WHEN the advertising association of a large city was asked by a body of representative ministers recently, to explain the small attendance at their churches, these business men informed themselves of the facts in their own businesslike way, and expressed their resultant convictions in terms which merit careful attention. While much of their criticism can but bring pain and humiliation, it is expressed in that kindly way which marks the rebuke of a friend. "A reproof," saith the proverb, "entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool," and Christian Scientists are taught to accept merited rebuke with the spirit commended by their Leader when she speaks of herself as ever being most grateful for it.
Standing for an enterprise which is of assertedly vital significance to the general welfare, and to the support of which unnumbered men of experienced business capacity have largely contributed, those who are responsible for the conduct of this enterprise need not be surprised if it is subjected to the same practical tests, as to the wisdom and efficiency of its methods, which are applied to other undertakings. If the gospel which the common people heard so gladly when preached by Christ Jesus and his immediate disciples, and which accomplished such wondrous results in their healing and uplift, no longer makes effective appeal to the many, the blame must certainly lie either with men or methods. Human nature and need remain the same, while divine law can but be as immutable as its source; and when intelligent men note, as they certainly do, the striking contrast between the phenomena of Christian faith in the first century and the results attending much of the preaching and prayer of today, they necessarily conclude, as these critics have declared in current commercial terms, that while Christian people "have the greatest proposition on earth," they evidently "aren't acquainted with their stock," do not meet the expectations their advertising warrants, and "are not delivering the goods"!
This kind of address may seem harsh and decidedly unreverential, but truth is never considerate for error, though kind and compassionate to the erring. The demand made of professed Christians that they shall be consistent and wise, and that they shall exemplify these virtues both as individuals and as an organization, is altogether reasonable; and that it is insisted upon today as never before, is one of the most significant signs of the times. Our Leader's recognition of her personal obligation as a Christian believer to meet this demand, was the secret of that spirit of inquiry which led her to investigate many fields and phases of religious thought before her discovery of Christian Science. When she had proved for herself that spiritual healing is a present possibility, she was practically equipped and authorized to say to every needy heart, "Truth casts out error now as surely as it did nineteen centuries ago" (Science and Health, p. 495).
