The Irish standard., 1917-01-27

ne 1NlSd STANDARD
familiar to every Catholic. The result
Is We can control our bodies when in
normal health, e. g. we can refrain
from shedding tears, we can do work
which is disagreeable. A man goes to
work on cold winters morning, when
it would be more pleasant to remain.
indoors.> These are evidences of the
fact that we can, to some extent, con.
troll the nervous system by an effort
of the will. But remember, this is
only to a certain limited degree. Now
this is the one truth contained in
christian Science You see for
yourselves it is no new discovery. It
is common experience. 1t has been
known to man since man was created.
But this truth when taken up by Mrs.
Eddy is SO grossly exaggerated that
we hardly recognize it. Mind is supe-
rior to matter, soul is superior to body.
That much is strictly true. The in
stances l have given you show this.
A more stirring instance is when God
works miracle directly, e. g., when
Christ raised the dead to life. But the
Christian Scientist" is not satisfied
with this plain truth. He must exag-
gerate it. According to him our minds
are not merely superior-they are all
| powerful. There is no limit to their
control. This, of course. is completely
wrong. And by this exaggeration
christian Science" has destroyed
whatever it would otherwise be pos
sessed of. Spirit is the opposite of
matter, but it does not follow that
matter that does not exist. The West
may be the opposite to the East, but
it does not follow that, therefore the
East does not exist. Nor does it fol-
low that because we can control our
bodies under normal conditions by
will power that therefore by mere eff
fort of the will we can cure all our
diseases, as Mrs. Eddy would have us
believe. Here again you will note how
the exact truth lies in the golden
mean. Some of the modern material
| lists and evolutionists hold man is all
body and has no soul. He is only the
king of Misunderstanding more. Mrs.
Eddy and the christian Scientist
rush to the other extreme and say we
are all soul and no body. While the
exact truth is we have both soul and
body, each having real existence.
Still you will say cures are some
a person who claims that Christian
Science" has been boon to them, in
as far as it has helped them to get
well. Does it not seem therefore that
christian Science" though hopeless
as religion, may be sometimes useful
from the medical point of view. If it
Injuries the soul, perhaps it may help
the body And If a sick person were
so foolish as to throw religion TO the
winds, turn deaf ear to the doctors,
and accept christian Science" would
he stand fair chance of recovery?
Most emphatically not. There are
cures sometimes worked by sort of
self suggestion or as it is commonly
called "Hypnotism.' But this is a
method we'll known in medical circles.
This is form of remedy which is at
tended with many dangers and most
uncertain results. The very fact that
most eminent doctors and physicians
have rejected it show how futile it is.
Moreover when cures have been
worked it is always in connection with
some nervous disease. But medical
experience has satisfactorily proven
that the ordinary remedies which at
tended with no danger produce more
certain direct results. Now the Chris
tan Science medical side which tried
to outline for you is only another
form of this sort of self suggestion;
and any cures it may have effected
would have been wrought if Mrs. Eddy
or her teaching had never been heard
of. No matter how absurd treatment
may be cases will happen where the
patient will pull through, not because
of the treatment but in spite of it.
And out of the / 900 cases people will
remember the one recovery but will
forget 500 failures
Again assume that patient has re-
covered under the c. S. treatment,
see how self contradictory their posi-
ton is. They have already said his
senses deceive the patient when he is
sick: perhaps his senses are also de-
ceiving him when he is we'll, perhaps
he only thinks he is we'll. For all
c. S. knows or can tell he may be
| H. l. NyNNY