WHY is Science and Health, of which Rev. Mary B. G. Eddy is the author, regarded by Christian Scientists every where as the absolute and final authority on Christian Science?
Why do they affirm so positively, that it is not only authority now, but always will be so? Some critics of Science And Health say that while it may be authority now, it is likely to be replaced and outgrown as the world progresses, and rises to a higher moral and spiritual consciousness. They say that history is full of examples of the rise, growth and decay of systems of thought. Some of them have had a large and enthusiastic following, and have numbered among their disciples men of great intellectual attainments, and high moral and spiritual character. These systems were thought by their followers to be the absolute truth. They were willing to die in their defence, and some of these systems did have their martyrs. They were equally ready to put others to death who refused to accept them; and yet the world has outgrown them. The books that taught these systems, and that were once eagerly read and discussed, now rest in dust-covered repose, as peacefully as the mortal bodies of their authors rest in their forgotten graves.
The decay of systems of thought is a far more impressive testimony to the mortality of all earthly things than the decay of kingdoms and dynasties, palaces and temples, because the former were supposed to have the elements of immortality.
