anings at the only permitted source, Mrs.
Eddy's commentaries.

Value of this Strait-jacket. One must not underrate the magnificence
of this long-headed idea, one must not underestimate its giant
possibilities in the matter of trooping the Church solidly together and
keeping it so. It squelches independent inquiry, and makes such a thing
impossible, profane, criminal, it authoritatively settles every dispute
that can arise. It starts with finality--a point which the Roman Church
has travelled towards fifteen or sixteen centuries, stage by stage,
and has not yet reached. The matter of the Immaculate Conception of
the Virgin Mary was not authoritatively settled until the days of Pius
IX.--yesterday, so to speak.

As already noticed, the Protestants are broken up into a long array of
sects, a result of disputes about the meanings of texts, disputes made
unavoidable by the absence of an infallible authority to submit doubtful
passages to. A week or two ago (I am writing in the middle of January,
1903), the clergy and others hereabouts had a warm dispute in the papers
over this question: Did Jesus anywhere claim to be God? It seemed an
easy question, but it turned out to be a hard one. It was ably and
elaborately discussed, by learned men of several denominations, but in
the end it remained unsettled.

A week ago, another discussion broke out. It was over this text:

"Sell all that thou hast and distribute unto the poor."

One verdict was worded as follows:

"When Christ answered the rich young man and said for him to give to the
poor all he possessed or he could not gain everlasting life, He did not
mean it in the literal sense. My interpretation of His words is that we
should part with what comes between us and Christ.

"There is no doubt that Jesus believed that the rich young man thought
more of his wealth than he did of his soul, and, such being the case, it
was his duty to give up the wealth.

"Every one of us knows that there is something we should give up for
Christ. Those who are true believers and followers know what they have
given up, and those who are not yet followers know down in their hearts
what they must give up."

Ten clergymen of various denominations were interviewed, and nine of
them agreed with that verdict. That did not settle the matter, because
the tenth said the language of Jesus was so strait and definite that it
explained itself: "Sell all," not a percentage.

There is a most unusual