Article February 13, 1926 Issue

In a recent issue you republish from a contemporary an...

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

Protestant Advocate

In a recent issue you republish from a contemporary an attack on Christian Science, and we trust that with your usual courtesy you will allow us space for a reply. The writer of the attack commences with the assertion, "If Christian Science is right in what she [Mrs. Eddy] teaches, then not only am I wrong, but the Christian fathers were wrong." This effort to prove the existence of antagonism between the early Christian church and Christian Science could hardly have been made except in ignorance of the facts (1) that Mrs. Eddy, on page 271 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," says, "The Sermon on the Mount is the essence of this Science;" and (2) that Christian Science relies on practical demonstration for the proof that it is wholly at-one with the teaching of Jesus, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." If our critic could prove that Christian Science is not teaching its followers to apply the Sermon on the Mount to the thoughts, words, and deeds of everyday life; if he could prove that Christian Science is not in any measure doing "the works that I do," then, and only then, could he truly affirm that it differs from the teaching of the early church.

The Bible plainly and unequivocally teaches that man is made in the image and likeness of God; and Jesus obviously had this fundamental fact in thought when he said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Where, then, is there place for our critic's doctrines of "a fall" and "inherent sin"? As Mrs. Eddy, on page 470 of Science and Health, reasons with her inexorable logic: "The standard of perfection was originally God and man. Has God taken down His own standard, and has man fallen?" Then comes the critic's statement that Mrs. Eddy taught that Christ was not born of a virgin. The reverend gentleman is here obviously using the title "Christ" as a synonym for the name "Jesus." Mrs. Eddy says on page 332 of Science and Health: "Jesus was the son of a virgin. ... Mary's conception of him was spiritual, for only purity could reflect Truth and Love, which were plainly incarnate in the good and pure Christ Jesus." Our friend sums up his attitude toward Christian Science with the assertion that if it is successful, such success will mean "the extermination of Methodism, and as for that, of all Protestant evangelical Christianity." This is a most despairing note for our friend to strike. If his church takes its stand on the Rock, Christ, it can have nothing to fear from any church which does the same. As a matter of fact, Mrs. Eddy had the warmest affection for Protestant evangelical Christianity and earnestly looked forward to the day when it would heal the sick in Christ's name.

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