Article November 17, 1917 Issue

The subject on which the critic expended the most of his...

Judge Clifford P. Smith

Ridgewood (N. J.) Herald

The subject on which the critic expended the most of his derision was Mrs. Eddy's use of the word mind; but what he said would have had no point whatever if he had not ignored the distinction, which Mrs. Eddy has consistently made throughout her writings, between real Mind and its opposite or counterfeit. It may be added that the same distinction is to be found in the New Testament.

Every one knows that Christ Jesus drew a sharp distinction between Spirit and flesh. The one "giveth life;" the other "profiteth nothing" (American Standard Version). It is also to be observed that Paul translated these expressions into mental terms: "The mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace ... the mind of the flesh is enmity against God" (same translation). Furthermore, Paul pointed out that the difference between these contraries is also the distinction between real Mind and its opposite, as well as the distinction between good and evil. For example, the latter part of the seventh chapter of Romans is devoted to analyzing the nature of the conflict in human consciousness between these opposites.

Therefore the mentality to which Mrs. Eddy referred on page 489 of Science and Health, when she said, "The less mind there is manifested in matter the better," is the same as that to which Christ Jesus referred when he said, "The flesh profitech nothing." It is the same evil to which Paul referred when he said, "The mind of the flesh is enmity against God." The separateness of the real man from this false mentality was also declared by Paul in the words, "So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."

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