OS* ^

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

t/j

f/-

1.0

I.I

*i^ 1121

tx.

1.8

1.25

1.4 1.6

■,

►

Photographic

Sciences
Corporation

a>^

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80

(716) 872-4503

Q>,

CIHM/ICMH

Microfiche

Series.

CIHM/ICMH
Collection de
microfiches.

Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques

Tschnical and Bibliographic Notas/Notes tachniques at bibliographiquas

Tha Instituta haa attamptad to obtain tha bast
original copy availabia for filming. Faaturas of this
copy which may ba bibliographically uniqua,
which may altar any of tha imagas in tha
raproduction, or which may significantly changa
tha usual mathod of filming, ara chackad balow.

Colourad covars/
Couvarture da coulaur

I I Covers damagad/

D
D

Couvarture andommagda

Covers restored and/or laminated/
Couverture restauria at/ou pelliculi&e

□ Cover title missing/
Le titre de couverture manque

I I Coloured maps/

Cartes giographiquas en couleur

Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/
Encre de couleur (i.e. autre qua bleue ou noire)

Coloured plates and/or illustrations/
Planches et/cu illustrations en couleur

Bound with other material/
Reli6 avec d'autres documents

Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion
along interior margin/

La reliure senie peut causer de I'ombre ou de la
distortion le long de la marge int6riaure

Blank leaves added during restoration may
a,:pear within the text. Whenever possible, these
have been omitted from filming/
II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouttas
lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte.
mais, lorsque cela Atait possible, ces pages n'ont
pas 6t6 filmies.

Addition&i comments:/
Commentaires suppldmentaireiit;

L'institut a microfilm6 la meilleur exemplaire
qu'il lui a At6 possible de se procurer. Les details
da cet exemplaire qui sont peut-Atre uniques du
point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier
une image reproduita, ou qui peuvent exiger une
modification dans la mithoda normale de filmage
sont indiquis ci-dessous.

□ Coloured pages/
Pages

D
D

Pages de couleur

Pages damaged/
Pages endommagies

Pages restored and/oi

Pages restaur6es et/ou pelliculdes

Pages discoloured, stained or foxe(
Pages d^colordes, tacheties ou piqu^es

Pages detached/
Pages d6tach6es

Showthrough/
Transparence

Quality of prir

Qualit^ inegale de I'impression

Includes supplementary materii
Comprend du materiel suppldmentaire

n Pages damaged/
P

n Pages restored and/or laminated/
Pages

I I Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/

n Pages detached/
Pages

Hyf Showthrough/

I I Quality of print varies/

r~~| Includes supplementary material/

Only edition available/
Seule Mition disponible

Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata
slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to
ensure the best possible image/
Les pages totalement ou partiellement
obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure,
etc., ont 6t6 filmies A nouveau de faqon d
obtenir la meilleure image possible.

This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/

Ce document est film6 au taux da reduction indiqu* ci-dassous

10X 14X 18X 22X

26X

30X

12X

16X

20X

24X

28X

32X

The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks
to the generosity of:

National Library of Canada

L'exemplaire filmd fut reproduit grdce A la
g6n6rosit6 de:

Bibliothdque nationale du Canada

The images appearing here are the best quality
possible considering the condition and legibility
of the original copy and in keeping with the
filming contract specifications.

Les images suivantes ont 6X6 reproduites avec le
plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et
de la nettetd de l'exemplaire filmd, et en
conformity avec les conditions du contrat de
filmage.

Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed
beginning with the front cover and ending on
the last page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All
other original copies are filmed beginning on the
first page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, and ending on the last page with a printed
or illustrated impression.

Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en
papier est imprimde sont film6s en commenpant
par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la
dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second
plat, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires
originaux sont filmds en commenpant par la
premidre page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par
la dernidre page qui comporte une telle
empreinte.

The last recorded frame on each microfiche
shall contain the symbol ^^- (meaning "CON-
TINUED "), or the symbol V (meaning 'END "),
whichever applies.

Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la
dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le
cas: le symbole — ^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le
symbole V signifie "FIN".

Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at
different reduction ratios. Those too large to be
entirely included in one exposure are filmed
beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to
right and top to bottom, as many frames as
required. The following diagrams illustrate the
method:

Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre
film6s 6 des taux de reduction diffdrents.
Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre
reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 6 partir
de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche 6 droite,
et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre
d'images n6cessairry. Les diagrammes suivants
illustrent la mdthoJe.

' cAW4:i>>

, ■ M

■4%

<. \

••J

^-s

'S*

1 'Jtt.

^»

<! '

**^_.!iS£»S«

JtiJ

1 ^

fcjjMI

. *

l^' * ^^'* ^^• ' *'"-^'

-^-•••ft-

.^,\it^-i^

Christian Science

BY THE

REV. J. P. SHERATON, D.D., LL.D.

Principal of Wycliife College
University of Toronto

PRICE :

Single Copies, 5c., 3 Copies, ioc, or
$2.50 PER Hundred.

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.
1891.

PREFATORY NOTE.

This paper was originally prepared in compliance with
the request of a committee of the Archdeaconry of Vork,
and was read at the Conference held in Barrie, September
26th, 1900. It was subsequently revised and enlarged,
and given as a public lecture in Wyclifife College, February
29th, 1 90 1. It is now published at the earnest request
of many who heard it, both clergymen and laymen. The
quotations are chiefly taken from the 14th edition of
" Science and Health," to which the undesignated page
references are made.

T was in 1866 that Mrs. Mary Raker
O lover Eddy first put forward her
claim to have received a new and
final revelation from God, and be.jran
to teach the doctrine which a little
later was develo])ed into a system which was
called Christian Science. In 1S75 she published
a book called "Science and Health" in which
slie expoimds her teachings and of which, it is
said, the 205th edition has been published.
It is sold at $2.50 a volume. In 1876 she or-
ganized a Christian Scientist Association and in
1879, at a meeting of that Association, she or-
ganized a body which she described as "a
Mind-healing Church, without Creeds, called
the Church of Christ," which is said now to
number at least a quarter of a million adher-
ents in the United States and Canada. For
eight years she was the President of the ^Ia»sa-
chusetts Metaphysical College which dispensed
on extravagant terms its teaching and degrees,
until in i88q it was closed at a time when, as
is said, a prosecution for the unlawful confer-
ring of degrees seemed imminent. Since then she
has lived in opulent retirement, but revered by
her followers with idolatrous veneration and
even exalted by them above Christ as a divinely
inspired Saviour. Many Christian Scientist In-
stitutes have sprung up in different parts of the

Continent, conrhicted by teachers, in some cases
the rivals of Mrs. T^ldy ; and tlie doctrines of
the system have been set forth in tracts and
books which are freely circulated. Yet Mrs.
Eddy's work — '\Science and Health" — remains
the chief authoritative text-book of the sect —
and a strange medley it is, abounding in self-
contradictions and the most illogical assertions,
full of ingenious misrepresentations of orthodox
teaching, and strange perversions of the Scrip-
tures — all given forth in a tone of oracular dog-
matism. For this book I\Irs. ICddy claims di-
vine inspiration. Her followers extol it in
terms the most extravagant and even blasphem-
ous. One writes: — "It is surely God's word,
His best gift to fallen man ; our rich inherit-
ance, our salvation from sin, sickness and
death." Another says, "It is God with us."
And yet another calls it "The true Logos."
"Its substance," we are blasphemously told,
"is the Bread of Life which feeds the multi-
tudes." The perusal of it in faith, we are as-
sured, heals every manner of sickness and brings
life and health to men. Such are the preten-
sions which in this agg of boasted enlighten-
ment have gained credence with multitudes.

It is claimed for Christian Science that it is
at once a Philosophy, a Science, an ' a Religion.

As a philosophy it presents us with an extra-
ordinary theory of the universe, and this fan-
tastic theory is the actual working principle of
the system. It is this theory which underlies
its practice and upon the validity of which its
methods are based.

As a science it claims to be the only true and
efficient therapeutic, the infallible remedy for
all disease, the great curative agency which is
able to restore health and vigor to the suffering
sons of men. It is this practical side, gather

than the thci'ictical, which is most in evidence,
cuul whicJi is the source ol wluitever inflnence
it v\ iclds. It is not by its piiih'sophv that men
are attracted, but by its claims U) healin^ pow-
er, and i)y tiie cures it is said to eiiect.

As .L religion it claims to hv final. (;od\s
latest revelation to men, supplementing and
completing Christianit\ ; in realitv utterh sub-
verting it.

It will be convenient to view this fantastic
system from each of tiiese three standpoints.

The Philosophy of ChristL^j Science.

What is the theory which lies at the founda-
tion of Christian vScience ?

The most c(jiiiplete statement of it can be
gatiicicd from Airs. ICddv's book. Dr. I^ucklev,
in his admirable little work, states, that he has
compared with it the writings of eight or ten
other Christian Scientists and conversed wnth
many others, and that tliev all lor the most
part concur with Airs. Eddy 'in the fundamental
points of the svstem, and that where thev di-
verge it is upon minor ])oints.

Mrs. Rddv's fundamental principle is, in her
words, "the allness of (^od and the noth-
ingness of matter." (Pages 7, 10, 19, 226.)
"All real being is in the divine mind and
idea." (Page 3.) "A false sense evolves,
in belief, a subjective state of mortal
mind wdiich this same mind calls matter, flat-
ter is the falsity, not the fact of existence."
(Page 21.) "Alind is all, matter is naught."
"The only realities are the divine mind and
idea." "What you call matter was originally
error in solution." (Page 371.) "Erring

mortal views, misnamed mind, produce all the
organic and animal action of the mortal body."
(Page 3, etc. )

To what extent this theory is
Illustrahons i .vriied out iiiav be seen from

ot the Theory. specific applications of it.
There is in reiiiity, it is insisted, no such
thini; as sickness. All disease is caused by er-
roneous belief. "What is termed disease does
not exist." ( l*age 8i.) The sick man is to
be instructed that "he suffers only as* the insane
suffer, from a mere belief. The only difference
is that insanity implies a belief in a diseased
brain, wliile physicial ailments (so called)
arise from belief that some other portions of
the body are deranged." (Page 418.) Mrs.
Hddy goes so far as to .say, "The fear of dis-
severed bodily members, or belief in such a pos-
sibility, is reflected in the body, in the shape of
headache, fractured bones, dislocated joints,
and so on, as directly as shame is seen in the
blush rising to the cheek. This human error
about jjliysical wounds and colics is part and
parcel of the delusion that matter can feel and
see, having sensation and substance." "Tlie
origin of all disease is wholly mental." (Page
62. ) "Tumors, ulcers, tubercles, inflamma-
tion, pain, deformed s])incs, are all dream-shad-
ows, dark images of mortal thought, which
will flee before the light." (Pages 416, 417.)
l\len quickly recognize the difference betw^een
a delusion and a .reality. A man imagines
himself wounded when he has been thrown
down by the effects of a shell wdiich
exploded near him ; but in a few^ mom-
ents he recovers from the illusion. A man
receives a sword stroke — is that a delusion?
In another case the sword penetrates more deep-
ly and death is instantaneous. Is that also a
delusion ? If Mrs. Eddy's theory is true in one
case it must be in the other. Fatigue, she tells
us is an illusion. "Vou would not sav that a

wheel is fati.^ued; and yet the body is just as
material as the wheel. If it \vere not for what
the human mind says of the body, the body
would never be weary, any more that tlie in-
animate wheel. An understanding]^ of this great
fact rests you more than hours of repose."
(Page 114.)

Our sensations of heat and cold, of huxiger and
satisfaction, are said to be as illusory as those
of pain, fatigue, and relief. "Heat and cold are
products of mind." (Page 373.) Mrs. Eddy
is here courageously consistent: — "We say the
body suffers from the effects of cold, heat, fa-
tigue, etc., but this is belief and error and not
the truth of being, for matter cannot suffer."
Observe in passing the expression "matter can-
not suffer." It is a mode of speaking largely
used by Mrs. Kddy and is either a wilful or a
stupid perversion of terms. No one in his
senses believes that inorganic matter suffers.
Organized, sentient being does suffer.

Diet is of no account. Our forefathers did not
have dyspepsia, because " a man's belief in
those days was not so severe upon the gastric
juices." (Page 68.) It is a mistake, we are
told, to think the simple food they ate made
them healthy. Their diet would not cure dys-
pepsia at this period. With rules of health in
the hiad and the most digestible food in the
stomach there would still be dyspeptics. It was
ignorance of physiology, she explains, that
made our forefathers more hardy. (Page 93.)
Such ignorance is bliss, according to Mrs.
Eddy.

Food and clothing are, in Mrs. Eddy's belief,
as unnecessary as medicine : — "Food neither
strengthens nor weakens the body." (Page
118.) But she brings in limitations which be-
tray want of confidence in her theories. While
she boldly affirms it to be self-evident that

"food does not aliect the nature of man,"
( Page 387 ) slie displays significantly in the
margin the caution : "hasten slowly," and
then in the text adds the ^varning : "It would
be foolisih to venture beyond our present under-
standing, foolish to stop eating until we gain
more guidance and a clearer comprehension of
God." Yet the warning has not always been
heeded, and there are Christian Scientists who
attempted to live up to Mrs. Eddy's theory and
found their way some to the lunatic asylum and
others to the grave. The three Hebrevv^ captives
cast into tlie Babylonian furnace escaped com-
bustion because they had got rid of the illusory
belief tJiat fire burns. We would not freeze in
the cold were we able to rise al)ove the delusion
which makes men succumb to exposure. Yet
Mrs. Eddy does not advise her follo\vers to put
these theories into practice. "One should not
tarry in the storm if the body is freezing, or re-
main in the devouring flames. Unable to pre-
vent bad results, one should avoid their occa-
sion. To do otherwise is to resemble a pupil
in addition, who attempts to solve a problem
in Euclid and denies the principle of the prob-
lem because he fails in his first attempt."
( Page 224. )

Both food and medicine, Mrs. Eddy assures
us, have no value except what the mistaken be-
lief of mankind imparts to them. "Food docs
not affect the real existence of man." (Page
387. ) A splendid idea for the House of Indus-
try and those interested in free breakfasts for
the poor! "Christian Science," we are told,
"divests material drugs of their imaginary

power When the sick recover by the use of

drugs it is the law of a general belief culminat-
ing in individual faith, that heals, and accord-
ing to this faith will the effect be." According-
ly the properties ascribed to various substances,

foods and drugs, are purely imaginary. We are
aSvSured by Mars ton, a Christian Scientist, that
"the not uncommon notion that drugs possess
absolute, inherent, curative virtues of their own
involves an error. Arnica, quinine, opium,
could not produce the effects ascribed to them
except by imputed virtue. Men think they will
act thus on the physical system, consequently
they do." The property of alcohol is to in-
toxicate, but if the common thought liad en-
dow^ed it simply with a nourishing quality like
milk, it would produce a similar effect. Then
the w^retched babes of the slums suckled on gin
would change* places with the robust infants
reared on the food of nature's own providing.
Under such guidance, temperance reform ought
to take a new direction, and its advocates show
mankind ho^v, once disillusioned, they can
drink w^hiskey with impunity. For Mrs. Eddy
maintains that intoxication is an illusion.
(Page 115.)

If a poison is taken in ignorance ol its effects,
not the less certainly do these effects follow.
Disease assails infants, idiots, and animals ;
and medicines administered to them act as cer-
tainly as in the case of adults. But all this, we
are told, is the result of the belief, not indeed of
the subjects themselves, but of man in general.
Thus Mrs. Eddy explains it: — "If a dose of
poison is swallowed through mistake, the pat-
ient dies while physician and patient are ex-
pecting favorable results. Did belief cause this
death ? P^ven so, and as directly as if the poi-
son had been intentionally taken." (Page 76.)
The few^ who think a drug harmless, w^here a
mistake has been made in the prescription, are
unequal to the many who have named it poison,
and so the majority opinion governs the result.
And ati to animals, Mrs. Eddy says: — "You
can even educate a healthy horse so well in

1 1

physiology that he will take cold without his
blanket, whereas the wild animal, left to his
instincts, sniffs the wind with delight." (Page
72. ) So the horse takes cold, not because of
the want of the blanket to which he has been
accustomed, but because his training has been
vsuch that he is led to believe that if the blanket
is left off he will take cold! "A child," she
tells us, "can have worms if you say so, timor-
ously holden in the beliefs of those about him."
(Page 412.) Could absurdity go further?

To what does this theory re-

£ 1. 'T'^"^^ duce the universe and man ?

of the Theory ^^i^^ outcome is appalling.

(1) What becomes of the universe? "Noth-
ing," says Mrs. Eddy, "we can say or believe
regarding matter is true excex^t that flatter is
unreal." She defines matter as "that Av^hich
mortal mind sees, feels, hears, tastes, smells,
only in belief." (Page 582.) "The material
atom is an outlined falsity of consciousness."
" ( ChrivStian ) Science and material sense con-
flict on all points from the evolution of the
eartli to the fall of the sparrow."

Our ])erceptions, therefore, cannot be trusted.
They only present to us unrealities. The testi-
mony of the senses is not valid. They continu-
ally deceive us. "The material senses testify
falsely," says Mrs. Eddy. If this is the case,
the whole of life becomes an illusion. The foun-
dations are laid of a universal scepticism.

Not only are our perceptions illusions; equally
so are our deductions from them. Mrs. Eddy
insists strenuously upon "the emptiness of
knowledge, the nothingness of matter and its
imaginary laws." There can be no real knowl-
edge then of anything. Science cannot exist.
"There is no physical science." (Page 21.)

The so-called laws of matter are nothing

I {.'

i)ut false beliefs." (Page 64.) The whole
inighty fabric which man bv observa-
tion and reasoning has built up disappears in
a yawning abyss. Mrs. Eddy warns us that
those who study astronomy, chemistry, physi-
ology, "are wasting their time upon chimeras,
ruminating in a vacuum.' No longer can we
believe, therefore, the evidence of our own senses
or the testimonv of others. A black night of
ignorance and despair settles down over life.
The universe is dissolved into a wild fantastic
dream.

(2) Having thus disposed of th.e universe,
what place does Chri^^tian Science give to God ?

Mrs. Eddy, indeed, says that Ood is the only
reality. But it is difficult to know what she
means by reality. She declares that God is
all, which appears to mean that God is the sum
of all things. "God," she savs, "is identical
with nature." (Page 13. ) This is Pantheism.
Yet iMrs. Eddy denounces Pantheism (which
slie curiously derives from the god Pan ) ; but
evidently it is materialistic Pantheism she
means. Like Spinoza she makes the universe
consist of one infinite substance of which all
finite existences are the idea or expression. "All
that can exist," she affirms, "is God and His
idea." God is described as "the soul of all be-
ing," "tlie only mind and intelligence in the
universe." Of this mind, she says, "the uni-
verse and man are the spiritual phenomena."

God as the one mind or sub.stance of the uni-
verse is impersonal. On tJiis point Mrs. Eddy
is ambiguous and obscure. In answering the
question "What is God?" she says, "God is
divine principle, supreme incorporeal being,
mind spirit, soul, truth, life." She adds that
terms are synonymous, and it should be
ed that "principle" stands fir.st in the
"God is personal in its scientific sense,

thesv

obser

series

( i.e. in the sense of Christian Science ) ; but not
in any anthropomorphic sense," as she charac-
terizes the doctrine of" the divine personality.

( Paji^e 232.) "If God," she says, "is personal
there is but one person, because tliere is but one
God." ]\Irs. Kddy's denial of the divine person-
ality appears in her doctrine of creation, which
she reg'ards as emanation. It is also seen in
her mode of dealin[r with Bible narratives in
which God's personality appears. The beauti-
ful simplicity with wliich the Old Testament de-
scribes (Tod's personal dealings with His an-
cient saints is an offence to Mrs. Eddy. That
Knoch walked with (xod, that Moses spoke to
God as friend to friend, are superstitious
myths which must be set aside.

God, l\Irs. Eddy insists, is principle. Now if
God is simply principle, what becomes of the
reality and personality of the divine being-? Is
it any wonder to find an experience vSuch as this
— of a young man who passed through Christian
Science to atheism? "The Christian Science
teacher," he says, "began by persuading me
that God is not personal but pure principle.
After some months I accepted this; and then I
said to myself, 'What is principle? Is it an
entity or a reality?' I soon saw that a prin-
ciple is simply an idea of my own mind; and
when the scientist dissolved mv God into 'prin-
ciple,' I ceased to believe in any God whatever.
I novi^ believe simply in myself." And as in
this young man's experience, so in the specula-
tions of Christian Science, its Pantheism is
practically Panegoism, which is the climax of
egotism, as it is unblushingly confessed in these
lines which Mrs. Eddy has prefixed as one of the
mottoes to her book: —

"I, I, I, I itself. I,
The inside and ou<-.>ide, the what and the why,
The when and the where, the low and the high,

All I, I, I, I itself, I."

This comes out in Mrs. Eddy's account of man.

(3) What, then, is man, according to Chris-
tian Science? "Man," says Mrs. Eddy, "\vas
and is God's idea, even the infinite expression
of infinite mind and co-existent and co-eternal
with that mind." (Pages 231, 473, 509.)
Again: "Man is the reflection of God
and mind, and therefore eternal." He has,
we are told, "no separate mind from
God." "Man is the expression of God's being.
If ever there was a moment when man express-
ed not this perfection, he could not have ex-
pressed God; and there would have been a time
when Deity was without entity, being." (Page
466. ) Thus the very being of God is
made dependent on the thoughts of man.

Again she says,

( (

The

science

of be-
ing shows it impossible for man to be a
separate intelligence from his Maker." There
resides in man "conscious identity of being
with God." "The soul or the mind of man is
God." "The term souls or spirits is as im-
proper as the term gods. Soul or spirit signi-
fies deity and nothing else." "The proper use of
the word soul can always be gained by substi-
tuting the word God, where the deific meaning
is required." ( Page 478. ) God, therefore, is one
with man. Can it surprise us then to find Mrs.
Woodbury, a former pupil of Mrs. Eddy, mak-
ing such a statement as this — "On all hands are
victims believing themselves to be as Gods."

And man himself is but a dream ! "(Chris-
tian ) Science reveals material man as a dream
at all times." "Mortal existence is a dream,
it has no real entity." (Page 146.) "Mind
in matter is the author of itself, and is simply
a falsity and illusion." (Page 546.) "Think
of thyself as an orange just eaten of which only
the pleasant idea is left." Such is mortal man.
But Mrs. Eddy draws a distinction, hard to

^Wi

follow in the maize of incongruities and con-
tradictions in which it is presented, between
mortal man and spiritual man, who is the idea
of God. The latter is not to be confounded
with the Adamic race known as mankind. "The
so-called man is an incorporate belief of carnal-
ity, and the dissolution of the component parts
or beliefs which constitute him we term death."
Adam means "nothingness;" he is a "so-called
man;" "an invented image of God," (Page
563 ) whatever that may mean. He was not
the first man who was Jesus in a previous
state of existence. He sprung out of the
ground. He dreamed. "Then, beholding the
creations of his own dream and calling them
real and God-given, Adam — alias Error — gives
them names. Afterwards, he becomes the basis
of the creation of women and of his own kind
calling them mankind." (Page 521.) Mortals,
we are told, "are the fallen children of God."
(Page 472.) They are "material falsities,"
"incorporate beliefs," -which will disappear at
death. Then will be revealed "the man of
GoJs own creating," the Christ-principle, with
Whom man is to become identical. How the
true ideal man is connected with the Adamic
man, either in his origin or in his destiny, Mrs.
Eddy does not make very plain. Human per-
sonality and immortality are clearly denied.
Man is the divine idea or consciousness which,
at present, in some mysterious way, is united to
mortals who are incorporate beliefs of carnal-
ity. When the beliefs are dispelled, nothing
will be left but the impersonal idea which is
eternal. Mrs. Eddy's demonstration of the
nothingness of matter is completed by the sui-
cide of man.

From what sources did this

The Sources of fantastical conglomerate of

Christian Science, incoherency spring? We need

scarcely go further than the w^eak, undisciplined

mind of a vain woman; but without doubt she
came under influences which suggested and, in
some sort, shaped her speculations. Ideas,
which were not assimilated or combined, pass-
ed through her mind and were projected into a
kind of metaphysical phantasmagoria. She
dw^elt in Boston, the centre of all kinds of men-
tal activities, normal and abnormal. The
teaching of Emerson, as a matter of course,
was not without its effect, and through him
and others, German transcendentalism exercised
a strong influence. A Pantheistic mist filled
the air which Mrs. Eddy breathed. Then later,
the study of Theosophy became popular and its
mystical and pantheistic speculations affected
even the newspapers. An attempt was made to
acclimatize Buddhism, amended and flavoured
with ingredients from Christian ethics and
philanthropy. Just prior to the first edition
of Mrs. Eddy's "Science and Health," Madame
Blavatsky, the oracle of modern theosophy, or-
ganized her Society in New York. It is, there-
fore, not surprising to find a close resemblance
between Christian Science and Theosophy in
its nomenclature and its leading ideas. Spirit-
ualism also has evidently furnished suggestions.
The ancient Neo-Platonic and Gnostic specula-
tions w^ere revived. Madame Blavatsky did not
hesitate to claim kinship with the Gnostics,
but Mrs. Eddy's teachings approximate even
more closely to their doctrines. Out of these
elements Mrs. Eddy, with great ingenuity, has
gathered up the errors, crudities, absurdities,
anH impossibilities which appear in her teach-
ings, and, without logical sequence, combined
them into the incoherent, inconsistent, self-con-
tradictory mass of folly called Christian
Science.

We must not fail to take note
Reaction* of another aspect of the move-

ment which has produced
Christian Science, and similar systems of error.
It emphasizes and exaggerates truths which had
been forgotten. Herein is one secret of its in-
fluence and a ground of hopefulness as to the
ultimate outcome. It is a re-action against the
dreary materialism of the ajre. Not many years
ago the doctrine w^as promulgated that thought
was a secretion of the brain. Now w^e are
taught that the brain itself is a belief of mind.
In Christian Science, Spiritualism and Theo-
sophy, we have a revolt against the anti-spirit-
ualism which limits man's life to the things of
time and sense. The revolt is grotesque and ex-
travagant, but it bears witness to man's spirit-
ual instincts and his supernatural origin and
destiny.

Then again, we may reasonably see in these
erroneous developments another sign of re-ac-
tion. They are the diseased exaggerations of a
great truth w^hich has displaced the deism
which formerly prevailed, which removed God
to a distance from the world, and, we may add,
from the Church, sterilized Christian thought
and made the influence of the Holy Ghost a for-
gotten truth. God is immanent in the world.
As has been well said, *'If we believe in a living
God, w^e surely believe in a God who lives; but
God does not live unless He is every moment
and in every atom as active and as much pre-
sent as He w^as in the very hour and article of
creation." Science and Philosophy have under-
mined the old deistical view of the 'world; they
have forced upon us the only alternative — either
God is everywhere in nature or is nowhere. A
notable change has taken place in human
thought; but like all great movements, it is
accompanied by its exaggerations and distor-
ts

tions. Even the back-water eddies show us the
strength of the mighty current. Even the delu-
sions and absurdities of Christian Science,
Theosophy and Faith-healing, give us reason
not to despair, but to await with hopeful cour-
age the gradual unfolding of God's great purpose
in Jesus Christ and the consummation of the
Eternal Kingdom.

The Therapeutics of Christian Science.

The methods of Christian Science follow
closely upon its theory. The patient is to be
taught that what is called disease is an illu-
sion of mortal mind which he must resist and
deny. "What you call neuralgia," says Mrs.
Eddy, "I call an illusion." (Page 391.) The
Christian Science healer is instructed to realize
the absence of disease; and then he is to induce
the patient to realize it also. He is to use "such
powerful eloquence as a legislator would em-
ploy to defeat the passage of an inhuman law."
(Page 389.) In addressing the patient the
healer is warned against calling the disease by
name audibly, because it is liable to impress
the mind of the patient. But he may do so
mentally. "If you call mentally and silently
the disease by name, as you argue against it,
as a general rule, the body will respond more
quickly." (Page 409.) This, however, is a
concession to the imperfectly prepared healer.
"To let spirit bear witness without words is
the more scientific way." Thus by silent per-
suasion and by forcible pleading the patient is
to be delivered from the false beliefs which are
the cause of sickness. (Page 410, etc.) No
other means are to be used, Mrs. Eddy dis-
claims them all. "A Christian Scientist," she
says, "never gives medicine, never recommends

hygiene, never manipulates." Neither diet, nor
exercise, nor even washing the body or any part
of it, is of any account. But to read Mrs.
Eddy's books is of great importance. "My
publications," vshe says, "heal more sickness
than the unconscientious student can begin to
reach."

A cure then is the removal of the belief that
there is any disease to be cured. As Marston,
a Christian Scientist writer, affirms, "A men-
tal cure is the discovery made by the sick per-
son that he is well." The whole treatment is
mental and its object is to bring about this re-
sult — the emancipation of the patient from the
delusive ideas of mortal mind which constitute
sickness.

For those cases in which the patient is evi-
dently becoming worse under the Christian
Scientist's hands, Mrs. Eddy provides an in-
genious explanation. (Page 400.) It is "the
upheaval produced when immortal Truth is
destroying erroneous mortal belief." To this
process she gives the curious name of "chem-
icalization." "Mental chemicalization brings
sin and sickness to the surface, as in a ferment-
ing fluid, allowing impurities to pass away."
Seeing that sin and sickness are merely illu-
sions of mortal mind, how do they come to the
surface, and what is the nature of these impur-
ities?

The Christian Scientist points to nmnerous
cases of alleged healing in proof of the efficacy
of their methods and soundness of their theory.
Let us examine their pretensions.

( I ) They are silent as to

Failures* their numerous and notorious

failures. Of suchfailuresabun-
dant evidence is available, and let it be noted
that failures here demonstrate absolutely the
falsity of the system, for they occur in the prac-

tice of a system which professes to heal all
manner of siclsness and injury to the body upon
one certain, universal, and demonstrable prin-
ciple. Mrs. Eddy repeatedly insists that all
diseases are curable by one process, it matters
not what they are.

Then again the evidence brought forward in
proof of alleged cures is inadequate and unre-
liable. We find that it is generally that of in-
terested parties, of Christian Scientists them-
selves or of patients who are often incapable of
giving a correct account of their malady or of
their supposed deliverance from it.

The cases presented arc not verified by such tes-
timony as would satisfy either the requirements
of a Itgal examination or the methods of scien-
tific enquiry, or even the ordinary demands of
prudence and common sense. Moreover, Chris-
tian Scientists have refused to submit their cases
to reasonable and adequate tests. For instance,
Dr. Reed, of Cincinnati, addressed in January,
1899, a challenge to Mrs. Eddy to prove her
system by selected cases in any hospital, but
this challenge was never accepted. Mr. Carol
Norton, who lectured last winter in Toronto,
offered medical proof that Christian Science
has cured locomotor ataxia and many other
diseases. This lecture and challenge were pub-
lished in the Troy Record of February 28th,
1899. On March 3otli Dr. Purrington, a physi-
cian in New York, in reply challenged him to
give the names and addresses of reputable and
competeni medical practioncrs who would cer-
tify as to the real natiire of such cases, the diag-
noses made, the treatment followed and the pres-
ent position of the persons said to be cured. On
April 3rd Mr. Norton wrote, promising the in-
formation desired, and again on April i8th to
apologize for delays. On April 29th Dr. Purring-
ton wrote reminding Mr. Norton of his promise

and putting several questions as to the treat-
ment lie would follow in certain specified cases,
for example, that of strangulation from swal-
lowing a fish-bone, a fractured skull, a severed
artery, etc. On May 4th Mr. Norton replied
that he would be obliged to shelve the ques-
tions for the present. On May 8th he brought
Dr. Purrington the promised "medical confirm-
ation," which consisted in each case only of a
brief statement signed by a Christian Scientist,
but not a word from an accredited physician or
scientific investigator.

( 2 ) The testimony offered by
No Diagnosis. Christian Scientists is unre-
liable from another cause.
They condemn all medical science, and even the
study of physiology. To such studies they at-
tribute the existence of disease on the ground
tliat they promote the false beliefs which are
the source of sickness. Mrs. Eddy says that
"anatomy, physiology, treatises on health are
the promoters of sickness and disease." (Page
72. ) Not only are Christian Scientist healers
ignorant of the structure and laws of the hu-
man body; but they explicitly condemn diag-
nosis. Mrs. Bddy says, "it is morally wrong
to examine the body in order to ascertain if
vve are in health." Jesus, she tells us, never
made a diagnosis. The organs of the body do
not report sickness. (Pages 368, 139.) Mr.
Norton says, "I make no diagnoses, except
along the lines of consistent mental therapeu-
tics. Disease is disease. The principle that
cures one, if rightly applied will heal all." If
even physicians trained in the science of the
body and in the diagnosis of disease, some-
times fail to detect the nature and source of the
malaay, what reliance can be placed upon those
who are, by the very principles they profess, in
absolute ignorance of everything that pertains

to medicine and diagnosis, and what is the
worth of their testimony in regard to the cases
they profess to have healed?

( 3 ) There is a third consid-
No Sufgcry. eration. Not only are there

many incontrovertible failures;
not only is the testimony offered in support of
alleged cures vitiated both by the partiality
and by the self-imposed disqualifications of the
witncvsses; but the range of healing attempted
by Christian Scientists is Iniiit^d in a very
notable way by themselves. They restrict their
work to medical cases, and do not, as a rule,
attempt to deal with surgical cases. They in-
deed claim, as we have seen, to be able to heal
every disease w^hatever be its cause or its char-
acter. Mrs. Eddy claims that she has wrought
cures in such cases as hip disease, crushed bones
of the foot, cancers, carious bones and frac-
tures. But no evidence has been offered that
she has acti:.ally performed them, and she has
been driven to confess that surgery is for the
present beyong the power of Christian Science.
She advises her pupils that "Until the advanc-
ing age admits the efficacy and supremacy of
mind, it is better to leave the adjustment of
broken bones and dislocations to a surgeon,
while you confine yourself chiefly to mental re-
construction and the prevf^ntion of inflamma-
tions or protracted confinements." (Page
400.) In effect Mrs. Eddy says — We can
cure all, but in the meantime, we refuse all but
easy cases which time and nature will heal.
How inexpressibly cruel! In plain words, she
advises her pupils to refuse cases in which fail-
ure will be discovered, and to take those in
which bad results are more readily covered up.
In medicine she thinks she can with impunity
disregard science, but she dare not attempt it
in surgery. Yet her principles, according to her

own showing, apply with equal force and, as
she professes to believe, with equal effi-
cacy, in botli classes. The limitation
to one class lays bare the sham. It is a
confession of defeat. Can we imagine a scient-
ist healer addressing himself by persuasion to
the extraction of a fish-bone from his child's
throat, or expostulating with his own severed
artery as a delusion of mortal mind! or w^his-
pering gently to an obstreperous tooth, w^hich
is making the head throb with pain! Just as ab-
surd is the pretended power to treat by mental
persuasion those maladies which the professors
of Christian Science have the hardihood to at-
tempt.

( 4 ) A fourth consideration
No Novelty* prepares the way for the ex-

planation of the alleged cures.
The cures professed to be ^vrought by Chris-
tian Science are similar to those said to be
made by other reputed agencies of healing.
They can all be paralleled from the records of
Mormonism and Romanism, mind cure and
faith healing. Ancient superstitions and mod-
ern delusions have alike claimed to be attested
by miracles of healing, and these of a character
similar to those which are vaunted by Christian
Scientists. The Mormons claim to have an un-
broken record of success in working miracles of
healing from the first establishment of their
"Church," and many of these cures are quite as
•v^^ell attested as any claimed by Christian
Scientists. In Russia and in Roman Catholic
countries are numerous shrines, like those of
Lourdes in France and St. Anne de Beaupre in
Quebec, where great stacks of crutches and
splints are shown as the memorials left by the
lame and diseased who have been supernatural-
ly healed. Faith cure to-day professes to work

its miracles, and claims that many have been
benefited by its methods.

Healing without medicine is no novelty.
Christian Science presents nothing peculiar to
itself in the cures it claims to perform. We
find precisely the same claims made, the same
phenomena presented, the same results attested
in connection with various religious and medi-
cal systems and beliefs. And this can all
be rationally accounted for on the same prin-
ciples. The same causes are at work in them
all. The explanation of these cures is to be
found chiefly along two lincvS — the vis mcdlca-
trix naturae and the relations of m.ind and
body. I/ct us briefly consider each of these.

( 5 ) Nature manifests a mar-
Vis Medicatfix. vellous power of readjustment

and recuperation. In fact, all
healing is due to its wonderful provision, /ill
that physicians or vsurgeons can do is to assist
the natural process. The surgeon must reduce
a fracture and put the portions of the broken
limb into right relations with each other. Then
the healing processes of nature can go on, and
in due time the broken pieces are re-united. In
this and in very many cases nature must be
assisted. There are other cases in which nature
effects the healing process without any medical
assistance, and even in spite of it, when ihe in-
terference is of a character to hinder rather
than to help it. Men are coming to recognize
in all dejjartments of life that works are ac-
complished and progress is achieved chicily by
means of the great laws and force? of piatiire.
This is especially true in medicine. There are,
indeed, many diseases and even particular in-
stances of trifling diseases which will not ter-
minate if left to themselves. There are in juries
which nature, without assistance, cannot re-
pair. The object of a wise physician is to as-

-L>■»trxs--^e^«■r^■^^.-^.«^,-.„.-,■^-^y,

sist nature, to remove what obstructs her
operation, to secure the conditions most favor-
able for her action, to supply what is deficient
on account of an unnatural condition of the
body, to exclude from the body whatever is un-
suitable for the special pathological condition
into which it may have lapsed. This can only
be done by a right understanding of the laws of
the body, its normal condition, and its unnat-
uralconditions in disease; and bythe application
for its relief of the forces and agencies ^vllich
are shown by the study of chemistry and biol-
ogy to be available and potent. On the other
hand, the physician may recognize conditions
with which he must interfere as li1 tie as pos-
sible; he may find conditions which if left alone
will adjust themselves. He will in such cases
give little or no medicine; but on account of
the mental condition of the patient, or his dis-
satisfaction unless the physician does some-
thing, he may be obliged to prescribe some-
thing of a neutral and innocent character.

Many cures said to be wrought by Christian
Science, faith-healing, and other quack methods
in vogue, are in reality due to the curative
processes of nature. The science-healer has
here the advantage over the faith-healer. The
latter professes to secure instantaneous recov-
ery. The methods of the former are more delib-
erate, and give time for the natural recupera-
tive forces to do their part. In the assertions
made of such cures it must be remembered that
a mere coincidence is no proof of the relation of
cause and effect. Yet how often post hoc is
assumed to be propter hoc*

(6)It is chiefly, how^ever, in
Mind and Body* the reciprocal influence of

mind and body. that we find
the explanation of most of the cures attributed
to Christian Science, as well as to faith-healing;

and similar systems which profess to heal solely
by mental influence.

"We are fearfully and wonderfully made."
One of the marvels and mysteries of our organ-
ization is the relation of the spirit to the body.
The spirit is not within the body in a loose dis-
jointed way, as a sword is within a sheath.
The two are vitally inter-relatcd, and act and
re-act upon each other. The body influences
the mind at all points. How often does it clog
the mind and impede its action! A diseased
liver can becloud the brightest temperament.
The abuse of alcohol causes deterioration of the
entire brain structure. Insanity is in very
many cases due to some lesion in the brain
substance. Authorities tell us that one half of
the idiots in the land are made so by the in-
temperate condition of the father. Concussion
and fracture of the skull frequently produce in-
sanity. Pressure of the skull on the brain
causes idiocy, or sometimes complete loss of
intelligence. Dr. Buckley relates the case of a
negro ^vho was w^ounded during the American
Civil Wj.r, and who for years wandered about
to all appearance a drivelling idiot. A surj:^eon
examined him and found an injury to the
skull causing pressure upon the brain. When
this was removed at once the light of intel-
ligence shone from his eye and his first \vords
were: — "we were at Manasses yesterday; where
are we to-day?" A case similar to this is re-
lated by Sir Astley Cooper. A sailor, struck
down in the battle of Trafalgar and carried
round the world in a man-of-war, in which he
had lain devoid of all intelligence, but his body
carrying on its involuntary functions, was,
after several years, found in the hospital by the
great surgeon. A skilful operation relieved
the injury to the skull, and the first words of
returning consciousness, "How goes the bat-

^mgm

tie?" went back over the interval of seven
years.

These facts not only illustrate the wonderful
influence of the body on the mind; they effectu-
ally contradict Mrs. Eddy's theory that all
diseases are the result of mental causes, illu-
sions of the mind.

On the other hand, the influence of the mind
on the body is even more extraordinary. I^et a
man be told repeatedly how ill he looks, and in
many cases there will be quickly found most
hurtful results. In periods of epidemic the fear
and depression contribute to the spread of the
malady. Violent anger may give rise to apo-
plexy. Sudden and strong emotions of joy or
sorrov7 may suspend for a time, or even arrest,
the action of the heart. Mental excitement wall
produce inflammation of the brain. Mental de-
pression frequently produces dyspepsia, chronic
hepatitis and other forms of visceral disorder.
Epilepsy has been brought on by anxiety, fear,
or grief. Jealousy effects both the quality and
the quantity of the bile. Murchison affirms
that nervous causes account for many cases
not only of functional derangement, but of
structural disease of the liver. An eminent
medical authority states that "Expectant at-
tention fixed on an oigan with the belief that
certain results will accrre is oiten sufficient to
produce such results." "No organ," he says,
"can functionate properly if subjected to
constant surveillance." Then we have the ex-
traordinary phenomena of hysteria, which is
capable of counterfeiting nearly every disease
and reproducing its symptoms. It can simu-
late paralysis, heart disease, and the worst
forms of fever and ague. There was a case in
St. Ivuke's hospital in New York, of a woman
with a swelling which was pronounced by her
physician to be an ovarian tumor. Another phy-

^^^

sician of greater acumen in diagnosis pronounced
it to be simply the result of hysteria, and this
proved to be correct, for the administration of
ether brought about its immediate and complete
removal. Many similar cases could be cited.

And as the mind is capable of creating diseas-
ed conditions; so these conditions can be remov-
ed by mental treatment, and right mental con-
ditions are a powerful factor in the treatment
of disease. Depression, discouragement, giving
way, all tend to perpetuate diseased conditions.
Good cheer, courage, hopefulness, all assist
mightily in their amelioration. A strong will
and aroused mental energies carry many
patients through the crisis of an acute disease.

Nervous diseases are frequently removed by
agencies acting through the emotions and the
will. An old w^oman bed-ridden for seven
years, with paralysis as was supposed, was in-
formed that a cyclone was coming. Without
the aid of Mrs. Eddy's book, she jumped out of
bed, ran down stairs, and after recovery from
her fright, found that her paralysis was gone.
It was due to hypochondria and did not return
for several years.

A young lady was ill for a long time with in-
tense pain and was unable to move. Her phy
sician advised a severe operation from which
her parents shrank. Another physician, after
a thorough examination of the patient, sudden-
ly in a tone of authority commanded her to get
up, put on her clothes and go down stairs. The
patient obeyed and soon completely recovered.
The second physician recognized that it was a
case of obstinate hysteria which simulated or-
ganic trouble, and he treated it accordingly.
What a splendid case this would have been for
the Christian Scientist, if he had dared to sub-
mit it to mental treatment!

Time will only permit the most meagre refer-

ence to a subject upon which a volume might
have been written. There can be no question
either as to the amazing influence of the mind
on the body, or as to the effective use of this
influence in the healing of disease. The power
of expectation, the potent influence of sugges-
tion on human thought and conduct, the force
of will, the mental control of the body, the up-
lifting and curative influences of cheerfulness
and hopefulness, might all be illustrated at
length. They are utilized by Christian Scien-
tists. But none of these things are peculiar to
their system. They are not dependent upon
their peculiar theories. They are equally effec-
tive in the hands of those "who practise hypno-
tism, mind-cure and faith-healing, or are train-
ed physicians. They have their legitimate
place in modern medical practice. They indi-
cate the greater emphasis which is being laid
upon the relation of the mind to the body in
health and disease, which scientific medicine is
now more fully recognizing. They furnish, too,
a splendid corroboration of the sanative power
of genuine, practical Christianity, and illus-
trate the reasonableness of its precepts and
their consonance with the truest views of man's
nature.

We can now estimate at their
Conclusions. true value the claims of Chris-

tian Science to heal disease.
Setting aside its many and acknv>wledged fail-
ures, we arrive at the following definite con-
clusions :

Firstly — Christian Scientists are disqualified
by their principles and methods from bearingim-
partial and reliable testimony to the existence
and character of disease. They are incompetent
to diagnose, both from their want of know^-
ledge and their repudiation of medical science;,

and l)y their self-interest and charlatanry they
are disqualified as trustworthy witnesses.

Secondly — Christian vScientists have never sub-
mitted their practices to any fair or reasonahlr
tests. They have a*]^ain and aji^ain refused to
do so, altliouij^h every security for fairness and
impartiality has been offered tliem.

Thirdly — While tlieir theories dis{)ense with all
material sustenance and protection, and prom-
ise not merely immunity from death, but per-
])etnal and deathless youth, they limit them-
selves in their practice to the attempt to heal
internal diseases. They still, like other mor-
tals, provide for tliemselves food, clothinc^ and
shelter, and seek at least as eaji^erly as others
for mone\', whose sole value lies in its ])ower
to procure the material necessities and com-
forts which their theories pronounce to be de-
lUvSions of mortal mind, and not necessary for
the life of man or the su])port of the bod v.
Moreover, like other men, they do not dare,
"with all their pretensions, to dispense with the
aid and science of tiie surj^eon, and in practice
it will be found that their patients are generally
the victims of nervous disease and liypochon-
dria. It is chiefly amonj]^ these that they
seek to acliieve their cures, and these are ex-
plained not bv th.eir ])eculiar theories, but b}-
the healinc^ ])owers of nature and the potent in-
fluence of the mind on tlie body. It is throu.c^li
the po])ular ic^norance of these thin<]^s that the
quack and the charlatan find their opportunitv
to work ])retended miracles aftd to clothe their
peculiar theories and methods with powers
which thev do not possess. Knlar<.red know-
Xed^e of man's constitution, mental and ])hysi-
cal, furnishes the true explanation of their pro-
fessed cures and the effective antidcHe to their
superstitions.

.^1

The Religion of Christian Science.

The reliji^ioius teaching of Christian Science
has already been anticipated in some of itvS
aspects. The very idea of religion is fellow-
ship with the living God. If there is not a per-
sonal God, there can be no religion. But Chris-
tian Science dejirives God of His personality.
It rednces Him to a "Principle," a mere ab-
straction. An impersonal God can neither
speak nor be S])oken to; there can be neither
revelation nor praver. Christian Science re-
dnces praver to a soliloqnv, an egotistic medita-
tion. "C^od," Mrs. Kddy tells ns, "is not in-
flnenced by man." "Who," she asks, "wonld
stand before a blackboard and pray the Prin-
ciple of mathematics to work out the problem ?
The rnle is already established and it is our
task to work onl the solution. Shall we ask
the Divine Principle of all goodness to do His
own work?" (Page 368.) "God is love,"
she argues, "Can w^e ask Him to be more?"
"God is Intelligence. Can we inform the infin-
ite mind or tell Him anything it does not com-
prehend ? Do we hope to change perfection?"
"True prayer" is defined as "the habitual
struggle to be good." Prayer thus becomes
])urely subjective. It is addressed to self, not
to God; it is a communing with self, not con-
verse with the living and true God, the Hearer
and Answerer of Prayer. It has no influence
u])ou CtO(1; it asks nothing. How is such
]3rayer to be reconciled with our Ivord's com-
mand: "Ask and ye shall receive"?

Mrs. Eddv's parody of the lyord's Prayer is a
deliberate mutilation of our lyord's words. "Our

Father which art in heaven" is read

i I

Our

P'ather and Mother God, all harmonious.

1 )

M'lM

Thy Kingdom come," is changed into an as-
sertion — "Thy Kingdom is come." "Thy will

be done on earth as it is in heaven," becomes
"enable us to know as in heaven so on ear'tli —
God is all in all;" or, as elsewhere she para-
phrases it, "Thy sni)remacy appears as matter
disappears." So thronghont, its petitions are
changed into assertions, and its final ascription
into a Christian Scientist definition of Crod —
"For God is omnipresent, Good, Substance,
Ivife, Truth, L,ove." ( Paji^e 322.)

As there is no prayer, there is no revelation
in any real sense. Mrs. Eddy, indeed, claims to
be inspired and to have received the final rev-
elation of truth. But her words must be under-
stood in Piccordance with her pantheistic and
impersonal idea of God, and her view of the
identHy of man's intelligence and consciousness
witli Ciod's. Between God and man thus con-
stituted there can be no interchange of thought
and desire, no fellowship in knowledge or in
love. Upon such a basis religion cannot exist.
But as Christian Science claims to be a relig-
ion let us test its claims by an examination of
its teaching in regard to four matters v/hich we
believe to be fundamental in true religion: —
the Bible, Christ, sin and redemption.

Mrs. Eddy claims that Cliris-

The Bible ^^^^j^ Science "derives its sanc-

Incompkte. ^i^n from the Bible." But the

Bible itself she asserts to be incomplete. Il
needs to be supplemented by Christian Science.
Tiie need of such a supplement appears first,
according to Mrs. Eddv, from the incomplete-
ness of Christ's teaching. "Our IMaster healed
the sick, practised Christian healing and taught
the generalities of Divine Principle to His stu-
dents, but He left no definite rule for adminis-
tering His Principle of healing and preventing
disease. This remained to be discovered
through Christian Science." (Page 41.)

Here is the second reason given for the insuf-

ficieiicv of the vScriptures: — "The decisions, by
vote of Church Councils, as to what should and
■what should not be cc^nsidcred Holy Writ; the
manifest mistakes in the ancient versions; the
30,000 different readings of the Old Testament
and the 300,000 of the New Testament — these
facts show how a mortal and improbable sense
stole int(j the Divine record, darkening to some
extent the inspired pages with its own hue."
(Page 33.) Que need only pause to point out
the utterly misleading nature of the assertions
here made as to decisions of councils and as to
various readings in the Bible. Mrs. Hddy prob-
ably knew nothing of what she was writing
about. If she did she is deliberately trading
upon the ignorance and credulity of her readers.
What is of importance to note in this connec-
tion is the distinction she draws between the
true Scriptures and the false mortal and mater-
ial element which she asserts has crept into the
Sacred Record — a convenient distinction which
Mrs. Eddy does not fail to make use of, as we
shall see.

But even the genuine parts of
Key to the ^he Bible which have not been

Scriptures. perverted by mortalmind,can,

we are assured, only be understood by "spirit-
ual interpretation." Nowhere does Mrs. Eddy
lay dow^n the principles of this method of in-
terpretation, but she illustrntes tht^m in a com-
mentary on the first four chapters of Genesis
and parts of the book of Revelation, and by a
"glossary." These together form a "Key to
the Scriptures," which is appended to her text-
book: "Science and Health."

We have only space for a few samples and il-
lustrations, but they sufficiently bring out the
character of the method. "This word begin-
ning is employed to signify the first — that is the
eternal verity and unity of God and man, in-

eluding the universe." On Cienesis i : 2 tlie
comment is as iolhjws: — "The Uiviue Princi])le
and Idea constitutes sj)iritual harmony — heaven
and eternity. In this universe of truth matter
is unknown. No supposition of error enters
there. Christian vScience, the Word of God,
said to tlie dii.kness u])on the face of error :
'God is All-in-Air;and li.i^ht appears in j)ropor-
tion as this is understood." On verse six she
comments: — "Understanding is the spiritual
firmament whereby human ccniception distin-
guishes between truth and error." In her ex-
planation of verse 26 slie s.iys: — "]\Ian is co-
existent and eternal with (jod, forever mani-
festing in more glorified forms the infinite
Father and IMolher." Thus runs on this ab-
surd and wearisome parody of a narrative peer-
less in its sublimity and simplicity. With
chapter 2 : 5 wc are told the inspired narrative
of creation closes. All that follows, we are in-
formed, is "mortal and material." "The
second chapter of Genesis contains a statement
of this material view of God and the universe
which is the exact opposite of scientific truth."
Its contents are described as "falsity," "err-
or," "a dream-narrative," "exact opposite of
scientific truth." Of course, by "scientific"
here is meant in accordance with Cliristian
Science. "In the spiritual, scientific account of
creation ( Chapter i : 1 — Chapter 2 : 3 ) it is
Elohim (God) who creates." In the succeed-
ing narrative, "the creator is called Jehovah
or the lyord the Divine Sovereign of the Heb-
rew people." "The idolatry which followed
this ma::erial mythology is seen in the Phoeni-
cian worship of" Baal in the Hindoo Vishnu,

in the Greek Aphrodite, and in a thousand
other so-called deities. In that name of Jeho
vah the true ideal of God seems almost lost.
Thus she dares to profane the sacred covenant

1 )

"The revelation of
has "opened wide

name oi the lyiving Ciod; the God of Revelation
and Redemption. Compare "with thivS the state-
ment on p i,^e 34: — "The Jewish tribal Jeho-
vaii w iS a inan-})rojected God, liable to wrath,
re})entance, liuman changeableness."

Parts of the Book of Revelation are then com-
mented upon in the same grotesqne fashion.
The little book — Revelation 10: 2, (which the
angel had in his hand ) is
Divine Science." vSt. viohn
the gates of glory and illuminated the night of
paganism with the sublime grandeur of Chris-
tian Science^" "The Glossary" which follows,
contains, we are informed, "the metaphysical
interpretation of Bible terms, giving their spir-
itual sense w^hicli is also their original mean-
ing." Here are a few of these unique defini-
tions: — "Adam" — error; a falsity; the belief in
original sin, sickness and death ; evil ; a curse
etc. This definition may be compared Avith the
absurd statement in the body of the book: —
"Divide the name Adam into two syllables and
it reads A-dam or obstruction. This suggests
the thought of something fluid, of mortal mind
in solution," etc. (Page 233.) To quote such
childish nonsense almost demands an apology.
"Angels, God's thoughts passing to men."
"Dan, animal magnetism." "Devil, evil, a
lie, error, etc." — "personified evil." (Page
302.) "Euphrates, Divine Science encom-
passing the universe and man." "Father,
the Divine Principle commonly called God."
"Flesh, an error of physical beliei." "Gihon,
the rights of women." "Holy Ghost, Divine
Science." "I/amb of God, the spiritual idea of
love." "Man, the infinite idea of infinite
spirit." "Prophet, a spiritual seer; the disap-
pearance of material sense before the conscious
facts of vspiritual truth." "Spirits, mortal be-
liets." "Will, the motive power of error.

1 1

Now all tliis liinlaslic nonsense is simply, the
crude reproduction of that allegorical method
of interpretation, derived chiefly from Rabbini-
cal Schools, by i-he use of which many of the
Fathers "darkened counsel" by words without
knowledge. This method of interpretation,
arbitrary and even fantastic and puerile, was
one of the barriers whicli, for nearly a thous-
iind years, stood between the Bible and the
l)eople and shut out the light oi the Gospel un-
til the Reformation vindicated the rational in-
terpretation of God's Word. In Christian Science
it is reproduced in a form that outrages reason
and common sense. With this grotesque in-
strument it seeks to make void the Word of
God by means of the imaginations and inven-
tions of foolish men.

Surely it can only be under the influence of
some strong delusion that anyone can accept
these absurdities as an exposition of Divine
truth.

In its teaching concerning our

A Phantom j^^rd Jesus Christ, Christian

Saviour. Science revives another an-

cient error, which denied, as St. John said,
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This
old Gnostic and Docetic error made our Ivord a
compound of two beings — one a divine emana-
tion proceedin.; from the Father, and ^he other
a mere man in whom He temporarilv appeared
and whoni at death He abandoned.

According to Mrs. Eddy, "The invisible
Christ was incorporeal, whereas Jesus was a
corporal or bodily existence. This dual per-
sonalitv," she asserts, "of the seen and the un-
seen, the spiritual and the material, Christ and
Jesus, continued until the Master's ascension
when the human, the corpcrfval. body or Jesus,
disaDpeared; while His iuvi; ib.e self, or Christ,
continued to exist in the eternal order of

mmmmmmm

Divine Science, taking away the sins of the
-world as Christ had always done even before
the human Jesus w^as incarnate to mortal
eyes." ( Patre 229.) Again, she says, "Christ
is' the ideal of truth and this ideal comes to
heal sickness and sin through Cliristian Science
which denies material power. Jesus is the
name of the man Who has presented more than
all other men this idea of God for He came
healing the sick and the sinful and destroying
the power oi death. vTesus is the human man
and Christ the divine; hence the duality of
Jesus and Christ.'' ( I'^g^ 469- )

Our blessed I^ord is resolved into a tem-
poral manifestation, "mentally conceived
(pages 228, 334, 335) by Mary, of the
Christ Principle, the spiritual idea which
dv^^elt in the bosom of the Father, and which,
we are told, continues to exist in "the generic
mind of man after the corporeal concept called
Jesus disappeared." (Page 229. )

What a phantom is this to present to us in
the place of Plim Who is the same yesterday,
to-day and forever; a spiritual idea instead of
Him in Whom dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead incarnate; a corporeal concept in the
place of Him Who was in all things made like
unto us, and Who, "as the children and partak-
ers in flesh and blood, likewise Himself took
part of the same," becoming truly man, as He
was and is truh'^ God.

What redemption could such

Sin and ^ shadowv Christ effect ? Mrs.

Redemption. j^^^^iy j^^yg ^i^^ time has

come for a radical change in our view of the
atonement. And surely it is radical — subver-
sive of the Gospel of grace and forgiveness.
According to Mrs. Kddy, Jesus redeemed man
bv a "demonstration," that death is an illu-
sion. (Page 350.) "The material blood of

vTesus was no more efficacious to cleanse from
sin wlien it was shed on the accursed tree than
when it was flow^ing in His veins as He went
daily about His Father's business." (Page
330.) His death was only "in sense," (Unity
of (jood, page 78) that is, in appearance. "The
eternal Christ never suffered." ( Page 343 ) "If
Jesus suffered it must have been from the men-
tality of others, (Unity of Good, page 70) that
is, the delusive beliefs of mankind overpowered
His intelligence and made Him subject to evil
and death." Here is Mrs. Eddy's parody of
Romans 5 : 10 — "If we were reconciled to God
by the ^ie^mino^ death of Jesus \ve shall be saved
by His life." (Page 310.) "Deliverance," she
says, "is not by pinning one's faith to an-
other's vicarious effort. Whosoever believeth
that wrath is righteous and that Divinity is
appeased by human suffering does not under-
stand God." (Page 327. )

Redemption is thus resolved into a demon-
stration of the illusion of mortal mind, which
constitutes sin and sickness. It is thus that
sin is taken away. Mrs. Eddy speaks of "the
illusion which calls sin real and man a sinner
needing a Saviour." IMarston, another Chris-
tian Scientist, tells us that "strictly speaking
ti*ere is no sin." "Jesus," says I\Irs. Eddy,
"demonstrated that sin, sickness and death are
bcl-ffs, illusive errors." (Page 289.) Soul —
sin is impos^iblei," (Page in.) "vSoul is the
divine principle of man, and never siUvS." (Page
477.) "It is," Mrs. Eddy asserts, "only
the vspell of belief that makes sin seem
real." Therefore, Ave are urged to re-
fuse its claims, to deny admission to the
thought of its existence. "To get rid of sin is
to divest sin of any supposed reality." (Page
234. ) "It is by destroying the belief in the
reality of sin and not by forgiveness of sins

that there is salvation." (Pages i8i, 187, 311,

345- ) ,

It is needless to go iurther. No sin! no
Christ! ! no redemption! ! ! The whole founda-
tion of Christianity is swallowed up in the
abyssmal depths of pantheistic falsehood.

« . . J Now what must be the prac-

K? t ^^u . tical outcome of this system ?

Moral Effects. ^j^^^ ^^^^,^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^

will issue from it, and, indeed, are already
showing themselves ?

For one thing, it is a menace to the public
liealth. The existed ^-^ in any community of a
number of persons a disregard the laws of
health, and who, W: .n sickness enters their
families, refuse the services of a physician
must prove a source of danger, because of con-
tagious diseases harboured, it may be imA\dt-
tingly, in their midst.

Here also, another serious consideration arises.
How arc life insurance companies and mutual
benefit societies affected by the increased risks
in the case of persons w^ho hape adopted the
peculiar tenets of Christian Science?

We learn from the Albany l^aw Journal of
the action taken by the Knights of Honour,
one of the largest mutual benefit societies in
the United States. Ivast June its Supreme
Lodge, after a full discussion, decided that
Christian Scientists and all "faith curists," on
account of their contempt of sanitary science,
and their refusal to submit themselves, when
ill, to medical treatment, are the most danger-
ous of risks from an insurance standpoint, and
that accordingly, they shall not hereafter be
admitted to membership in the Knights of
Honour. H is expected that this example will
be followed by other benefit societies and life
insurance companies.

The question has been asked by a legal expert

whether a Christian Scientist who broke his
leg or arm and refused surgical assistance,
could expect payment from an accident com-
pany while his limb was healing ? It has been
suggested that he should be compelled to apply
to his own case his doctrine that the fracture
was only imaginary, and that he would thereby
be estopped from claiming any sick benefit from
liis company. This would be a legitimate ap-
plication of Mrs. EJddy's assertion that "Bones
have only the substantiality of thought which
lormed them. They are only an appearance, a
subjective state of mortal mind." (Page 421. )

The teachings of Christian Science, consist-
ently applied, must affect public morals most
disastrously. Its doctrine of the unreality and
falsity of testimony is a direct assault upon
honesty and good faith, and practical applica-
tion has been made of it by its devotees, in
cases credibly reported, to excuse and justify
dishonesty and repudiation of obligations.

Mrs. Eddy's teachings as to marriage are of
a very questionable •character. In "Science
and Healtli" she expresses herself very
cautiously, although she makes it plain
that according to the principles of Chris-
tian Science, marriage and parentage rest upon
a purely metaphysical basis and not a physical
one. According to her former pupil, Mrs. Wood-
bury, she has gone much farther in her private
teaching, aSvSerting that women may not only
"become mothers through a supreme effort oi
their own minds," but also by the influence
over them of some "unholy ghost," or "malign
spirit " Albeit she assured her pupils that she
could "dissolve such motherhood by a wave of
her celestial rod." Mrs. Woodbury affirms that
"Women of unquestionable integrity, who have
been Mrs. Eddv's students, testify that she has

HPMPHiili

SO taught and that by this teaching families
hMve been broken up," and the most lamentable
consequences resulted. (See Christian Science
by W. P. iMcCorkle, page 244.)
' So absurd are the teachings

A Destfuctive ^^ Christian Science that we

Delusion, might well excuse ourselves

Irom any serious refutation of them. A sense
of humor might be reasonably considered the
best prophylactic. But it has other aspects
much more serious. 1 know not, in all history,
of any more destructive delusion.

i^very distinctive teaching of Christianity is
explained away or contradicted. The very
foundations of religion are destroyed. All
ground of security and hope is cut away from
beneath our feet.' The system is so absolutely
bereft of reason that it is difficult to under-
stand how any soiina ir^nd could have put it
together, or how anyone possessed of common
sense could accept it!^ And we are almost shut
up to the conclusion that in the prevalence of
Christian vScience we ha«ve a phenomenon sim-
ilar to the epidemics of madness that sometimes
swept over the medieval world. When Mrs. Eddy
tells us that "there is a universal insanity
which mistakes fable for fact throughout the
entire round of the material senses" (Page
406 ) , we are reminded that such an accusation
of universal insanity is by no means an un-
common symptom of madness.

Mrs. Eddy compares herself and her associ-
ates with the Apostles, but there is at least one
distinction she fails to note. The Apostles
never offered to sell Divine power in the market,
as the Scientists do. Mrs. Eddy boasts that
her followers make handsome incomes, and
thot she herself, who was poor prior to her

$88,987
If this is true it is instructive.

''discovery," now gives away
annuallv.

When Simon the sorcerer oliered money io
St. Peter to teach him how to con-
fer Divine gifts, the Apostle in wrath
cried out: "Thy money perish with thee, be
cause thou wouldst purchase the gift of God for
money." Christian Scientists profess to pos-
sess, the Divine way of healing, but they take
care to demand {ees and enrich themselves,
while the victims of their pretensions die for
lack of medical care.

As already noticed, there is a strong family
likeness between Christian Science, The-
osophy, and the ancient Gnostic heresies. Of
these heresies we have the rudimentary forms
in the errors which disturbed the Pauline
churches in Asia Minor, and which St. Paul
combatted in the EJpistles to the Colossians
and to Timothy. These attained t"heir fuller
development in the second century, and are
now reproduced in these recent erroneous de-
velopments; with the same speculations as to
God, creation and the universe; the same at-
tempts to solve the problem of evil ; the same
endeavor to combine w^ith misunderstood and
misrepresented doctrines of Christianity ele-
ments drawn from all sources, Oriental, Jew^-
ish, Greek, and even the magic and jugglery of
common imposition; the same denial of the
reality of the earthly life of our Lord and of
His atonement; and the same tendencies to
asceticism, or more commonly to licentious-
ness.

The descri^ption St. Paul gives of the teach-
ers and followers of these errors in his days,
applies with striking similarity to those of to-
day, who consent not to wholesome w^ords,
even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
who would "make spoil of men through their
philosophy (so-called) and vain deceit,

after the traditions of man, after the rudi-
ments of the world, and not after Christ."

Ivct us beware of such; let us heed the Apos-
tolic injunction to guard the deposit, the sacred
trust of Truth, committed to all who believe in
and obey our Ivord Jesus Christ, and let us
turn aw^ay from "the profane babblings and
oppositions of science, falsely so-called."
I Tim. 6 : 20.