Page:Miscellaneous Writings.djvu/219

Rh the startling inquiries, Are the Scriptures inspired? Are they true? Did Jesus mean what he said?

If this be the cavil, we reply in the affirmative that the Scripture is true; that Jesus did mean all, and even more than he said or deemed it safe to say at that time. His words are unmistakable, for they form propositions of self-evident demonstrable truth. Doctrines that deny the substance and practicality of all Christ's teachings cannot be evangelical; and evangelical religion can be established on no other claim than the authenticity of the Gospels, which support unequivocally the proof that Christian Science, as defined and practised by Jesus, heals the sick, casts out error, and will destroy death.

Referring to The Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, of which I am pastor, a certain clergyman charitably expressed it, “the so-called Christian Scientists.” I am thankful even for his allusion to truth; it being a modification of silence on this subject, and also of what had been said when critics attacked me for supplying the word Science to Christianity, — a word which the people are now adopting.

The next step for ecclesiasticism to take, is to admit that all Christians are properly called Scientists who follow the commands of our Lord and His Christ, Truth; and that no one is following his full command without this enlarged sense of the spirit and power of Christianity. “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do,” is a radical and unmistakable declaration of the right and power of Christianity to heal; for this is Christlike, and includes the understanding of man's capabilities and spiritual power. The condition insisted upon is, first, “belief;” the Hebrew of which implies understanding,