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PREFACE

HETHER in the field of Science, Art, Literature,

Government, Economics, or Religion, human advance, as a whole, has ever been evolutionary. Sometimes there has been a long interval during which thought has seemed to be quite unprogressive or static, but more careful study will disclose the fact that it was but a period of gestation; and that at its end budded thought has come to its blossom and borne fruit.

In the past fifty years, the teachings of Christian Science have acquired world-wide dissemination, and that they have come to occupy a prominent and influential place in the thought of Christian believers generally, cannot be questioned. No less true is it, however, that false concepts of this "Science" as "a new and strange doctrine" are widely entertained, and these facts make it a matter of distinct importance that an intelligent study of the kinship and parallelisms between Mrs. Eddy's interpretations of the Master's words and works, and the faith of many of the most saintly religious thinkers of the past, should be made available to all truth-seekers. For all who are longing for the attainment of that Christian Unity which can only come about as the misunderstandings, and consequent false judgments of Christian believers, are dispelled, this book is written.

THE AUTHOR.

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INTRODUCTION

HE wise man of Proverbs has said: "Counsel in

the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of

understanding will draw it out."

It is now nearly fifty years since Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy published her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, the textbook of that body of religionists known to the world today as Christian Scientists. While this work commands enduring respect among very many who do not profess to have adopted its teaching, it cannot yet be said to have been read with any great measure of understanding by Christendom at large. A learned Dean of the Church of England speaks of its "unintelligible terminology." Another clergyman, with the degrees of both M.A. and B.D., writes, "I state deliberately that tried by its own principles and assumptions, Christian Science is unchristian, unscientific, cruel and inconsistent,' and criticisms of an even less temperate character are still rife.

We may venture that the reason for this confused and mistaken judgment upon the part of many earnest Churchmen towards Christian Science lies in the fact that there is still much ignorance respecting it to be cleared away from public thought, much sound and rational information still due the inquirer; and it is with the hope of supplying some of this necessary knowledge that this comparison of the writings of Mrs. Eddy with those of other Christian authors, has been undertaken. Our investigation must cover a wide area, and it is impossible to make more than a general survey of succeeding stages of Christian theology