The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-11-25

divine idea in the human form, surprising
Jesus as he surpassed Moses, and you
have in brief the doctrine of Christian
Science" This is as far from Christian
Science as night from day, and there is
nothing in the writings of Mrs. Eddy to
warrant such assumption. Mrs. Eddy
claims absolutely nothing for her person
ality except that she is the discoverer and
founder of Christian Science, and this our
friend will probably not deny She teaches
in her textbook that Jesus was the
highest human concept of a perfect
man." that he was the way-shower; that
we are to be saved not only in the flu
ture, but in the present through the
practice of his teachings. Never is the
claim made that her textbook should
take the place of the Bible or that Chris
tianity should be supplanted by Christian
| Science, but that Science and Health"
reveal the spiritual significance of the
| scriptures and make Christianity more
practical
| Or friend seems to believe that Chris
tian Scientists reject his sense of a per-
sonal Cod. OF this it is difficult to be
sure, since he has not defined what he
means by the word personal In Chris
word personal as applied to Deity. since
such term is apt to perpetuate the
, puerile conception that God is a restrict
ed being with an outlined form. We be-
lieve in the infinite individuality of God,
that He is an all-wise, self-conscious, RAJ
tional Being, unlimited and everywhere
present. We cannot accept any deflni-
ton of God which would limit Him in
any sense; and it should be remembered
that every statement OF Christian Science
is deduction from the premise that God
is Spirit Love, as the Bible teaches. The
SAVERS mission was to overcome the
world flesh, devil: to demonstrate the
truth of Being in the presence of mortals,
and to nrove the truth of his words: "It
is the Spirit that quickeneth: the flesh
profteth nothing" in order that mortals
might gain the true Science of Being,
and thereby be able to obey the scrip
tural admonition, "work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling For
| it is God which worketh in you both to
will and TO do of his good pleasure"
The first coming of Christ is the per-
sonal Jesus, healing the sick, and prov
ing the power of God; the second coming
IS the coming to human conscious
ness of the spiritual Christ; that
is the understanding of the peculiar
ideas of truth. which Jesus knew
and used in his life work, and by which
he healed the sick, cast out devils. raised
the dead. His death and resurrection
proved that God was his life: his as
cension proved that Spirit, God was his
substance, ard illustrated his statement
that 'the flesh profteth nothing. We
know from this that his death and ascen-
sion were necessary to prove certain ideas
concerning the science of Being, which
were essential to mortals in order that
they might follow his example. work out
the same results and reach the same end,
| at the fright hand of God" But for his
advent in the flesh the world could not
| have known the truth. Indeed. every step
of his experience from birth to ascension
was necessary to the salvation Of mortals.
DR.. Marshall makes the statement:
| How wicked the claim of this woman
who insists that she has almost Danish
| ed sickness and death from the world,
| when hospitals are crowded with weary
| patients; when the grave-diggers are
busy" Mrs. Eddy has never made any
such claim. The most that she has said
is that longevity has increased percepti-
| bly, during the past few decades, accord
| ing 10 STATISTICS, ana tnat TINS increase
! is co-existent with Christian Science.
! know of thousands of people whose lives
have been prolonged through Christian
| Science, and this in itself would decrease
the average mortality 1t has never been
claimed by Mrs. Eddy or any other Chris
tian Scientist that more than a very
small percentage of the sickness in the
world has been destroyed through Chris
tian Science. 1t has not even been claim
ed that Christian Scientists are at this
stage in their growth immune from the
discords and calamities of earth. Much
indeed has been accomplished already
through this faith, for which we are
grateful and we will continue our efforts
to trust God implicitly and to hope for
better days. Indeed we believe in final
fulfillment of the scriptures, that the
time will come when God will reign SUI
preme in all the affairs of men, and when
there will be no more sorrow, sin or
death.
Sincerely yours,
ALFRED FARLOW.