Article October 20, 1917 Issue

The comments on Christian Science which have furnished...

Judge Clifford P. Smith

Ft. Pierce (Fla.) News

The comments on Christian Science which have furnished the occasion for this present writing were mainly nothing more than mere dogmatic and intolerant opinions. In so far as they did not amount to more than this, they can be safely ignored along with such offensive epithets as "cult" and "fraud." Nothing of this sort proves anything to intelligent men. It may be, as the reverend gentleman has said, that many Christians do not have "trained or logical minds," but opinionated persons are apt to underrate the intelligence of their neighbors. Nowadays the average man desires information, but he is entirely capable of thinking for himself. There were, however, among these various comments certain particular points which need to be noticed because they might, if ignored, pass for authentic information.

One of these particular errors was thrice repeated, and was to the effect that Christian Science teaches that man has no body. Such is not the case. This teaching denies the false and material concept of body, but it both affirms and proves the true and spiritual concept thereof. The following quotation from the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, is pertinent: "To divest thought of false trusts and material evidences in order that the spiritual facts of being may appear, — this is the great attainment by means of which we shall sweep away the false and give place to the true. Thus we may establish in truth the temple, or body, 'whose builder and maker is God'" (p. 428).

Another item in the same series was that Mrs. Eddy attempted to use evil wishes as a power against her enemies. A more groundless accusation was never put in print. It could have been arrived at only by an utter reversal of the actual facts. The facts are that Mrs. Eddy divided the good from the evil in human consciousness more clearly than this had been done since the Sermon on the Mount. She exposed the use of evil thoughts for intended harm; she insisted that all evil must and can be forsaken; and she taught how the power of God is available for the destruction of every description of evil, including disease and forms of error which had not been recognized as such. It is worth mentioning here that Mrs. Eddy's prediction that courts and juries would eventually deal with mental crimes has been to some extent fulfilled. Thus a coroner's jury at Chicago returned a verdict in which they specified "that the deceased was mentally assaulted by her husband at a time when she was physically and mentally delicate" as the cause or means of a woman's death, and this verdict was approved by the coroner. In this connection, however, it should be known that Mrs. Eddy taught the reality and supremacy of good even to the exclusion of any opposite power, and Christian Science healing is accomplished on this sole basis.

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