Article December 14, 1918 ISSUE

The report of Lieut. Col. Rev. G. H. Williams' sermon...

George R. Lowe

Hamilton (Ontario) Spectator

The report of Lieut. Col. Rev. G. H. Williams' sermon might have read that he went out of his way to condemn Christian Science, without understanding it. While Christian Science certainly is adapted to banish pain, it does not define pain as "only a creation of man's mortal fancy." Mrs. Eddy, in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 460), says explicitly: "Sickness is more than fancy; it is solid conviction. It is therefore to be dealt with through right apprehension of the truth of being. If Christian healing is abused by mere smatterers in Science, it becomes a tedious mischief-maker. Instead of scientifically effecting a cure, it starts a petty crossfire over every cripple and invalid, buffeting them with the superficial and cold assertion, 'Nothing ails you.'"

We agree with him, however, that to charge God with the war is sacrilege. Likewise, it must be sacrilege to charge God with the suffering, pain, and death resulting from the war. Logically it follows that inasmuch as God is not the cause of pain, it is not a spiritual creation or Godlike entity, and therefore is not eternal and is not real. Every sort of attempt to relieve pain aims to make it seem unreal to the patient, at least temporarily. When a patient is under the influence of morphine, where is the pain? Sufficient spiritualization of thought would banish it permanently. All idealism points to the obliteration of pain from the human consciousness. In Revelation it is written: "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." This is quite in line with the text chosen by Colonel Williams, "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore." Christian Science explains this, not by "emphasizing strongly the absoluteness of death"—according to the report of this sermon—but by directing attention to the abundance and eternality of life, according to Christ Jesus, who, as Paul says, "hath abolished death."

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