Article January 10, 1925 Issue

Christian Scientists rejoice that, through the discovery...

Stanley M. Sydenham, Committee on Publication for Yorkshire, England,—Bradford

Observer

Christian Scientists rejoice that, through the discovery and demonstration of Christian Science, the churches are increasingly awakening to the necessity of including spiritual healing as part of their normal work. It is a pity that, owing to lack of understanding on the part of certain of the clergy of what Christian Science really teaches with regard to pain and disease, they make so many misstatements about it. The question each individual has to decide for himself is, Did God make pain and disease? The Bible states that "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." Pain and disease cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be termed good. Therefore, the only conclusion to be drawn is that they were not and are not created by God. They are not, then, realities,—spiritual realities. If they are not spiritual realities, they must be human beliefs; and that is what Christian Science terms them. They are expressions of the carnal mind, which, Paul says, "is enmity against God." The human mind cannot cure what it causes. Christ Jesus promised that "when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth." The "Spirit of truth" is come, and is to-day guiding the receptive thought and revealing the fact that radical reliance on God is sufficient to meet every human need, whether it be moral, physical, or spiritual. This means that for those who trust in God implicitly, material remedies are no longer necessary. The prayer of faith, or spiritual understanding, is sufficient. If Christian Science be "illogically absurd," the same must be said of the gospels; if contrary to common sense, it is because the things of Spirit are spiritually discerned. Mrs. Eddy was so honest that she absolutely refused to compromise between matter and Spirit; she was very good in that she loved God supremely, and demonstrated His love; she was very great in that she dared to face persecution, ridicule, and insult, knowing that she had found the "pearl of great price," and was willing at whatever cost to herself to take the steps necessary to insure that the way she had discovered out of the beliefs of sin, disease, and death should be available to all who were sufficiently childlike and humble to accept it. Mrs. Eddy on one occasion through her spiritual understanding healed instantaneously a cancer which had eaten its way to the jugular vein. (See Unity of Good, p. 7.) She also healed countless other invalids of diseases which had previously been medically diagnosed as incurable. Until such time as the representatives of the various churches equal her in these respects, it would be well for them to be silent. Even if the churches do not at present see eye to eye with Christian Science, they can adopt the attitude of the Master toward those individuals who are honestly striving to help mankind: "Forbid him not. ... For he that is not against us is on our part."

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Christian Scientists rejoice that, through the discovery...

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