Article August 1, 1925 Issue

Your correspondent begins his criticism of Christian Science...

William C. Brookes, Committee on Publication for Midlothian, Scotland,—Edinburgh

Edinburgh and Leith Observer

Your correspondent begins his criticism of Christian Science by asserting that it is "subtle and perilous." Nothing is easier than to use adjectives in this way, without any basis of argument. One can but state the fact, in reply, that a great multitude of people spread over the whole civilized world have found to their great joy that Christian Science is not subtle but simple, not perilous but preeminently beneficent. Our critic goes on to affirm that Mrs. Eddy "strikes at the root of all Christian thought by altogether denying the reality of evil." That is to say he thinks orthodox Christian thought is rightly rooted in the belief that evil is real. Does our friend suppose that Christian have always believed evil to be real? John began his ministry with the exhortation, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Does the gentleman wish us to believe that this kingdom is a kingdom where good and evil are coequal and coeternal? The fact is, this dogma of the reality of evil has only had a place in Christian thought since Christians put aside the duty imposed upon them by their Master when he said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." These "works" comprised the annihilation of evil of every name and nature, thus proving its unreality, its unreality in the sense in which that term is used in Christian Science. In this Science that which God made is real; all else is evil and unreal.

Your correspondent proceeds to found a charge of inconsistency on what he regards as two contradictory statements in Mrs. Eddy's book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." But in the one case Mrs. Eddy is speaking of what seems real to the human (or carnal) mind and in the other of what is actually existent in the divine Mind,—that Mind of which Paul was thinking when he said, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." This differentiation is brought out very clearly by Paul in the words, "To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." Our friend continues by charging Mrs. Eddy with contradicting the Bible in her teaching with regard to the personality of Jesus. If, however, he will ponder carefully the deep significance of Jesus' saying, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God," he will get a much clearer view of our Master's own conception of his personality than he will ever get by continuing to accept without question "the traditions of the elders."

Your correspondent's final shaft is aimed at what he calls the Christian Scientists' "mad philosophy which recks nothing of the facts of human life." But the "philosophy" of Christian Science is the "philosophy" of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus ended the first part of that sermon with the command, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Does this command take cognizance of "the facts of human life"? No! It serenely puts aside these so-called "facts" just as these "facts" were also put aside at the healing of the daughter of Jairus. We read: "He said unto them, ... The maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn."

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