Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1907-02-15
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
1 Religion Whose Heaven Is Ever
Present, Says Mark Twain.
ITS FIELD Is H0RIz0NLESS.

Wish an Appeal as Universal as Is the
! Appeal Of Christianity Itself, Declares
the Humorist-Csn Largely Rid Man
/ kind Of Pain and Disease.
MY purpose" writes Mark Twain iB
/ the preface of his book ON "ChsiStian
I Science. has been to present Il char
ac'er portrait of Mrs. Eddy drawn
/ from her own acts and words solely,
/ not from hearsay and rumor. and to
/ explain the nature aud scope of her
+ monarchy as revealed in the laws 10y
/ which she governs 1t and which she
/ wrote herself"
1t Is not a work nf humor. but at the
( same time 1t Is not without humorous
/ ly entertaining touches. Indeed. the
/ book opens with the presentation Of
one of his basic arguments In the form
/ Of narrative so droll as Ia disarm the
hostility of even those whose belief lie
attacks. Somewhere IN Austria he has
/ fallen over II cliff. and. no physician
/ being within finding distance, Bos-
/ ton Christian Science doctor summer
Ing not far away is sent for
1T was night 10y this time. and she
, could not conveniently come. hut sent
/ Woru that II was no matter, there was
/ no hurry. she would give me absent
/ treatment now and come in the morn
Ing Meantime, she begged me To make
myself tranquil and comfortable and
/ remember that there was nothing the
matter with me. thought there must
/ he some mistake.
"'Did you tell her walked off a
/ cliff seventy-five feet highT
Yes
"'And struck n bowlder at the bot
tom and bounced|
/ Yes
"'And struck another one and bounc-
ed again.
"'Nes.'
"'And struck another one and bounc-
/ ed yet again"
/ Yes
And broke the bowlderST
YES
ildl accounts lbT II. Nlft ~ tllliih-
/ ing Of the bowlders. Why didn't you
/ tell her got hurt too"
~ did. told her what You told me
TO tell her. that you were now but an
/ incoherent series of compound frac-
lures extending from your scalp lock
/ TO your heels and that the comminuted
/ projections caused You 10 look like
hatrack.
And 1t was after this that she
wished me to remember that there was
nothing the matter with meF
Those were her words.
But next morning the Christian Sci
enlist arrives. and she ana Mark
IWaln nave delectable discussion.
and at length Marx says;
am full OF imaginary tortures,
nut do not thlhk could he any more
uncomfortable II they were real ones.
What must II" to get rid or them
There is no occasion 10 get rid of
( them. since they do not exist. They
are illusions propagated 10y matter.
and matter has no existence. There Is
no such thlng as matter.
1t sounds right and clear, but yet
1t seems III degree elusive. 1t seems
to slip through just when you think
you are se''ihs grip on IT,
hAli'i''
wen i"r ihs'ah'e. IL 'here ~ no
such 'nins as matter 10" can matter
prolasa'e Things
IL Is qui'e sihple' she said. ne
fundamental propositlohs or christian
oclence explain It, ana 'heE are sum
n'ailZea Ill tiie i"hr iolioNihS seii evil
ueht p'"loStiolls' flrs'' ""u Is all Ill
an second Goa Is good goou Is Hlhd'
'niiu' uou' spirit hells all hothiiis Is
'i'"'lcr' io''r'li' me- 'ou' oihlill'otent
euoo' uehN ueath' e'il' sih' disease.
Ihere-how you see.
II seemed heouious: II dld not seem
10 say ahFthlhg ABOUT the uifhcnltS IN
h'thu' now hoheXistent matter can
propagate Illusions
AS tley tax Mark continually fails
TO ma coherent proof in the flowing
words or the scientist At length lie
says;
what is the origin of Christian
science! Is II gltt or Goa or did 1t
just happen:
80 III sense 1t is gift of Cod
that is to say. its powers are from
him. but the credit of the discovery of
the powers and what they are for is
due TO an American lady
"1ndeed. When did this occurF
"'In 1866. That is the immortal date
when pain and disease and death dis
appeared from the earth to return no