Interesting articles have appeared of late in The Christian Science Journal concerning the attitude Christian Scientists should adopt toward the study of natural science. It is worth considering what their attitude should be toward another academic discipline, the study of history.
The subject matter of history, much of which concerns material events, is the experiences of men and women living in society in the past. But in view of Mrs. Eddy's statement in Retrospection and Introspection, where she turns from the account of her own past experiences to declare, "It is well to know, dear reader, that our material, mortal history is but the record of dreams, not of man's real existence, and the dream has no place in the Science of being,"Ret.,p. 21; how can it be worth a Christian Scientist's while to concern himself seriously with the study of something which is so largely concerned with that which is unreal?
We may reply that just as we cannot ignore the material world in our daily existence but indeed are glad to make use of the discoveries and inventions of natural scientists, although these involve what Christian Science teaches to be a false sense of substance, so we cannot ignore the past. The present moment, even while we write or read the words, becomes the past, but it remains part of our present experience; it continues to affect our thoughts and actions; and so, to a greater or less degree, does the whole past experience of the race.
