The Rev. Williams did not retire until long after midnight; he also had the same evil to fight, for he had admitted that he was prejudiced and so his prejudice seemed real to him. When Walter had first quitted the room, the pastor thought of calling him back and giving him a severe reprimand; but as he thought of all the misery the boy had been through in these many years of sickness, he decided not to do it. He then began to think of all that Walter had said throughout the Bible lessons and his thoughts were as follows "I cannot help admitting that a great many things he said seemed nonsense at first, but after a careful research of the Bible I found them fully substantiated and to be the real meaning; besides some of his explanations are very plain and prove his assertions. To think he got his information out of the Christian Science text book 'Science and Health,' with key to the scriptures, which nearly every clergyman and professors of all kinds have been ridiculing for the last thirty-five or forty years! Was there really something to Christian Science? Of course not; if there had been, all these learned men who had investigated it would not have denounced it. But maybe they were like me, so prejudiced that they denounced it without investigating. I even preached a sermon opposing it, simply because some one else said it was heretical, and as like as not this person never investigated it any more than I did, but denounced it because some one spoke ill of it to him. Now that I think of it, it was not a very Christian-like act to preach a sermon condemning something I have never looked into. Maybe that is what is the matter with us all; it is the same as sentencing a man without a hearing. I believe I will investigate this thing a little. I'll go over and have a talk with Parson Jones; he is considered a very well educated and broad-minded man; perhaps Walter was right when he accused me of being unreasonable; it certainly cannot do any harm to investigate. If there is nothing in it, I can tell the boy so, and if there is, it would be wrong not to try it for my wife's illness. Let me see, what did Walter say about its not being the work of the devil? He said the devil, or evil, could not or would not do good. This seems reasonable, and it surely would be doing good to heal any one of sickness. The Bible says Jesus Christ went about doing good, and this good that is spoken of was healing the sick and preaching the gospel. Yes, I'll just go over to Parson Jones to-morrow morning and have a long talk with him on this subject; now I must go to bed."
CHAPTER XI
FALSE INVESTIGATION
The next morning about 9 o'clock the Rev. Williams put on his coat and hat and said, "Walter, I am going out calling and will probably be gone until lunch time."
Ten minutes later he was seated in an easy chair in Parson Jones's study. After a few commonplace remarks he said, "Rev. Jones, I came over here to ask your advice about something I do not seem able to satisfy myself on."
Rev. Jones was a short, fleshy man, with red hair and face; he was noted for being a well educated and well read man, also of being very short and sharp in his speech, always speaking directly to the point. So he said, "Well, what is it?"
"I came to ask you if you know anything about this new cult called
Christian Science?"
"Nothing to it at all."
"My boy, Walter, claims to have been healed by reading the text book,
'Science and Health.'" "A book full of rubbish, heresy, and nonsense."
"The boy is well now, and you know he has always been sick since he was a child."