The Irish standard., 1917-01-27
Critical Analysis of Christian Science
BY REV. FIR. WALDRoN
Prof. of Moral Theology, St. Paul Seminary.


golden mean.' 1t stands between two
extremes, each of which is vice. A
brave man is the golden mean be-
tween a coward and fool. An indus
trious man between an idler on the
one hand, and the miserable miser on
the other. What the wise man said of
virtue may be equally said of truth.
Truth stands midway between two ex-
tremes of falsehood each of which is
an error-the error of absolute denial
and the error of eXaggeration. Let
me give you case in point. A base
ball game has been played at which
you were not present. You are anX-
ious to hear all about it. Suddenly
you see one of the spectators and the
following conversation takes place:
"Well, what was the game like? Not
worth going to see. Never saw poorer
play in my life. We were all disap-
pointed" This is the pessimist. One
of the extremes of error Another
comes along. oh. you ought to have
been there. Such a game. never
saw it's equal. We were all delighted"
This is the enthusiast.-The other ex-
IRENE of error. At last you meet the
impartial sensible man who tells you
what was good in the game and what
was deficient; who tells you the plain
unvarnished truth.
We are constantly trying to sift out
the truth. Men are often deceived in
their transactions with one another.
The same, too, holds in religion. In
this field men have been led astray by
false teaching in the past. The history
of the one true church, the Catholic
church, has been constant combat
with heresies and false doctrines of
one kind or another. She has received
mission from her divine Founder to
teach the truth to all men. Christ
said to the Apostle, 60 We therefore
and teach all nations" And in fulfill.
ing this mission has had to beat back
wave after wave of heresy which ever
and anon have dashed themselves
against her. Ever since the founda.
tion of Christianity this has been so.
Ever since its foundation, false propl.
cts and false teachers have been in
the world trying to lead men astray.
And this has continued down to our
own time. The errors tended at one
time to one extreme; at another time
to another. But the Catholic church
has kept on her steady course, swerv-
ing neither to the right nor to the left,
but firmly adhering to the way of
truth, e. g. in the early centuries many
false opinions arose about the Person
of our Blessed Lord Himself. Some
dared to say that He was nothing more
than a mere man (some still say it,.
a great teacher if you will. but still
only human. They denied that He DOS
sessed Divine Nature. When this
was exhausted another heresy arose
which was its direct opposite. Accord
ing to these new teachers, Christ had
a Divine Nature but no human nature.
In the first He was man but not God
in the latter He was God but not man.
Against these the church spoke with
infallible voice. Dogma after dogma
came forth from the Vicar of Christ,
showing that Christ was truly God and
truly man. ,-..., y
l have dwelt on this point my dear
friends, to show that false teachers
and false teaching are nothing new in
the world. They have been in the past,
they still are, and they will continue
to be until the end of time. Christ
Himself foretold this to His Apostles
before His death. And many false
prophets shall arise and shall seduce
many" Nor is the Catholic church
afraid of such false prophets or teach
ers. She, as the custodian of truth it.
self, as the infallible organ of right
doctrine, cannot err. Since Christ
Himself has said, 81 am with you all
days, even to the end of the world"
Christian Science is only one of
these false systems. 1t is simply a
mixture of two or three heresies long
ago exploded but dressed up in a new
garb and under a new name. 1t has,
however, this peculiar distinction; it
was founded not by a prophet but by
prophecies. Christian Science is
about fifty years of age. In the year
1866 woman named Mrs. Baker Eddy
discovered, or thought she discovered
new Interpretation of the Scriptures;
something undreamed of by anyone
else. The result of her Scriptural
research was published in a book en-.
titled, Science and HEALTH" which
book takes the place of the Bible for
all her followers. The system of teach
ing contained therein is called Chris.
tian Science" This is certainly mis-.
homer. For Christian Science ia MT