The practice of attributing virtues and vices, together with physical qualities and characteristics, to persons and material things, which has been in vogue continuously since time began, is found in the light of Christian Science to be but one of the many forbidden fruits of "the tree of knowledge of good and evil." This practice, while resulting in no perceptible benefit to the human race, is being perpetuated today in the name of modern science and is taught in advanced institutions of learning under such various titles as ethnology, physiology, psychology, phrenology, and the like.
A study of the teachings of Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, reveals the significant fact that nowhere in all her published works does she allude to the attributes of man or of any other creature, yet she repeatedly and specifically refers to the attributes of God. For instance, on page 275 of Science and Health she says: "All substance, intelligence, wisdom, being, immortality, cause, and effect belong to God. These are His attributes, the eternal manifestations of the infinite divine Principle, Love." This omission is the more pronounced when we bear in mind that practically every branch of human knowledge bases its findings upon the general assumption that persons and material things possess intrinsic good and evil attributes, and that any mode of thinking which proceeds along other lines must necessarily be transcendental and impractical.
The word attribute is derived from the Latin tribuo, meaning allot or assign. The Roman tribute-money rendered to Cæsar was called tributum, which is also derived from the same Latin root. One of the definitions given to the word attribute in the Standard dictionary is, "That which is considered as belonging to, inherent in, or characteristic of a person or thing." The modifying effect of the word "considered" in the foregoing definition implies a doubt, and suggests that the entire theory of physical attributes may be a house built upon the sand.
