"There are many who forget— ministers of the gospel as well as laymen—that by prayer many cures have been accomplished—cures of bodily as well as spiritual ills. If the gospel had been properly preached, if it had been preached in its entirety, there would have been no occasion for the Christian Science Church."
These are the words of Rev. James M. Gray of Chicago, and whatever criticism of orthodox religious methods they contain must therefore be regarded as a criticism by an orthodox clergyman. Dr. Gray's recognition that the gospel is not preached in its entirety unless it includes the healing of "bodily as well as spiritual ills," is a long step toward the preaching of the complete gospel of Christ, and we hope that his plea for spiritual healing has not fallen upon deaf ears. We see no reason, however, why he should refer to the Christian Science Church in terms which indicate that he does not approve of it, notwithstanding his evident admission that it is preaching the gospel in its entirety.
Christian Science is preaching the healing gospel of the Master, and is leading men out of sin and sickness into righteousness and health. It is thus accomplishing that which is the primary object of religious teaching, if Jesus' example is to be taken as the standard, and we fail to see wherein it is subject to such criticism as Dr. Gray's language implies. He might have said, with equal propriety and corresponding logic, that there would have been no occasion for steam railroads had the earlier methods of locomotion met the needs of the traveling public; but while that statement would take rank as an axiom, we doubt if it would justify the inference that railroads have no other value than to stimulate to greater endeavor all other means of travel.
