Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1904-03-11
Refutes Christian Science.

FieTuteS OnTtSttan SCIENCE.
We print the following extracts from
a sermon by Rev. John M. Thomas of
East Orange, N. j., by request, as he is
the son of Rev. c. N. Thomas of Bristol
and one of the most popular and prom
Using young clergymen in the country
today:
"This new faith is not utter falsehood
and delusion. 1t is not to be condem.
med in "a wholesale fashion as quackery
and imbecility, for much of it is real |
Christian truth, which we ought all to /
believe more earnestly and practice !
more sincerely.
1T is true that there is one basal idea !
beneath Christian Science teaching !
What is this Central thought, from |
which all is derived? 1t is that the
spiritual is the only real; that there is
no reality in the universe which contra
diets the truth the love, the beauty and
the harmony which are in God. God
is the all in all. All is from God, and
therefore all is good. If anything
seems to be real which is inconsistent
with good, its reality is but seeming.
Christian Science is defined to be the
knowing that there can be no reality in
the universe opposed to the character of
God.
"Now this doctrine, that the spiritual
is the only real, may be true as theory
of knowledge, tn It it is only the spiritual
which we can actually know. 1t may
be true also as an earnest expression of
idealism; that the spiritual is the only
reality which has the right to be, and
all that denies the spiritual is an usur
per. 1t is in this latter sense that
Christian Science holds the doctrine
And it says to us: Make earnest with
this insight; in the ideal world only the
good has right; then let us live as in
the ideal world and we shall find it
actual.
''But let us bring this view to the test
of fact. However strongly we may
hold to ideaism in theory in the world
we live in, as men of common sense and
truth, we must admit the reality of evil.
We live in world of sickness and sor-
row, of anguish and pain, of sin and
moral wrong. Evil is an usurper, but it
is here. And, what shall we do about
it? Deny it? So Christian Science
advises us.
Let us rather as brave men face the
evil, confront the misery and fight out
the battle. There is no use in the fran
tic cry. There's nothing to be afraid
Of | say to you There's "a good deal to
be afraid of, but | would not be afraid,
nevertheless The peace preached by
Christian Science Is the peace of the
man who says there is no war. But
there is war! The flesh lusteth against
the spirit. And the way is through
right through the lines of the
enemy, not a shunt-off to the side, where
we think there won't be any enemy. We
4. - h., lnx-
shut our eyes to evil, but because
with our eyes wide open to the tragedy
of life, we believe our Father still.
80 oppose Christian Science, as a
system of TRUTH trust courteOusly, but
nevertheless acknowledgements it takes
the half of life, "A real half, but only
half, and calls it the whole. | say to
you Have faith that has room in it
for tragedy; for tragedy is sure to come
into every life
"Christian Science is often confused
with faith healing and mental healing,
1t is neither of these. 1t is not an effort
to cure, but a stubborn refusal to admit
the reality of disease.
at matters not how the mind is
reached for the conviction of health, 1t
is faith in health that does the work
And of all the healers who endeavor to
llnpdrU lpe COnNlCJlOHS Vi Hedllii
and are skilled by wise tact to impart
it, | give the palm to the men
of the medical profession. Give your
physician a chance. Make him your
friend. He will use all the metaphysi-
cal therapeutic agency which can dc
you any good.
IF there is any branch of scientific
research that has been pursued devotedly
by devoted men, it is the science of
medicine. Century after century noble
seekers after truth have pushed upward
I from the absolute ignorance concerning
the human body in which the world was
once enveloped, watching with keen eye
and alert mind for the least suggestions
of TRUTH bringing every discovery unset
fishly and freely for the relief of human
suffering and the benefit of the race.
There are no nobler men and there is nc
nobler profession. My friend, don't shut
yourself from help of enlightened medi'
cal science.
"And in the name of the pity, when
. the little child, too young to be asked to
make an experiment, hushes the face,
| starts in sleep, and calls out: Mother
t why am so hot: Then in the name of
mercy give the child the best help you
| can find. The child has a right tC
humanity's best, and humanity's judg-
f ment thus far is in favor of careful
, physician"