Article March 5, 1910 Issue

I have read with interest the article by the Rev. John Snyder...

Christian Register

I have read with interest the article by the Rev. John Snyder on Christian Science, and I ask for enough space to express a few thoughts concerning the matter. The denomination Mr. Snyder opposes makes it imperative to put out at the front every Christian practice and virtue the Unitarians have ever done or at present do. I think I am warranted in saying they advocate a strictly correct life, constantly and strictly adhered to. All their representative people, when judged by the standards of a good daily life, do not suffer in the least by an examination.

As regards the existence and cure of diseases, they have their opinions and views. So do we. If they differ from us, it is no more than we do from them. They think they have good and satisfactory views, and, as Mr. Snyder says, every Wednesday evening at their great meeting they give testimony and what they consider to be proof of cures. He cannot refrain, and so he ventures to attempt the belittlement of their work by charging them with having assumed they can cure cholera in hogs and blind staggers in horses. Later on, though, he says, "It is superfluous to say that the great body of Christian Scientists are honest, devoted, and sincere people." As though he had said a little too much in favor of them, he adds, "But so were the people of Salem who were bitten by the tarantula of witchcraft." Mr. Snyder has at times for many years attempted an enlightenment of these people. As named, in the year 1910 these people assemble in audiences numbering thousands weekly, and tell of cures of themselves and friends. They surely are not all of the bewildered persons and fools. Whether the cures are actual or imaginary, it matters not. As a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he." There is many a person troubled with rheumatism and kindred diseases who would consider it a blessing direct from the Almighty, and would be thankful beyond expression, if he could but imagine all pains had left him and he be permitted to continue thus till his spirit should go out of the body.

Mr. Snyder's solicitation is hardly needed. Christian Scientists do not need nor require the aid of such medical supervision as Mr. Snyder in his solicitation would, as a Christian service, provide for them. They are not unmindful of the fact that in turn scientific men have investigated and found allopathy, homeopathy, hydropathy, etc., and even mind-cure, true. Mr. Snyder's solicitation may be well meant, but I think the new denomination should not be condemned because they in turn have other methods. They should not be condemned because they think mesmerism at times has threatened to usurp authority. The Unitarians would in like manner defend themselves did they anticipate a like danger. Mr. Snyder quotes the opinion of Mrs. Eddy as long ago as 1889, more than twenty years ago. Probably she has seen no reason to change her mind up to now. Neither have we Unitarians. They appreciate the advice of Longfellow, to be "up and doing, with a heart for any fate."

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