The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-07-03

instructed in the principles of Chris
tan Science that furnishes it's own
proof Mrs. Eddy's answer was
no better. than the evasion of a quack
and no more than was expected.
1t might be well to state in this
connection that every age has its
mania. There are people of neurotic
tendencies in all sections ready to
embrace anything new and mystical
the more mysterious it appears the
greater the fascination it possesses.
The people accept these beliefs with
out knowing and, oftentimes, really
caring what they really are, and are
deluded to just that extent.
A Christian Science lecturer re-
Gently stated that lnateria inedIca has
Il history OF four thousand years OF
experlm ent and is still experimenting
1t has tried everything on earth and
in the sea as a remedy Tor disease.
What today is considered remedial,
tomorrow becomes questionable, ana
next year is discarded | consider
the first part OF this statement as
highly complimentary, for Wnen we
consider that we have no less than
loO,OUU men experimenting with
drugs today on tins continent alone,
having in view as their ultimate pur-
pose The relief and cure of disease
that afilicts humanity, we behold a
vast army of conSci entiOuS and self
sacrificing men laborng for the relief
OF their fellOWmen. The good ac-
complished by a Jenner, Harvey
Morton. Sims, and many others /
could mention will never be equaled
by any Christian Scientist, Mrs Eddy
not excepted. Physicians want the
best and that can be obtained only
by experiment They are not salts
fled to accept the dogmatic teachings
of any one person, who may or may
not be a fanatic, and hold to them
with q faith that is blind. The aSser-
ton that materia medica has accom-
pliShed nothing is absolutely false.
Who can doubt the efficacy of quinine
in malaria or the value of pure air
and wholesome food in consumption.
1t is commendable that materia
medica has a history of four thou
sand years of experiment and is still
experimenting.
Mortal Thought.
Mrs. Eddy claims that mortal
thought is the cause of all our trou-
BILE, and that it produces all our So
called misery and death. A person
| is drowned because people believe
water will drown. Fire burns be-
cause people think it will burn.
Poisons Kill only because people think
Ii,
Science and Health. Can you for
once imagine how absurd they areY
Along the same line, a man is drunk
only because we imagine such. he
staggers along the street only because
we imagine he is staggering; in fact,
| it is no trouble of the drunken man $,
| it is all an error of our mortal
minds in believing such. There are
| no such things as sin. q seas, and
death, they are all errors of our nor
| tai thoughts. If we would only cor
rect these errors, according to Mis-.
Eddy, there would be no sin, disease,
death, or anything else. Everything
would be a shadow of itself and we
could only imagine. She says. "t.lec-
/ tricity is not a vital fluid but an ele
ment of mortal mind, the Thought
what is termed matter ana mortal
mind. Both are different strata of
human belief. The self-destructive
forces of mortal thought are express
ed in the earthquake, wind, wave,
! lightning, fire and the ferocity of
/ beasts" These are Mrs. Eddy's exact
words. These things, according to
her, have no physical causation, but
are simply products of imagination
/ having no reality in the objective
world. The, destruction of life and
property by volcanoes, fires, winds
floods and plaques are only the
dreams and shadows of human minds
and have no reality. We only think
1 it so. The great wars were not wars,
we only thought they We're We only
imagine that Japan and Russia are
now at war. Mrs. Eddy'sI fine man
sion, many liveried servants and lux
uries of life are only imaginings Of
her mortal mind, yet this old and de-
crepid woman clings to them in q
very natural way, just as other NOR
/ tails would. And strange to contem-
plates after studying her doctrine,
she eats food and rides in a carriage
just as other mortal beings. She con-
tradicts herself often. She claims
! that there are no such things as mat
ter and disease, yet she gives very
explicit instructions for treating dis
ease How can a disease be treated
when it ie nothing"
Unscientiiic ard Unchristian.
The dictum of Mrs. Eddy that
Matter will be finally proven to be
nothing but mortal lllusion, wholly
/ inadequate to affect man through IT'S
supposed organic action or eXis-
rence," destroys her own process of
reasoning and ability of receiving
and giving testimony Her efforts to
heal people and the testimony of re-
suits which she is so quick to receive
and utilize would all be impossible.
Her teachings are unscientific because
] they do not conform with the mean
ing of science. They do away with
all science and everything else, hold
ing that all are illusions of mortal
mind According to Mrs. Eddy she
does not exist, her doctrine does not
exist, all of it is nothing, simply the
illusions of the mortal minds of her.
! self and followers.
/ 1t is unchrstian because it denies
the teachings of the Bible, and she
and her followers might do well to
read the first part of the fourth chap
ter OF 1st John. Mrs Eddy repeated
| ly denies the existence of a perSOns.t
God, as we'll as the necessity and eX-
perience of new birth. Her whole
doctrine is nothing but heresy. She
even goes so far as to claim that
Jesus healed by Christian Science
( though she discovered it in 1866 She
denounces physicians imploring her
/ followers to rely upon her doctrine
alone for relief from bodily pain and
| sickness, and in that she discards the
teachings Of the Bible. for it says
| (Ecclesiasticus) The Lord hath
created medicines out of the earth;
and he that is wise will not abhor
! them My son, in thy sickness be
NOT negligent: but pray unto the