Article March 16, 1929 Issue

Your report of the proceedings at Tuesday's meeting of...

Cecil Barnes, Committee on Publication for Natal, South Africa,—Pietermaritzburg

Natal Witness

Your report of the proceedings at Tuesday's meeting of the Natal Diocesan Synod has been read with mixed feelings of sadness and joy; sadness that the Anglican church should have to admit loss of ground by default, and joy that the Christian churches are showing signs of bringing to fulfillment the prophecy of Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of the Christian Science movement. In "Pulpit and Press" (p. 22) she writes, "If the lives of Christian Scientists attest their fidelity to Truth, I predict that in the twentieth century every Christian church in our land, and a few in far-off lands, will approximate the understanding of Christian Science sufficiently to heal the sick in his [Christ's] name." A clergyman's warning against the teaching of certain cults is primarily intended for adherents of the Anglican church, but as the proceedings have been given publicity through the press, it becomes necessary to refute certain statements made regarding Christian Science for the sake of those looking for spiritual comfort and healing. In one report, this clergyman is credited with believing that Christian Science healed occasionally. This is misleading, as the majority of those who come to Christian Science for healing do so after other means have failed. If healing does not result in every case, it is through lack of spiritual understanding. Christian Science itself is infallible. We read in the Scriptures that in certain localities Jesus "did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief."

Many adherents of Christian Science were not in need of physical healing, but took up the study of this Science in the course of their search for Truth, and are experiencing the reward of spiritual enlightenment and fulfillment. Christian Science is not only a means of healing the sick, but of destroying sin, and holds within itself the solution of every human problem. In declaring that Christian Science is a material cult with a little spirituality, the speaker displays surprising lack of understanding of the fundamental Principle of the religion which is founded on the allness of Spirit; and Christian Scientists are able to demonstrate this in proportion to their spiritual thinking and living. On page 547 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy says: "The Scriptures are very sacred. Our aim must be to have them understood spiritually, for only by this understanding can truth be gained. The true theory of the universe, including man, is not in material history but in spiritual development." The teachings of Christian Science are directly in line with the teachings of Christ Jesus, even to the extent of healing the sick, and therefore cannot be anti-Christian.

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