A student of Christian Science was once asked by an earnest inquirer, a member of another religious denomination, "What are your sacraments?" Realizing that the question referred to the use of material rites, the student replied, "In Christian Science we do not use material symbols of worship." When asked why these were omitted, he answered with a verse from the Christian Science Hymnal:
And as we rise, the symbols disappear;
The feast, though not the love, is past and gone;
The bread and wine remove, but Thou art here,
Nearer than ever, still my shield and sun.Hymn No. 108;
In considering these lines, an inquirer might ask: "Exactly what is a spiritual sacrament? What is there in Christian Science worship to replace the material symbols?"
