Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-31
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE FACTS
nY a. MILLIs PAINR


A T the present time Rev. Mary
~ Baker G. Eddy and Christian
Science are conjointly on trial at
the bar Of public opinion.
The verdict is of vast Importance,
and is Of interest to every man. woman
and child. Every individual should
carefully and conscientiously weight
the testimony given on both sides, con-
slider the character and standing of the
witnesses, their object i'm testlhying,
their source of information and the
relevancy Of the testimony given.
The Indictment against Mrs. Eddy
is that she is teaching, through her
students and her published books, a
pernicious doctrine: that her doctrine,
not being in accord with the usually
accepted beliefs and practices of the
ologians and medical men, is unworthy
Of credence and should be suppressed; 4;
that neither I'm person nor through her
students has she a legal right to heal
the sick or reform the sinful by a
method other than that sanctioned by
the old schools; that in teaching the
doctrine taught and practiced by Jesus
she manifests positive evidence of in
sanity and should be deprived of her
liberty and the control of her property
The indictment against Christian
Science is that 1t is the pernicious doc
trine taught by Mrs. Eddy and prac-
ticed by her students in all parts of
the world; that 1t is not in accord with
the theories and practices of medical
men and theologians, consequently not
true; that 1t does heal the sick and re-
form the sinner and is, therefore, an
infringement upon the rights of said
medical men and theologians.
The evidence on the part of the
prosecution is largely derived from
sermons delivered by pastors whose
congregations are being decimated,
from reports of physicians who deem
Christian Science to be an invasion on
their rights, from newspaper and mag
azine articles written for compensa-
ton.
Many of the sermons on this sub
ject have been mere bilingsgate and
unworthy of the source from which
they emenated The man who stands
in the pulpit should be a Christian,
and no Christian can or will say un-
kind things about any fellow-being,
and especially about one who is de-
voting ones life to the service of God.
Most of the testimony Is irrelevant,
and some of it is ridiculous. They
claim that Mrs. Eddy does not pray,
that she was an invalid during middle
life, that her father was illiterate and
walked with a cane, that she imbibed
SOlllC SOOu luOuBnlS ITOnl one L. L.
Quimby and made use of them, that
her teachings are not in accord with
scholasticism, consequently she is in
sane. Those who read her books know
that she prays and enjoins her stu
dents to pray incessantly-not as the
publicans pray, standing in public
places to be seen of men, not resort
ing to flowery language to make a
show of erudition, but silently, con-
G. q r1f1Iy mr. ell %
love for guidance and peace-a heart
felt desire to know and overcome ones
faults rather than to uncover the
shortcomings of others.
That Mrs. Eddy was a helpless in
valid until she came into an UNDER
standing of Christian Science, and that
she has been we'll and strong ever
since is a powerful argument in favor
of the cause to which she is devoting
her life. That she acquired any of
her ideas of Christian Science from Mr.
Quimby has been repeatedly denied by
her; and 1t is a pertinent fact that no
person is competent to testify to this
except herself, for no one knows but
her. Considering her high moral
standing, her testimony should decide
this question. But admitting the state
ment to be true, for the sake of argu-
ment only, who cares how, where or
when she obtained her conception Of
this truth so long as it is absolutely
in accord with the teachings of the
great master and heals the sick, re-
forms the sinner and binds up the
broken hearted.
The world don't care so long as it is
true. Again, If she has taken the crude
ideas of very good man, who was
able to make his system known to
only mere handful of people, and
given them worldwide reputation
and assauged the sufferings and sor-
rows of millions of people through the
understanding of them, it shows her to
be keen bright woman of wonderful
ability, rather than an insane one.
A Boston attorney is reported to
have said: Mrs. Eddy claims that she
can sit in her parlor, blast the crops
in the field, cause trees to bud in mid
winter and bring sickness and death
to whomsoever she Wills" Read every
word that Mrs. Eddy has written for
the past forty years and you cannot