Article December 13, 1919 Issue

In a recent issue a letter appears in which the writer...

Katherine English

Vancouver (British Columbia) World

In a recent issue a letter appears in which the writer alleges that Christian Science is not Christian and is not scientific. This statement is frequently met with, but is never made by anyone who is at all familiar with the subject, nor would such a one confuse Christian Science with Berkeley's philosophy, from which it is entirely distinct.

The name Christian Science was introduced by Mrs. Eddy to designate the scientific system of divine healing discovered by her in 1866. Mrs. Eddy's careful and scholarly use of words is often arresting, and its accuracy is invariably justified by any modern dictionary. For instance, the word science signifies knowledge, systematic and formulated knowledge, and such knowledge put to practical use. The meaning of the word is not confined to what is called natural science, or the science that deals with material beings, things, or phenomena. A dictionary defines science as "systematized knowledge considered in reference to the discovery or understanding of truth." This age prides itself upon being scientific, and it would be strange indeed if systematic knowledge were to be limited to material phenomena; if there were no way in which men could gain a knowledge of God as He actually exists or discover the laws of the spiritual universe. All Christians, theoretically at least, agree that God is Spirit, not matter, and that in Him "we live, and move, and have our being." Surely then, a scientific knowledge of Spirit and spiritual laws, which can be proved and used in daily life, should not seem a thing incredible. The discovery of divine law and the reduction of her discovery to a system comprehensible to the age in which we live was the life work of Mrs. Eddy.

She termed this science "Christian because no other word could so aptly describe it, for it comes manifesting the spirit of Christ Jesus and his teachings; it is compassionate, helpful, redemptive. It comes, as Jesus did, to deliver us from evil. It teaches us, as he did, to render all power to God, who is good, not evil. Jesus taught men how to fill heart and mind with goodness, how to become blessed, how to forget self, and thus to show what manner of man results from constant communion with God, in whom is no evil at all.

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