Article March 25, 1911 Issue

The clergyman's somewhat contemptuous criticism of...

John Ashcroft

St. Louis (Mo.) Globe-Democrat

The clergyman's somewhat contemptuous criticism of what he considers to be the teaching of Christian Science, as quoted in your columns, is scarcely in keeping with the gentle thought of the Master he claims to serve, who reproved his own disciples for forbidding the work of the one who cast out devils in his name "because he followeth not us." Neither is our reverend critic's statement of the said teaching quite accurate.

On page 460 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy declares: "Sickness is neither imaginary nor unreal,—that is, to the frightened, false sense of the patient. Sickness is more than fancy; it is solid conviction. It is therefore to be deal with through right apprehension of the truth of being." That Christian Scientists have attained some measure of this "right apprehension" is attested by the ever increasing number of those healed by their ministrations. Did space permit, it would be interesting to discuss the question of what constitutes reality; whether Jesus believed the germ theory of disease, and what his estimate was of the reality of the various diseases he healed. According to St. John, they were "the works of the devil," which he came to "destroy." To the Christian Scientist good alone is real; and his faith in this rests upon the logical conclusion that God, to be infinite good, could not be the author of evil, and that the latter, therefore, has not the reality, permanency, nor perpetuity of the former.

The theological world has nothing to gain by attacking Christian Science. The latter is here to stay; and, judging by the constantly increasing number of its adherents, it is evidently satisfying the aching heart of humanity with its interpretation of the Scriptures, and with its obedience to the injunction of the Master, "Heal the sick."

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