The fundamental difference between Mrs. Eddy and a scientist like Charles Darwin, for example, is that, while the latter confines himself to such statements as are investigable, Mrs. Eddy puts forth claims which defy investigation. Let me give an example. The founder of Christian Science solemnly declares that even the price she should charge for a course of instruction in metaphysics was dictated to her by the Deity himself: "When God impelled me to set a price on Christian Science--mind healing--I was led to name $300 as the price." And she adds: "This amount greatly troubled me. I shrank from asking it, but was finally led by a strange providence to accept this fee." It must have been a _strange_ providence, indeed! But can a claim of that nature be verified? If we desired to make sure whether the Supreme Being, with the destinies of ten thousand worlds upon His mind, found the time to fix also the dividend rate upon Mrs. Eddy's investment in Christian Science, how would he go about it? How shall we make sure that the Deity did not, on the contrary, plead with her to be satisfied with a more moderate profit? While in Salt Lake City I enjoyed the opportunity of an interview with a prominent Mormon. Finding me willing to listen, the gentleman told me how Joseph Smith had received a visit from the angels who delivered to him the originals from which were copied the articles of the Mormon belief. When I expressed a desire to see the "heavenly" documents, my informant replied that Joseph Smith had returned them to the angels. Is such a statement investigatable? And what is not investigable lies outside the province of science. Neither Mrs. Eddy nor Joseph Smith can be put in the same class with Charles Darwin, who advances no propositions which forbid verification. Is Christian Science "Christian"? |Eddyism is no more _Christian_ than it is _scientific_. Between the teachings of Jesus and those of the Boston lady there are irreconcilable differences.