Article February 15, 1919 Issue

"What difference is there between the credulity that relies...

Louis E. Scholl

in Tacoma (Wash.) Times

"What difference is there between the credulity that relies on some serum or drug and that which looks to some mythical god or some healing virtue accruing from faith in a text or an alleged sacred word?" This question was asked in the Times by a correspondent who questioned the healing to be found in Christian Science. The answer is: There is no difference in the credulity that relies on some serum or drug and the credulity that relies on a mythical god, and there is little choice between the two as a cure for disease. From the thought expressed by the correspondent he probably relies on material means of healing. If, however, he should come to a crisis in his life where he realized that matter can neither save nor heal, he would then likely follow the course of that large body of humanity which, as a last resort instead of the first, turn from matter to Spirit. If in such a time of need he finds neither comfort nor help in theories or beliefs about God, he would find in Mrs. Eddy's definition of God, on page 587 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," something upon which he could build with wisdom and understanding. Here God is defined as, "The great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence." This definition so completely removes God from the realm of mysticism and credulity as to make Him at once "a very present help in trouble."

It must be true that "whatever exists is natural," but that existence is a spiritual and not, as the world believes, a material existence. The materialist believes he is made of flesh and blood; of salt, sugar, calcium, phosphorus, carbon, and glue, and becomes the dust of the earth when he dies; so to him "sickness is as natural as health" and "all organisms carry within them the seeds of their own decay; hence it is as natural to die as to live." Such a theory of life is about as conducive of health and happiness as is a belief in orgres, dragons, and ghosts. Either belief makes man a weak and inharmonious creature, whereas he has been given dominion over all things. The psalmist, seeing the only true and real man, the man created in God's image and likeness, exclaimed, "Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet."

The difference, then, between the treatment where drugs, serums, and toxins are used and that offered by Christian Science is as great as the difference between darkness and light. Christian Scientists deny that life and death are subject to and controlled by matter; they know that mind is supreme over all manifestations of error. Jesus said, "If ye continue in my word ... ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," and this truth as found in Science and Health (p. 468) is, to put it briefly, "Man is not material: he is spiritual."

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