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THE K I NG ' S BUS I NES S
men and women who were b en t on a like mission. Everywhere help was needed. I answered th is call to help in P aris. I w ent on to Nevare and Tours, where I saw th e casualties by thousands coming from th e front. Cars were crowded w ith th e wounded and th e dying. Everywhere, yes, e v e ry -, where help was needed. I was helping,^ yet ou t of my experiences I was study ing a certain situation of which I had never dreamed. Something new was uncovered. And th a t something uncovered was th is,— th a t while many people were m aking unheard of sacrifices and were w illing to serve and suffer w ithout lim it, th e re were some men and women, over th e re who seemed w ithou t h eart, w ith ou t sympathy*— they h ad no word of cheer for the depressed and no consola tion for th e in ju re d ; they were uncon cerned aboüt th e happenings of every day; they were for th e most p a rt Chris tia n Scientists. In some way these erroneous believ ers had found th e ir way into th e Y. M. C. A. rank s and in some instances into th e rank s of th e troops and were spread ing th e ir propaganda, a propaganda which was as. h eartless in m eeting the ravages of w ar as th é Germans were h eartless in inflicting suffering upon the innocent. Something else was uncovered,— th a t th e Christian Scientists were using th e Y. M. C. A. reading rooms fo r th e dis trib u tio n of th e ir lite ra tu re withouft consent, however, from th e Y. M. C. A. au tho rities. They app aren tly were sys tem atically supplying these reading rooms and in frequen t instances “The Monitor,” th e ir daily organ, was nailed to th e reading table. Their services were announced, which were held in many of th e leading cities of F rance in th e vicinities where English and American troops were stationed. Invi tation s were also handed ou t to many to atten d th e ir services. Noting all these things like every
lover of th e tru th as it is in Christ Jesus, I was aroused and I became aroused to th e point of determ ination to do all I could to combat th e baneful influences of th is most insidious cult. This cult which to my m ind was not only underm ining the faith of many b u t underm ining the feeling of sympa th y and kindly feeling of reg ard th a t men owe to each o th er; underm ining also th e teachings of our American form of Government; Upon re tu rn in g to th e United States and tak ing up my p asto rate a t Redondo Beach, I found upon inquiry th a t when th a t aw ful epidemic of “ flu” had been a t its worst some of th e Scientists in an ad jacen t town had ignored the call of th e S tate and city au tho rities and held th e ir special meetings. I found also, when la ter the Evangelical churches of th e city desired to hold special meet ings, to be led by Dr. R. A. Torrey and Charles A lexander, in seeking th e use of th e school auditorium of our city for such services th a t th e political influence of the Christian Scientists was such th a t they almost debarred us from its use and even when we did a tta in its use,
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