In the report of Pastor—'s sermons on Christian Science,...

Avery Coonley

The Danville (Ill.) Press

In the report of Pastor —'s sermons on Christian Science, he continues his argument that the teachings of Christian Science are not in accord with the Scriptures. Each one of the long list of Christian sects is founded upon the Bible; each differs from all the others in its interpretation thereof; and each, if it chose to address itself to criticism, would declare all the others "unscriptural." Our critic's indictment of Christian Science on that score would therefore with as much reason be directed against all the other churches; but such discussion in the public press, if defensible at all, is certainly worse than useless when based upon ignorance of the teachings criticized, as in the present instance.

Christian Science deplores the universal belief in the phenomenon called death, but does not ignore it, and our critic's long disquisition on that point is wide of the mark. On page 487 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy says: "Life is deathless. Life is the origin and ultimate of man, never attainable through death, but gained by walking in the pathway of Truth both before and after that which is called death;" also on page 324: "Jesus said substantially, 'He that believeth in me shall not see death.' That is, he who perceives the true idea of Life loses his belief in death. He who has the true idea of good loses all sense of evil, and by reason of this is being ushered into the undying realities of Spirit."

In another of her works, "Unity of Good" (p. 43), Mrs. Eddy writes: "This generation seems too material for any strong demonstration over death, and hence cannot bring out the infinite reality of Life, —namely, that there is no death, but only Life. . . . The achievement of this ultimatum of Science, complete triumph over death, requires time and immense spiritual growth. I have by no means spoken of myself, I cannot speak of myself as 'sufficient for these things.' I insist only upon the fact, as it exists in divine Science, that man dies not, and on the words of the Master in support of this verity, —words which can never 'pass away till all be fulfilled.'"

Again our critic is at sea in trying so elaborately to prove that Christian Scientists deny the existence of sickness. They do not deny it on the plane of mortal belief, but deny its reality and heal the sick on the basis of that denial and the correlative affirmation, supported by the Bible, that God made all that was made, and "behold, it was very good." The clergyman takes it upon himself to decide that "the church should not expect divine healing." This idea he derives, presumably, from the Bible, in spite of the fact that Jesus coupled with his command to teach and to preach, the command to heal, and in the face of the further fact that healing was characteristic of the activities of the Christian church for nearly three centuries after the crucifixion. Christian Science does not so interpret the Scripture, and its adherents are being liberally blessed in their efforts to put into practice all of the commands of the Master, healing diseases of every name and nature by spiritual means alone, as may be verified from the testimonies given at the Wednesday evening meetings and published in the Christian Science Sentinel and The Christian Science Journal.

Our critic protests at the acceptance of present salvation by Christian Science, but asserts that salvation may be had in the future. Paul took a different view of the matter when he declared, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." Enough has been said to make it clear that the views of this clergyman, however valuable they may be on other matters, can prove only misleading and unprofitable to any one who wishes to be correctly informed regarding the teachings of Christian Science. The text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," and other works by Mrs. Eddy, which are to be found in practically every public library, are a reliable source of information on this religion which is so vital that in less than fifty years it has practically encircled the globe, through the reinstatement, as Mrs. Eddy says in the Manual of The Mother Church (p. 17), of "primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing."

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