"THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT"

Archibald McLellan

WE have been requested to reprint an editorial which appeared in The Christian Science Journal for November, 1906, and as the conditions which prompted this editorial have not been overcome, we are glad to respond to this request. The editorial is as follows:—

Our Leader has said of the Christian Science platform (Science and Health, pp. 330-340), "When the following platform is understood and the letter and the spirit bear witness, the infallibility of divine metaphysics will be demonstrated," and we are reminded of this by the misstatements of the letter which so frequently appear in the writings of Christian Scientists. We believe that most of these misstatements are due to the inexperience of those who write, but when experienced and well-taught students of Christian Science fall into the same errors, the cause must be sought elsewhere.

As many of these inaccurate statements of the letter of Christian Science necessarily come under the notice of the editors in their work of preparing the Journal and Sentinel, it may be that a few words based upon editorial experience will prove helpful to our contributors, and what we shall say in this connection will account for the non-publication of some articles that have been received and for the editorial changes which have been made in others that have been published.

Perhaps the greatest number of these misstatements are in connection with the word man. Notwithstanding the clear definition of man given by Mrs. Eddy on page 591 of Science and Health, the answer to the question, "What is man?" on page 475, and the complete elucidation of man's relation to God in sections XXII., inclusive, of the platform (Science and Health, pp. 336-338), very many contributors fail to differentiate between man and mortals,—between the image and likeness of God and "material man" who "is made up of involuntary and voluntary error, of a negative right and a positive wrong, the latter calling itself right" (Science and Health, p. 491).

To know and demonstrate Christian Science we must know God and man aright, and to state Christian Science correctly we must correctly define God and man. An exact Science cannot be stated except in exact terms. In multiplication both multiplicand and multiplier must be stated correctly in order to obtain a given product. If the product of two numbers is thirty-five, and the multiplicand is seven, then the multiplier must be five. Four and ninety-nine one hundredths will not do, neither will five and one one hundredth.

Another defect in not a few of the articles submitted for publication is the false assumption on the part of the writers that man has fallen from his original state of perfection, and that he is now engaged in an endeavor to regain his first estate. This is true neither of man nor of mortals. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health (p. 476), "When speaking of God's children, not the children of men, Jesus said, 'The kingdom of God is within you;' that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God's image is unfallen and eternal;" and again on the same page, "Mortals are not fallen children of God. They never had a perfect state of being, which may subsequently be regained."

Still another defect in many articles is the failure of the writers to differentiate between

"Christ. The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error," and

"Jesus. The highest human corporeal concept of the divine idea, rebuking and destroying error and bringing to light man's immortality" (Science and Health, pp. 583, 589).

Mrs. Eddy has treated this subject exhaustively in sections IX, to XVI., inclusive, of the platform (Science and Health, pp. 332-334), and diligent study of these sections is essential to a thorough understanding of Christian Science.

As an example of the accuracy with which both the letter and the spirit of Christian Science may be stated, and as an illustration of fine discrimination in the selection of words which convey the exact shade of meaning necessary for the expression of the author's thought, we refer our contributors to our Leader's article, "Where Art Thou?" on page 332 of "Miscellaneous Writings."

Archibald McLellan.

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