At first sight, Truth always wears the garb of paradox. The orthodox is the accepted. The paradox is the unaccepted and unrecognized. These are therefore always changing places with the progress of knowledge. This is exemplified in the history of both science and religion.
It was therefore to be expected that the advent of Christian Science would be greeted with general dislike, repulsion and derision; that it would be misconceived, belied and maligned; and that its early adherents and advocates would be credited with every attribute worthy of scorn and detestation. Such has been the fact; and the opposition in some quarters grows more intense with the progress of the Truth opposed.
Hence, too, the superficial, as well as offensive, treatment which Christian Science has hitherto received from the world. It has not been considered deserving of a serious, earnest and thorough investigation. Its opponents have merely glanced at the form, and made no attempt to penetrate to the spirit of the system; and the form itself is caricatured, instead of being described. Just as if one should say: "There is no unity in the human body, because the legs and arms radiate from the trunk without any connection at the extremities;" so these wise analycists of Christian Science take some of its extremities and show that they do not directly dovetail into each other; and this is conceived as a conclusive refutation of the organism of the living Truth.
