Article April 10, 1915 Issue

In a sermon recently delivered in your city, the Rev. Mr.—...

Ezra W. Palmer

Norwood (Col.) Post

In a sermon recently delivered in your city, the Rev. Mr.—of Ridgway is reported as having declared that the Founder of Christian Science "would like to do away with the marriage tie," and he intimated that Christian Science sanctioned "free love." No teaching of Christian Science is more emphatic than respect for the marriage contract. Nowhere in her writings does Mrs. Eddy intimate that marriage should be abolished. On the contrary, she teaches clearly that its solemn obligations should be kept intact. "Matrimony should never be entered into without a full recognition of its enduring obligations on both sides. There should be the most tender solicitude for each other's happiness, and mutual attention and approbation should wait on all the years of married life" (Science and Health, p. 59).

The doctrine of "free love" is absolutely at variance with the teachings of Christian Science, and even a slight perusal of the chapter on Marriage in Science and Health, or the article entitled "Wedlock" in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 285), would disabuse the mind of any fair-minded person of this unjust accusation. Christian Science purifies the affections, and places marriage on an enduring and firm basis. Those who understand Christian Science, assert without exception that it uplifts thought, prevents separation and divorce, and makes the home happy and harmonious. No person can be a Christian Scientist and be indifferent to the marriage covenant or to the seventh commandment. "Infidelity to the marriage covenant is the social scourge of all races, 'the pestilence that walketh in darkness'" (Science and Health, p. 56). This scathing arraignment of "free love" and infidelity shows conclusively the falsity of the charges made by this reverend critic.

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