The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-17
WHAT MENTAL SCIENCE IS.
a sTArEMENT OF II GROWTH AND
AIMS BY n REPRESENTA-
TIVE SCIENTIST


Te1t book or tho Relsien-Tho Mother
Church in Esoston-strenHth or Tho Church
OF Christ, Scientist Each Congregation
Hears the samo Sermon on the Same
Sunday tho World observation-disclosures
BocominG Interested and Converted.
Never in tho history OF Christian Science has
the movement been so much talked about as 1t
is to-day. Those who understand IL least dis.
cuss II most, for the Christian Scientists them
solvcrs are workers, not takers. Tho move
mcnt has become marked not only In its
homo, America, but all over tho land.
When asked to give a review Of tho
work and character Of tho founder. Mrs.
Mary Baker Eddy, and to tell something Of
the scientific and medical basis of tho movement
and OF Its religious work. n representative
Christian Scientist wrote tho following state.
mont, stipulating that his spelling and capital.
ization be retained, since they mean everything
to the Christian Scientist:
To write Of tho great influence Of Christian
Science upon the world of religious thought
and the revolution It Is steadily ~offecting In
medical practice. scientific thought, literature.
business methods. and In social conditions, OF
necessity demands that the character. indiyidu-
ality. and leadership of its Discoverer and
Founder be impartially reviewed as a fitting
preface to the presentation of tho practical
operation of the system. While such a review
cannot give but an imperfect outline of tho
Interesting character and great work Of Mary
Baker Eddy, It will serve In q degree to acquaint
thought with a unique and wholly original and
consecrated career lived for the uplifting Of
humanity. tho alienation of human suffering in
all its forms. and the restoration Of the simple
and practically demonstrable religion of the
Teacher of Palestine.
Mira Eddy In n pnriaf In tha 1or0ar r,ao-t--
OF the word. She stands foremost among Re-
ligious Teachers and Reformers for purity of
spiritual ethics. language. presentation. and
works. Simplicity of thought and teaching
and the logic OF Truth are her weapons of peace.
Terse and powerful phraseology charactcrizes
the arguments and illustrations that she pre-
SCENTS to confirm her deductions, and perhaps
her strongest point as a Philosopher, Reformcr,
and Religious Teacher is tho strong, elegant,
and simple language with which she clothes the
profound truths of Christian Idealism in all its
varied and practical applications. from the heal
ing of a cancer and the reformation of n hard
ened criminal up to the lofty transcendentalism
Of the Bible and Jesus's teachings spiritually
discerned, be 1t the Interpretation Of st. Johns
fourth gospel or the practical and ideal relation
OF the Sermon on the Mount to our present civ
i~lization.
II "brevity is the soul OF wit" it ia certainly
the heart and soul center and circumference OF
spiritual truth. All great truths are simple.
The teachings of Jesus are universal. everlast-
ing. and constitute a philosophy OF life, yet con-
sidering them as one continued Discourse on an
ascending scale it would take less than two
hours to read all he taught as recorded in tho
Gospels. Christian Science Is u threefold sys-
tenn, religious. scientific, curative, thus 1t
applies to all phases of human existence.
yet tho entire system Is taught with
irrefutable logic. spiritual beauty and Scriptural
truthfulness in less than 1,4O0 pages in the pub
lished works of Mrs. Eddy. OF these works
"Scionce and Health, With Key to the Script
ures" is chief. is the recognized text book of the
body and is now in it's one hundred and twenty
seventh edition of a thousand copies each.
Mrs. Eddy is Of Puritan ancestry and of Scotch
descent, among her ancestors being Sir John
Macneill. a Scotch knight; Gen. John Macneil
OF Lundy's Lane fame, Gen. Henry Knox Of rev.
dictionary times and Capt. John Lovewell, &C.
tive in Indian troubles.
Her teachings breathe the soul-reviving gospel
of freedom in. all that that term means. free
dom from dogma, liberalism, elaborate organ
~ization, ceremony and cold, barren ethical intel
lectualism. which, like an untimely frost, Ia a
type Of thought that has followed the reaction
against mysticism in religion, and has frozen
hard and fast in many natures the sweet natu-
ralness of spiritual thinking and rational optim-
ism. Mrs. Eddy is a great lover and supporter
Of our popular institutions. She teaches the
divinity Of popular government. she elevates
the idea of unity N individuality, in
State and country, and in the simple yet
strong form of church government that she has
Instituted for the present needs OF the Christian
Science movement. She is a Liberal in the deep
est sense, teaching the liberalism of Christianity
as a religion of Love, universal. practical, scicn-
tifc. but she Is never other than the true Evan
gelical, for she proclaims to this age the vital
truth that genuine Evangelical Christianity
means through divinely natural. mental and
spiritually demonstrable methods the ~restora-
tion of the religion of the Evangelists. Matthew.
Mark, Luke and John, l.. e., the religion that
heals tho sick as well as tho sinner, reveals all
true Science as divine, and establishes its own
claims to Catholicity and genuineness.
The age is rapidly discerning the magnitude
OF the work OF Christian Science, its value to
the present and future welfare OF the race, and
millions now send forth their thanks for their
deliverance from dread diseases. pain, error.
hopelessness, and spiritual darkness through
tho operation of practical Christian Science. Its
to the evolution OF n new and higher order OF So
ciety, literature, government, sociology, and the
coming OF a new man and a new woman Of di-
the career OF the Founder OF Christian Science is
unselhsh service to The race, purity and honesty
in all things. and impersonality. Brotherhood
and union are the keynotes OF her system, and
Anu uuh iCGlio u huu woman uB
Gods image and likeness its goal. yea. the
revelation of the Kingdom of Heaven within.
For many years after the foundation OF Chris
tian Science religious and scientific critics per.
o%istently opposed its fundamental. scientific.
and philosophical basis. viz. its teaching that
"All Is Mind, thorc Is no matter The dual
theory q two elementary forces, mind and mat.
ter. in life or nature had been SO long believed
that a system that absolutely denied what to
the general mind was an automatic truth was
at once STAMPED as unscientiic. absurd. and
undemonstrable. Again, the rapid develop
ment and elaboration OF the theory of evolution
and its almost worldwide acceptance seemed
20 many. to BIO u positive confirmation OF tho
theory OF the idea OF dualism in nature; hence
evolution has been accepted by u large part Of
the scientific world as tho true theory of the
creation of the universe and man. But as prog
ress is the law OF Life, and as there are no per-
m ,ncnt stopping places along the highwa of
Truths eternal unfolding, 1t Is but natural that
the ultimate statement OF true, ]spiritu,l. and
natural e%Eolution should be announced almost
simultaneously with the iirst public dehuc-
tions OF the worlds greatest cyo!utionis' ).
IN 1865 Mrs. Eddy first gave 10 tho world
thG keynote of tho PHILOSOPHY, Of Christian
is Mind and every effect u mental pho.
lal atoms, Mind ennunatinR from organism and