The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-09-24
Rev. L. B. Ridgley Delivers a
Lecture on Christian Science.
THE UNITARIAN CHURCH
INTERESTING DISCOURSE BY DIR.
UTTER AT THE THEATRE.
Alexander f. Irvine Speaks at the
First Presbyterian Church on
Elder John Henry smiths Address
ut the TabernacIe-Presid ents
Woodruff and Cannon Speak at
Provo.

At st. Paul's church last evening, Rev.
L. B. Ridgely lectured to large con-
gregation, his subject being Christian
Science Following is a synopsis of the
reverend gentleman's remarks:
A brief glance at the history of the
founder of the system, Mrs. Mary
Baker Glover Eddy, will throw light on
the subject. Her own book, Retro
spection and Introspection,' furnishes
the data and shows her to have been a
precocious, nervous, highly emotional,
somewhat imaginative, and very affec-
tionate child. In her education she
gathered information in all the lines
which such child would naturally fol-
low-grammar. language, natural phil
osophy, moral science, and even theol-
ogy: but mathematics was left out al
together, her mind thereby missing just
what such minds need most, the Severe
drill that perfects disciplined and log
ical thinking.
The birth of the system was as fol-
lows: Mrs. Eddy had for years been
a mental cause" She studied the
theories of several schools of medicine
and in her study of homeopathy con-
Guided that ali medicine is useless. In
1866 she met with an accident. Her
spine was supposed to be injured by a
fall from a carriage. The doctors and
surgeons said nothing could be done
She asked to be left alone, InFa very
brief time she appeared at her door
well. She acknowledges that she did
not know how this happened. She had
then no theory on the subject She set
to work to formulate one. But in do
ing this she did not follow scientific
methods, comparing other cases of cure
like her own and deducing the true law
by noting the points of likeness and of
difference. She looked simply at her
own case, and in the light of previously
formed notions about diseas Sc, showed
how her own cure could have; come
about if the theory were true. She took
the Bible as her text book; but she ac-
knowledges that she did not now take
the words she read there in their plain
and natural sense. She was booking
for the answer to a question, and she
insisted on reading answers out even
where they are not contained in the
text.
The first principle in Christian Sci
ence" is this: God is the only sub
stance.
What we call matter, then, does not
really exist at all. 1t is like the bread
You seem to eat in a dream, mis-
taken impression.
Man, then, is manifestation of the
mind or life of God. Somewhat as the
characters in novel are manifestations
of the mind or life of the author
But, since mans life is really Gods
life, there can be no imperfection ip it,
no pain, no sickness, no death. These
things, which man seems to suffer, are
only fears. AS child in the dark fears
that a goblin is about to seize him
and suffers in the fear. so man thinks
that a something called disease has
hold upon him and suffers in that fear.
In fact no such thing exists to threaten
him, and if he will only dismiss the
fear, all will be well.
Healing is but a part of the system.
It demands of its followers absolute
sinlessness and godliness.
This is excellent.
But it also naturally teaches it's fol-
lowers to abandon the sacraments
which Christ ordained, as being no
longer necessary. 1t forbids the use of
medicine, and the study of hygiene, and
It seeks, in the end, to lift
life above the need even of eating and
drinking, and free it not only from
disease, but also from death, so that at
last we shall pass from this state to
the glorifed human life without the
need of death.
l propose to discuss the truths and
errors of the system next Sunday night,
and shall be glad, meanwhile, to hear
either questions or answers or objec-
tons.