Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/805

* CHRISTIANS. 707 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. spurious divinity, and Christ a false teacher; that the world was created by seven angels of darkness who inhabit the seven i)lanels, and there is also a kingdom of light sujierintended by good angels. Behind these kingdoms is a region of splendor, and there is the supreme original being, Kerha, and the female principle. Ajar. There are eontlicts lietween the worlds of darkness and of light, but light is to triumph. The Jlosaic and t'liristian systems of religion came from the region of darkness; but that of John the Baptist from the region of light. Baptism is the means of introducing men to the kingdom of light. John was married, but his children sprang from the Jordan. These people practice polygamy. and forbid mourning for the dead. They have live sacred books, of which four are dcictrinal, and one treats of astrolog>-. It is supposed that 200 years ago they numbered about 100,000, but now their number is estimated at only about 1500. Consult E. Babelon, Lcs Mcndaitcs, leur histoire et leiirs doctrines (Paris, 1882). CHRISTIANSAND, kres'te-an-siind. An episcopal town of southern Norway, situated at the mouth of the Torridalself, in the Bay of Christiansand (Map: Xorway, B 8). The town exports lumber, fish, lobsters, hides, copper, and iron. Its harbor is excellent, and is ver^- much used as a haven in stormy weather. There is reg- ular communication by steamer with the rest of Xorway, and with Germany. Kngland. and Den- mark. The town is the seat of a United States consular agent. Its fortifications have become useless, because of the fortress built at Flekkerii, 5 miles distant. Population, in 1891, 12,813; in 1901, 14,566. Christiansand was founded by Christian IV. in 1641, and was partially de- stroyed by fire in 1S02. CHRISTIANSBITRG, kris'ehanz-bflrg. The county-seat of Montgomery County, Va., 30 miles southwest of Roanoke, on the Norfolk and Western Railroad (Map: Virginia, D 4). It is known as a summer resort, and is the centre of a large stock-raising district. The town owns and operates its electric-light plant. Settled about 1770, Christiansburg was incorporated in 1832, and is governed at present under a revised char- ter of 1854. Population, in 1000, 659. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. A term given by !Mrs. ilary Baker Eddy, of Concord, X. H., to a religio-scientific discovery which she declares to have been made by her in the year 1866. It purports to reveal the science of God, and to declare the actual truth about Deity: also the science of life and of man, both of which have been regarded as a ni.vstery. It professes to be the science of the divine Mind, or Omnis- cience, and the sciAice of .Jesus' mission and teaching — the science of Christianity. Christian Science afllrms the divine individu- ality or infinite spiritual personality of God, and denies all man-made conceptions of Him as a finite personality of anthropomorphic nature or presence. It declares that God can onl.v be spiritually or supersensibly discerned, and that the so-called material senses cannot cognize or comprehend God. In defining God, according to Christian Science, Mrs. Kddy adds to the gen- erally accepted synonyms for Deity, such as Life, Truth, l^ove, and Spirit, the further declaration that God is the Divine Principle of all true being, meaning thereby that He is the creative prin- ciple, the cause, origin, source, basis, foundation, government, and law of all that has actual and permanent existence. She also declares that tiod is Substance, meaning thereby that Spirit, Mind, is the only actual, immortal substance or reality. In defining God as Good, she holds that tlic divine consciousness includes only the con- sciousness of good. She repudiates all assump- tion that God has created or consented to any form of evil, sin, sickness, or death, or that the fundamental law of being provides for the in- ception and continuance of sickness. She de- clares that all of God's laws mean and provide for life, and life only. Christian Science purports to solve the mys- tery (if evil. It denies the personality of evil as devil, and avers that evil has no real entity or immortality. Sin or evil is a negation — a wrong sense of the truth of being — a wrong sense of that which is eternally right. Christian Science denies the supposed naturalness of sin, sickness and death, and declares them to be abnormities or monstrosities of the 'carnal mind,' or 'mortal mind,' as it is termed in Christian Science — tlio paraphernalia of an ignorant and defiravcd sense of existence which can be mas- tered and lawfully abolished. Christian Science acknowledges the Messiah- ship of the divine Christ as the manifested me- diatorial link between sinning and sullering mor- tals and the divine Love, God. It declares that Jesus exhibited and taught the power of God to heal and to save, and that Jesus' works, instead of being unnatural and in contravention of law, were divinely natural, scientific, and in demon- stration of divine order. It claims to remove the entire ministry of Christ from the realm of impenetrable mystery, and to present it as a lawful manifestation of the divine immanence — as the availability and adaptability of the truth or science of being. It pronounces sin and sick- ness the works of the devil, which .lesus came to destroy, and declares that salvation through Christ, hich He demonstrated, naturally in- cludes the healing of the sick as well as the reforiuation of the sinner. In reference to the cure of disease, it asserts that the primary cause of sickness is to be found in the mental realm. It declares that fear, sin, superstition, ignorance, and a depraved, erro- neous, fatal philosophy constitute the primal cause of bodily degradation and depletion and have involved the himian race in niortality, and the statement is made prophetically that when the world fully learns this fact, it will, for the first time, begin to cope scientifically with and permanently master disease. 11 declares as a scientific postulate that 'all manner of diseases' are curable and that the practice of Christian Science is attesting this statement by healing all of the diseases heretofore regarded as incur- able, such as malignant cancers, etc. As a religious denomination, Christian Scien- tists believe in God. in the inspiration of the Scriptures, in the divinity of Christ, u the svi- jiremacy of God as Spirit, in prayer without ceas- ing, and in all the essentials of Christianity, and claim that the prime office of (Christian Science is to destroy evil and reform mankind. They believe that all evil will eventually be destroyed and be- cinue extinct. This denomination had in 1902 about seven hundred established church societies or congre-