Religious test

“ The gods we stand by are the gods we need and can use, the gods whose demands on us are reinforcements of our demands on ourselves and on one another. What I then propose to do is, briefly stated, to test saintliness by common sense, to use human standards to help us decide how far the religious life commends itself as an ideal kind of human activity. If it commends itself, then any theological beliefs that may inspire it, in so far forth will stand accredited. If not, then they will be discredited, and all without reference to anything but human working principles. ”

“ Anciently the followers of Christ, Truth, measured their Christianity by the control it gave them over sickness, sin and death; whereas the more modern forms of religion leave out the first proof, and substitute observances for a test of the latter; but we are learning slowly, as the centuries pass, to leave forms and doctrines, and require the primitive tests of Christianity. ”

“ Although much is being made of this phase of pragmatism, the test is as old as the race, and verified by Scripture, for Jesus said, "By their fruits ye shall know them." However, the burden of testing claims has never before been so great, for the world was never so filled with new and strange theories as now. And these modern systems that deny true salvation in Christ are growing mightily under this test. They offer comparatively little and are usually able to meet their claims. "Christian Science" does, to some extent, change the condition of mind and body. ”

“ But, my lords, I beg leave to say that tests are no security against any man. It is impossible ever to have looked at the history of religion in any state, or at any period, and not to feel that the test laws have been the weakest ground upon which any faith could stand. Were tests any security for the heathen religion against the vital spirit of the heaven-descended energy of Christianity? ”

“ If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or whether I speak from Myself. To follow this formula in our search for common ground is to be utterly scientifie, for it is the laboratory method of experiment. The true Church has always believed and received the Bible as the inerrant Word of God, not because, in blind credulity, she has followed some irrational and unscientific impulse, but precisely because she has been scientific enough to work by this formula and carry the laboratory test to its final analysis. ”

“ The aim of our heavenly Father is not so much to take it away, as to enable us so to bear it that it may become a blessing. Thus he would test our faith, develop its strength, prove its reality and efficiency. But why should faith be thus tested? why not rather the whole Christian character? Because faith is the root of character; and as is the root, so is the tree. The test of faith is practically the test of character, and in this fact lies the obvious value of the test. It is the law of the universe, and an essential factor in the process of our salvation. ”

“ There are certain fundamental truths that are beyond all necessity of testing, and which transcend the powers of human reason to fully comprehend. The direction is addressed to the Church, to those who possess the Spirit by whose help the test is applied. The utterances of the Spirit may be tested in their relation to the glory of Jesus, and by the influence of the truths uttered upon the moral and spiritual life of the teacher and his followers. Having proved the truth, hold fast that which is good, as with both hands and against all who would forcibly wrest it from you. ”

“ As the physician of the body would endeavour to restore the patient to his normal state, so too the true physician of the soul would labour to banish the religious fever from the mind of his patient, and to plant therein the sure principles of spiritual health—a clearly-defined dogmatic belief, and a deep conviction of the sinfulness of sin. We all need to be from time to time reminded that true religion is not a mere effervescence, not a vain blaze, but a reality which reflects something of the unchangeable glory of its divine Author. ”

“ Do not think that, in laying so much stress on "working," I ignore the difference between the propositions of Natural Science and those of Religion, or forget how much more ready and convincing verification is in the former than in the latter. The means of verifying may differ in different ages: why not? In the earliest period of Christianity, men had, as a test, the contrast between the heathen and the Christian life ”

“ Likewise the truths underlying Christian Science have been disdained by medical schools and medical experts, just as its spiritual truth has been disdained by religious leaders, until it has grown to such strength that laymen are almost forced to question the sincerity and the efficacy of the conventional in religion as well as medicine. ”

“ He will ask us who we are, will question us concerning our belief, and will exhort us to repent and to abjure our religion, proposing various tests to us; he will, for example, show us an image of Manes, commanding us to spit upon it and to renounce him; he will command us to sacrifice a pheasant. Whoever will do so will save his life; whoever refuses will be put to death. When you are called and put to the test you will say who you are and what your belief is, according as you feel prompted. But did you not say you were a parasite? Now, such people have an ample store of anecdotes and stories ”

“ I don't believe the majority of them know much about either the Bible or prayer. With my little smattering of geology I should think it very presuming to give an opinion contrary to that held by the best authorities in that science; and I think it very presuming in those who rarely look into a Bible and never pray, to tell those who read and pray daily that they don't know what they do know. Then again, scientific people often apply gross material tests to matters of faith and religious experience. ”

“ We must have the testimony of the Lord Jesus to enable us to discern between truth and error, light and darkness, him who is of God, and him who is not of God, and to know how to place everything where it belongs. That is the only way to be a scientific Christian; there is no other method or process which will actually school a person so that he can become a Saint of God, and prepare him for a celestial glory; he must have within him the testimony of the spirit of the Gospel. ”

“ If the sick person is a Christian, the question then becomes, Is he at peace, submissively, restfully trusting all in God’s hand? If not, ascertain what is preventing this, and if possible, help the soul back to God. If he is not a Christian, seek to know what prevents him from becoming one, and lead him if possible to Christ. But use a careful discrimination, distinguishing clearly between the true and false in religious experience, and avoid mere loose exhortations to come to Christ, which leave unexplained what Christ is, and what He has done, and what it is to come to Him. ”

“ Unprepossession and Religious Conviction. Is it possible for the Christian scientist who adheres to his faith, to be unprepossessed, as demanded by science? According to all that has been said hitherto about the relation of science to faith, the answer can be only in the affirmative. The believing Christian and Catholic looks upon the doctrines of faith taught him by revelation and the Church as an established truth. What to me is true and certain I can take for the true and certain basis and standard of my thought. ”

“ In other words, he will maintain the primacy of spiritual truth by allowing no interpretation of scientific facts that will cast either denial or doubt on those fundamental doctrines which he now knows are true, because they have been supernaturally verified to him through the laboratory test of faith. ”

“ I am more than ever convinced of the priceless value of the Gospel as an elevating, purifying power in human hearts, no matter what is the color of the skin. Judging medicines by their results, we say that this or that is a specific for certain diseases; so judging Christianity by its results, as applied not only to different individuals but to different races, it is a specific for the deep-seated disease of sin everywhere. ”

“ The meeting of spiritual tests is but the proving of spiritual capacity to meet other tests. To our Lady it might well seem that the acceptance of the conditions of the Incarnation was the severest test that God could assign her ”

“ It took many centuries to impress the leaders of the church with the fact that the religion of Jesus Christ, like the science of medicine or the natural sciences, was capable of development to an almost indefinite extent; and it is owing to our appreciation of this important fact that we moderns look with so much more lenient eyes upon the distressing, not to say cruel, events of mediaeval ecclesiastical history. ”

“ Let, then, all anxious but sincere doubters turn to Catholic doctors and Catholic books; let them hear the church—the old, calumniated church, the column of truth, the heir of the apostles, of the prophets, of the patriarchs, and the spouse of Christ. She will teach them how to reconcile reason with faith and religion with science, so as to believe rationally and consistently whatever God has revealed, while preserving the fullest liberty of judgment in regard to all other things. ”

“ Science gives to all of us telegraphy, electric lighting, and diagnosis, and succeeds in preventing and curing a certain amount of disease. Religion in the shape of mind-cure gives to some of us serenity, moral poise, and happiness, and prevents certain forms of disease as well as science does, or even better in a certain class of persons. Evidently, then, the science and the religion are both of them genuine keys for unlocking the world's treasure-house to him who can use either of them practically. ”

“ The test of religion, the final test of religion, is not religiousness, but Love. I say the final test of religion at that great Day is not religiousness, but Love; not what I have done, not what I have believed, not what I have achieved, but how I have discharged the common charities of life. ”

“ The world is hardly beyond the beginning of medical discoveries, yet they have already taken from theology what was formerly its strongest province—sweeping away from this vast field of human effort that belief in miracles which for more than twenty centuries has been the main stumbling-block in the path of medicine; and in doing this they have cleared higher paths not only for science, but for religion. ”

“ Now, it so happens that a number of prominent original investigators in modern science were not only thoroughly orthodox in their religious beliefs, but were even faithful clergymen and guiding spirits for others in the path of Christianity. ”

“ This generation prides itself upon testing all things by an utilitarian test, and about every system says:—‘Well, let us see it working.’ And I do not think that Christianity need shrink from the test. With all its imperfections, the long procession of holy men and women who, for nineteen centuries, have been marching through history, owning Christ as their Conqueror, and ascribing all their goodness to Him, is a witness to His power to sway and to satisfy men, the force of whose testimony it is hard to overthrow. ”

“ Now the exact adaptation of the Bible religion to the curative indications suggested by the intellectual, moral, and physical infirmities of human nature, which every one who understands it cannot fail to perceive,--proves that the mind which framed it is divine; and that the religion of the Scriptures, and the constitution of man, are the work of one and the same Creator. God is truly the only wise Physician, whose practice is based upon perfect knowledge ”

“ They deny disease, yet "Science and Health" and the midweek experience meetings have testimonials of disease cured by Christian Science.
There is much truth in Christian Science. People are helped by it; people are sincere in their belief in it, but that Christian Science is all truth, all-powerful, all-right, all-sufficient, cannot be proven.
What about the people who have gone hence before Christian Science was ever heard of?
The theological religion of to-day differs radically in practice and belief from what it was fifty years ago. ”

“ The scientific sense in man never asserted its claim so strongly; the propensity of religion to neglect those claims, and the peril and loss to it from neglecting them, never were so manifest. The license of affirmation about God and his proceedings, in which the religious world indulge, is more and more met by the demand for verification. ”

“ Religion and science, viewed broadly, do not clash so much as they combine. To the devout and deeply studious mind, the marvels of science are the truths of religion made manifest. But this is what the clergy seem to miss persistently out of all their teaching and preaching. ”

“ Why then do Christians try to obey the Scriptures, and war against “the world, the flesh, and the Devil”? Why invoke the divine aid to enable them to leave all for Christ, Spirit? Why do they use this phraseology, and yet deny Christian Science, when it teaches precisely this thought? The words of Divine Science find their immortality in deeds, for their Principle heals the sick and spiritualizes humanity.
On the other hand, the Christian opponents of Christian Science neither give nor offer any proofs that their Healing omitted. Master's religion can heal the sick. ”

“ Then twelve men testified; now the nations of the world, united in one body by faith and by baptism, take up and perpetuate that testimony. And part of that testimony is this—that when the Son of God ascended into heaven, as they saw Him ascend, He fulfilled His promise that He would send the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Ghost, to abide with them forever; that when one divine Teacher had gone up to His Father's throne, another should come in His stead; that the world should never be without a divine Person and a divine Teacher in the midst of it ”