Article January 29, 1910 Issue

As to Mrs. Eddy's discovery, it should be said that she...

Howard C. Van Meter

Salem (Ore.) Statesman

As to Mrs. Eddy's discovery, it should be said that she claims certain Scriptural propositions to be true, namely, that God is Mind, Spirit, Life, Truth, Love; that man, in keeping with the scientific proposition that like begets like, is God's image and likeness, and is therefore spiritual. That her interpretation of these premises, as well as the conclusions which she has drawn therefrom, are her discovery, is easily proved by the fact that outside the Bible and those works based upon her teachings, the conjoined propositions which she presents are not to be found elsewhere in literature. Mrs. Eddy's position in regard to her discovery is simply her insistence upon the fact that her ideas are not in accord with those Scriptural interpretations which have been heretofore introduced. Berkeley's metaphysics do not hint at such a basis and method as that declared by Mrs. Eddy.

If the gentleman were better acquainted with Christian Science, he would withhold the doubtful criticism embodied in his statement that "Mrs. Eddy is said to deny the resurrection of Jesus." If he wishes his views to be taken seriously, he should establish them on better than hearsay evidence. Mrs. Eddy's clear analysis of the distinction between the eternal Christ and the human Jesus ought to make it clear as to what was crucified and resurrected.

The attempt to make the physical senses responsible for the origin or maintenance of a science, the conclusions of which are directly opposed to what the senses would seem to indicate, is rather strange reasoning. If astronomical science caused a complete change in the ideas entertained by the world as to the relationship between the sun and earth as based on sense testimony, it can scarcely be said that these senses caused the change or the science which produced it. If such testimony is found doubtful in one instance, its reliability is questionable as to anything. It is impossible to credit God with endowing man with two opposing means of determining the truth of things. The same fountain cannot send forth both sweet and bitter waters. The only rational conclusion is that what God is responsible for in the way of man's endowment is a spiritual sense, whereby His creation can be understood, and man's relationship with all of the other ideas of His creation is one of harmony, and not fraught with discord, as it seems to material sense.

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