Article November 8, 1924 Issue

It is not the wish of Christian Scientists to start or continue...

Joseph Axtell, Committee on Publication for Somersetshire, England,—Weston-super-Mare

Gazette

It is not the wish of Christian Scientists to start or continue a controversy, but, after correcting erroneous statements or misunderstandings, to allow seekers for Truth to study for themselves from the authorized Christian Science literature and to prove the facts through actual demonstration. It seems that your correspondent is quite ready in one case to accept the verdict of material law under physical science, but when it is a case of demonstrated cure under divine metaphysical or spiritual law, reversing the verdict of so-called material law, he wants to subject the material law he recognizes to the prejudice of a doubtful investigation. Now, no physician would say that every medical diagnosis is correct, but we give an honored profession credit for honest judgment. When, therefore, materialists not only doubt the verdict of natural science, but also the operation of the spiritual law of God, it is a case of "neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

If your readers are desirous of gaining a knowledge of what Christian Science teaches as to the allness of God, good, which is based on pure monotheism and the teaching of Christ Jesus, they may do so by a calm study of the Bible and also of the writings of Mary Baker Eddy on the subject. The Bible declares that "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good;" and the Bible definition of God as Love, therefore good, together with the Scriptural statement that "without him was not any thing made that was made," has the common acceptance of Christianity. If your correspondent does not accept this definition, he cannot appreciate the metaphysical attitude of those who do, for, as stated by Paul, "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

The phenomenon of parasites is no more startling than the disease, sin, and squalor bred or disseminated by a slum environment. But man is "a free moral agent" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 83), and right thinking and acting will finally overcome and remove all evil. Paul's command was, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Christian Science bases all right thinking on the divine Mind or God. In gaining a fuller and better understanding and knowledge of God, which Jesus said was "life eternal," Christian Scientists recognize that they have an immense, but sacred, task before them. The success so far attained by their present understanding leads them forward to attain to the extent of the Master's promise, "And greater works than these shall he do." As elucidating the present position of Christian Science, a fair illustration from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 348) by Mary Baker Eddy, may be given: "I have never supposed the world would immediately witness the full fruitage of Christian Science, or that sin, disease, and death would not be believed for an indefinite time; but this I do aver, that, as a result of teaching Christian Science, ethics and temperance have received an impulse, health has been restored, and longevity increased."

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