A high dignitary in one of our orthodox churches, a broad-minded, generous-hearted gentleman, remarked the other day that he had read carefully "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, had pondered over it, and had reached the conviction that Mrs. Eddy had grasped and therein expounded a profound truth. With a genial smile he added, "I am not afraid of Christian Science, however, and I will tell you why. Because I believe in God, and (so far as the other denominations are concerned) I believe that God will take care of the matter. I am not afraid of any sincere searchers after truth, for I know that the truth is amply able to take care of itself." If all Christian people were as sensible, how much better it would be. This is what Christian Scientists believe—that God will take care of the matter. They do not expect that because Christian Science is a revelation of Truth, all other Christian denominations will at once declare themselves unqualifiedly for it, but they do believe that the time is sure to come when the truth of Christian Science will be recognized by all.

The Christian Science Church has, from its inception, been growing with astonishing rapidity; and in the course of this remarkable growth it has gathered into its fold many of the former attendants of other churches. These other churches should not, however, look upon Christian Science as an antagonist; on the contrary, they should extend to it their hand, as to a friend. For just as the Saviour came "not to destroy but to fulfil," so has Christian Science come not to destroy any of the good in other denominations, but, among other things, to restore one of the most vital and primarily essential features of original Christianity; namely, the healing of the sick by the word of Truth. Christian Science comes to enforce the idea that in addition to the possession of the virtue of goodness, the children of God should reflect in their bodies the health, the strength, and the abounding happiness of an all-wise, all-powerful, and all-loving creator.

This same clergyman was equally frank in his criticism of Christian Science. His objections seemed to be based chiefly upon the literary construction of the Christian Science text-book. Naturally enough, at his first reading, the use of some words, which all Christian Scientists recognize as a part of the "new tongue," had not pleased him. On this point Mrs. Eddy has said, in explaining the necessity for their use, "Apart from the usual opposition to everything new, the one great obstacle to the reception of that spirituality, through which the understanding of Mind-science comes, is the inadequacy of material terms for metaphysical statements, and the consequent difficulty of so expressing metaphysical ideas as to make them comprehensible by any reader who has not personally demonstrated Christian Science, as brought forth in my discovery. Job says, 'The ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat.' The great difficulty is to give the right impression, when translating material terms back into the original spiritual tongue" (Science and Health, p. 114).

"Why does Mrs. Eddy say 'mortal mind'?" the clergyman asked: "I cannot help but feel that she means subconscious mind." It was answered that "subconscious mind" is a term that not only could not fill the varied uses to which the term mortal mind is put in Science and Health, but it does not mean at all the same thing. Mortal mind seems to itself to be both conscious and sub-conscious, but its distinguishing characteristic is its temporal character, its mortality. The temporal attributes of erring mortal mind, Mrs. Eddy has placed in clear contradistinction to the attributes of divine Mind, the individual ideas of God. It is no doubt for the sake of exactness that this term mortal mind, and other terms of like unfamiliarity, have been employed in Science and Health. In securing the requisite exactness a departure from the common usage of words was necessary.

It is here that Christian Science parts company with much faulty thinking of our day. Some months ago a correspondent in a semi-religious magazine asked "where the line shall be drawn between experiences that may be either supernatural or psychological in their nature." "When I pray," he said, "and find peace of mind, it seems to me that my condition can be accounted for simply by mental processes. Where does God come in?" The editor's reply was, "Everywhere. Between the faith that perceives God ... in all experiences and the unfaith that perceives Him in none, we see no middle ground ... the prayer is divine, and the answer is divine ... what the mind does, God does; for man has no power apart from God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being." Such a statement is open to serious criticism. If it were unqualifiedly true that what the human mind does, God does, we should have to hold God responsible for the acts of criminals and for the crime of the world. Such inaccuracies of expression are obviated in Christian Science sometimes by the use of unfamiliar words, with which more exactness can be obtained. Christian Science would qualify the preceding statement by saying that good thoughts alone are a reflection of God's thoughts; that we are to distinguish between what Mind does for us and what mortal mind seems to do for us, as we distinguish between good and bad, between light and darkness, between reality and illusion; that the sinful imagery of the evil-minded can never properly be named, or recognized as thought, nor ever properly be placed in the same category with the real thoughts of those whose obedience to "the still, small voice" brings them the blessings of God, good.

In Christian Science Life is seen to be wholly spiritual—not terminating "with the incident called death." All transitory phenomena which pass away with that incident are therefore considered unsubstantial, as having no real existence. To avoid the necessity of much reference throughout her text-book to this and other truths, we should remember that Mrs. Eddy has incorporated in Science and Health a glossary, and the chapter "Recapitulation," in which the definition of the unusual terms employed is clearly stated. In the latter place (p. 468) we find substance designated as "that only which is eternal, and incapable of discord and decay." Evil thought, mortal mentality, does not come under this category; and hence, in the light of continuous spiritual existence, it is unreal.

Under date of Aug. 5, 1905, in the religious magazine previously referred to, we find the following remarks regarding the announcement of natural science that matter has been found to be composed not of atoms, as had previously been supposed, but of force:—

"We talk, write, move about, do this or that; but what we do is merely to press the button which turns on the current of vital energy that is all of it God's. So when we tax our minds in thinking, the brain power we employ is His, not ours. We think, but so far as what we think is true, it is, it can be, no other than the thoughts of God. The need of the man in the street and the problem of the philosopher in the closet are one and the same—to get back to the reality behind the appearance of things. ... Nothing less than a divine revelation is its [natural science's] great discovery that the solid frame of nature is not only made by intelligence, but itself is compact of Intelligent Energy. ... Thus the solid world, the universe, is found to be compact of active Force intelligently effecting an orderly progress of events. ... The qualities of what we call 'matter'—its weight, immobility, resistance to touch—are only the manifesting of the Force that constitutes it. Matter is Force, Force is Mind, Nature is Spirit, are the affirmations that the newest Science brings to the ancient truth, 'In God we live'"!!

To a Christian Scientist the inaccuracy and misstatement of this paragraph is no less pitiful than astonishing. Such an utter confusion of good and bad, right and wrong, divine Mind and false mortal sense, indicates the imperative demand for that definition of scientific statement which is a distinguishing characteristic of Mrs. Eddy's writings. To say to the sinful man that "when we tax our minds in thinking, the brain power we employ is His [God's]," is to breed a sense of irresponsibility for wrong-doing. Again, matter is not Force, or Mind, or Spirit, as here stated. Matter is but the mortal concept of energy's manifestation—a concept based on the testimony of the physical senses, which are admitted by all to be unreliable. That only on which we can rely, because "eternal, and incapable of discord and decay," is Spirit, and this truth was revealed not through physical science, as here implied, but through Christian Science, the divine revelation which came to Mrs. Eddy and which she has embodied in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." This book is a scientific treatise on Christian metaphysics, and without careful study even the most sagacious are apt to obtain but a partial understanding of it. A partical knowledge of any subject is a dangerous basis upon which to form opinions, one which is always likely to work injustice.

Mrs. Eddy has made no concessions to current forms of phraseology, but has used symbolic utterance as most succinctly expressing the spiritual import of the Scriptures. This symbolic utterance must be studied as a whole, and its parts be thus thoroughly understood, before it can be fairly judged. If students of the Bible did not bring to its perusal a similar friendly desire to extract from its page more than their surface meaning, the good Book would not long endure as an inspired document. One of the primal qualifications for friendship, either with people or with books, is the ability to appreciate and to understand in them virtues that are not apparent upon casual acquaintance. Christian Scientists do not expect that all are at once to agree with their religious views, but they are entitled to the same consideration that any intelligent body of men would accord a new arrival in their community, whose external dress and manner were different from theirs, but whose inner self had not yet made itself known. Such a man would not be judged by them until his credentials had been thoroughly and impartially examined; and his value to their community would be determined finally by the quality and the number of his good works.