As concerns one considerable matter I hope to convert
him. He believes Mrs. Eddy’s word; in
his article he cites her as a witness, and takes her
testimony at par; but if he will make an excursion
through my book when it comes out, and will dispassionately
examine her testimonies as there accumulated, I think
he will in candor concede that she is by a large percentage
the most erratic and contradictory and untrustworthy
witness that has occupied the stand since the days
of the lamented Ananias.
Broadly speaking, the hostiles reject and repudiate
all the pretensions of Christian Science Christianity.
They affirm that it has added nothing new to Christianity;
that it can do nothing that Christianity could not
do and was not doing before Christian Science was born.
In that case is there no field for the new Christianity,
no opportunity for usefulness, precious usefulness,
great and distinguished usefulness? I think there
is. I am far from being confident that it can
fill it, but I will indicate that unoccupied field—without
charge—and if it can conquer it, it will
deserve the praise and gratitude of the Christian
world, and will get it, I am sure.
The present Christianity makes an excellent private
Christian, but its endeavors to make an excellent
public one go for nothing, substantially.
This is an honest nation—in private life.
The American Christian is a straight and clean and
honest man, and in his private commerce with his fellows
can be trusted to stand faithfully by the principles
of honor and honesty imposed upon him by his religion.
But the moment he comes forward to exercise a public
trust he can be confidently counted upon to betray
that trust in nine cases out of ten, if “party
loyalty” shall require it.
If there are two tickets in the field in his city,
one composed of honest men and the other of notorious
blatherskites and criminals, he will not hesitate
to lay his private Christian honor aside and vote for
the blatherskites if his “party honor”
shall exact it. His Christianity is of no use
to him and has no influence upon him when he is acting
in a public capacity. He has sound and sturdy
private morals, but he has no public ones. In
the last great municipal election in New York, almost
a complete one-half of the votes representing 3,500,000
Christians were cast for a ticket that had hardly
a man on it whose earned and proper place was outside
of a jail. But that vote was present at church
next Sunday the same as ever, and as unconscious of
its perfidy as if nothing had happened.
