Article May 26, 1923 Issue

Christian Science is founded upon Bible teaching, is built...

Thomas E. Davidson, Committee on Publication for Northumberland, England,—North Shields

Daily News

Christian Science is founded upon Bible teaching, is built upon the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount. The connection between these and the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, is clear and distinct. Its Tenets (Science and Health, p. 497) declare for the inspiration of the Bible, the supremacy and infinity of God, the forgiveness of sin and the punishment of sin so long as the belief in sin lasts, and the atonement, which was unfolded through Christ Jesus, the Way-shower. The last Tenet reads, "And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure."

It is misleading to say that Christian Science teaches that matter is nothing at all and to say naught else, for it teaches that what appears to be material is but a false sense of spiritual reality, and that Spirit is the one infinite substance, or, as it is stated in the epistle to the Hebrews, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." When Mrs. Eddy first declared for the unreality of matter there was a storm of protest from all quarters. But now physical scientists are having to alter their position, and are agreeing with her definition. They are explaining matter by explaining it away! Advancing theological scholarship is also fast coming into line with Christian Science teaching, which is really a restoration of primitive Christianity stripped of its traditional interpretations, and which obeys the whole of the teachings of Christianity, including the healing of the sick. It regards Christ as the Savior. It accepts the saving Principle which Jesus taught, rather than the mere worship of his personality and reliance on his having done the work that each one must, with God's help, do for himself,—namely, the working out of his own salvation.

Much of the misunderstanding of Christian Science is due to the failure to differentiate between the human Jesus and the divine Christ, which has existed for all time. The life of Jesus was one of continual progression in spiritual understanding. He was engaged all his earthly life in putting off the material Jesus and putting on more of the Christ, until, at last, he was able to rise so much above the material, to demonstrate so perfectly the unreality of matter, that he so rose as to become invisible even to his disciples.

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