Article September 11, 1915 ISSUE

Confidence in Truth

SAMUEL GREENWOOD

"The confidence inspired by Science," Mrs. Eddy writes, "lies in the fact that Truth is real and error unreal" (Science and Health, p. 368). Naturally in every case one's confidence is proportionate to his conviction of the truthfulness of things. Where this has been established and the rules for demonstration are seen to be universally available, the confidence of people is unshakeable; while on the other hand, what has been proved untrue commands confidence from no one except the unenlightened. In practical, every-day things one does not allow himself to be governed by what he knows to be unreliable, nor is one afraid of what he does not believe to be true.

Perhaps the simplest example of universal confidence in the reality of truth is furnished by the mathematical fact that one and one make two. No one dreams of venturing to doubt it, and in all the world's transactions it is relied upon absolutely. People never say of it that it is "too good to be true." They do not claim that the day for correcting mistakes or of changing the wrong for the right figure has passed. They know that if error occurs in their numerical reckoning, there is a fixed law or rule by which it can be set right. This confidence is inspired by the fact, proved again and again, that mathematical errors are unreal, that only the truth is real and demonstrable, hence practically applicable to the solution of their problems.

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