Article July 3, 1915 Issue

May I ask you for space to correct if possible some of...

W. D. Kilpatrick—Ypsilanti, Mich.

Ypsilantian-Press

May I ask you for space to correct if possible some of the erroneous conclusions which may have resulted from the account, in a recent issue, of a lecture on the subject of Christian Science. Jesus said, "Love thy neighbor as thyself," and if the exhibition of religious intolerance which is being given to the people of the state of Michigan by this self-appointed critic is a result of the Christianity of the centuries, then we must truly concede its failure.

Contrast the lecture of the critic on the subject of Christian Science with that delivered in your city on the same subject the following Sunday by Virgil O. Strickler, a most excellent account of which appeared in your paper. On the one hand, we have an effort at destruction; on the other, one of construction. On the one hand we have a tirade instigated solely by a desire to tear down; on the other, a message of love, "with malice toward none, with charity for all," a message meant to uplift mankind, to relieve them of the thraldom of sin and disease. In the latter lecture there is not one word of denunciation of the religious beliefs of another; not one unchristianly or ungentlemanly reference to the religion of this critic or to the founder of his religious denomination. The query is pertinent, What is to be accomplished by wholesale denunciation of another's religion through misrepresentation and vilification? The effort of the first lecturer is not by any means an experience new to Christian Science, for Christian Science has been subjected to this class of attack for nearly fifty years, and through it all has experienced a growth unparalleled in religious history.

The critic characterizes Christian Science as a "get-rich-quick plan of its originator." This accusation has the finger marks of much usage, and has never in any way tended to thwart or hinder the steady march of this religion. Mrs. Eddy spent many years in toil and study, without means and in the most meager surroundings, before presenting Christian Science to the world; and it was not until later years that a comfortable competence awaited her. Her success in her efforts to give to the world this saving truth only increased her devotion to her work, and we find her to the last living simply and modestly, devoting every moment to her work, and using the revenues derived therefrom for the sole purpose of establishing and perpetuating the cause of Christian Science, which has meant so much to hundreds of thousands of the sick and the sinning throughout the entire world.

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