Article September 19, 1914 Issue

When the critic of Canon McClure's recent book set out to...

M. I. Whitcroft

Bristol (England) Times and Mirror

When the critic of Canon McClure's recent book set out to criticize that book in the columns of your newspaper, it would have been wiser and in better taste had be confined himself to that object. Instead, however, he seized the opportunity of airing his own views of Christian Science, which can be of no possible interest to your readers, but which display extraordinary ignorance of a world-wide religion, and of its Discoverer and Founder, that gentle, cultured, spiritually-minded woman, Mrs. Eddy, whom the American press acknowledged as one of the world's greatest women, and upon whom the French government bestowed the certificate of the decoration of Officier d'Academie.

These facts alone are a sufficient refutation of the discourteous and unchristian epithets flung by the critic (who proudly claims them as his own) at one whose life was devoted to the teaching and practice of Christianity, obeying our Lord's commands in their entirety, preaching the gospel and healing the sick. Christian Science is "so called" because it is daily and hourly, in its healing work, giving the proof of Christianity demanded by our Lord of all who believe on his word, and for this reason should be honored and respected by all who "profess and call themselves Christians."

It is more than foolish to describe the adherents of Christian Science as "feeble-minded," and the statement will deceive no one except, perhaps, the one who made it. It is known and acknowledged as a great religious movement, which is increasing so rapidly that a new church or society is formed on an average every three days. In its ranks are to be found judges and lawyers, statesmen and authors, men and women from all professions, including the medical and clerical, whose object in life is to purify and uplift humanity, comfort the sorrowing, heal the sick and sinful. The mission of Christian Science is summed up in the words with which Mrs. Eddy described the purpose of its great daily newspaper, "To injure no man, but to bless all mankind" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 353).

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