The times., 1898-10-28
The Christian Scientists.

After raging for some years IN this
country, declining and again reviving.
the extraordinary system of cure de-
vised by Mrs. Eddy, of Boston. has in
vaded England where it has aroused
more animosity and intolerance than
here. One reason for this is that two
prominent persons have recently died
there under the process. AT the inquest
into the death of Mr.. Harold Frederic.
the principal witness was stout.
swarthy, self-confident American wom-
an, a Mrs. Mills. She is the person who
had the audacity to become responsible
for the life of the greatest of recent
novelists in a critical Illness She testi-
fled that she knew nothing, cared moth
ing, about his physical condition and
made no attempt to diagnose his ma
terial sickness. She did not know that
to take his physical body out driving
at such time was serious thing. In
reply to a question, she affirmed her
confidence in the power of Christian
Science to heal fractured bones. She
charged a guinea week for the treat
ment Of a patient.
w Htn WHICH, III
spite of all protests and denials, does
not differ in any essential respect from
other faith cures, reached its first prom
inence in this country, it was discussed
to rags While protesting to be able to
cure fractures, and near sightedness,
and all ills and defects, it has never
been possible to force the healers to a
fair test. The common idea of it's doc
trines is accurate enough. There is no
physical body, and therefore body that
does not exist except as a projection of
the Imagination cannot be sick. A man
with a big, throbbing boil on the back
of his neck is directed to believe that
it is unreal. and that its pulsating pains
are due to a state of mind. He cannot
be persuaded of this, but the fact that
the healer expects him to feel better
after her treatment may give a fleet
ing sense of relief If the trouble is
nervous, the chances of improvement
are better.
The most essential part of the treat
ment and that which precedes all the
other steps, Is the payment of not less
than a dollar for each experience. In
England, as noted, 1t is a guinea a
week. A popularity of Christian
Science is that the treatment is quite
tient, and unexpected bills for absent
treatments" are not uncommon. 1t is
the dollar feature of the business that
we are unable to understand, for two
reasons. Why should Christian
Science person want dollar? A dollar
has no more material existence than a
sore thumb, and, therefore, it is use
less The Christian Science person can
have no need for food, since the disease
hunger is not a reality, but mere fig
ment of fancy. There is no material
organ that Graves food any more than
there is a dyspeptic stomach. Nor can
the Christian Science person need ma
terial clothes to conceal an imaginary
body, or fuel to keep 1t warm. Yet the
first requisite of the treatment is the
whacking up of a big, round, material
silver dollar, or paper greenback dol
lar. There is bewildering lack of har-
mony between the cardinal doctrine of
Christian Science and the grasping
eagerness OF the healers for material
money with which to purchase food for
unreal stomachs.
There is no warrant for calling the
system scientific. Science is only COM
mon sense in its most accurate state,
! and there is no trace of common sense
in the philosophy of Mrs. Eddy. There
fore, why Science? And why Christian?
1t is true that Christ went about heal
ing the sick by faith, but the extraction
of preliminary dollar from the patient
was never a part of his system. On
the contrary, if he had required fee,
it would have changed our whole con-
| ception Of his character. People who
profess to work the same sort of mir
acles in his name are sacrilegious when