I ask your indulgence upon my observation of the lecture on Christian Science, as recently given by Doctor—at the Methodist church. That he is greatly concerned over the fact that many Christian people are becoming enthused about this new-old religion cannot be doubted, for men do not condemn a movement unless they feel its influence penetrating their prejudices and false positions and awakening them to unwelcome truth. The church has always denounced and persecuted whatever has not accorded with its inherited traditions and formulated beliefs.

That Christian Science is not Christian is most certainly false, for Christ Jesus said, "By their fruits ye shall know them," and also, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also:" Is the learned doctor following this command of the Master? The command was given to preach the gospel and to heal the sick. Does the doctor believe this? Does he practise the healing as well as the preaching? If he does not, then he is not following Christ's commands. "Show me thy faith without thy works," said the apostle James, "and I will show thee my faith by my works."

This critic's statement that every year a new edition of Mrs. Eddy's works and the Church Manual is published, and every member of the church is required to purchase a new copy, is absolutely false; also the statement that every member of the church is compelled to sell the literature. His statement that members of the church must sell their books or lose their membership is also absolutely false, as a perusal of the Church Manual, which any one is at liberty to examine, will show. His criticism of Christian Scientists for believing that pain and death are not real has no ground to stand upon, for the Scriptures state that God created man in His own image and likeness, that He made all that was made and "without him was not anything made that was made," and that He pronounced it all good.

Will the doctor tell me that pain and death are good, or that pain and death are created by God? For if not created by God, they most certainly are not real. Christ Jesus said, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." The statement that God could suffer is illogical, for Spirit cannot suffer. It is not denied that as a human being Jesus suffered; but the Christ, the spiritual man, the man made in God's own image and likeness, could not suffer. Does the doctor believe that Jesus and God were one person? His statement was to that effect. Jesus' saying, "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God and your God," and numerous others, prove the contrary.

Does the doctor, as a representative of the doctrines taught by Christ Jesus, look to God for divine help in the hour of sickness and pain, or does he look for material aid in his hour of trial? Christ Jesus never taught a material religion or a material life. The doctor quoted from Science and Health. (Pref., p. x), but why did he not finish the sentence? He quoted this: "No intellectual proficiency is requisite in the learner," and then casts ridicule upon this point, failing to finish the sentence, which says, "but sound morals are most desirable."

The critic's statement leads one to believe that the brain is the seat of all understanding. Christ Jesus says, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." What is the brain? Is it flesh, or is it spirit? This declaration fully convinces Christian Scientists that Spirit, God, is the only Life and the only power, and that brain, flesh, "profiteth nothing." Isaiah says, "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" Paul says, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." A study of the book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" should convince any one that Mrs. Eddy was a willing disciple at the Saviour's feet, seeking for that Mind "which was also in Christ Jesus," and never vilifying any other denomination from the pulpit or from the press.

In answer to the doctor's statement that Christian Scientists do not believe in prayer, or that the only audible prayer they use is the Lord's Prayer, I will call your attention to Science and Health, page 15 line 20, page 2 line 1, page 1 line 6, page 4 line 12,—these and numerous other statements on prayer can be verified by a perusal of the book, which can be obtained at the public library or at the reading-room of the church any afternoon except Sunday. Did Christ Jesus teach his followers to shout their prayers from the housetops, where they could be heard by men, or did he say, "Enter into thy closet, and ... pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly"? This means a withdrawal from the material senses in prayer, for God, being Spirit, knows all and is ever present.

There has never been known to be any antagonism exhibited toward any other church by Christian Scientists, nor has any Christian Science lecturer ever denounced another religion or sought to turn any one from his God-given right to worship as he deems best; and I do not believe that a single person has ever been asked or influenced to join the Christian Science church. Slurs cast upon the beliefs of those who do not agree with you are no proof whatever of their being wrong, nor will the representatives of any church be able to build up their own church by seeking to tear down another.

I am not a member of the Christian Science church, and my only desire is to correct the false statements of one who it seems to me would be serving God and his own church much better by attending to the affairs of the church of which he is a leading representative.