In a message to The Mother Church in 1906 Mary Baker Eddy referred to Christian Science as the higher criticism and said something of its action and fruitage. Later she answered a student's query regarding her statement, and her reply may be found in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany." In this reply she said (p. 240), "I now repeat another proof, namely, that Christian Science is the higher criticism because it criticizes evil, disease, and death—all that is unlike God, good—on a Scriptural basis, and approves or disapproves according to the word of God." What a glorious benediction mankind would receive if the above utterance of our inspired Leader were maintained in thought and deed!
A basic standard of Christian Science is strict obedience to the Golden Rule. If every temptation to judge, condemn, or harshly criticize another were subjected to the searchlight of the Sermon on the Mount, to the softening glow and wisdom of the Word of God, true healing consciousness would be continually manifested. The Master admonished (Matt. 7:1), "Judge not, that ye be not judged;" and again (Matt. 5:8), "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."'
To dwell with such messages would dispel any belief of a false sense of self claiming personal intelligence and assertiveness, which breed false criticism, condemnation. This belief often amounts to unkind judgment, which is little else than self-love complaining in self-justification. It results in dissatisfaction or frustration and tends to produce physical discords. What heals this mistaken conception? Listening to and abiding in the Word of God. Clear reasoning on the scientific basis of divine intelligence refutes false arguments and establishes the true. In this manner unkind criticism is transformed into what might be termed scientific analysis, based on some angelic message found in the Scriptures. Thus gently, quietly, and graciously is exemplified the higher criticism. It is not the spirit of human emulation which accomplishes spiritual healing, but it is the humble reflection of Love's omnipresence by which Christian Science illumines the higher criticism. This Science teaches that the Word of God has power to destroy all that is un-Godlike. It reveals man as perpetually God's reflection, manifesting health, harmony, joy, and peace.
