Article February 9, 1918 Issue

In view of certain recent attempts to bring discredit upon...

Samuel Greenwood—Victoria, B. C., Canada

The Week

In view of certain recent attempts to bring discredit upon Christian Science by a misrepresentation of its teachings, some passing comments from the standpoint of a Christian Scientists may be of interest to your readers. Ever since the publication of its textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, in 1875, Christian Science has been out in the open, and has met with every form of attack, from mere ridicule to direct malice. It is not the least argument in its favor that with all this it has gone serenely on with its good work, until it includes in its activities practically every part of the globe.

Christian Science has not departed from the teachings of Jesus or of his apostles, but it has followed the premise of the all-power of God to its logical conclusion, and has demonstrated how this makes Christianity practical for mortals. Popular systems of theology, on the other hand, have conformed their doctrines to human opinions, or largely so, and have admitted the claims of materialism to their premises. It is this materialism in Christianity, if I may use that combination, which has in large measure nullified the usefulness of the church, and which now antagonizes Christian Science. If Christian Science is to be condemned, it might be pertinent to ask why other Christian religions pass uncensured, since their declaration of faith includes the same fundamental truths upon which Christian Science, or the Science of Christianity, is based?

Christian Science does not ignore matter as a phenomenon of the human mind, and therefore as a factor in present human experience, but it does not regard it as something spiritually created or as having any divine control over man. Christian Science deals with matter as a condition of thought to be outgrown or superseded through a better understanding of the truth of spiritual being. The fact that there appears to be material substance all about us, and that we ourselves seem to be part of it, does not prove anything more than that human thought has yet but a feeble apprehension of spiritual reality. This lack of understanding does not imply that the supremacy of Spirit and spiritual law is not the truth, but simply that mortals in their ignorance and sensualism do not use that truth in their own behalf. If it is not true that the flesh, or matter, is to be overcome or put aside for the spiritual fact about man, then what is? Is it true that mankind must continue forever bound to those sensuous conditions which cause and include all human misery?

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