The statement is often made that Christian Science is a "Woman's Religion," and it is said in a way that would carry with it a slur and a suggestion that by virtue of its being so dubbed it would fully justify one wasting no thought or time upon it; and would also result in securing its everlasting doom.
If it be the truth, what augurs it whether it was first voiced by a man or a woman? It were as though one should object to partaking of the Elixir of Life because it was handed to him in a tin cup instead of a wooden chalice. Has the man been so pure and spiritual a custodian and bearer of the Ark of the Covenant that he is the only one fitted to enter the Shekinah and bring back to the sick and suffering world the message of God?
A "Woman's Religion," forsooth! If by a religion is meant a certain set of theories, dogmas, etc., about life, then is Christian Science not a religion. It is not speculative, tentative, or experimental; it is positive, absolute, demonstrable. If by a religion is meant the truth about God, the truth about Life, the truth about man, etc., then is Christian Science not a religion, but it is Religion, and the entirety of it. Then it is not a Woman's Religion, but a woman's discovery and demonstration of Religion.
If it were even the question of a woman's attempting to construct a religion, why should that be subject to a slur of condemnation? Is it not about time that man, with a sense of humility, invited woman to try her hand at what he has most signally failed to accomplish, that is, at constructing a religion which will result in something more than have all the religions which man has tried to construct on the basis of that simple faith of Jesus Christ? How about fair play? Let the woman try her hand, and if she succeeds, withhold not the meed of praise at least, if you cannot give discipleship. Candidly, in the issue, is not the piece de resistance the fact that Christian Science is proving itself by "signs following" rather than that it is a woman's religion? One there was who spake with authority and the stamp of his authority was that the blind received their sight, the lepers were cleansed, the deaf were made to hear, and the dead were raised to newness of life. The accusation was that he made himself equal with God and proclaimed himself a king; his nominal accusation was written on his cross of crucifixion, but the real cause of his condemnation and persecution was the unquestionable and unanswerable works which he did.
The history of religion, and specifically of the Christian religion, has been largely the story of woman's aspiration, faithfulness, devotion, and demonstration; she remained at the cross when most of the men had deserted it; she was the first at the tomb in the early morning when the men, discouraged, planned to go back to their nets and their fishing. She has been the spiritual inspiration of the church in all ages, and why should not the divine Mind manifest in her that revelation for which God has been for ages fitting her? And in this material, grasping age when greed seems so universally to dominate the man, God must perforce find in woman the channel to voice the Truth to a sick and suffering world, struggling in the grasp of Mammon.
But Mary Baker G. Eddy does not claim to be the author of Christian Science,—God is the author of that: she us simply the Discoverer to this age of Christian Science and is the author of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures"—the revelation of Christian Science. She does not claim to be the author or inventor of a religion, she simply proclaims her demonstration of religion. If you believe not her, believe for the very works' sake.
The truth of Christianity is not in that it was enunciated by Jesus Christ, its authority is not because he was the Son or sent of God, or that he did "mighty works." No! none of these things: the virtue of Christianity and its imperishableness is that it is the positive response to the question "What is Truth?" The eternal Truth was what gave Jesus "authority" and power to speak as never man spake before. It was the Truth manifested in Jesus which made him the Christ and did the "mighty works." Jesus was not the authority for Truth, but Truth was the authority for Jesus. The virtue and validity of Christian Science does not depend upon Mrs. Eddy and is in no way assumed by her; the primal question is: "Is it the Truth?" Any attack upon her falls forceless and harmless against Christian Science if it be the Truth.
I was in the pulpit twelve years. The year before I left the pulpit my wife was healed after six years of invalidism—having been pronounced incurable by physicians wherever she went. Becoming convinced that there was something in Christian Science I left the pulpit and took up the study of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," and tried to understand Christian Science. I found myself unable to accept Mrs. Eddy, and I tried to separate Science and Health and Mrs. Eddy. The more I tried the more Mrs. Eddy seemed to pervade every part of it, until at last my opposition to her overshadowed all else, and I abandoned the whole thing in bitterness, anger, and disgust. After several years of struggle it began to dawn upon my consciousness that possibly it was my own conceit and some jealousy, with a few other pungent ingredients mixed in, which were making Mrs. Eddy the mark for my spleen and keeping me out of the Truth. I took Science and Health again, locked my old self-conceit in a dungeon where it could not be seen or heard, and a new light dawned upon me. I saw the message and became grateful to the messenger who brought me the message and showed me the way of deliverance out of the bondage to self. From that moment my life changed and my demonstration came. Then I felt that I must see this woman whom I had so misunderstood, and in half a year the demonstration was made and I journeyed over a thousand miles to see her. I saw an unpretentious, bright, sweet-faced woman who simply had no time to receive the suggestion of homage or adoration, who claimed no special prerogative by virtue of the message she had delivered, except the right to watch over that message so that it be not misused or misapplied; a woman whose simple pronouncement is "Love," whose only and constant command is "Love." This indeed struck me as a rare virtue. Where should I find a man so divinely blessed who would be less self-centred and more fitted for this revelation?
I turned back to "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," and I heard the message, and the voice of the messenger was delightful to me because it gave the message without any sense of intrusion on the part of the messenger, but there was in my soul a deep sense of gratitude to the messenger.
The child, through stumbling, learns to walk erect. Every fall is a fall upwards.—
