Article January 10, 1914 Issue

In the Chronicle of recent date is a reference to a statement...

Frederick Dixon—Northwich, England

Northwich Chronicle

In the Chronicle of recent date is a reference to a statement by the Rev. A. W. Webb on the subject of Christian Science. This clergyman, dealing with a specific instance of an agnostic who has become a Christian Scientist, explains his having turned to the teaching of Mrs. Eddy rather than to that of the orthodox church, by saying that he had probably studied both agnosticism and Christian Science, but had never studied orthodox Christianity.

As a member of the Christian Science movement, who has been brought into wide contact with its supporters all over the world, I do not think that this explanation, which the critic takes as a type, is in any sense an adequate one. To begin with, the man in question had been brought up as a Christian, that is to say, during the most impressionable years of his life he had been taught the doctrines of orthodox Christianity. In spite of this he had strayed into agnosticism, and yet when weary with agnosticism he had not returned to study the teachings of the orthodox church, but had instead turned to those of Christian Science.

Every one knows that it is a maxim of a certain religious sect, that if they can control the thought of a child, anybody else may control the thought of the man. Though in no way endorsing this saying, it is quite obvious that the influence of teaching on the mind of a child is very marked, and therefore the mere fact that the gentleman in question did not return to the teaching of the church, shows that there must have been some peculiar attraction in the teachings of Christian Science. It is not in the least difficult to say what that attraction is. Every Christian Scientist will tell you the same thing, and it has to be remembered that the enormous mass of Christian Scientists have been recruited, not from agnosticism, but from the congregations of the orthodox churches. The attraction is simply this, that Christian Science gives to men and women, to the old and to the young, a practical and demonstrable religion.

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