There is one distinguishing feature about the life and work of Mrs. Eddy which her critics fail to appreciate, and that is that she has not labored for the rewards or the good opinions of men, but for their welfare and for the approval of God. Other writers may have striven for fame and fortune, but these have not been her ambition. Had she been influenced or actuated in her purpose by love of the world's applause or fear of its adverse judgment, or had she conformed her writings to the prevailing methods of thought and reasoning, she might have been spared much cruel persecution ; but the divine bow of promise in Christian Science would not have spanned the heavens of human consciousness as it is now doing. In supreme loyalty to Truth as revealed to her, she committed her book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," to the providence of God, not to the mercies of men, and right royally it has prospered in good works, which is God's test of books as well as of men. One can understand an individual becoming indignant over wicked works, but that any one with the welfare of humanity at heart should lift voice or pen against a book or a cause that accomplishes good and not evil, and that makes the path of life smoother, happier, and holier for so many of his fellows, is incomprehensible to the last degree.

The world's attention has somewhat recently been called to an instance of this kind. An author of international reputation as a humorist, but who assumes no knowledge of Christian Science, has elected himself the judge and court to pass upon the merits of the Christian Science text-book, and upon its author, whose life has been devoted to the service of God and mankind, and who is the trusted and honored Leader of the most striking moral and religious movement of the century. In considering his judgment it should be remembered that he virtually acknowledges himself to be blind to the real meaning of the book, which is of itself an impeachment of the value of his decision, for how can one judge correctly of that which he does not see? His own confession that he does not understand Science and Health leaves nothing to his criticism but the interest otherwise attaching to his name.

The question with this critic seems principally to be one of "English," of words and terms not having been chosen and arranged according to his own sense of suitability. That he has not seen a single idea in the book, or caught a single drift of the author's thought, he appears to blame entirely upon the author and not upon his own lack of discernment. It is scarcely just to charge an author with one's own inability to understand him, when this same author is understood and enjoyed by thousands of others. The writer of this present article when quite a youth endeavored to become interested in one of Dickens' novels, but laid it aside as dull and stupid after scanning a few chapters, although in later years the reading of this author's books became a genuine pleasure. It is evident that the lack of appreciation in the first attempt was wholly with the reader and not with the author.

Many persons have had a similar experience with Science and Health. They have turned away from their first reading as from a book written in an unknown tongue, but driven by great stress of need into making its further acquaintance in a more appreciative and generous state of thought, it became to them pregnant with intense meaning, which brought them hope and strength and health. The writer confesses that his own first attempt to read Science and Health understandingly was not a brilliant success, but he was attracted to the work by its unique intellectual beauty, the consistency of its reasoning, and the bright outlook of its promises, and these held his attention until, through the practical good realized from its teachings, its spiritual meaning was somewhat discerned. It is evident that the well-known critic read this book in the unappreciative mood, but has not allowed his innate honesty nor his literary chivalry to concede that the difficulty lay with himself instead of with the author. Others, quite as scholarly and competent, see a whole world of beauty and truth, and rejoice at the vision, where he confesses to have seen nothing.

A critic may read Mrs. Eddy's writings from a purely intellectual standpoint and see nothing but a meaningless combination of words, because his thought is not focused to discern the spiritual truths which they explain; while the spiritually hungry partake thereof and are strengthened and refreshed. It is an unexceptional rule that spiritual truths are only spiritually discerned. Separated from its spiritual meaning, the literary form of Science and Health lacks its essential vitality, and to analyze it upon that basis alone is manifestly inadequate and unjust. The author's thought is the real life of a book, the language and style are but its outward trappings, which have no more relation to its intrinsic worth than has its setting to a diamond. A cheap stone may have a costly setting; and a book may be written in the purest English, in an attractive and faultless style, and yet its influence upon its readers be positively bad and immoral. Let it be judged by God's standard of good results, of elevating and purifying influences, and Science and Health shines with a luster surpassing all contemporaneous literature.

For many years the writer of this article lay under the shadow of weakness and disease which the knowledge or skill of mortal man was unable to remove, and he retains the pleasant memory of many weary hours lightened by our critic's books, read to him by kind friends because he was hysically unable to read for himself; yet these books had no appreciable influence upon his health, the weakness and pain continuing until the burden of invalidism was lifted through the teachings of this book which the critic condemns. This simply goes to show that Science and Health has a worth beyond the power of any human intellectual method to weigh or measure. It is not strange that those who receive such great good should prize this book as priceless, and love and revere its author.

A polished, elegant style may be desirable from a literary point of view, but of itself it would render small service in helping poor mortals heavenward, in healing their diseases and sins. The reading of the masterpieces of English literature, although pleasant and often profitable, does not produce the moral and physical reformations such as continually result from the study of the Christian Science text-book and the other writings of Mrs. Eddy. Her works have a higher purpose than the pleasing of one's literary taste, or the expressing of pleasant fancies; they reveal and interpret the truth of being. To have brought such blessing to sinburdened humanity is a greater glory and joy than all the praise literary critics could bestow, and which their detractions cannot obliterate nor diminish.

If Mrs. Eddy has used some words in a different sense than is commonly entertained of them, it is because she has discerned their deeper meaning and required their use in their fullest import to bring out the spiritual significance of her discovery as well as language can do so. Had she chosen her words according to the rule demanded by her critics she could not have given her readers the higher understanding of God involved in Christian Science. It was the necessity of her mission that she voice her message in the terms best adapted to convey its real meaning; but so meager is our language in expressing purely spiritual truths, and so new was her teaching to the thought of the age, that although she coined no new words, and used none in any sense not authorized by the best dictionaries, she had been charged by some of using words in a sense unintelligible to them. It is getting rather late in the day to criticise a book that has won its way on its own merit to the hearts and homes of so many thousands, bringing them its ever-increasing benison of health and good cheer.

We can find no better standard than that of Truth by which to judge the works of men. When one can read a book from which multitudes find peace and joy and the way to health and holiness, and confess that he sees nothing, that the words have no meaning to him, he would be wise not to deceive himself that his judgment is infallible. The weakness of human wisdom, even at its best, the weight of testimony on the side, and the remembrance that he is but one among millions, should incline him either to seek the hidden source of good found by others, or to keep considerate silence, lest one word of his withhold from any sufferer the freedom he might otherwise gain.

Science and Health is daily read by some of our best scholars, and elicits from them nothing but praise. It is giving new zest and purpose to the lives of thousands, refining their characters, redeeming them from sin, and giving them a wholesome practical sense of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. The verdict of good works is the verdict of Christ, Truth, and this increasing divine benediction lifts the revered Leader of Christian Science above the praise or the censure of men.