Article August 21, 1926 Issue

A sermon reported in a recent issue of your paper states:...

Edgar McLeod, Committee on Publication for Northern California,—San Francisco

North Beach Record

A sermon reported in a recent issue of your paper states: "Where psychology touches orgainzed thought, it is called Philosophy. Where psychology connects with our dreams, emotions, and sentiments, it is termed Psychoanalysis. Where psychology touches the elements of healing energy which exist in the body or may be transmitted through the body, it is spoken of as Christian Science or Mental Science." Christian Science is a religion based on the teachings of Christ Jesus and is the opposite of mental science. Psychology is defined by Webster as "the science of mind." Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, defines God as Mind, and in an absolute sense, the only Mind. Accordingly, on page 369 of her book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," she writes, "The prophylactic and therapeutic (that is, the preventive and curative) arts belong emphatically to Christian Science, as would be readily seen, if psychology, or the Science of Spirit, God, was understood." Clearly, the psychology which "touches the elements of healing energy which exist in the body or may be transmitted through the body," is not the psychology of divine Mind, but is the psychology which deals with some phase of what Paul terms the carnal mind, and which Mrs. Eddy so descriptively names mortal mind. Christian Science teaches that "health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind" (Science and Health, p. 120). Therefore, it does not invoke the aid of any so-called "elements of healing energy which exist in the body." Its prayer, like that of Christ Jesus, is always to "our Father which art in heaven." This prayer, in proportion to its appreciation and realization of the eternal fact that man is made and forever exists in God's likeness, reflecting health, vigor, and joy, reforms the sinner and heals the sick.

Farther on the sermon reads: "In Christian Science the missing link is a Twentieth Century Christ who can perform all the miracles of the Christ of the First Century." Manifestly, the miracles of "the Christ of the First Century," or Christ Jesus, were performed by the application of divine Principle. This Principle being God (Jesus said, "The Father . . . doeth the works") cannot change from century to century. The fact that students of Christian Science have not performed all the mighty works of Christ Jesus, their great Exemplar, does not indicate that the Principle by which Christ Jesus healed the sick is less potent to-day than it was in the first century, any more than the failure of his immediate disciples to still the tempest, walk on the water, and heal the epileptic, implied an abatement of the efficacy of this Principle in the first century. Any failure in the first century or in the twentieth century to demonstrate the supremacy of Spirit over discordant material conditions discloses no deficiency in the Principle of the Christ, but it does reveal a need for more understanding and greater consecration.

While Christian Scientists, the same as all other Christians, have not performed all the works which the great Master enjoined upon his followers, still, they are humbly striving to fulfill his commands and are grateful for some substantial progress in this direction.

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