Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-04-04
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
EXPOUNDS RELIGION
GALILEAN TAUGHT
MRS. EDDy'S CHURCH FOL-
LOWS BIBLES TRUTHS
Tests Required by Nazarene Are Ac-
cepted, Widows and FatherIess
Are Visited, and Healing Is
Accomplished

One of the greatest natural scientists
of the last century once declared that it
was impossible to define the word re-
ligion, inasmuch as there were probably
exactly as many definitions as there
were defners. AS a general principle,
though it must be admitted very
general principle, he may have been
right. The fact nevertheless remains
that there is in the Bible definition of
religion which should be sufficient for
Christian purposes. 1t occurs in the
epistle of James, and is contained IN
the well-known verse, Pure religion
and undefiled before God and the
Father, is this, To visit the fatherless
and widows in their affection, and to
keep himself unspotted from the
world"
The epistle of James is intensely
practical in it's conclusions. The writer
saw clearly that precept without prac-
tfse was of little value. He had no
belief whatever in faith without works,
the only attribute he could find for it
was dead" He had, however, the
strongest belief in works which were
the demonstration of faith, and this has
won for him the title of the apostle of
works. To him, consequently, the only
religion worth the name was one which
had some proof to offer of its own vi
tally. A religion, that is to say, not of
faith alone, but of faith demonstrated.
Is Test of Faith
The man. he knew, who was able to
visit the fatherless and the widow
would be the man whose faith was SUI
ficient to enable him to perform in part
the miracles of healing, which Christ
Jesus demanded as a test of faith; the
man who kept himself unspotted from
the world would be the man who had
in some measure at least succeeded in
following in Christ Jesus footsteps IN
overcoming the world.
1t was on the last night of his life
with his disciples before the crucif1xion
that Jesus made use of that expression
They had left the upper chamber, where
they had eaten their last supper to-
gether and were presumably passing
through the Temple buildings on their
way to the brook Cedron. And there,
in the gloom not merely of the eastern
night but of the depression and doubt
which must have been creeping over
them he gave them those marvellous
words of encouragement which, theology
has been trying to take back ever
since, "be of good cheer; l have over
come the world" Jesus the churches
have been insisting for centuries was
God God alone could overcome the
world; God alone could work the
miracles, or grant the temporary power
to a few individuals to repeat them
for a limited space of time. And so
human thought has been fettered with
the terrors of death and sickness, ana
it has been made impossible, until those
letters are stricken off, for man in his
nights of dread and gloom. to recognize
his God-given dominion not only over
sin but over sickness, not only over
sickness but over death.
Is Religion of Savior
Christian Science is the religion of
Christ Jesus. 1t is satisfied with moth
ing less than the promises Christ Jesus
made to humanity, 1t accepts the test
he required, and it demands the effort
to walk unfalteringly in his way, which
he demanded. The promise he made 1t
was that it should be able to overcome
the world, and so find the kingdom of
heaven not in some illimitable future,
but now and in it's midst. The test he
required was that it should demon
strate its belief by visiting the widow
and the fatherless. And the demand
he made was that it should struggle to
live his life, and that its aim should
be to become Perfect, even as your
Father which is In heaven Is perfect"
No one, it is to be supposed, mag
ines that when James spoke of the
fatherless and widows he BADLY meant
those who had lost their parents and
husbands. Even a western writer, out
side an insurance Office, would give the
phrase a wider influence than that but
the Hebrew writer, pouring out meta
phor after metaphor, swept into that
phrase all who had need of the love and
protection of God, who is Himself Love,
and under whose creation are the ever
lasting arms. Love visits those who
have need of it in love, and so vista
ton of God does not mean the horrors
of famine. pestilence and war, but the
coming to the individual consciousness
of the knowledge of Truth 'who forgiv-
eth all thy iniquities; who healeth all
thy diseases; who redemeth thy life
from destruction; who crowneth thee
with lovingkindness and tender mer-
cies; who satisfieth thy mouth with
good things so that thy youth is re-
newed like the eagles"
Walked in Truths Way
The one who can bring this healing
to the widow and the fatherless in it's
greatest power is the one who has
walked closest in the footprints of
Christ Jesus.
The religion which Christ Jesus
preached was not a mere bundle of
creeds and dogmas. 1t was the living
Truth, summed up, in his own words,
in the two great and inseparaDie COM
mandments of love for God and man.
1t was, consequently exactly what Mrs.
Eddy has described, "the demonstration
of divine Love casting out error and
healing the sick, not merely in the
name of Christ, or Truth but in dem