Article September 5, 1908 Issue

History would seem to record, with credit to all, that the...

R. Stanhope Easterday

Indianapolis (Ind.) Star

History would seem to record, with credit to all, that the broad-minded men of all ages were keenly alive to the humorous, but there is no evidence in the Apocalypse that there will be any joking in heaven. Possibly the key-note of the whole proposition is expressed in the words of the wise man, "There is ... a time to weep, and a time to laugh." It is barely possible that the reverend critic chances always to meet Christian Scientists out of the laughing season. The writer can bear unhesitating testimony to the fact that he never had a good laugh nor really enjoyed a joke until after his healing in Christian Science.

It is an old adage and a true one, that "extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme diseases." The agony of Gethsemane and the tragedy of Calvary, as recounted in the Gospels, are sufficient to overshadow any tendency to the mirthful in the life of the Master. Mrs. Eddy in her treatise on the life and works of the Saviour, commonly known as the text-book of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," amply justifies the serious nature of her work on page 226 of this book. If Christian Scientists are, as our critic himself admits, happy, wholesome, buoyant, and cheerful, this fact in itself justifies the serious trend of their thoughts during even a greater portion of their waking hours. For Addison has said, "Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity." Whatever may be the teaching of Christian Science as to the material, Christian Scientists themselves appreciate the fact that it takes "backbone" to meet and vanquish the tempter, and that while "a merry heart" is in itself wholesome and desirable, a mere laugh will not quench sin nor cure an ache.

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