Article June 24, 1922 Issue

Every one will agree with a recent correspondent of your...

John W. Harwood, Committee on Publication for Lancashire,

Morecambe (England) Visitor

Every one will agree with a recent correspondent of your paper that the point at issue is the validity of Christian Science, as the true interpretation of Christianity. No one can overlook the fact that Jesus, the Founder of Christianity, laid down the one and only test in these words: "By their fruits ye shall know them." "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." When the works of healing which are being done through Christian Science are referred to as proof of its teaching, it is said by the correspondent that they are accomplished by mental therapy. When the same thing was said of Jesus, that he cast out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils, he replied that he cast them out by the finger (power) of God. In Christian Science, it is the same power of God which is utilized by and enables its followers to heal the sick, when all other means (mental and physical) have failed.

It may surprise the critic that the commonly accepted interpretation of Christianity should be assailed, but what else can he expect when it does not conform to the teaching and practice of Jesus, which continued for nearly three centuries; but after Constantine made Christianity popular, the spiritual understanding of Jesus' teaching and the consequent ability to do the works were lost. Since that time stars have appeared in the firmament and illuminated the darkness somewhat; and they are acknowledged and appreciated. Luther, Wesley, and all reformers are given their rightful place in history. They have prepared thought for the full and final revelation of the truth, which Mrs. Eddy has given to the world in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." It is not claimed that God gave Mrs. Eddy a divine secret which He obscured from every one else! Christian Science teaches that God is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever—that He is impartial, and is forever giving to man what is needed. These good gifts, James says, come from the Father of lights, "with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning;" and Mrs. Eddy, through her purity and spiritual-mindedness perceived the truth about God and His creation, and took this great gift, which was always present for any one spiritually fitted to receive, and gave it to those who desire it, in her writings, which she amplified by class teaching.

The correspondent states that the metaphysical kink in Christian Science is the teaching regarding the universe, which he says denies the reality of phenomena. Here also, he is mistaken; and his statement only shows that he does not understand what Christian Science does teach. In Genesis we read that God saw everything that He had made, and that it was good. John writes that "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... and without him was not any thing made that was made." Christian Science accepts these statements, and logically deduces that as God is Spirit, His creation—the universe and man—is spiritual. It certainly denies that so-called material phenomena have a spiritual noumenon. Christian Science teaches that matter is the subjective condition of mortal mind. Huxley wrote: "After all, what do we know of this terrible 'matter,' except as the name for the unknown hypothetical cause of states of our own consciousness?" Professor Wilhelm Ostwald, of the University of Leipzig, Germany, writes: "Matter is a thing of thought which we have constructed for ourselves rather imperfectly to represent what is permanent in the change of phenomena." What, then, can be said of this mind which is expressed in matter? Christian Science says that this carnal mind is false, being absolutely contrary to God, divine Mind. On page 468 of Science and Health is the following scientific statement of being: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual."

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