The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-01-29
FINE LECTURE
IS DELIVERED
BYDR. RATHvON
MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF Lee
TuREsHIP OF FIRST CHURCH
OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, SPEAKS
IN PENSACOLA.

- 4dl 80 dAA kCAy APRA OO@0S~A'~
dience heard an excellent lecture last
night in the San Carlos auditorium by
DIR. william r. Rathvon, of Boston.
member of the board OF lectureship of
the First Church of Christ, Scientist,
who reached the city yesterday.
christian Science was the subject
Of the lecture. and the speaker in his
Introductory remarks said that Chris
tan Science had but one text book,
Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures" by Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy.
He said it had been asserted by some
that Christian Scientists place their
text book above the Bible as the guide
to righteousness. which was emphat-
ically denied by DR.. Rathvon, who said
no one could honestly make this as
sertion who has read the book care
fully, and he gave the following as the
first of q series of tenets of the Chris
tian Science religion:
"As adherents of truth we take the
inspired word of the Bible as our suf-
ficient guide to eternal life"
DR.. Rathvon then said:
what more emphatic and explicit
negation Of such a charge could be de-
manded7
THE truths Of Christian Science DO
not originate in the book Science and
Health. They find expression there but
their origin is in God. They have al
ways existed and will forever exist.
What effect, then, it may be asked,
does the study of this book have upon
those who have previously been Bible
students? Does 1t supplant the Bible
in their reverence and admiration? Is
the book Of books less precious to them
than before? The answer is, No. On
the other hand Science and Health
harmonizes many seeming incongruities
in the Bible which have long perplexed
layman and theologian; 1t explains ap-
parent contradictions; It discloses un-
expected riches; it gives new signif1-
canoe to favorite passages, and brings
neglected ones into favor.
1.-THE study and application Of It's
teachings by those who have had little
or no familiarity with the Scriptures
has made them Bible students and
Bible lovers The one time atheist,
the scoffer and the blasphemer are
finding the gospel treasure house OF
10Y and consolation whose untried
doors had been barred against them
until unlocked by the key forged by
the hands of a gentle woman who loved
all mankind. No other book in mod
ern times has made 50 many Bible
readers.
Knew Mrs. Eddy Well.
ut has fallen to my lot to have
known its author intimately In the last
few years of her earthly activity. One
November day in 1908, Mrs. Eddy
sailed me to her side from my home
In Colorado to become a member Of
that historic household at Chestnut
Hill which she once publicly desig-
mated the happiest group Of Christian
Scientists on earth I was privileged
to share her daily counsels for more
than two years, and from the time of
my first half hours heart-to- heart talk
with her, down to the afternoon, when
standing at her side 1 saw her mar
velous hands shape her last written
words. God is my 1ife.' I have never
wavered in my conviction that she has
been the chosen evangel of truth, in
trusted with those good tidings Of
great joy that have been waiting mans
readiness since the days when Jesus
trod the dusty fields of Syria, and
sailed the blue waters OF Galilee.
"I could by the hour recite to you
incidents of Mrs. Eddy's wisdom and
sagacity. of her courage and steadfast-
ness, of her wit and humor, of her
love for little children and her delight
In the beautiful, of the inexpressible
charm Of her manner and the eloquence
of her voice, but 1t is not OF these
things that she would have me speak.
Disregard Her Personality.
1T was her desire--almost daily ex-
pressed-that her followers should dis
regard her personality and address
their thought TO the things Of God
which she has disclosed to them. She
would have as study her books and
not her personality. She would have
us know her by what she wrote and
not by how she looked. Years ago she
Instructed her students to follow her
only as she followed Christ, and though
she was a rare leader she was an ideal
follower of all that is truly good.
Mans comprehension of the prob
lens of life Is to be measured by his
understanding of God. He holds to
contrary and widely divergent beliefs
about God and hence his interpreta-
lions of life are conflicting and dis
cordant. IF he comedies to God the
primal cause of all being. illimitable
power - omnipotence and illimitable
knowledge and in the
next breath attributes to Him the af-
flictions and disasters of human expe-
rfence, he is setting up god of good
and evil. of benevolence and cruelty,
whom he may try to love but is bound
to fear.
The anthropomorphic idea of God
as man-like being of human at
tributes and qualities enormously
magnified, a heritage OF mythology,
handed down to US through genera
tons of orthodoxy, is repudiated in
Christian Science. For its definition
of God, Christian Science consistently
turns to the Scriptures.
A Demonstrable Religion.
Christian Science stands before the
world as demonstrable religion, one
| that is to be lived, not merely believed
The standard of proficiency for the
Christian Scientist is not how much
| he believes, but how much of that be-
lief he is using in his daily life. in his
| dealings with his fellow men and in
the sanctity of his innermost thoughts.