Article April 27, 1918 Issue

The evangelist who spoke recently at the Baptist Church...

Peter V. Ross

Visalia (Cal.) Delta

The evangelist who spoke recently at the Baptist Church declared, according to report, that Mrs. Eddy says: "Food neither strengthens nor weakens the body." The reverend gentleman has his quotation sadly mixed. Mrs. Eddy, so far as her published works disclose, never made this statement. In writing on the subject of food on page 388 of Science and Health, however, she has this to say: "The fact is, food does not affect the absolute Life of man, and this becomes self-evident, when we learn that God is our Life. Because sin and sickness are not qualities of Soul, or Life, we have hope in immortality; but it would be foolish to venture beyond our present understanding, foolish to stop eating until we gain perfection and a clear comprehension of the living Spirit. In that perfect day of understanding, we shall neither eat to live nor live to eat."

An evangelist is of course at liberty to entertain his audience with jokes at the expense of other denominations, but it would seem that he should first be sure of his facts lest he add misrepresentation to his witticism. Most clergymen, much to their credit, find quite enough in the gospel of Christ to preach about, without turning aside to cast reflections on other peoples' interpretation of the Scripture. In fact tolerance for different religious doctrines and willingness that the truth, no matter where or by whom it may be discovered, shall prevail, is a most hopeful tendency of the times.

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