The Republican journal., 1904-04-07

of scientific training or of scientific
spirit, nor people who knew the differ
ence between good literature and high
sounding trashy limitations of litera-
tnre. How could anybody with a really
discriminating taste in literature bear
to read Science and Health or Mrs. Ed
dy's poetry? mean no harm in saying
this. I'm accustomed to saying plainly
what l think. say this sincerely, not
to give offense, but because l think it
true.
Now l come back to the matter of
divine healing, which is the thing most
people think of when Christian Science
is mentioned. It's the great attraction
of the Christian Science church. 1t
was that which attracted the great fol-
lowing. The healing of the Christian
Science church falls in the general
class that is rightly designated as
faith healing. Faith healing in all the
Christian centuries has been believed
in and practiced.
The healing power has been constant
ly declared to he the power of God.
The Catholic church has consistently
held through all the centuries of it's
existence that miracles have been
| wrought among the faithful by divine
power. Protestants, however, have
held that miracles ceased with the close
of the apostolic age. Yet even among
Professionals the doctrine of prayer left
a little door open through which an oc-
casional miracle would slip-the raising
of some one from sick bed i'll answer
to prayer, through the laying on OF
hands or otherwise.
Mrs. Eddy says that she sought to
discover the science of healing and did
discover it. And her discovery as she
sees it is the basing it upon the ideal
philosophy: "All is mind, mind is God
Come into harmony with God, and sin
and pain vanish. They are unreal.
They are errors of the mortal mind,
mistakes of belief. Man is never sick,
for mind is never sick, and matter can
! not be, matter cannot feel, and mind
knows no pain, pain is merely a false
belief" This seems to me neither true
statement. nor sound reasoning. Does
not the mind suffer pain? Ism anxiety
pain?
Mrs. Eddy says: sit is the common
hypothesis that food is requisite to sus-
tain human life-the fact is, food does
not affect the existence of man.
Why, then, does she use it at all? She
knows very well that if she did not her
body would die. And why should she
use the language she does about tri-
umphing over death through Christian
Science? Christian Scientists die just
as all men do. If the meaning is that
we all continue to live beyond a change
called death, very well, everybody tri-
umphs over death in that way, as all
Christians believe, not the Christian
Scientists alone
The healing is all delusion as see
it. And l think all delusion is harm
full. There's a phase of cruelty in
Christian Science practice of alleged
healing that deserves our severe con-
demnation. | was once explaining to
woman who had taken up this healing,
how my boy had taken typhoid fever.
l told her of the evening when | came
home and saw his parched lips, pale
face, dull eyes and pinched expression
and the conviction flashed upon me
that he had typhoid fever. She said:
''That was the very moment you stabbed
him with your wicked thought. If he
had died Of it you would have had your
self to blame. You gave him the fever,
with your error of false belief |
join in the common word that Chris
tian Science has helped many, has
taught courage and cheerfulness,
hope, trust in God, and to make little
Of little discomforts.
The great fact in nature out of which
the delusion of such miraculous heal
ings have grown in all ages is that PEG
! pie who are sick get well. The great
TACT is the recuperative power of life.
1t is upon this that all false systems of
cures thrive.
The healing delusion of Christian
! Science will pass away. Beyond that
I the Christian Science church may live
and be a denomination of Christians
equally pious, good and helpful to the
world, with other churches and relig-
ions.