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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. 
 
SS 
 
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 
 
I 
 
 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, 
 
 10 
 
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 {.' 
 
 T2 
 
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 
 
 13 
 
( 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." 
 
 14 
 
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 
 
 16 
 
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. 
 
 17 
 
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 
 
 19 
 
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- 
 
 20 
 
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 
 
 21 
 
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 
 
 31 
 
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 
 
 2^ 
 
mm 
 
 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 
 
 24 
 
 
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- 
 
 35 
 
-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; 
 
 36 
 
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- 
 
 28 
 
^^^ 
 
 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- 
 
 29 
 
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;, 
 
 30 
 
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 
 
 32 
 
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- 
 
 34 
 
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 ) 
 
 35 
 
* 
 
 "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. 
 
 36 
 
 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 
 
 37 
 
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 
 
 38 
 
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 
 
 39 
 
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 
 
 
 40 
 
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 
 
 41 
 
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. 
 
 42 
 
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, 
 
 43 
 
a^ 
 
 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.