St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1903-02-04

levers in medicine, mind cure, faith cure
ct cetera. They chterlully accord to al
mankind the privilege which they claim
for themselves, that of choosing their
own religion and medicine.
The gentleman declares concerning
various methods of curing the sick, it is
presumption to say that God is in one
more than another II this is an admls'
sion that God is in the practice OF
Christian Science as much as lie is in the
faith OF any other Christian why does be
object to this science? | would respect
fully call bis attention to the tact that
Christian Science is based upon the
Scrptural teaching, God is Spirit" and
every statement contained in the CHRIST
ian Science textbook is a consistent de-
duction from its basic lesson. Christian
Science does not differ from the teaching
of the Master in respect to God nor from
the following text, 1T is the Spirit that
quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing"
Why should the attempt on the part OF
| Christian Scientists to heal through
| divine power in cOntradistinction to
materia medica and magnetism be con.
| demned by Christian ministers who claim
| to believe the Masters teaching g He that
believeth on me the works that do shall
he do also" Why should not Christian
Scientists and all other Christians seek
to depart from materIaity since God is
Spirit" and to be God-like, man must be
spiritual.
Christian Scientists do not deny that
the healing of the sick and the sinful
through divine Power is marvellous to
human eyes. They do not object to the
use of the word, miracle" as applied to
such demonstrations, in the sense in
which it is used in the Scriptures, and
this our friend must know. Surely he
does not believe that Christian Scientists
deny the possibility of marvellous results
from the application of the divine power.
What they deny is that such demonstra-
tons are contrary to Gods law, that
they are effected by reason of suspen-
sion thereof. OF Jesus miracles Mrs.
Eddy declares, They were not super
natural but divnely natural" Christian
Science teaches that healing the sick and
destroying sin should naturally follow
the practice of all Christians, that such
is in harmony with Gods law, not con-
trary thereto. Christian Scientists as
we'll as others believe that God created
the heavens and the earth" 1t is not
the creation which is denied by them, but
the human, erroneous Interpretation
thereof. Christian Scientists believe
8 that God made all that was made and
without Him was not anything that
~
good They do not differ from our
critic in their understanding of TIE
proposition that God created all things,
though they may differ from him in their
understanding Of the constituency of
created things. They believe that every
thing in creation from the least to the
greatest is real but is not what it seems
to the uneducated human mind. They
believe that God saw everything that He
made and behold it was very good. Evil
being no part OF Gods creation, is not an
entity, is not something, but the want OF
something, the want OF good; even as
darkness is the want OF light.
Wherein did Jesus teach specifically that
disease is real? Hesaid, Thy faith hath
made thee whole. If faith made the
daughter whole. a lack ottaith must have
been the disease or its cause. When God
in our prayers becomes to us infinitely
great, our troubles must cons quently
become inhnitessimal. Jesus regarded sin,
sickness and death as the works OF the
devil. He spoke of the devil as liar and
OF his off spring, his own" as lie. He
said of the woman Whom satan hath
hound 10 these eighteen years. 1t sat
ans band or offspring is a lie, then the
woman according to Jesus, was bound by
false claim. That false claim was be-
liet in power less than God which could
produce sickness. He did not say that
she had rheumatism. He declared she
was bound by satan. How does a de-
ceiver, a liar, bind us if not by making us
believe its lies. Did Jesus mean that the
woman was bound by material cords or
that she was in bondage to the false claim
OF satan, that pretended being which Jesus
called liar? Who will dispute the tact
that she was bound by error and Jesus
liberated her through his application of
the truth?
1t is said concerning the teaching OF
this science, "Wesmply say that it is not
at all necessary to swallow any or all OF
this in order to receive all the benefits
from a true mental science of healing"
THIS is exactly what the Egyptian ma
gicians claimed inorder to hold the child
Ten of Israel in bondage to Pharaoh.
They not only claimed to beable to do so
but actually aped the wonders which Mo-
SEES performed up to a certain point when
they tailed and declared concerning Mo