The Daily Missoulian., 1909-07-25

Master. Thus we note that in Chris
tian Science 1t is God alone who heals,
that Christian Science heals by the
direct influence of God
We affirm that neither an honest
denial of the reality of disease nor an
assured affirmation concerning the re-
coyery of a patient can ever be made
upon any other basis than that on
which Christian Science rests.
We hear 1t said by all believers in
the mental treatment OF disease that
the "impartation of hope and cheer to
patient is a means of great bene
fit to him To this we readily agree.
Then, we would ask, what shall we Of
fer the patient as means Of gener-
ating hope and cheer. We might place
him In the midst Of beautiful sur
roundings and present him with all the
comforts which money can buy and yet
fail to cheer him, for his experience
may already have been like that Of
Solomon, who said, "All is vanity" We
aver that there Is nothing so conducive
Of hope and cheer as the abiding con-
seiousness Of the constant presence of
God. Such a consciousness affords
lasting and unbounded hope, for it is
based upon that which is known to be
immutable and eternal 1t has been
demonstrated through Christian
Science that hope thus created will do
more for sick man than anything
else. It has been proved that the spir-
itual understanding of God and man
than anything in this world. Then
why resort to any lesser meanso Why
depend upon uncertain human sugges-
tion as a means of destroying sin and
sickness when the divine power is more
available. more powerful and more
practicalo
An Effect of Suggestion.
As he argues, the mental suggestion
Esist holds his patient in consciousness
as a corporal person. a body of matter
He thinks of him as such and this
amounts to a direct suggestion to him
that he is material and moral and inn
plies that as such he is subject to dis
cord, disease and unrest. ON the other
of his patients real individuality as
Gods image and likeness, His spiritual
reflection; and his denial of sickness is
based upon his understanding that
sickness is only Il false sense. Such
an argument is consistent With its
premises--premises which are based
upon eternal truth,
ha, ,o,t y,f
TONER as well as the suggestion which
the act of dealing out drugs gives to
his patient, is on the exact basis of
the susgestionist, and hence not in
consistent with the practice of the psy-
chologist RI the doctor gives the pa
tient a dose of medicine. he practically
suggests to his patient, You are ma
terial taking materiality," though he
utters not Il word Thus by his sug-
gestion he intensifies the patients be-
lief in materiality. especially If there is
any result from his treatment, Though
the patient may take the drug with a
doubt as to it's efficacy, If thereafter
apparent good results are forthcoming
he is thereby convinced that he had
been mistaken and that. after all, there
Is something in it. Under such circum-
stances, matter has become more real
to him. He has builded higher in ma
terial belief and thus has drifted
farther away from faith in spirit as
the only real life substance and In
telligence. On the other hand, if the
patient fails to obtain good results
through the use of material remedies
his faith in materality decreases and
he Is thus brought nearer to the truth,
for, having lost faith in matter he is
more ready to accept that which EN-
phaszes faith in spirit. Similarly, he
who is apparently benefited by mental
suggestion is given stronger faith in
mortal mind and is thus carried away
from his faith in the one and only
mind, Thus we may prove that the
supposed benefits derived from the use
of drugs and mental suggestion are, in
reality, harmful to the spiritual growth
of the individual. The tendency of such
BENEFITS Is to fasten the individual to
erroneous beliefs and thus interdict his
seeking and finding the better way
This, however, should not be looked
upon as Il hopeless condition. for Chris
tian Science offers a way out of the