The author of the sermon partially reproduced in a recent issue so frankly acknowledged the good that is being accomplished by Christian Science in leavening popular thought on subjects of vital importance to mankind, that it is difficult to believe he intended to say that the church and Christian Science have "divided the ministry of faith from the ministry of healing," or that "Christian Science has materialized the ministry of healing;" for if there is anything that Christian Science has not done it is those two things.
The control of one human mind by another, or anything in the nature of such practice, is the reverse of the teaching and practice of Christian Science, which declares, as did the apostle James, that the same fountain cannot send forth both sweet water and bitter.
When a certain clergyman speaks of Christian Science as a "new fad," as reported in a recent issue, and classes it with other "new fads" of the time, he quite overlooks or else is ignorant of the fact that Christian Science has been an established religion for nearly forty years.
In a recent issue of the Herald appeared some extracts from a sermon delivered in your city by an evangelist, in which unfriendly mention is made of Christian Science and of its Discoverer and Founder, Mary Baker Eddy.
In my previous letter I was compelled to select, out of the vast area of Christian doctrine, some touchstone, to borrow a phrase from the text of the New Testament, by which to test the soundness of a critic's assertion that Christian Science was not Christian.
In
John the Baptist's announcement of the forthcoming Saviour, he says, "Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
The
discoveries of physical science are readily accepted because they find corroboration in experience, and the tendency of the times is to demand like confirmation for every theory offered for the acceptance and guidance of mankind.
It
is interesting to note that nearly every student of Christian Science will, when describing how he first became interested in this subject, use some such words as these, "I remember the first Wednesday evening meeting," or, "At the first testimony meeting I attended," and then go on to describe the particular testimony or feature of the service which arrested his attention and caused him to look more closely into the teachings of Christian Science.
While
reading in the first epistle of John, the writer came across the familiar verse: "Let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth;" and was reminded of an experience which not only proved the practicability of the above Scripture, but also showed her that "whatever blesses one blesses all".
