t - . fe-v * * " W * *
6 Conservative *
condition for its exorcise. In practice
it operates by firmly implanting in the
patient's mind the conviction that ho
will be cnred. The range of maladies
which have been cnred or beneficially
affected by suggestion , as it has been
practiced in some of the European hos
pitals , is surprising. Not only have dis
eases which wo class as nervous been
cured ; but under such treatment
wounds and abscesses have healed more
quickly , minor operations have some
times been rendered painless and the
weakly and lame have recovered
strength. To give but a single instance
of the extent to which this method is
used , Dr. Woods , medical superintend
ent of Hoxton House Asylum , England ,
states in a pnper writteh within a year
or so , that he has treated over one thou
sand cases by suggestion , and finds it a
most potent remedy , not only in func
tional disorders , but in organic as well.
Of course no one of these investiga
tors would claim that suggestion or any
other method of mental therapeutics
was a panacea for every ill. The limits
within which it is effective are becom
ing more and more clear as experiments
proceed. For many ailments such treat
ment is only subsidiary , not a principal
means of cure. And in the case of not
a few injuries , such as the dislocation
of joints or the fracture of bones , it
must count for almost nothing as an in
fluence toward recovery , compared to
manipulating under the surgeon's hand.
But waiving further details , when all
is said , it is apparent that the last dec
ade has seen , among both physicians
end laymen , a most interesting awaken
ing to the importance of the mental at
titude of every sufferer from physical
ailment. Right-mindedness of this kind
is no cure-all , but it is an important
means for the recovery and the main
tenance of health.
It is this truth of the importance of
the mental attitude to the physical well-
being which has been grasped by Chris
tian Science and urged with impressive
intensity and fervor urged , however in
a form which seems to a student of the
facts sadly distorted , involved as it is
with an utterly unscriptural doctrine of
God and of man , and exaggerated to a
dogma of the curability of every kind
of physical affection.
For any one who would take advant
age of what has been learned of late of
this matter of mental therapeutics , the
courde is clear. The facts are available
for whoever cares to inform himself in
readable and suggestive books ; and if
one desires more personal instruction ,
there are lectures by students of this
subject , who with saueuess of judgment
and without doing violence to their re
ceived Christian faith present the princi
ples which make for healthful thinking
and healthful living. Should illness
overtake him , there are doctors who
recognize adequately the part a man's
soul plays in his recovery , who know
their psychology as well as their physiology
elegy and there are going to bo more
of them. And , most important of all ,
by a wholesome , hearty typo of Chris
tianity ho will open his life to all the
healthful influences by which the living
God presses in upon his soul. There is
sound sense in that little verse from the
pen of a hard working Scotchman :
"Three blissful words I n.iniu to thoc.
Three words of potent clmrm ,
From eating care thy heart to free ,
Thy life to shield from harm-
Pray , work and sing. "
For one who thus informs himself of
all that God is able to do for the body
through the soul , and practices what he
learns , who lives in glad and joyous
trust in the God of all power , all things
are possible that are possible to the Faith
Curist , the Mental Healer or the Chris
tian Scientist.
'if , on the other hand , one prefers to
adopt the doctrines of Christian Science ,
he also will come , no doubt , into a
mental attitude which will tend to min
imize bodily ills. But this can only be
by the surrender of much that is pre
cious in our historic faith and by the ac
ceptance of doctrines of God and of His
own nature which , possibly attractive
at first , have repeatedly in the course
of Christian history proved harmful to
the soul. I can do little more in closing
than name some of these teachings.
And first is the practical denial of the
personality of God. I know that some
Christian Scientists would repudiate
this as one of their doctrines. Possibly
Mrs. Eddy would do so. It is true the
denial of personality is not specific. But
throughout the volume , Science and
Health , there is a vagueness on this
point which would lead one to class the
pantheists. God is constantly spoken
of as a divine principle. It is distinctly
stated that' 'prayer to a personal God is
hindrance. " The attitude of a heart in
prayer to God as Mrs. Eddy pictures it
is not the attitude to which Jesus invites
us. Listen , for example , tt the interpre
tation of the Lord's prayer which is
read responsively with that prayer at
Christian Science services :
"Our Father which art in Heaven ,
Our Eather and Mother God , all harmonious ,
Thy Kingdom come ,
Thy Kingdom is come ,
God is ever present and omnipotent ,
Thy will bo done on earth as it is in heaven ;
Enable us to know as in heaven so on
earth ,
God is all in all.
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors ,
And divine love is reflected in love.
And lead us not into temptation , but deliver
us from ovil.
And leaveth us not in temptation , but do-
livereth us from sin , disease , death.
For thino is the kingdom , and the power , and
the glory forever.
For God is omnipotent Good , Substance ,
Life , Truth , Love. "
Or hero is a somewhat different "spir
itual interpretation" given by Mrs. j
Eddy in Science and Health :
"Our Eternal Supreme Being all harmonious ,
Ever glorious ,
Ever present and omnipotent.
Thy supremacy appears as matter disappears ;
Thou givest to mortals the bread of life ,
Thy truth destroys the claims of error ,
And led by the spirit , mortals are delivered
From sickness , sin and deatli ;
For thoti art Spirit , Life , Truth , Love , and
Man is in thy likeness forever.
So bo it. "
Surely the one to whom that prayer
was addressed is not our Father in
lieaven to whom Jesus taught us to pray
and to whom Ho himself spoke with
such consciousness of personality.
Again there is in the teaching of Chris
tian Science the denial of the reality of
matter , especially of the real existence of
our bodies. This seems perhaps a harm
less doctrine , too visionary to have much
bearing upon ordinary life. And yet it
is a doctrine with a bad record. The
student of church history knows it well
from its first appearance under the name
of Gnosticism , down. The Apostles op
posed it vehemently in some of the Epis
tles , for they foresaw its tendencies.
Appearing as a most spiritual doctrine ,
its tendency was downward. For from
the denial of the existence of the body ,
to a relaxed control of the body , fol
lowed by self-indulgence growing more
and more demoralizing the steps were
swift an easy. I do not prophecy such
a decadence to Christian Science ; but I
do say that this doctrine of the non-re
ality of the body , wherever seriously
held , has proved a dangerous doctrine.
And the last teaching that we can
speak of is the denial of the reality of sin.
If this were merely the philosophic doc
trine that in the great plans of God ,
stretching into the teens before us , sin
is not to be everlastingly existent that
it will be conquered at last by God's
love and holiness , we should not take
time in this practical discussion to notice -
tico the question. But that is not the
obvious meaning of the language of
Christian Science , nor the way in which
its teaching is universally understood.
The idea is rather , that the sin with
which you and I are grappling is after
all only a delusion of "mortal mind , "
best conquered as it is ignored. I leave
you to square this with the words of the
beloved Apostle , "If we say that we have
no sin , we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us ; " with the agonizing
cry of St. Paul , "I see another law in
my members , warring against the law
of my mind , and bringing me into cap
tivity to the law of sin that is in my
members. O wretched man that I am ,
who shall deliver me from the body of
this death ? " with the name of Him
who was "called Jesus , " Saviour , "for
ho shall save his people from their sins. "
"Who His own self bore our sins in his
own body on the tree. " Surely , you
and I are struggling with something
more than a "delusion of mortal mind , "