Article October 1, 1927 Issue

To liken to a poison and to designate as false and...

Lew C. Church, Committee on Publication for the State of Minnesota,—Battle Lake

Review

To liken to a poison and to designate as false and blasphemous a religion which enables its adherents to do the works that Jesus did, and which he taught his followers to do, is to assume a tremendous responsibility. And yet a minister is reported in the columns of your paper to have so characterized Christian Science in his Sunday night sermon. I am sure the great number of persons in Minnesota and elsewhere who have been healed of disease, who have been restored to usefulness, whose lives have been made purer and happier through the means of Christian Science, would not share with the gentleman his belief that it is neither Christian nor scientific. Our critic purports to quote Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, but he has mentioned in his article neither the name of the volume nor the number of the page. I assume that he refers to her most widely known book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." If so, his quotations are incomplete, and in some instances inaccurate and misleading. He has taken a few words out of a sentence or out of a paragraph, and has omitted the context required to show fully the meaning. Time and space do not permit a discussion in this letter of each of the purported quotations. One will suffice. The article quotes Mrs. Eddy as saying, "Sin is not forgiven, we cannot escape penalty," following this, as in each of the other purported quotations, with a reference to the Bible by way of comparison. On page 5 of the last revision of her above-mentioned book, Mrs. Eddy says, "Sin is forgiven only as it is destroyed by Christ,—Truth and Life;" and on the following page, "We cannot escape the penalty due for sin." She taught that the essential thing about the forgiveness of sin is its destruction, and the reformation of the sinner. Again, on page 6, she has written: "'God is Love.' More than this we cannot ask, higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go. To suppose that God forgives or punishes sin according as His mercy is sought or unsought, is to misunderstand Love and to make prayer the safety-value for wrong-doing."

When Christian Scientists think of the power of Mind, it is the divine Mind that is understood. To them, Mind is a synonym for God. There is no disease, no discordant condition, which God cannot heal. Matthew and Luke have recorded that the Master instructed his twelve disciples to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. At another time he sent out seventy of his followers with the mandate to heal the sick. In writing of the direction to the twelve to preach the gospel, Mark quotes Jesus as saying, "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

History shows that the members of the early Christian church practiced healing by prayer, or spiritual means, for about three centuries after the time of the great Nazarene, and then the art was lost. Through the understanding of Christian Science the healing work performed by Christ Jesus and his followers in the early portion of the Christian era is being repeated to-day; and it is by no means difficult for any fair-minded person to obtain convincing proofs of the truth of this statement. "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them," said Jesus. Christian Scientists are willing that their religion be judged by its fruits.

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