Article May 14, 1938 Issue

"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by...

Extracts from an Address by Austin E. Page, Committee on Publication for New Hampshire, to Young People's Group of the Methodist Church in Concord,—February 6, 1938

"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy contains the complete statement of Christian Science and it is known as the Christian Science textbook. The first sentence in the first chapter of this book reads (p. 1), "The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God,—a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love;" and on page 587, God is defined as follows: "The great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence." Christian Science teaches that from this infinite One come spiritual laws, which have remained unchanged throughout the centuries, and which are set forth in the Bible. Looking at the Bible in this light, Christian Scientists find many passages becoming clear that were formerly obscured. They see this spiritual law stated and restated, illustrated, taught, and demonstrated from beginning to end of the Scriptures.

Christian Scientists accept Christ Jesus as the great Teacher, the Way-shower, and, in the highest sense of the word, the Saviour of the world. He explored and charted the way for us, but he cannot do our work for us. In stressing this point, Mrs. Eddy has written in the textbook (p. 3): "Who would stand before a blackboard, and pray the principle of mathematics to solve the problem? The rule is already established, and it is our task to work out the solution." So, in Christian Science, the student must work out his own salvation along the lines laid down. He is faced with the responsibility of proving by practical demonstration the correctness of his understanding, and he points to this demonstration as "an answer to every man that asketh [him] a reason of the hope that is in [him]."

Now, in its application to human problems, Christian Science—scientific Christianity—teaches that we live in a mental realm, and that all our experiences are primarily mental; that disease, for example, "is an image of thought externalized" (ibid., p. 411)—made manifest on the body. It is, therefore, in the realm of the spiritually mental that Christian Science operates.

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