"A Broad-minded Man."

Recently The Pittsburg Dispatch devoted considerable space to a discussion, pro and con, of the merits of Christian Science, and while the discussion was interesting as revealing the various opinions of the clergymen, physicians, and lawyers who were interviewed by the reporters, it failed to present anything new in the way of argument against the practice of Christian Science in the healing of sickness and sin.

In such discussions there will always be found some person whose expressions are but the index to a spirit of intolerance of all views not in line with his own, and this symposium did not, in that regard, depart from the general rule. On the other hand, there is usually some one who rises above all selfish considerations, and who takes his stand for personal rights, one who hews to the line of individual liberty, no matter where the chips may fall. To this latter class must be assigned Rev. S. Edward Young, a Presbyterian clergyman who contributed to this symposium. The Dispatch introduced Mr. Young to its readers as "a broad-minded man," and this estimate seems fully justified by his words which were in part as follows:—

"That multitudes of intelligent, conscientious people, willing to suffer for their convictions, have adopted Christian Science, is beyond dispute. I personally know a number of such. Does not the history of religion suggest that there is something of real value in a movement that has gathered a following so large and so respectable?

"Nothing will disseminate more rapidly any errors therein than will persecution, or what savors of persecution. For myself and my little ones I send for a physician the moment sickness threatens, yet I am not unaware that the doctor does in most cases the reverse of what the doctor did one hundred years ago, when lance and blood-letting, and a pharmacopoeia of ignorance were his stock in trade, nor do I doubt that the doctor a century from now will differ as much from the doctor of to-day. The simple reason is, none of us know it all yet.

"Were I in a state where Christian Scientists had laws forbidding me to send for a doctor, I would resist until I got my rights in the matter. Being in a community where the rest of us make the laws, I demand the application of the Golden Rule in behalf of my Christian Science brother."

Ability to "put yourself in his place" is a necessary qualification for the discussion of any question involving the civil and religious liberties of the people, and if this qualification were more generally possessed to that degree indicated by Mr. Young's statement, there would be fewer cases of invasion of individual rights. M.

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A Profound and Delicate Question

November 28, 1903

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