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I 



SOMB COMMENTS ON 

" Christian Science and Kindred Delusions." 



Bibliotheca Sacra:—*' A clear, entertaining, and complete expose of the fal- 
lacies of the so-called Christian Scientists. The brochure is attractive both for 
its matter, and for the literary skill with which it has been prepared." 

Sunday School Times: — **Mr. Harkness shows the gross inconsistencies of 
Mrs. Eddy's 'system*; also exposes some of her blunders in matters of fact, 
and the palpable nonsense of her expositions of Scripture.'* 

Chicas^o Advance: — "Vigorous, timely, and well- written. Mrs. Eddy's 
'Science and Health' is keenly anal3rzed, its utterly illogical character is 
pointed out, and its unwarranted assumptions are thoroughly punctured. For 
a comprehensive view of Christian Science in brief compass, and as furnishing 
practical answers, for such as have no time for extended investigation, to its 
unwarranted but persistent claims, this little book is a capital thing." 

Chicago Daily Tribune: — *' A forceful and just criticism; goes to the heart of 
the matter, and is a useful exposure of this type of delusion. Mr. Harkness 
telb some pointed truths about the evils of systems that make merchandise of 
sickness and suffering." 

Chicago Daily Inter Ocean: — "Is a well written book, relentless in its analy- 
sis of the theology, science, and therapeutics of Christian Science." 

Chicago Daily Chronicle — Devotes two and one-half columns to quotations 
from the book and comments on it, and characterizes it as a severe arraignment 
of the system. 

Rev, Henry M. Tenney, D.D., Pastor Second Congregational Churchy Oher- 
tin: — "Clear, pithy and popular in style; appeals to the common sense of the 
reader, and turns an electric light upon the absurdities and perils of the delu- 
sion. Professor King furnished an introduction of great value." 

Rev. John Henry Barrows, D.D., President of Oberlin College: — " I deem it 
an admirable, able, fair, and useful exposure of the system. I have read noth- 
ing along this line equally good. * ' 

Mrs. A. A. F. Johnston, A.M., Dean of the Woman" s Department: — "Gives 
keen satisfaction. One likes to see a surgeon handle the knife deftly." 

Prof. E. I. Bosworth, A.M.: — " Puts one in possession of the principal feat- 
ures of the system in a succinct and very entertaining form. A keen and ex- 
ceedingly readable presentation." 

Prof. Edward Dickinson, A.M.: — " Has the merit of brevity, cleverness and 
literary skill. The absurdities of Mrs. Eddy's arguments are set forth in a 
most incisive and entertaining manner." 

Prof. Charles E. St John, Ph.D.:— "Goes directly to the mark. Will ren- 
der the cause of sense and sanity a real service in calling attention, somewhat 
caustically, to the absurdities, and senseless jargon of the system." 

Lyman B. Sperry, A.M., M.D., Lecturer on Sanitary Science^ Oberlin: — 
" Mr. Harkness' explanations of the actual influences which bring about the re- 
sults so foolislily accounted for by the ' Christian Scientists,' is the most lucid, 
logical and scientific that I have seen in print." 



For 5ale by BookMllers, or Sent Postpaid on Receipt of Price by L. D. HARKNESS, 

Oberlin. Ohio. Price as Cents. 



Christian Science »^ Kindred Delusions 



BY 



Luther Day Harkness 



WITH AN 



Introduction 



BY 



PfoL Henry Omrdiia King, A.M^ D.D, 



SECOND EDITION 



V 



OBERLIN, OHIO 

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 

1899 



COPYRIGHT, 1899 

BY 

LUTHER DAY HARKNBSS 



MBWS PKBS9 
OBBSLIN, OHIO 



Introduction. 

The files of the Publishers' Weekly make it evident that 
the literature critical of Christian Science is rapidly in- 
creasing, but there is certainly room for this plain, straight- 
forward, unprofessional, layman's challenge of the system. 
Mr. Harkness gives here a clear and interesting statement 
of facts, that deserve the careful consideration of every 
man who cares to keep this generation sane. 

He does not call in question the honesty of the great 
majority of Christian Scientists, nor the reality of many of 
the cures ; he only asks people of sense to take account 
of undoubted psycho-physical laws in judging of these 
cures, and soberly to face the question whether it is not 
vastly more reasonable to refer these cures to the action 
of these laws than to the acceptance of such a mass of 
metaphysical and exegetical absurdity as he certainly 
shows Mrs. Eddy's book to be. It were well for both 
our religious and intellectual health that we should give 
heed to his suggestion. For the ease with which large 
numbers of well-meaning men and women allow them- 
selves to be swept away into this delusion, ought to give 
us all pause, for it argues grave faults in our education, 
both Christian and scientific. If there were any fairly ad- 
equate grasp of Christianity or of the scientific facts in- 
volved, this could not occur. 

Has the Christian church emphasized as it ought the 
present personal reality and power of God? Has it given 



260062 



iv Introduction 



the place it ought, to the peace and content born of a 
genuine and hearty trust in a H^venly Father? Has it 
cultivated as it ought, the undaunted courage of such a 
trust? Has it given a fair recognition to mental as well 
as physical laws? and has it not too often, by its arbitrary 
use of the Bible, given grave occasion for just such abuse 
of interpretation as this of Mrs. Eddy? 

But let every one who intends in any degree to heed 
the teaching of Christ, ponder well whether he cares to 
avow or to defend a system which denies the personality 
of God, denies the personality of man, denies the reality 
of sin, and so the reality of redemption, as well as the 
reality of evil, and treats both sin and evil as Christ did 
not; that denies in the Bible whatever does not suit its 
purpose, and accepts Mrs. Eddy's Science and Health as 
of divine authority. 

It is evident that the great mass of Christian Science 
adherents simply exercise the common right of poor hu- 
man nature to be shockingly inconsistent, and allow their 
influence to be cast in favor of this delusion, while they 
really shed a large part of its doctrines. Is it not high 
time that those who through some "cure" on themselves, 
or others, have gone over to a profession of Christian Sci- 
ence, should wake up to the reality of the simply abysmal 
follies into which they have leaped? I find myself sim- 
ply unable to believe that many of these adherents can 
have any idea of seriously defending much of what Mrs. 
Eddy has written. Witness the "Glossary" of Science 
and Health. Let it be deliberately said and clearly un- 
derstood, on all hands, that the person who intends to be 



Introduction 



a thoroughgoing believer in Christian Science agrees sim- 
ply to turn his back on all the most assured results of 
modern science, on every respectable philosophical think- 
er, and on every even poorest pretense of an honest his- 
torical exegesis of scripture. That this result does not 
often fully follow is not due to any saving virtue in the 
system, but only to the healthful inconsistency of the 
** mortal mind," of which the devotee has not been able 
wholly to rid himself The simple fact is, that the teach- 
ing of Mrs. Eddy is such stupendous folly, especially in 
its philosophy and exegesis, that it is exceedingly difficult 
seriously to refute it. It seems as if it could only be 
laughed out of court ; and to this to-be-desired end Mr. 
Harkness' discussion ought to contribute. One is re- 
minded of Paulsen's remark about a certain form of ma- 
terialism, of which he says, it "is absolutely irrefutable; 
not because it is true, however, but because it is mean- 
ingless. The absurd has this in common with the truth, 
that it cannot be refuted.'' 

But the inconsistencies of Mrs. Eddy's system are so 
palpable that they ought to make even a pretty thought- 
less man wonder a little : e.g.. If the body is nothing 
and has no real needs, as the system affirms, it is difficult 
to explain the need by even the most advanced Christian 
Scientists of food and drink and fire and clothing. So, 
too. Christian Science is based on the denial of matter 
and evil, and yet the healing of bodily infirmities occu- 
pies almost exclusive attention. Christ made it absolute- 
ly subordinate. Again, the two facts which really give 
the system all its power — the presence and reality of a 



vi Introduction 



personal God, and the influence of human mind over body 
— are vehemently denied by Christian Science. And as a 
last example, Mrs. Eddy's attempted explanation of the 
reason that a poison kills, though the person taking it be- 
lieves it absolutely harmless, is a two-edged sword. Her 
theory, as Mr. Harkness points out, is that the death is 
due to the "majority opinion.** But obviously if the 
"majority opinion" is so controlling, Christian Science 
offers no real way of escape from sickness and pain. In 
other words, her explanation of the failures of her system 
explains away all value in the system. And coupled 
with her alleged suggestion that Mr. Eddy's death was 
due to arsenical poisoning mentally administered by ene- 
mies, this theory of the " majority opinion ** is an open 
invitation to return to the superstition and terror of the 
"evil eye'* and to the horrors of witchcraft. 

The true deliverance from this delusion is plain knowl- 
edge of the facts. Those who feel that they are in hon- 
esty bound to accept the vagaries of Christian Science on 
account of its cures, may well note the complete parallels 
Mr. Harkness is able to bring forward, and the evidence 
he adduces that the direct agent is the influence of mind 
over body. Mr. Harkness could fully accept the prefa- 
tory words of Rev. J. M. Buckley, D.D., in his more extend- 
ed treatment of a similar theme : " The author has adopt- 
ed certain principles as working laws : namely, that before 
endeavoring to explain how phenomena exist, it is neces- 
sary to determine precisely what exists ; and that so long 
as it is possible to find a rational explanation of what 
unquestionably is, there is no reason to suspect, and it is 



Introduction vii 



superstition to assume, the operation of supernatural 
causes." 

It need not be denied that we have much still to learn 
concerning psycho- physical laws ; but if any wish to be 
assured of the essential soundness of this little book, by 
further investigation, they will find ample material in Dr. 
Buckley's Faith Healing, Christian Science, and Kindred 
Phenomena, and in the strictly scientific works : MolFs 
Hypnotism, Bemheim's Suggestive Therapeutics, and Bi- 
net and Ffere's Animal Magnetism. 

Henry Churchill King. 

Obrrlin Collscb, Junb I, 1899. 



Note. 

That there is a wide spread misaprehension as to the therapeutic 
theories actually held by Christian Scientists, Faith Healers and Mind 
Curers is plainly evidenced by articles that have appeared from time 
to time in the religious and secular press. Many of these writers fail 
to note any distinction whatever between them. But I am especially 
moved to attempt (even at the risk of self-repetition) the definitions 
given below, by some editorial and other articles that have appeared 
in two prominent daily papers since the following pages were put in 
type in which the terms Faith Healing and Christian Science are 
used interchangeably; and it is implied, in one case, that the human 
mind is the curative agent according to the theory of Christian 
Science — in fact many writers on the subject seem to assume that 
this is the case. 

Faith Healing, This theory admits the actual existence of sick- 
ness and pain, but holds that they may be cured through faith and 
prayer alone — that is, a Faith Cure is a cure wrought by God in an- 
swer to prayer without the use of any material means. The use of any 
means other than anointing and prayer is sinful because it is tainted 
with unbelief. 

Christian Science, This system denies the actual existence of 
sickness and pain, and affirms that pain is simply a belief in pain, 
and that this belief is a delusion of the human mind; that the human 
mind is material, evil and diabolical, and cannot cure sickness or re- 
lieve pain; that all material remedies are likewise ineffectual; but 
that a cure for all ills, mental or* physical, is found only through the 
healing influence of " Principle " — " divine Science "—the mysterious 
operation of a certain unexplained principle which Mrs. Eddy also 
calls '* divine Mind." 

Mind Cure. The school distinctively known as Mind Cure recognizes 
the actual existence of disease and pain, but holds that a diseased 
state of the body always corresponds to a " false mental state " — that 
i s, that the human mind is the causation of disease, and this theory is 
pushed to absurd lengths. But it also hold^ (and in this too it goes 
far beyond the bounds of reason and experience) that the human 
mind is the only curative agent. Its adherents are not required 
to abstain from " reasonable nursing '* of the sick, or from paying 
some attention to the dictates of common sense. L. D. H. 

Obbblin, June 3. 1899. 



Christian Science and Kindred Delusions. 



To those optimistic persons who be- 
'^^^^Tm^^^^ lieve that credulity, superstition, and 

like vapjaries of the human mind are 
fast dying out with the rapid spread of education and in- 
telligence, the recent phenomenal growth of the Christian 
Science delusion must furnish food for reflection, and sug- 
gest to them a re-examination of the grounds of their 
belief. The system seems to have attracted but little 
public attention until about 1880, when a Mrs. Eddy came 
to Boston and opened a "Metaphysical College." In 
1882 she organized the first Church of Christ, Scientist.^ 
For a time little progress was made, but during the past 
few years the sect has carried on a most vigorous and 
successful propaganda. In 1898 a Christian Science 
board of education was established with headquarters in 
Boston, and the number of churches was increased by 75. 
It now claims to have 85 public reading-rooms, 304 char- 
tered churches with a membership of 70,000; and not less 
than 300,000 avowed adherents in the United States and 
Canada. 

^In 1895 this organization built a church on Falmouth street at a 
cost of $250,000. It is called the "Mother Church*' in honor of the 
founder, and has a roll of 12,000 members from all over the country. 
The service consists mainly of readings from Mrs. Eddy's works. 
The " pastor emeritus " comes up occasionally by special train from 
Concord and favors her votaries with her gracious presence for a few 
moments, and, perhaps, delivers one of her oracles for their edifica- 
tion and instruction. 



Christian Science 



Mary Mason Baker Glover Patterson 
Mn. Eddy* Eddy, the "discoverer and founder** 

{sic) of Christian Science, now lives 
a sort of a cloistered life at Pleasant View, her beau- 
tiful estate near Concord, N. H. The skillful devices 
for heightening "effects" and enveloping herself in 
ghost-like mystery which she acquired in those old days 
when she gave spiritualistic s6ances, are not without 
their present uses. The pilgrims who gather in great 
numbers at the Pleasant View shrine are granted but a 

# 

fleeting view of her person, and her oracular messages 
reach their ears from among the shadows. Her devotees 
maintain that she is "the woman clothed with the sun, 
and the moon under her feet,*' referred to in the Apoca- 
lypse; that she is "The Feminine Principle of the Messi- 
anic Expectation** in the nineteenth century; and she is, 
after a manner, worshiped as a divine being. 

The first text-book of her system. 
Her Tezt-Bo<^ Science and Health, with Key to the 

Scriptures, was published in 1875. 
Its doctrines, she says, were " a divine revelation to my 
understanding." " No human pen or tongue taught me 
the Science contained in this book, and neither pen nor 
tongue can ever overthrow it.** But, strangely enough, 
this " infallible ** revelation has been subjected to number- 
less revisions — frequently on account of some unusual 
display of Mrs. Eddy's ignorance of historical, scientific, 
or related subjects^ which called out a storm of ridicule 

^She gave a marked proof of the erudition (!) in which she prides 
herself, by publishing last year her discovery (which she copyrighted) 
that the word Pantheism was derived from the sylvan god Pan. 



And Kindred Delusions 



from the public press — and it is said that no two editions 
of the book are in agreement. The edition I have before 
me (the i62d) is, presumably, the authorized one pro tem.^ 
as it bears the date of the current year. 

It is, I believe, an article of faith 
Her Utefaiy Style, with Mrs. Eddy's adherents that her 

literary style is perfection itself. Such 
being the case, her manner of setting forth her doctrines 
should not be lightly criticized. Yet to the non-adept 
reader it seems, in the matter of clearness, to leave much 
to be desired. She appears to be overmuch given to " fine 
writing." There are many passages in the book which 
have a beautiful sound, but do not appear to mean any- 
thing in particular themselves, or to have any sort of con- 
nection with the subject in hand. Words and phrases 
are placed in relations which burden them .with strange 
and esoteric meanings. There is a total lack of orderly 
sequence of thought. There are vain repetitions, stereo- 
typed phrases without number, and pages of platitudes 
and commonplaces. Such, at least, is the impression 
Mrs. Eddy's style leaves with me ; and I cannot escape 
the suspicion that the introduction of this great mass of 
irrelevant matter is a cunning device of the author to 
hide her poverty of thought. 

I have found it, therefore, no small 
Her ^'Sacred DiKovery.'' task to search out the particulars of 

Mrs. Eddy's system ; but it appears, 
in the first place, that, in 1866, she ** re-discovered the 
Principle of Divine Healing practiced by Christ and the 
apostles," and that she named her "sacred discovery" 



Christian Science 



Christian Science. She also calls it "Metaphysical" Heal- 
ing, thus adding another burden to that much-misused word. 
She does not, however, conceal the fact that hers was 
mainly a new revelation. She intimates (p. 479) that 
while God revealed to Jesus Christ and the *' ancient wor- 
thies" the spirit of Christian Science, they were without 
what she has — that is, the "absolute letter." This last 
seems quite probable. 

She also particularly insists (quite 
^^Has No Affinity with unnecessarily, it would seem) that 

her divmely revealed Science must 
not be confused with that "lower" form of systematized 
knowledge gained in a humdrum way by laborious study 
and investigation. Such science being of human origin, 
Mrs. Eddy simply "eschews" it. Her system, she says, 
" has laid the, axe of Science [with a capital] at the root 
of material knowledge." In her first chapter she draws a 
word picture of the ideal conditions which will prevail 
when the world has accepted Christian Science. It is a 
good illustration of her usual style, and I should like to 
show it entire. But a brief extract must suffice. 

In that day, she says, "the seasons 
She Prophesies. will come and go, with changes of 

time and tide, cold and heat, latitude 
and longitude. The agriculturist will find these changes 
cannot affect his crops." 

From which it appears — though one cannot be sure, and 
I offer my interpretation with much diffidence — that we 
shall not have to go from home for a change of location ; 
but that, as "the seasons come and go," the various 



And Kindred Delusions 5 

degrees of latitude and longitude will be delivered at our 
doors, so to speak. The arrival of fifty degrees north 
in the dog days, for example, will afford a pleasing vari- 
ety. Again, for example, the Dakota farmer can watch 
with indifference the incoming tide from the Pacific, or 
the approach of an Arctic flood bearing an iceberg, know- 
ing that they will pass by, leaving his harvest fields un- 
harmed. 

But speaking in all seriousness, it is 
Hcf Style of Argtsment* difficult to understand how any so- 
ber-minded, unprejudiced reader of 
her book can fail to be impressed with its thorough shab- 
biness as a literary production, or with the absurdity of 
its so-called metaphysical arguments. It ignores the 
laws of reason and common-sense ; it takes no account 
of facts ; it affirms the thing that is not ; it denies the 
thing that is, and, as to its main contents, it is a mere 
mass of disjointed, inconsequential phrases, many of them 
absolutely meaningless to the ordinary comprehension. 
Confusion and fallacy go hand in hand through its pages; 
and as to many of Mrs. Eddy's so-called demonstrations 
and proofs — the theories would be just as adequately 
supported by quotations from a grocer's catalogue. 

Addressing ourselves first to the the- 
Her Uea of God* ology of Mrs. Eddy's system, we find 

that she appropriates the old Ideal- 
istic-Pantheistic idea of God; but she strenuously insists 
that it is hers by virtue of a divine revelation vouchsafed 
to her only ("I found nothing in modern systems," she 
says); and she tries to make it hers by disguising it in a 



Christian Science 



set of vague terms of her own coinage, on which she 
rings changes without number. Her manipulation robs 
the original idea of its reverent though inadequate con- 
ception of God, and all that it implies, and converts him 
into a mere, vague abstraction. God the loving Father, 
whose personality, whose nearness, whose pervading 
presence in our inmost lives, is the solace and hope of the 
human heart, and the very essence of Christianity, is un- 
known to the theology of Christian Science. According 
to Mrs. Eddy, he is a divine Principle, and it is as Princi- 
ple, not person, that he saves men. He is not personal 
in the "lower sense<*' but is an "infinite** personality. 
The idea of Christ "is inseparable from Principle,'* and 
the Holy Ghost "is divine Science.** And as audible 
prayer is a "hindrance,** and as. prayer addressed to a 
personal God — that is, personal in any conceivable sense 
— is " useless,** it would seem that Mrs. Eddy*s theology 
builds up a pretty effectual barrier between God and his 

creatures. 

This perhaps brings us to what Mrs. 

Her Metaphyiiau Eddy is pleased to call the metaphy- 
sics of her system. One can gather 
but a very indefinite idea of the meaning she attaches to 
Principle, Truth, Mind, Substance, Intelligence, and the 
various other terms she applies to God. The whole sub- 
ject is much befogged; but, stripped of a great mass ol 
barren verbiage, her assumptions appear to be that the 
being she calls "Good, or God,** is the infinite, supreme, 
eternal Principle, and nothing else in the universe has any 
real existence. Man is the " idea** of this Principle, or, to 



And Kindred Delusions 



use another of her terms, he is an idea of the divine Mind, 
and his mind is a part of, but not separate from, the divine 
Mind or Principle. The material world, which includes 
our mortal bodies and mortal minds,^ has neither sensa- 
tion, life, nor existence. Our corporeal senses **lie and 
cheat"; they are ''five personal falsities," and their evi- 
dence is to be disregarded. Knowledge acquired through 
our eyes, ears, or other material senses ** is an illusion." 

As Mrs. Eddy is entitled to full 

T ^*"°*?' ^ credit for the metaphysics of her sys- 

incofiiiitciicigfc * ^ '* 

tern (including its inconsistencies), it 
should be noted here, that, although these mortal minds 
and mortal bodies of ours are thus, at the outset, per- 
emptorily condemned to the limbo of non-existence, we 
have by no means heard the last of them. The ostensi- 
ble mission of Christian Science is mainly the healing of 
the ills of this non-existent mortal body, and she repeat- 
edly refers to it as an existing fact. And the references 
to mortal mind are uncomplimentary but frequent. As 
will be seen hereafter, the fact that it is non-existent does 
not prevent it from doing an immense amount of mis- 
chief. Mrs. Eddy denounces it as '' that lazar house, that 
dismal cell and slaughter house of infamy." * It is to be 
further observed, that, although the ** corporeal senses 
defraud, lie and cheat," and " the heavenly conviction that 
comes to me [her] is in antagonism with the testimony of 

^"Mortal body and mind are one, and that one is called man" (p. 
146). " Unconscious mortal mind, alias matter" (p. 407). In other 
passages her theory that the mortal mind and body are identical, 
and therefore both material, is either expressed or implied. 



8 Christian Science 



the physical senses," she repeatedly appeals to that same 
testimony (though usually in vain) in support of her theo- 
ries. Examples of the sort might be multiplied indefi- 
nitely. 

To return to our subject. Mrs. Eddy 

E^^i^tVrofMt^^^ repeatedly asserts that her system 

is scientifically demonstrable. She 
speaks of it as ** this apodictical Principle/* Christian Sci- 
ence, she says, ** reveals incontrovertibly that Mind^ is all- 
in-all, and that the only realities are the divine Mind and 
idea" (man). Scores of pages are devoted to so-called 
proof of this proposition; and as a specimen of her meta- 
physics I will here introduce one of her demonstrations (!) 
It is like unto the rest, except that it seems to be com- 
prised within a paragraph (which I quote entire) and has 
the unusual advantage of a beginning and ending which 
do not run off into the fog. Here it is: 

•'Divine Science explains the abstract statement that 
there is one Mind only by the following self-evident prop- 
osition. If Good, or God, is real, then evil, the opposite 
of God, is unreal. Then evil can only seem real by giv- 
ing reality to the unreal. The children of God have but 
one Mind. How can God lapse into evil, when God, the 
Mind of man, never sins. The standard of perfection was 
originally God and man. Has God taken down his own 
standard, and has man fallen.^" 

1 Although she uses the word "Mind," as well as "Principle," "Sub- 
stance/* etc., in speaking of God, the very fact that she uses these 
terms indifferently shows that she is bringing down the idea of Per- 
son to the lower idea of Principle, which evidences that her real idea 
of God is Principle, not Person. And her chosen (first) definition of 
God in the Glossary reveals the same fact. 



And Kindred Delusions 



It having been fully established by 
Sfc^?«^J*^^ * "immortal proof" (sic) that the 

divine Principle is the only real sub- 
stance, and that the so-called material universe, including 
our mortal bodies and mortal minds, are merely a " false 
conception" of this non-existent mortal mind, and really 
possess neither life nor existence, it follows that our bod- 
ies, being without sensation, cannot be sick; and as the 
eternal Principle (of which man is an "idea" — an unsepa- 
rated part) is, from its very nature, not subject to disease, 
sickness is simply a "mental state," a "delusion," the 
" insidious concept of mortal mind." Disease and all its 
symptoms are mere matters of belief. The pain of the 
toothache is simply an " erroneous belief in pain " — noth- 
ing else. Dyspepsia, for example, is a " random thought." 
Neuralgia is an "illusion." Bones, ache they ever so 
badly, are only a "subjective state of mortal mind." Dis- 
ease is the fear of disease made manifest on the body. 
"You say a boil is painful," remarks Mrs. Eddy, "but 
that is impossible, for matter without Mind [or Principle] 
is not painful. The boil manifests your belief in pain, 
through inflammation and swelling, and you call this be- 
lief a boil ! " Poison does not kill; it is the belief that it 
is a poison which kills. But if a person swallows a deadly 
potion, unaware of its nature, and believing it to be harm- 
less, what causes the death ? Obviously it cannot be his 
belief. Now it is in emergencies of just this sort that Mrs. 
Eddy justifies her proud claim that her Science "eschews" 
all human laws of reason, logic, and common-sense. Ob- 
serve that, in this last case,*she says, it is the ^^ getural 



lo Christian Science 



belief^* of mortal minds that it is a poison which causes 

the death} 

Mrs. Eddy claims that her system is 

^'^SiAScriptS^" f^""^^d upon Bibh'cal authority, or 

rather upon the scriptures as " illum- 
ined" and interpreted by a revelation which came to her 
" gradually through divine power, during three years of 
solitary research." Her exegetical method is simplicity 
itself. Any scripture which she cannot warp and distort 
to suit the purposes of her argument is rejected as ** human 
error." Take, for illustration, her "Scientific interpreta- 
tion " of Genesis. She finds that the ** spiritual record of 
creation" closes with chapter ii. 5. The continued ac- 
count cannot be made to fit the theories of Christian 
Science; it is "mortal and material," and, therefore, 
" error." Adam, the scripture record says, was formed of 
the dust of the ground. "Is it the truth.? " she asks, "or 
is it a lie concerning man and God } It must be the 
latter, because God presently curses the ground." 

The above may possibly throw some 

Ti^ ^Original Mean. Ught on her " Scientific statement" 
ing^ of the name Adam* ^ 

of the original meaning of the word 

Adam, which I will here introduce in part as a fair exam- 
ple of the sublime absurdity of what she calls her " meta- 
physical interpretation of Bible terms": 

"Adam: Error; a falsity; the belief in original sin, sick- 



^ Mrs. Eddy holds to some startling beliefs regarding the diabolical 
power of "mortal mind." Her fourth husband, Dr. Eddy, died in 1882; 
the cause was unquestionably heart disease. But Mrs. Eddy is said 
to have declared that it was arsenical poison mentally administered 
by antagonistic rivals. 



And Kindred Delusions 1 1 



ness and death . . ; a curse; a belief in intelligent mat- 
ter; . . . dust to dust; red sand-stone; nothingness; 
not God's man who represents the one God; a product of 
nothing as the opposite of something; the counterfeit of 
life which ultimates in death; the opposite of love, called 
hate; the antipodes of spirit's creation, called self-crea- 
tive matter . . . Divide the name Adam into two sylla- 
bles, and it reads a dam, or obstruction. This suggests 
the thought of something fluid, of mortal mind in solu- 
tion,' 



»» 



and so on ad nauseam. Yet this book, which is largely 
made up of just such stuff as this, has reached a circula- 
tion of over 160,000 copies; and an orthodox (!) minister 
"of twenty years' standing" writes the Christian Science 
Sentinel that he ** never understood the metaphysical ex- 
egesis of the Bible" until he read it! 

Much space is devoted to so-called exposition of pas- 
sages in the gospels, and it is difficult to understand 
how her manner of dealing with them can be otherwise 
than abhorrent to a reverent believer in the scriptures. 
To such an one her ** spiritual version" of the Lord's 
Prayer must seem a blasphemous travesty. 

Before we leave this branch of the 
Her Uie of a Sporiotti subject, one further fact should be 

noted. Mrs. Eddy assumes to find 
a warrant for the main assumptions of her system in Mark 
xvi. 18. This passage stands as the words of Jesus at the 
head of the chapter on Christian Science Practice, and she 
repeatedly quotes from, and refers to it. Now, as Prof. G. 
F.Wright points out {Bibliotheca Sacra^ April, 1899), 
and as Mrs. Eddy of course knows, the genuineness of this 



12 Christian Science 



passage^ is discredited by the best textual critics; and she 

is open to the charge of attempting to bolster up her 

absurd theories by a spurious scripture, knowing it to be 

such. 

This brings us to the therapeutics of 

Her System of Healing* Christian Science, and they are en- 
titled to a measure of respect — ^not 
that they are in theory less absurd than the other features 
of her system, but because Mrs. Eddy here discovers, as 
to certain matters, some glimmerings of common-sense; 
and further, there is abundant evidence that many patients 
self-treated, or treated by others, according to her meth- 
ods, have been benefited, and even cured. But, as I shall 
presently undertake to show, these results came to pass in 
spite, as it were, of Mrs. Eddy's therapeutic theories, and 
the real remedial agent (which is common to all forms of 
so-called supernatural healing) is one which she holds in 

special abhorrence. 

Everything but the erroneous belief 

Mrs. Eddy^s Book Qf n^iortal mind having been elimi- 
Indispensabie* ^ 

nated (as we have seen) from the 

problem of sickness and pain, how can we rid ourselves 

^ In any event it is wholly inadequate to support the structure she 
has placed upon it. The passage assumes the existence of evil. It 
does not deny it» but says that "they" shall be able to cope with it. 
Professor Wright remarks that "our Lord and his apostles did not fail 
duly to recognize the limitations of the material world *' ; that " the 
miracles which Christ performed were exceptional"; that they were 
"limited"; and that "only two or three dead persons were raised 
from the grave ; only a small portion of the sick surrounding him 
were healed; while to the apostles the power to perform miracles 
was granted in a still more sparing degree." 



And Kindred Delusions 13 

of this mortal belief, and so achieve perfect health, with 

the gift of healing others? Right at this important point 

our author's peculiar talent for vagueness of statement 

reaches its full fruition. One thing, however, is made 

perfectly plain, and that is that Mrs. Eddy's works are to 

be read to the exclusion of all other literature; and that 

we must, at the outset, procure a copy of her Science and 

Health^ (price $3.18 to $6, according to style of binding, 

etc.'); and it should be noted that there are editions extant 

in which the true Science is more or less adulterated 

with mere human knowledge, but that there is healing 

virtue in none other than the genuine copyright edition. 

It appears that mortal mind (with its 

How to rid Ounehres of beliefs) disappears by a process of 
^Mortal MJiid''- And , i • u- u .u .u 

the ReuilL evolution in which there are three 

degrees: Physical (depravity). Moral 
(evil disappearing), and Spiritual (spiritual salvation). By 
study and contemplation of the "great truths" of this 
book (Science and Health) one finally reaches the third 
degree, when mortal mind disappears, "mental chemicali- 
zation" having changed his belief "from a material to a 
spiritual basis"; and he is now simply an "expression," 
an "idea" of the divine Principle; is coexistent with this 
Principle; is denuded of everything mortal or material, 

' " A Christian Scientist requires my work on Science and Health 
for his text -book, and so do all his students and patients . . . because 
it registered this revealed Truth uncontaminated with human hy- 
potheses *' (p. 453). 

'It appears, from an article in the /^r^wa, that Mrs. Eddy's souvenir 
spoons (price $3 to $5) and her photographs ($1 and $2) are also urged 
on the faithful as a means of grace and healing. 



14 Christian Science 



and as " pain cannot exist where there is no mortal mind 
to feel it," he is no longer subject to the ills and infirmi- 
ties of the flesh.^ If he break his non-existent arm, or 
crush his non-existent foot, he will feel no pain, and can, 
by the power of his divine Science, cause them to heal 
instantly. He may with impunity expose himself to 
diphtheria, fever, and smallpox. ** The journals of Chris- 
tian Science," remarks Professor Wright, in the article I 
have referred to, ** boast of the triumph of their faith over 
the effects of deadly poison."* The so-called laws of 
health may be safely disregarded. "Jesus," asserts Mrs. 
Eddy, "never recommended or employed them; .... 
he urged no obedience to material laws, but acted in di- 
rect disobedience thereto." "Faith in the rules of health 
begets and fosters disease," she continues; "ignorance 

^ The statement has been made repeatedly in the public press that 
Mrs. Eddy has not been strong or well for years; and that she is now 
in a semi- invalid condition. That this should be true (if it is true) 
of the ''discoverer and founder'* of Christian Science is a significant 
comment on the fundamental dogma of that system. 

* The Professor is undoubtedly warranted in presuming that that 
"error of mortal mind/' common-sense, will prevent the mass of Mrs. 
Eddy's followers from carrying out the principles of her system to 
their logical effect, " They will not," he says, " put poison into food 
or adulterate it with any injurious elements onithe plea that as a man 
thinketh so he is, and that if he is ignorant of the poison in his system 
he will not be injured by it. [But according to Mrs. Eddy, the "major- 
ity opinion " that it is a poison may kill him. See p. lo. L. D. H.] 
They will not disregard the sanitary precautions necessary to check 
the spread of diphtheria, smallpox, typhoid fever and other contag- 
ious diseases. They will not neglect to properly ventilate their 
houses, to wear rubbers in wet weather, and warm clothing in winter. 
But if they do not neglect these things it will be because they disre- 
gard the fundamental principles of their so-called science." 



And Kindred Delusions 15 



regarding them is the best condition for the reception of 
Truth." Even the apparently innocent act of bathing is 
regarded with stern disfavor. "Bathing or rubbing to 
alter secretions, or remove unhealthy exhalations from the 
cuticle receives a useful rebuke from Christian healing.*' 
" Is civilization only a higher form of idolatry/' asks Mrs 
Eddy indignantly, ** that man should bow down to a flesh 
brush, to flannels, to baths, diet, exercise and air?" 

Mrs. Eddy's theory as to the prophy- 

'^^ li^ ^^ ^'^ ^^^^'^ ^"^ therapeutic effects of ignor- 
ing disease is, of course, pushed far 
beyond the bounds of reason, yet it has in it the one 
grain of sense in this bushel of nonsense. Many of us 
give over-much attention to our aches and pains, imagi- 
nary or otherwise. We brood over them.^ Our tendency 
tQ talk about them is not only harmful to ourselves, but 
often a weariness and a trial to our friends. Undoubtedly 
ailments which, would otherwise pass off are kept alive by 
giving them air in this way. The tendency of the teach- 
ings of Christian Science in this regard, is to discourage 
the practice of discussing ** miseries" and symptoms (how 
many of us take a sad pleasure therein!); the habit of 
over-drugging, so much fostered by patent medicine 

^"The mind has a remarkable power of exciting and exalting 
painful sensations in various parts of the body. . . . Pain excited by 
a physical cause may be continued long after the cessation of the ex- 
citing cause by keeping the attention directed to it. . . . The remedy 
is to engage the thoughts as much as possible on some other sub- 
ject." — Robert BentUy Todd, M,D,, F,R,S. I am much indebted to 
Dr. Todd*s account of his investigation of the phenomena of the ef- 
fect of the mind's action on the body. It is one of the most valuable 
and instructive contributions to the literature of the subject. 



1 6 Christian Science 



advertisements (and by some alleged physicians, as well); 
and also to brace up the will, and discourage morbid intro- 
spection; and to this extent the system does good, and 
not evil as is its nature. 

Just what special preparation is 
pJ^^^^S^n needed to qualify a Christian Scien- 

tist to practice metaphysical healing 
does not plainly appear. It is stated, however, that **no 
intellectual proficiency is requisite in the learner," which 
is just as well, as he has no apparent use for anything of 
the sort. It is indispensable that the healer should abso- 
lutely disbelieve in the existence of the disease he treats. 
He must not see it. He must not know whether it is, 
for example, smallpox, lumbago, or bad-husband headache. 
In short, the ideal qualification for a healer is a state of 
mental vacuity, with a mind closed against the evidence 

of his senses. 

The remedy is always the same. 

^"aM^S^ "Christian Science employs Mind 

alone as the curative Principle, ac- 
knowledging that the divine Mind has all power " ; '* any 
material remedy is simply pernicious,** ^ and the manner 
of the treatment is in this wise : ** Argue with the patient 
(mentally not audibly) that he has no disease; . . . men- 
tally insist that health is the everlasting fact, and sickness 

^ An ex judge who furnishes learned opinions on divers subjects to 
the Christian Science Sentinel, is especially strong along the lines 
of Bible exegesis. He says: " It is true that in one case Jesus anointed 
the eyes of a blind man with clay, but it is also true that he sent him 
to the nearest pool to wash it off, thus showing his contempt for all 
material remedy " The italics are mine. 



And Kindred Delusions 17 

the temporary falsity." The exigencies of the case may 
be such that it becomes necessary to "startle mortal mind 
in order to break the dream of suffering." Then you 
shock the patient by vehemently telling him, for example, 
that "he suffers only as the insane suffer, from a mere be- 
lief." Thus treated, **the disease will vanish to its native 
extinction [^sic] like dew before the morning sunshine." 

And "the perusal of the author's 
A Drastk Remedy, publications heals sickness con- 
stantly." A Healer states in the 
Sentiftel that ten pages of Science and Health read to a 
grip patient cured the attack. Sometimes, however, as a 
result of using this literature for reading treatment, " cer- 
tain moral and physical symptoms seem aggravated" (one 
can easily believe it); but it is only "mental and moral 
fermentation" (that seems probable also), and is, in fact, 
"a favorable symptom." Quite possibly; but, having read 
the book, I think, on the whole, I should prefer to take 
my chances on the "silent" treatment. 

As an example of the " mental 
A Precocious ChiR heights " to which even a little child 

may attain from only a casual hear- 
ing of "inspired truth" from her lips, Mrs. Eddy relates 
the following incident: 

"A little girl, who had occasionally listened to my ex- 
planations, wounded her finger badly. She seemed not 
to notice it. On being questioned she answered ingenu- 
ously: 'There is no sensation in matter.' Bounding off 
with laughing eyes, she presently added — 'Mamma, my 
finger is not a bit sore.' " 



1 8 Christian Science 



To an unprejudiced person this would seem to be a 
case of an abnormally precocious child, with a disagree- 
able habit of aping her elders, who ought to be corrected 
with a slipper, and stood up in a corner or sent to bed. 

Mrs. Eddy asserts that as a result of 

»ta. Eddy tets forth her ^er treatment " shortened limbs have 
Record as a rieakr* 

been elongated, cicatrized joints made 

supple, carious bones restored to healthy condition, and 
the lost substance of lungs restored"; that she has her- 
self "healed hopeless disease^ and raised the dying**; has 
cured, by ** mental surgery alone," dislocated joints and 
spinal vertebrae; that the treatment can be used with per- 
fect success in cases oi congenital deformity; that, in short, 
**the worth of my [her] teachings has been proved by 
thousands of well authenticated cases of healing;" and 
that, ** for the most part these have been cases abandoned 
by regular medical attendants as hopeless." 

The familiar testimonials from grate- 
^^*tSS^^^^^^ ful patients are not lacking. "I do not 

believe in them," declares Mrs. Ed- 
dy; "usually, when healing, I have said to the individual, 
Go and tell no man." But her inclination to conceal her 
good works is sacrificed to the extent of favoring us with 
quite a number of these interesting certificates. I make 
some selections at random in which the statements are, in 
brief, as follows, the first being a case of absent healing: 

^ Mrs. Eddy claimed that by omnipresent mental treatment she 
healed the Prince of Wales of his fever in 1892 ; and that she would 
have healed President Garfield but for the baleful influence of certain 
recreant Christian Scientists. 



And Kindred Delusions 19 



Mr. B. — Bone of foot crushed by a 

Bot slie favors us with falling timber. He wrote to Mrs. 

a few. Eddy, and, he says, **niy painful and 

swollen foot was restored at once on 
your [her] receipt of my letter, and that very day I put 
on my boot and walked several miles." 

Baby E. — Case of ulceration of the bowels. ** Reduced 
almost to a skeleton, and growing worse; doctor said case 
was hopeless.'* Mrs. Eddy held the child in her arms a 
few moments, and **in ten minutes thereafter he was well. 
Ate a quantity of cabbage the next day.'* 

Mr. C. — Long-standing case of hip disease, caused by 
fall on spike; "bone carious for several inches." When 
Mrs. Eddy reached his bedside " the dew of death was on 
his brow." In ten minutes pain ceased; in two weeks 
went to work, hip being healed.^ 

Now although Mrs. Eddy strenu- 
S<«»« ^^^ ^^^^ ously and repeatedly insists that 

Christian Science has no affinity 
whatever with any other system of healing, it nevertheless 
falls into the same category with "faith," "miraculous," 
and all other forms of so-called supernatural healing; and 
a brief reference to what may perhaps be called the testi- 
monial literature of these systems will not be uninstruc- 
tive. It is undoubtedly true that many sick people (mainly 
nervous and hysterical cases) who have taken these vari- 
ous treatments have been greatly helped and even perma- 

1 With the wondertul record as a Healer evidenced (!) by her own 
statements, and by these testimonials, it is not strange that Mrs. Eddy 
should rest content on her laurels, and not subject her healing powers 
to further tests. For several years all the editions of Science and 
Health have stated that " the author takes no patients, and declines 
medical consultation.** 



20 Christian Science 



nently cured; but it is to be noted that, in common with 
Mrs. Eddy, these other apostles and historians scarcely al- 
lude to this class of cures, but, as a rule, put forward, in- 
stead, accounts of healing which are simply incredible, and 
must put a severe strain upon the faith and credulity of even 
their most devoted adherents. These accounts are espec- 
ially instructive as exhibitions of the fallibility of human 
evidence, and the uncertainty of asserted facts in medical 

experience. 

During the convulsionist madness in 
The C^v^^ooist France (1727-35) a large number of 

marvelous cures were, it was claimed, 
wrought in connection with the self-martyrdom of the 
Jansenist monk, Francis of Paris. The record of these 
miracles, made by a respectable Jansenist priest, fills three 
bulky volumes.^ All manner of deadly diseases were 
instantly cured, so runs the record, by touching one of 
Francis' garments, or even his tombstone in St. Medardus 
Church. A Spanish nobleman, one of whose eyes had 
oozed out as the result of an accident, placed over the 
empty socket a piece of the martyr's shirt. In a few hours 
the eye was "perfectly restored." This account was sup- 
ported by the sworn testimony of *' many honest reputa- 
ble persons,'* and the celebrated French historian, Rollin, 
stated in a letter still extant, that he knew the circum- 
stances; and he expressed his entire belief in the miracle. 
Other narratives, more incredible even than this, rest upon 
evidence that would win a verdict m any court. 

* Historie des MiracuUs et des Convulsionaires de St. Af/dard, par 
P, F. Mathieu, Extracts tr. by James Parton. 



And Kindred Delusions 21 



To come down to our own day. 

Tlie Miracle of That monstrous fraud of the cen- 
Lourdes. tury, the ** wonder - working shrine " 

of Our Lady of Lourdes, in the French 
Pyrenees, is carried on by or with the connivance of those 
high in authority in the Roman Catholic Church. The 
order of the Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, who 
have it in charge, have established a ** miracle verification 
office,*' which assumes to scrutinize, and weigh judicially, 
the evidence of cures alleged to have been wrought by the 
miraculous waters, in conjunction with the exercise of 
faith and prayer to the Virgin. They have accumulated 
documentary evidence showing conclusively, on its face^ 
that thousands of cases of grave organic disease have been 
so cured. And that many have been cured there, is evi- 
denced by the great numbers of discarded canes, crutches, 
and surgical appliances hung in front of the sacred grotto. 

To come still nearer home. In an 

M^ejwis ffewenings address before a meeting of the 
n^nt Dcre zX rlonie* 

National Christian Alliance in Beu- 

lah Park, Cleveland, in 1898, Rev. A. B. Simpson, 

president of the alliance, cited ^ the following incident in 

his own experience as an exemplification of the ** healing 

power of faith in God'* : 

"While walking along a country road a few weeks 
ago," he said, **I tripped over a stake, dislocating my 
knee cap in falling. I was in great pain, but managed to 
ask God to remove it. As I prayed, I could feel two 
forces struggling in my leg, but at last I felt my knee cap 

^ Cleveland Plain Dealer ^ August 5, 1898. 



22 Christian Science 



sliding slowly back into place, and shortly my pain left 
me, and I was recovered." 

In an address made the following day, Rev. G. N. Eld- 
ridge, superintendent of the work of the alliance in Mich- 
igan and Indiana, said: 

•*A few years ago I had an accident, and cut my first 
finger badly, and raised a blood blister on my thumb. I 
asked God to heal my finger, and he did so. But when I 
rose the next morning my thumb was very painful. I had 
not asked God to heal my thumb, and he had simply ac- 
complished what I asked him to do. I then asked him to 
heal my thumb, and he did so."^ 

And these things were heard without audible protest 
by great audiences, made up in large part, at least, of 
presumably sane and intelligent people ! 

The notorious John Alexander Dow- 
DowieSmu ie, founder and head of the Christian 

Catholic Church, has flooded the 
country with millions of testimonials of cures accom- 
plished in his ** divine healing homes"; and the methods 
of his system as well as those of the Christian Scientists 
have been somewhat extensively advertised in the verdicts 
of coroner's juries. But I need not particularize further. 

A large mass of the fiction contained 

'^^^aSf^lSS^Sn^^* in these statements may be accounted 

for, and the tale of actual cures must 
be greatly reduced, by cases of (i) faulty diagnosis ; (2) 
hallucination, to which the senses are so very subject ; 
(3) malingering; (4) intentional misstatements on the 

* Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 6, 1 898. 



And Kindred Delusions 23 



part of patients or witnesses ; (5) spontaneous healing; 

(6) what are known as "self-limited" diseases; and (7) 

last, but not least, ailments that are purely imaginary. 

Admitting, as I think we may, the 

▼hat is tfie Actual general good faith of these witnesses 
Cttfativc Affent? j • 1 

and patients, the question remains, 

Were the cures that did take place supernatural? Was 
the remedial agent the ** divine Principle of Truth *' as 
mentally or audibly administered by Mrs. Eddy.? Was 
it the fragment of the Jansenist martyr's raiment.? the mi- 
raculous waters of Lourdes } or were nature's established 
laws set aside in direct response to the prayer of the 
Faith Healer.? The answer must unquestionably be in 
the negative. All testimony purporting to support such 
a theory breaks down under the analysis of strictly scien- 
tific examination. And, moreover, science has abundant- 
ly established the fact that the curative agent in the cases 
we are considering is none other than that •* mortal mind *' 
to whose discredit we hear so much in the pages of Sci- 
ence and Health. 

If I am right in presuming, as I do, 

IsMfs. Eddy a Duped that Mrs. Eddy cannot avoid accept- 
her own Vagaries? ^ ^ 

ing personally this scientific expla- 
nation of the phenomena of metaphysical healing, that 
fact fully explains her vituperative abuse of the real reme- 
dial agent. The evidence is such, it seems to me, as to 
constrain an unprejudiced person to the belief that she is 
not in the least the dupe of her own vagaries ; and there 
are grounds for a suspicion, at least, that she is a Chris- 
tian Scientist "for revenue only.'* At any rate, as 



24 Christian Science 



the drawing feature of her system is its supernaturalism 
(with its alleged healing power), she is bound, for business 
reasons, not only to defend it, but to discredit all theories 
that contravene it. 

The influence of the mind on the 

subject of scientific study and inves- 
tigation by a large number of trained specialists, whose 
only object has been the truly scientific one, i.e., to ar- 
rive at the exact truth. Much testimony has been ad- 
duced which, as I conceive, bears directly upon the sub- 
ject of so-called supernatural healing in all its forms. It 
would be obviously impossible, even were the writer com- 
petent (which he is not), to enter here into an adequate 
analysis of this testimony. It will be sufficient to remark 
that I shall mention no fact or incident except upon reli- 
able authority; but I hold no one else responsible for 
some of the conclusions drawn as to the bearing of these 
facts and incidents upon the subject in hand. 

It is a well-settled fact that ideas 
What the Sckntisb Say. conceived in the mind — that is, the 

results of processes taking place in 
the gray matter of the brain — affect the bodily secretions ; 
that the mind thus ** constantly plays upon the body for 
good or evil, . . . causing disease, co5perating with it, 
or causing its departure"; and that this action of the 
mind upon the body is by means of the nerves on/j^. 
The mind constantly influences the involuntary as well as 
the voluntary bodily processes, and by being specially di- 
rected to some part of the body may, and often does, cause 



r 



And Kindred Delusions 25 

functional disturbance ; or, on the contrary, may, and often 
does, relieve an existing disturbance. But such mental ac- 
tion is initiated only in the brain of the subject. The sup- 
posed influence exerted on the body of the subject by the 
mind of the "healer" (by whatsoever name his particular 
delusion may be called) has no real existence, neither can 
his mind influence the action of the mind of the subject ex- 
cept in the way of suggestion. 

It follows, therefore, that when the 

Does Chrlftian Sdence Christian Scientist has passed his no- 
Education add to t « 1 !• « 
One's *Healiiig Power ^7 vitiate — has procured and studied 

Science and Health, passed the 
"third degree," has, perhaps, paid Mrs. Eddy $200 to 
$300 for a course of lectures, and has thus become a duly 
qualified Healer, his actual qualifications as a mental 
healer are just what they were at the outset — they are 
certainly not increased ; I should suppose they would be 
diminished.^ That is, he may by words, gestures, by the 
influence of his personality, if you will, reach the brain of 
the patient by way of his eyes, ears, or sense of feeling, 
and may thus excite there mental action which may pass 
on by way of the nerves to the seat of the bodily disturb- 
ance, and may, or may not, relieve it. 

^ It may be said that perfect faith in the means used in healing 
will result from his studies ; and that such faith will increase the ef- 
fectiveness of the means. This is true within limits. But, presuma- 
bly, he had the faith at the outset, and any increase therein would, in 
my judgment, be more than counterbalanced by the mental deterio- 
ration — the falling off in judgment and common-sense, so needful in 
dealing with the sick — which would result from a "full course" of 
Christian Science study. 



26 Christian Science 



When the further fact is added that 
^^ChM^I^t^ such mental action may be initiated 
and Kindred Heallncf in the mind by various causes, with- 

out the intervention of a second per- 
son, we have the sum total of Christian Science, and all 
other forms of so-called supernatural healing. 

Professor H. C. King used often to 

The Availing Pfaycr quote to his Students William James' 
of the Sick— How , .. t^ • i ^ j- 

is it Answered? remark: ''It is useless to discuss 

whether man will pray ; constituted 
as he is, he must pray." God, having implanted in us 
this will to pray, we must believe he answers, according 
to his wisdom, the prayer of the sick. And it is not for 
us to say that any reverent prayer is unavailing, though 
it be addressed to the Virgin at the grotto of Lourdes, or 
at the tomb of St. Francis of Paris, or even if it be the 
voiceless petition addressed to "Principle** by the Chris- 
tian Scientist. But if haply the healing answer comes, it 
comes by nature's means ; and that means may be, and 
unquestionably often is, the mental action we are discuss- 
ing. It is true that while the /act of the mind's prophy- 
lactic and therapeutic action is scientifically established, 
the manner of such action is an unsolved mystery. But 
it is not supernatural, and, in the last analysis, is no more 
mysterious than the action of some of the remedies in the 

Materia Medica. 

It appears, then, that this agency is 

Mental Action often a not only a conservator of health, but 
Preserver of Healtii* i . i /• 

and a Healer of Disease* ^s<^ ^ potent remedial force. It has 

often ministered to a diseased body 



And Kindred Delusions 27 

when physic has altogether failed ; and in well-authenti- 
cated cases it has arrested the progress of internal organic 
disease. Every cure brought about by modem miracles, 
Faith Curers, and by pseudo-scientists from good Bishop 
Berkeley with his Tar Water, and Perkins with his Metallic 
Tractors, down to our own Mrs. Eddy with her healing 
Principle, has been paralleled by mental means alone. 

And a further fact should be again 

This Action often Un- emphasized, and that is, that as a 

wittioffly Invofeed i r 1 • *• 

by^Ukged^Healcfi.'' result of a long series of scientific 

experiments it has been shown con- 
clusively that while the practices of these systems often 
unwittingly invoke the real remedial agent, the alleged 
curative agent on which the systems or beliefs are based, 
does not figure in the least in the prevention, alleviation, or 
cure of disease. And this conclusion is founded on the sound 
logical principle that the supernatural cannot be imputed 
to any phenomena which admit of a natural explanation. 

The case of Rev. Edward Irving, the 

The Remarkable Cases great Scottish preacher, may be 
of Rev* Edward Irving . , -n ^ ^- r i_ ^ 

and Immantsel Kant Cited as illustrative of what may 

sometimes be accomplished in the 
way, of checking the progress of disease by resolute men- 
tal effort backed by a strong will. In 1832, shortly after 
he had taken up with Faith Healing and other vagaries, 
he was attacked in London with cholera. The disease 
was epidemic in the city at the time, and the case was 
unmistakable. It was Sunday morning, and although he 
was in great agony, and, according to a competent medi- 
cal man, at times "in a dangerous state of collapse," he 



28 Christian Science 



determined to preach. In his eyes, disease was a sin ; 
an evidence of a lack of faith ; and contending resolutely, 
as he imagined, against the " evil spirit," he painfully 
made his way to his church, a quarter of a mile away. 
**As I feebly ascended the pulpit," said the good man, 
"the pains seemed to leave me." He soon gathered 
strength, and preached for an hour with a fervor unknown 
to him. The next morning he was strong and hearty as 
before the attack. 

Not the least among the valuable legacies left to the 
world by Kant was his example of what a person may ac- 
complish by his own unaided mental strength in the face 
of the gravest physical disability. And his case, taken in 
connection with that of Irving, illustrates more than one 
phase of the question under consideration. In person 
small and spare, weak of muscle, of sensitive health and 
defective vision, Kant was continually beset with physical 
infirmities; but he early learned to combat them by men- 
tal effort. He frequently checked incipient illness by the 
exercise of his will power, and by the persistent use of 
this agency he succeeded in warding off prostrating dis- 
ease, and was thus enabled to perform those great intel- 
lectual tasks which won him a place in the first rank of 
the world's philosophical thinkers. His feeble body fairly 
wasted away at la^t, but to the very end — and he lived 
eighty years — he preserved his rigid self-control. 

But Kant thoroughly understood the 

The Philofiopiier Under- nature of the remedy he was using, 

"^"^ V^c!^^^^ ^"d therein the philosopher differed 

from the mystic. Irving supposed 



And Kindred Delusions 29 

he was engaged in a moral struggle with cholera, and not 
(as was in fact the case), in a mental contest against it. 

I cannot forbear referring in this con- 

A MinculouB Cure by nection to one more suggestive cir- 
Our Lady of Lourdes ^^ 

cumstance. There is a quaint book, 

strongly tinctured with a flavor of medieval superstition 
and fanaticism, entitled Our Lady of Lourdes, which was 
honored with a special brief by Pope Pius IX. The author, 
Henri Lasserre, evidently an honest, stupid sort of a per- 
son, is **of a piety most devoted," and regards philoso- 
phers and savants with pious horror as children of the 
Evil One. In his preface, M. Lasserre says that the book 
was undertaken as an act of gratitude to the Virgin of 
the Spring for her miraculous restoration of his sight. 
The history of his case is told in minute detail. He was 
almost totally blind. Eye specialists could not help him, 
but on bathing his eyes from a bottle of the Lourdes 
waters sent to him at Paris, his eyesight was instantly, 
completely, and permanently restored. 

Now I chanced upon a case of oph- 

TK?^^^'' P*«i"«" thalmia which was cured "through 
by Mental Means alone* ^ 

the use of hypnotism'* Q^twas cured 
at any rate) by the inventor of the term. Dr. James Braid, 
of Manchester, England; and it happens curiously enough 
that the antecedent history of the case was, so far as a 
layman may judge from the details given, practically iden- 
tical with that of M. Lasserre's. Dr. Braid was himself 
a man of scientific attainments, and the facts in the case 
were authenticated by competent medical men, though 
they did not concur in the Doctor's inferences. When he 



30 Christian Science 

took the case the patient was almost sightless. Having 

placed her in a "hypnotic'* state, he called her attention 

to her eyes and kept it there by gently touching them 

occasionally. Dr. Braid says he "directed the nervous 

force to the eyes," which involves an assumption. Her 

brain did the directing. She remained in this state ten 

minutes. As a result of the first treatment there was 

marked improvement, and six like treatments resulted in 

a perfect and permanent cure. 

A number of other cases might be cited showing that 

all these cures imputed to supernatural agencies might 

have been, and the evidence is conclusive that, in fact, 

they were, brought about by natural means alone; and I 

think it is abundantly shown that this means was mental 

action. 

Mrs. Eddy's description of the ideal 

^^i^^ii^f*^ worid 1 of Christian Science is glow- 
ing, but, after her usual manner, ex- 
ceedingly vague. However, every form of Evil will, of 
course, have been expelled by the "power of Truth." 
There will be no opportunity for the exercise of those 
qualities of patient love, kindness, and practical, helpful 
generosity which now characterize many of the adherents 

^ Heaven and Earth, in the *' mortal '* sense of the terms, are un- 
known to Christian Science. The " Scientific meaning*' of the for- 
mer is, for example, "government by Principle"; of the latter, "a 
compound idea.** But, speaking in terms of "mortal mind,** it 
should be clearly understood that Mrs. Eddy is not here referring to 
a future world— to what we regard as a future state, but to conditions 
which are supposed to obtain now in this world, in this mortal state, 
within the Christian Science fold, and to a condition that will prevail 
generally when all shall have been gathered into that fold. 



And Kindred Delusions 3 1 



of the system, for there will be no sickness or suffering, 
or poor or wayward to be ministered to, consoled, suc- 
cored, or uplifted. There will be no choice between the 
good and evil thing, for there will be no evil ; no chance 
for the exercise of courage and patience and hope, for 
there will be no foes to meet, no suffering to bear, and no 
better or happier future to look foiward to. This is a 
state of things that will make of men and women mental 
and moral jelly fish. How can anything worthy the name 
of character be built up under such conditions ? 

But in the meantime, and pending 

Meanwhile, the Syitem the coming of the Christian Science 
is doing Grave Mii- -n • ^. ^ • j • 

chief, millennium, the system is doing an 

incalculable amount of mischief. The 
whole tendency of its so-called metaphysical teaching is 
to degrade the intellect ; and its adherents escape mental 
deterioration only in so far as they ignore its sophistries, 
and take counsel of their own reason and common-sense. 
And it is by the exercise of these same faculties of ** mortal 
mind'* that many of Mrs. Eddy's followers escape the 
perils of her system of healing; for in case of serious. ill- 
ness they avail themselves of competent medical advice 
and treatment. But, unfortunately, there are some of her 
devotees who will suffer and die. or (as is more frequently 
the case) will peril or sacrifice the lives of the helpless sick 
under their care, rather than call in proper professional 
help or permit the use of any ** material" remedies. 

Harold Frederic died a victim of 

'"^ eSSwc?*"^ Christian Science. His prominence 

in the world of letters, the tragedy 



32 Christian Science 



of his untimely end, and the subsequent legal inquiry, 
attracted world-wide attention to the methods of these 
ignorant charlatans who masquerade as Christian healers. 
Just how it came to pass that this scholarly, clear-headed 
man of the world fell into the hands of these people, is 
not generally known; but they did get hold of him, and 
the medical evidence shows that, instead of following the 
negative treatment prescribed by the system (which might 
have given Frederic a fighting chance for his life), they did 
and permitted just those things which, as the veriest nov- 
ice of a sick nurse or a doctor's apprentice would have 
known, must, in a case of the kind, be attended with 
fatal results. 

How can we account for the phe- 
OoeOza^iACb^Aii nomenal success of this particular 

delusion ? Some of the reasons are, 
it seems to me, not far to seek. The ranks of its devo- 
tees are largely recruited from that numerous class of 
people (corresponding to the "floaters'* among the evan- 
gelical churches) who go about all their lives in a feverish 
search for some new mystery. They are the victims of 
every epidemic of superstition that sweeps over the land. 
The plain gospel of Jesus Christ does not appeal to them. 
Their faith must find its temporary resting place on some 
vague, shadowy creed which hides itself in mystery. For 
preference, they will languish in sickness under the care 
of a pretentious empiric rather than be cured with a dose 
of orthodox medicine at the hands of a regular practi- 
tioner. 



And Kindred Delusions 33 

And superstition, medical and other- 

'^^^ T^^^^taiiL*^^ wise, is by no means confined to 

people of low mental attainments. 
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes used to show the widespread 
belief in mystery cures by an experiment in which the 
genial humorist took much delight. In his lecture-room 
at the Harvard Medical School, or in a company of those 
brainy men and women with whom it was his wont to 
associate, he would, on occasion, challenge all present to 
empty their pockets, and if the challenge was accepted, 
there would often roll out from them several worn horse 
chestnuts carried about as a sovereign remedy for rheu- 
matism. It may be remarked in passing, that those who 
carry about either these material chestnuts or those of the 
Christian Science or Faith Healing variety (if the figure is 
permissible) always fail lamentably when they undertake 
to make out a satisfactory case of cause and effect between 
their particular ** chestnut" and the cure of their rheuma- 
tism or what not. 

As to religious superstition, it scarcely needs be added 
that among the victims of some of its most absurd forms 
are people of great intellectual acquirements. 

But the system of Christian Science 

Mafctog mtd^L^ of healing, and Lourdes miracle heal- 
Sickncss and Suffering* ^ 

ing, and like delusions, would lan- 
guish and die were it not for their marvelous success in 
deluding the sick and suffering. And herein is their crown- 
ing infamy. In common with the most conscienceless 
quack who sells his worthless nostrums on the street cor- 
ner, Mrs. Eddy and Company and the Fathers of the 



34 Christiati Science 



Immaculate Conception make merchandise of the wounds 
and sorrows of poor humanity. A poor devotee of Chris- 
tian Science stricken, perhaps, with an illness past all 
help, seeks healing virtue in Science and Health, one 
of Mrs. Eddy's photographs, or souvenir spoons, for which 
he pays, with hard-earned money, a trebly exorbitant 
price. Or a poverty-stricken Paris seamstress expends her 
last centime on a bottle of the waters of Lourdes for her 
sister dying of consumption in a garret ; or devotes a five- 
sou candle to the Virgin of the Grotto, which the thrifty 
Fathers afterwards sell.^ 

These people succeed and wax rich 
^^ ^"Jf^*^^***^ because they offer to their deluded 

victims, for a price, the bread of 
hope, for which those who suffer, hunger always. Weary, 
perhaps, of days, months, or years of pain, worn by the 
torturing effects of remedies that do not avail, hopeless 
of any earthly help, can we wonder that they eagerly give 
themselves over to the illusive dream that by virtue of 
these mysterious agencies the established order of nature 
will, perchance, in their behalf be set aside.? But they find 
at last, as we all find, that nature's law is inexorable, and 
that there is no escape from its operations. 

If those chronic seekers after some 

^S^S^ ^^^^mSl* "^^^ thing to which they may, for a 

day, pin their faith; those religious 
enthusiasts who have Promptings and Revealings, or new 

^ It is stated that the profits arising from the sale of tapers devoted 
to the Virgin of Lourdes, and not used, defray the entire expenses of 
the bureau of management. 



And Kindred Delusions 35 



interpretations of the Seven Seals, which they are ever 
ready to declare, in season and out of season, — all those 
people who are the bane of church prayer meetings, and 
a thorn in the side of long-suffering pastors, — could be 
gathered into the Christian Science fold and kept there, it 
would, I think, be a cause for rejoicing. But, numerous 
as this class of people are among the adherents of that 
system, they do not make up the bulk of its followers. 

As has been said, the drawing power 

^ thTa^tid^tote^ ^^ ^*^^ system is Mrs. Eddy's vigor- 
\ ously asserted claim that by means 

of knowledge received in a supernatural manner, she has 
solved the problem of pain and disease; and a great pro- 
portion of her devotees are those upon whom fate has 
laid the burden of sickness and suffering. And great 
numbers of them have fallen away from Christian churches 
as well as from rational methods of treating their bodily 
ailments. And this is the pity of it! Priests and physi- 
cians, whose exalted office it is to go hand in hand minis- 
tering to the souls and bodies of suffering and sorrowing 
humanity, may, in view of this falling away, well ask them- 
selves whether they have in any wise fallen short of their 
duties and opportunities. 

The influence of mental action in 
^ *^ S^]^^?^*^ causing and curing disease has long 

been recognized by physicians and 
students of mental physiology. But does the general 
practitioner — the doctor of the people — make practical 
use of this knowledge in the diagnosis and treatment of 
disease } That this influence is not an element of causa- 



36 Christian Science 



tion can seldom be assumed as to any ailment. Patholo- 
gists tell us that, for example, a typhoid germ which has 
entered the system, but would otherwise pass away, may 
find mischievous lodgement and cause fever as the un- 
questionable (though indirect) result of mental disturb- 
ance. And the continuance of such disturbance may 
retard or prevent recovery. Does the doctor always look 
carefully into this question and use his discovery, if any, 
to the profit of his patients ? A patient with a strong 
will instinctively fights a disease mentally from the outset. 
Does the doctor frankly recognize and show his apprecia- 
tion of this cooperation; and does he tactfully but per- 
sistently use such means as he can to secure like aid from 
the less strong-minded patient, thus showing the former 
what he does, and the latter what he may do independ- 
ently of medicinal aid i Does the doctor always stay his 
hand from the prescription until he is very sure the Vis 
Medicatrix Naturce needs the aid of pill or potion.? Does 
he accept and act upon Dr. Holmes* aphorism that med- 
icine proper "is always directly h^xmi\x\ \ it may some- 
times be indirectly beneficial".? When he finds that a 
patient really needs no medicine does he always tell him 
so } (Of course I do not here allude to those numerous 
cases ^ of disease of the imagination which indicate bread 
pills — a most excellent remedy, by the way, whose merits 

^ Physicians often find themselves embarrassed by the imperative 
demand of such patients for a medicinal remedy, and the demand is 
met, and the imagination satisfied, by the exhibition of these appar- 
ently, potent pills. And there are well - authenticated instances 
of the successful treatment of actual disease by means of these 
counterfeit pills, and other mock remedies, the patient being 



And Kindred Delusions 37 

are not, I think, properly recognized by the medical pro- 
fession.) Does he resolutely set his face against that 
curse of this generation, — over-dosing and over-drugging ? 
Is he diligent in making known the truth that a sunny 
disposition, a good courage, honest work, and plenty of 
it, and a clean, temperate life, — all conserve health and 
well-being? And, finally, does he use the influence which 
his profession has earned, and so well deserves, to spread 
abroad and enforce the truth that they who break the 
laws of nature, or suffer innocently from its operations, 
must pay to the utmost the penalty which nature exacts 
alike from the guilty and innocent, and that any attempt to 
escape through Christian Science or similar vagaries can 
end only in disappointment? I am constrained to the 
belief that the conscientious physician does all these 
things, and therefore if illness overtakes me I shall, with 

led to believe that he is taking a powerful medicament. During the 
siege of Breda in 1625, a large number of the soldiers of the Prince 
of Orange's army were attacked with scurvy. Many patients alto- 
gether lost heart, and the mortality was serious. Finally the Prince 
sent word to the sufferers that they should at once be provided with a 
wonderfully efHcacious remedy; and he himself prepared the balsam 
(four drops of perfectly innocuous colored liquid to a gallon of water) 
which was given out in bottles of orthodox shape. The effect of the 
delusion was astonishing. The "gracious prince's cure ** checked the 
epidemic at once, and soon stopped it entirely. Other cases might 
be cited showing that actual organic disease will sometimes yield to 
the action of the imagination alone. 

A story, for which the writer does not vouch, was told of a man who 
kept a case of specifics (extensively advertised some years since), 
the various remedies being designated by numbers. He was attacked 
with an illness which indicated No. 5. But as the bottle was empty, 
he made up some No. 5 by mixing together some No. 2 and No. 3, 
and he took it with perfectly satisfactory results. 



38 Christian Science 



the utmost confidence, go to him for counsel and help, 
and not to Mrs. Eddy or any of her kind. 

And the Preacher. One of the old 
*^V ^^^^f^'^ school, whom I knew many years ago, 

used often to offer up a petition for 
** this sick and dying congregation." Perhaps he asked 
better than he knew. And again, perhaps he knew; for 
all his life he was himself much acquainted with pain and 
sorrow; and it is only through such an experience that 
the pastor comes into a true and intimate knowledge of 
the pathetic life tragedies going on all about him. Does 
he ever close his ears to the cry of the **pain of the 
world".? As he stands before his waiting congregation 
does he always remember that to many who are there 
pain is the great, overshadowing fact of life ? They are 
there, perhaps, in weariness and discouragement, looking 
to him for an answer to the unspoken question, " How 
shall I bear it ? " Do they ever look to him in vain ? Does 
he ever let them go without some word of consolation and 
hope ? Pain is not always pathetic or interesting. It is 
sometimes over-obtrusive, disagreeable, and difficult to 
deal with. But to those who know it by personal expe- 
rience, it is always pitiful. And I humbly conceive it to 
be one of the most sacred and important duties of a pastor 
to search it out among his people, and do all that in him 
lies to relieve it. And in just so far as he is able, by ap- 
peals to reason and common-sense, to put the suffering 
ones in a right mental attitude and tranquilize their minds; 
in just so far as he can arouse in them courage and hope, 
and ali^o, and above all, an abiding faith in the good pur- 



^ 



And Kindred Delusions 39 



poses of an all-wise heavenly Father — to just this extent 
he will minister to their bodily sufferings. And such minis- 
try will be infinitely more effective and helpful than that of 
Mrs. Eddy and her kind, although they have appropria- 
ted (and misnamed and misuse) some of the methods of 
the Christian church, possibly (I speak under correction) 
because the church had to some extent discarded them. 

The preacher cannot offer them a 
A 'Troe ^aowphy solution of the problem of evil; he 

cannot offer exemption from the 
laws of nature; but he can show them that strength and 
consolation may be found in that true philosophy of life 
which teaches that pain, and sorrow, and wrong, and all 
forms of evil are in the divine order of things; that they 
are necessar}' to happiness and to the making of charac- 
ter. Pleasure |ind joy would be non-existent, were they 
not set off against a background of pain and sorrow. 
Goodness and right would be meaningless terms and 
characterless qualities, did not the presence of evil and 
wrong enable us to make a conscious choice between the 
evil and the good. And thus we find in reason and phil- 
osophy a warrant for that supreme trust which is beyond 
and aside from all human reason — an abiding faith that 
God doeth all things well. 

A great philosopher has recently written much for the 
strengthening of hearts that have become hopeless and 
discouraged in their struggle with the problems of life, 
and I cannot more fittingly end this paper than with one 
of his noble passages of consolation and hope: