Article August 19, 1933 Issue

Kindly allow me space to comment briefly on a letter...

Richard E. Prince,—Richmond

News-Leader

Kindly allow me space to comment briefly on a letter from a correspondent in your issue of February 11.

While Christian Scientists are grateful for the growth of their denomination and appreciate favorable remarks by those who have observed this growth and appreciate their form of service, yet they disapprove of objectionable comparisons with other Christian churches. Christian Scientists are taught to be charitable, and they do not criticize other Christians. As a matter of fact, the Christian Science church is largely composed of former members of these churches, and they cherish grateful and loving remembrance of their former church affiliation.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, was for nearly forty years, and until she organized a church of her own, a member of the Congregational Church in Tilton, New Hampshire, and she considered that membership one of her dearest blessings. As proof of her abiding love for her former church, in 1905, thirty-nine years after her discovery of Christian Science, she sent the Congregational Church in Concord a generous contribution to aid in repairing its edifice. In her Message to The Mother Church in 1898, she exhorted Christian Scientists in these words: "Love all Christian churches for the gospel's sake; and be exceedingly glad that the churches are united in purpose, if not in method, to close the war between flesh and Spirit, and to fight the good fight till God's will be witnessed and done on earth as in heaven" (Christian Science versus Pantheism, p. 13).