 14] refers to the devil as dumb; but the original devil was a great talker."

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