Articles

Extracts from a paper on Christian Science written by Dr. Hildegarde H.

ONE evening as the problem of Life was pressing hard upon me, and I was contemplating the awful seeming of the unreal, and trying to catch a glimpse of the real, it seemed to me that a vast ocean rolled before me, and on it were many ships. Some were gaily dressed with streamers flying, and all on board seemed joyous and gay.

I DO not think, of course, that any one has espoused the Cause of Christian Science unless he is teaching and demonstrating that "these signs shall follow them that believe: in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and, if they drink any deadly thing it shall not not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. " To really espouse the Cause of the Science of Christianity means nothing less than a fulfilment of Jesus' last prayer, that all who truly believe, that is, who can grasp and understand the Christ-Mind, shall find that the man of God's creating is one with Christ, even as He is one with the Father.

"BEHOLD , I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people," —words of hope, health, and Life, to those in greatest need, to the sick or injured one, vainly opposing the verdict of death as the only remedy for suffering, to the helpless victim of evil habit, to the sin-sick outcast, to the disheartened and sorrowing one who "has nothing left to live for," to him, who, having no sure foundation of Truth to stand on, sees with dismay the ravages of contagion, crime, and disaster, sees the growing contempt for law, chastity and human rights, sees the failure of man's inventions, material, legislative and doctrinal, to make men truly healthy, honest, good and pure No thinker can fail to see that these discordant conditions but emphasize the demand for a higher and better understanding of Good; a foundation Principle, absolute, universal, unchangeable, establishing in the heart the law of Love, that of itself destroys all evil. Impossible! Yes, manifestly so,— of mortals; but the eternal fact of God, who is Life, Truth and Love,— this is the glad message that Christian Science brings, revealing the "perfect God and His perfect creation," and enabling its followers to practically teach and demonstrate in this age, "man's dominion over all the earth," materiality, sin, sickness, and ultimately, death; and this shall be done through fulfilling the two great commandments, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," and "Love thy neighbor as thyself.

Mr. Editor: — Permit me to say through our Journal, your editorial in the August number is par excellence.

AS our Christian Science Journal now contains nearly eight hundred names of those who profess to be Christian Scientists, and as they come to us from thirty-seven States and Territories, besides from foreign lands, the question is naturally asked. Who are Christian Scientists? By consulting Webster, we find that "Christian," as we use that term, means, "one whose inward and outward life is conformed to the doctrines of Christ.

The newspaper press has of late indulged in much sneering at and criticism of Christian Science. Probably the majority of those who most severely criticize it know precious little about its foundation, purposes and results.

Sir :— The writer, who is not a member of the class called Christian Scientists, but who believes in consistency and fair play, desires, along with many others who think likewise, to know why it is that people are allowed to die under the ordinary and recognized practices of medicine at such a wholesale rate while failures to cure under mental treatment are quite rare, and when they do occur must be subjected to so much unfavorable comment, persecution and even prosecution? This prosecution, too, must be founded on evidence brought forward by the class of practitioners who are notoriously unsuccessful in their own way, and when sued for malpractice depend on the school of their kind for defence and thereby escape the punishment which, but for their confederates, would be sure to follow at the hands of justice. The plan pursued by Christian Scientists is a revival of ancient and successful methods of healing through influencing the mind, and mainly differs from ordinary medical practice in being more free from fraud.

It may not be so generally known that recent post-mortem examinations of the bodies of the blind reveal the fact that in the nerves at the ends of the fingers well-defined cells of gray matter had formed, identical in substance and in cell formation with the gray matter of the brain. What does this show? It proves that a man can think not alone in his head but all over his body, and especially in the great nerve centers like the solar plexus, and the nerve ends, on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet.

The words of this beautiful hymn suggest such a train of thought, that one knows not where to begin; but the word Bethany on the page means much. What a heavy cross the sisters of Lazarus were called to bear there, but had they seen the end from the beginning— the raising of the loved one— might they not, and truly have sung, "e'en though it be a cross that raiseth me," for surely they did go higher in seeing the power of God made manifest when Life was demonstrated to them.