The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-11-13
FAITH CURES.
What Christian Science
Means to It's Devotees.

AS a general rule, all movements
which have had to do with radically
changing any of the time honored be-
liefs peculiar to all countries and peo-
pies have advanced and grown slowly
but steadily during years of bitter
strife. and the very fact that they have
been able to withstand the criticism
and abuse, the opposition and ridicule
Of unbelievers has made their growth
substantial. This is as true of relig-
ious, as it is of any social or political
movement the groundwork or base of
which is something new, something
that the people at large do not for a
time understand.
The recent DEATH Of the famous news
paper correspondent and author, Har-
old Frederick, who was attended in his
last illness by christian science
hea1ers, has served to remind the peo-
pie of several countries that there is
growing up among them a sect which,
although but about thirty years old in
this country, is nevertheless welding a
considerable power among a large cir
Gle of believers. Although Of many
years growth, Christian science is al
most unknown to any except those who
have experienced it, and the literature
on the subject is almost confined to
one book which the Scientists consider
their preacher.
Christian science may be said to COM
prehend both a belief and a power all
though the claimed source of each is
the same, in Christ. 1t is generally
supposed that the members of the sect
rely upon the efficiency of prayer and
the power of divine assistance to effect
cures.
Although many scott at and deride
everything pertaining to Christian sci
ence, the sect year by year increases in
strength and is today considerable of
a power in the land. What then are
the beliefs and what is the source of
power whence the Christian science
believer gains his strength?
Very briefly, Christian science, as
claimed by it's devotees, is the teach
ings of Jesus understood and followed,
or in other words, it is truth UNDER
stood and lived out in daily life. The
Christian scientist maintains that the
Holy Scriptures teach us that God is
truth Truth is that which is always
the same, can never change, the one
supreme being, the all powerful, that
which created all things. He who
made all things that were made and
made them good. Believers in this
faith understand and are firmly con-
WINGED that to be free means to be free
in the full sense; free from sickness as
well as from sin; that if God can heal
the sinner he can heal the sick or else
the sick are more hopelessly lost than
the sinner.
The recognized code of the Christian
science church is the Bible in connec-
ton with a work called Science and
HEALTH the latter of which may be
Of oil he
levers. 1t is to them an eXpositor of
the Bible, and can only be used in con-
nection with it, 1t has been several
times enormously stated that the
Christian Scientists did not hold any
biblical belief, and that the book,
Science and Health" was their bible,
sunersading the Christian bible This
textbook Of the scientists is the al
legged revelation made to Mrs. Mary
Baker G. Eddy at Concord. n. H, In
the year 1866 Although the claim has
been made that another person was
the founder of the sect, there can be
no doubt that this revelation made to
Mrs. Eddy and her persistent work in
the years subsequent was the begin
ming of what is today known as Chris
tian Science.
1t is not the RELIGIOUS belief held by
this class or sect of people. but the as
serted power of healing disease by sim
pie faith that has attracted attention
and made them the subject of ridicule
and persecution. They work in a more
or less mysterious way, their methods
are unknown except to those within the
fold, and it is this secrecy that has
caused apprehension among those who
do not fully understand the beliefs en-
tertained and the methods employed in
effecting cures.
In conversation with the writer, one
Of the leaders Of the order in this city
and herself believer and healer In the