A FAIR INVESTIGATION
Promptly at 7:30 the door-bell rang, and Walter went to the door to
welcome the practitioner; he showed her into the parlor and called his
father. After a formal introduction, the Rev. Williams asked both the
practitioner and Walter into the library, the pastor being afraid he
might have some callers that would know the practitioner, although he
did not state his reason for going to the library.
After being comfortably seated, the pastor said, "Mrs. White, I think
it only fair to you to state that I have always been very much
prejudiced against Christian Science and would not even now have
consented to have an interview with you if it had not been for the
persistence of my son."
"Mr. Williams," said the lady, "I don't believe you could be any more
prejudiced than I was, and I only consented to try it after every other
means had failed to cure me, and as I was not made well after one
week's treatment I became skeptical, and wanted to stop taking
treatment. But my husband said, 'Let us give it a fair trial, as there
is nothing else for you.' The fact is that nearly everybody is
prejudiced against Christian Science, and yet none of those who are
can give you a reasonable answer why they are, and as a rule know
nothing at all about it. So it does not seem strange to me to find you
in this frame of mind."
"I suppose my son has told you he found a 'Science and Health' and
that he believes reading it has cured him."
"Yes, he told me, but you make a mistake when you say he believes
reading the book cured him; he doesn't believe it, he knows it."
"Why do you say he knows it, Mrs. White?"
"Because if he did not know or understand the truth that 'Science and
Health' contains, he would not now be well, for these are the signs
following, spoken of by Jesus Christ."
"Excuse me, Mrs. White, but I don't seem to catch your meaning; what
signs follow the reading of 'Science and Health'?" "Simply reading
'Science and Health' will not help us, although it is a step in the
right direction. It is when we understand the truth contained therein
that the signs follow. Jesus Christ said, 'These signs shall follow
them that believe, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall be
healed, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.'
If we use the word 'understand', instead of 'believe', we get a clearer
view of what Christ meant when he said, 'These signs shall follow them
that _understand_.' And as the same truth that Jesus Christ taught
is contained in this book, the understanding of it must be followed
by the same signs."
"But I am not willing as yet to concede that this book does contain
the Christ Truth," said the pastor.
"Mr. Williams, when you were attending school, suppose the teacher had
given you a mathematical problem to solve, and had said, 'You will
find the rule by which this example can be worked on page 105, and the
correct answer is 18.' You would have looked up the rule and started
to work the example. If when you were done the answer you got was 18,
you would know at once that you understood the rule, and had applied
it correctly. Thereafter you would not merely believe that you knew
the rule, but you would know that you understood it. So it is with the
sick; take your son's case, for instance; he found a 'Science and
Health,' began to read and study it; in it is printed the rule of
health. After a little study he understood this rule. He then applied
it correctly and got the answer, _health,_ and this is sufficient
proof to him that the scientific method of healing the sick as Jesus
Christ did, is contained in this book, and no amount of argument to
the contrary can ever convince him that it is not true, any more than
it would have been possible to tell you that you did not understand
the rule by which you solved your mathematical problem after you had
secured the correct answer. Correct answers are the signs following,
or proofs of understanding, of any science."
"Then it is not God that does the healing, but the correct application
of a rule," said the pastor quickly.
"Oh, yes, it is God that heals the sick; for instance, when you were
working the problem mentioned above, you found the rule on the page
indicated by the teacher, but the rule did not do your problem, neither
did the mere application of the rule do it, but it was your
intelligence, or mind, that directed the correct application of the
rule that solved the problem; so to Mind must be given the credit of
the solution, for the rule could not do anything without Mind to direct
the application. And so it is with the rule of health; it is in 'Science
and Health,' but to be benefited thereby it must be correctly applied
by the intelligence of man, which is his mind."
"But this statement contradicts your first statement."
"In what way, Mr. Williams?"
"In the first instance, you said it was God that did the healing, and
now you say it is the intelligence of man, or mind."
"Mr. Williams, do you believe God is all intelligence?"
"Yes, certainly."
"Then He must be the intelligence of man, or his mind, otherwise God
would not be _all_ intelligence." The pastor sat perfectly still,
fully absorbed with his own thoughts. Mrs. White waited a few moments,
then continued: "What I have said in regard to applying the rule is
in full accord with the teachings of Jesus Christ wherein He
demonstrated the necessity of us working out our own salvation."
"Mrs. White, you say that God is the intelligence of man, or his mind."
"Yes, for God is _all_ intelligence."
"You also say that God is good only."
"Yes, God is _all_ Good."
"Then according to this theory that God is all intelligence, you must
admit that He is also the bad or evil intelligence found in some men,
and if this be true, you could hardly claim that He is all good, for
one statement would contradict the other," slowly said the pastor.
"You have made a mistake in your reasoning, Mr. Williams. A bad
intelligence is not intelligence, but a lack of intelligence, or
non-intelligence; in other words, ignorance, and ignorance has no place
in the realm of intelligence, for ignorance is evil, and intelligence
is good," said the practitioner. "Your explanation sounds very
reasonable, but I am not yet willing to agree with you; it may be
because I do not fully understand," answered the pastor.
"I do not think it possible for man to fully comprehend any science
in a few moments, and this science is the science of sciences."
"Am I to understand that evil and ignorance have no place in the
universe; in other words, are not real?" asked the pastor.
"Yes, the good alone is real. It is only through ignorance of the truth
that evil seems real, or has place or power."
"But we see evil all about us," said the pastor.
"This seems so, but it is only a misapprehension of the truth, for
evil is not real, has no entity or principle, God (Good) never made
it," said the practitioner.
"But if it is not real, and God did not make it, where did it come
from?" asked the pastor.
Mrs. White's face broadened into a smile, and then she said, "Mr.
Williams, I think I will tell you a little story that I wrote to one
of my patients who was suffering from a claim of indigestion. She
insisted that evil was real, and offered up the evidence of her
indigestion as proof thereof. This little story came to me as I was
thinking of her case. It may enlighten you on the origin of evil as
it did her. Now for the story."