To the Editor of The Citizen.

Sir:— Christian Scientist cannot conscientiously permit the critic who writes about Christian Science in your columns to interpret Christian Science to the readers of your esteemed paper. He "is obliged to confess that after weeks of diligent study he has not been able to comprehend" it. Christian Science is a religion of doing, not merely of saying. It is performing daily and hourly cures, here and abroad. No well-informed person, keeping abreast of the times, can any longer afford to overlook its beneficent results, but unless the critic can demonstrate that he can heal the sick and reform the sinner by Christian Science methods, his views upon the subject cannot be taken seriously. In the mean time all sincere investigators are referred to original sources.

The question of the payments received by Christian Scientists for their services is criticised by the critic, and yet, unless the whole educational and ecclesiastical organization of modern society is based on an absolutely wrong principle, Christian Scientists ought to receive some compensation for their services.

Furthermore, no service can be said to be a strictly complete action until it has produced a corresponding sense of gratitude; and this sense will naturally express itself in material things among men, who are still subject to material beliefs. As a matter of practical experience, giving without receiving tends to pauperize the recipient, as all those who have any experience in charity work have long since discovered. No one, therefore, need cavil at the small remuneration given to Christian Scientists for their work. Patients are often helped who pay nothing at all, or only a mere trifle. But, when all is said and done, no adequate money return can ever be made for the glorious spiritual awakening, and the freedom from fleshly ills which mark the true healing in Christian Science. Such blessings are beyond price, and this is the tenor of the testimonies of all those who have been thus healed.

Jesus and his apostles did not charge a fee, it is true, for that was not in accordance with the custom of the time and country in which they lived. They accepted hospitality, they were provided with board and lodging, and Jesus said expressly that "the laborer is worthy of his hire," and enjoined the apostles not to carry purse or scrip, implying that they were to live from the grateful gifts of those whom they healed physically and mentally. It is not so long since the country schoolmasters of our pioneer states taught without money payments, but received their "keep" in the families of the pupils.

The fact that Mrs. Eddy's works are copyrighted is a source of sincere satisfaction to all Christian Scientists. It is safe to say that if Mrs. Eddy had not copyrighted her works when they appeared, Christian Scientists would now be urging her to take this necessary step, in order to keep her teachings from being perverted. It is an error on the part of your critic to write that Mrs. Eddy has "photographs and souvenir spoons for sale." This particular false report has been frequently corrected in the press, but in case your readers have not seen the correction, I beg to state that at the special request of a citizen of Concord the head of Mrs. Eddy, who is probably the most prominent person in that city at the present time, was engraved upon a souvenir spoon. This was done entirely for the benefit of this citizen. Mrs. Eddy has never received a cent from the sale of these spoons. The same is true of the photographs, and it is a pity that your critic should rely upon petty gossip, which could easily be corrected by applying to Christian Scientists themselves.

Far from looking "complacently over the heads of the poor," Christian Scientists are to be found wherever their help is requested, in prisions and various charitable institutions, preparing the inmates to be truly free. They are solving the charity question upon a common-sense, Biblical basis, by teaching men and women how to dispense with charity altogether. Because the congregations in Christian Science churches may appear well dressed to your critic, he should not jump to the conclusion that there are no poor among them. Experience proves that when people are in a harmonious mental attitude, such as Christian Science produces, they are able to work with better results, and this is the experience of countless persons who are finding success, as well as health and happiness, in Christian Science. It is open to the critic to try Christian Science for himself, since it is for all richly to enjoy.

Christian Scientists know that he is criticising what he imagines Christian Science to be, and they look forward to the time when the understanding of what it really is shall come to him and bring him the same blessing which it has brought them.

Thanking you sincerely for your courtesy in publishing this letter, I have the honor of signing myself, yours very truly, W. D. McCrackan. In the Brooklyn Citizen.