■^?****'S
taia MMH w «> ii i t H iy t > WH H t8wcii > ii ;i » mith.-v;m
kN IP 1900
Oivisien,
Section.
No
Christian Science
What it is, What is New, and What is
True about it
BY /
REV. WILLIAM SHORT, M. A.
Rector St. Peter's Church, St. Louis, Mo.
WITH INTRODUCTION BY
Rt. Rev. HUGH MILLER THOMPSON, D.D., LL.D.
BISHOP OF MISSISSIPPI
NEW YORK
THOMAS WHITTAKER
2 AND 3 BIBLE HOUSE
1899
Copyright, 1899
By THOMAS WHITTAKER
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
A NEW RELIGION, AND SOME OF ITS CHARACTERISTICS.
FA6B
Various sects — Its origin — Souvenir spoons — The Gospel
of — Science and health — A rediscovery — The Key-
stone of the system— Claims prove nothing — An ef-
fort at self-deception — A bad form of bigotry — The
old path safer i
CHAPTER II.
THE NAME A MISNOMER.
Neither Christian nor scientific — A bid for popularity —
Illogical conclusions — Cabalistic 20
CHAPTER III.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE DANGEROUS AND
IMMORAL.
An intellectual sin, and logical comedy — A formula for
immorality— Appeal to history — Its theology panthe-
istic . 28
CHAPTER IV.
MENTAL HEALING EXPLAINED.
Methods of disarming criticism— A lost heritage— The
methods of Jesus — The principle the same — The
power of healing the birthright of man — Psychic
forces control functions — The secret revealed — The
two minds — Testimony of physicians — Shall the
Church endeavor to regain its lost heritage ? — Con'
elusion 38
APPENDIX 57
Introduction.
Theee has been growing up of late, I am
told, a thing calling itself Christian Science.
Personally, I have not been brought into con-
tact with it. Except by what I see in the
ordinary printing in newspapers and the read-
ing of books for or against it, I am uninformed
about its present conditions. I identify it, how-
ever, without difficulty.
Its headquarters are, I am told, in Boston,
and it has also representatives in Chicago and
other towns.
It seems it has made considerable noise also
in St. Louis. — So much noise that the Eev.
William Short, the author of these lectures,*
felt it his duty to deliver them in his Church
first, and then to reprint them.
I read the Lectures with great interest. It
is but according to ancient wisdom to say,
" There is nothing new under the sun," and it
seems that the ancient Gnosticism of the ear-
liest centuries, the " Anti-Christ that is even
now come," is working again under the same
V
Vi INTRODUCTION.
conditions. "We have a melange^ as of old, of
Oriental mysticism and thaumaturgy, under
Christian names, an attempt to connect our
Lord with the wild dreams of Eastern Pan-
theism, and to turn His religion, His morals
and ethics, into contempt, because the Body
which He wore, in which He was crucified,
which died and rose again, is only a dream, a
phantasm — may do what it will without sin,
because Sin, like the Body, has no existence !
It is interesting to not^, as the philosophic
Historian will, that Gnosticism in the modern
form of Christian Science, Occultism, and other
degenerations of Human Intelligence, arises
and flourishes under the same conditions as it
did 1900 years ago.
A civilization, rich, luxurious, utterly mate-
rial, a political corruption profound, and ac-
cepted, an absence of spiritual apprehension
in morals and ethics, great intelligence, and a
debased family life; a degeneration in man-
hood, and especially in the shameless and piti-
ful conditions among womankind — so that the
untranslatable epigrams of Martial can describe
life in New York, Chicago, or Boston as they
did in Kome in its rottenness — that conditions
like these should find expression in an utterly
sensual philosophy, under spiritual names, in
a caricature of Christianity which leaves out
INTRODUCTION. Vll
duty, in principles which, logically followed,
justify and lead to all uncleanness, does not
surprise a philosopher.
In this Gnosticism, as old as Christianity,
women have been especially prominent, from
Helena, the mistress of Simon Magus down,
sometimes as originators and leaders, mostly
as the helpers and exhibitors for the men.
The author of these Lectures has brought
out the real nature of this so-called " Christian
Science" as another form of the old Anti-
Christianism, which, known as Gnosticism,
Manicheism, or what not, denies the existence
of the Human Body, or blames the Body for
all evil — and so, as he shows, has logically al-
ways led to the denial of bodily sin — for how
can that which does not exist commit sin ?
He is careful to say that those who are
teaching this wild Hinduism (for it was from
the first an attempt to graft Orientalism on
Christianity) are not conscious of the outcome.
They never were. They never reason to con-
clusions. Many of the originators, in the old
days, were even stern ascetics. — Since the body
has no existence, why shall I pay any heed to
it ? — but the e7id was always the same. " The
Body is nothing, the material world is noth-
ing. Ko other man's or woman's body has any
real existence. The real Humanity cannot be
Viii INTRODUCTION.
affected by anything these non-existent bodies
do with other non-existent bodies or things."
It turned out rather bad results in Alexan-
dria, Corinth, Ephesus, and other highly civi-
lized centres of wealth and culture. "Will it be
a gospel leading to high thoughts and lofty liv-
ing in such unsensuous and spiritually-minded
communities as Boston and Chicago ?
It is well that the author, and other clergy
are paying especial attention to the new form
of the old Anti-Christianism. It is not mere
silliness, nor a meaningless insanity.
Hugh Miller Thompson.
Battle Hill, Miss., May 20, 1899.
" Beloved, believe not every Spirit, but try
the Spirits whether they are of God; because
many false prophets are gone out into the
world. — 1 John iv. 1.
CHAPTER I.
A NEW RELIGION, AND SOME OF ITS CHAR-
ACTERISTICS.
There is a movement of thought and of
practical living which has attracted much
attention of late, which is popularly known as
Christian Science. Having started only about
thirty years ago, it now claims some 400
societies in the United States, which it calls
churches, and has some 5,000 teachers and
healers, who are said to be engaged in propa-
gating its peculiar tenets. By the force of its
new enthusiasm, the novelty of its methods
and the strangeness of its rather startling
doctrines, it has attracted widespread atten-
tion, and induced not a few to leave their own
churches to join it, as the newest religion of
Jesus Christ.
I speak of Christian Science as a new
religion, because while it is primarily a theory
of mental therapeutics, yet it claims to be
more. Its purpose is avowedly religious, and
its aim is nothing less than the reconstruction
of all human life, after theories and methods
which are peculiarly its own. It claims to
1
2 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
have a new gospel for mankind, and has
organized societies to practice and to preach
its precepts. It is so imbued with a sense of
its own supreme sufficiency, as the only, and
complete exponent of all divine truth, that it
ignores all existing churches and organizes
another sect — to add to the distraction of an
already disorganized Christianity.
Now, if this movement was simply a new
system of therapeutics, it would demand our
calm and careful consideration on account of
the remarkable cures that it assuredly does
effect, but as it also calls itself Christian and
claims to be based on the teaching and example
of Jesus, it behooves us to examine into its
credentials and to heed the admonition of St.
John, who said : " Beloved, believe not every
spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of
God ; because many false prophets have gone
out into the world."
I desire, in these pages, to give you the
result of my endeavor to " try the spirit " of
Christian Science. And I wish to say that in
my examination I have sought to be as fair
and impartial as I could. I began my study
of it in a sympathetic spirit, as a learner seek-
ing after truth. Believing as I did, that no
movement could take hold of so many in-
telligent minds with the power that Christian
A NEW RELIGION.
Science has, unless there was some vital truth
at the basis of it, I endeavored to approach the
subject with an open mind, in order to ascer-
tain what truth there was in it. Then, too,
I felt that if Christian Science had any truth
which Jesus taught as a part of his revelation
to men, which the wants of a new age had
called into prominence, that it was a part of
the heritage of the Christian church, which
she ought to embrace and utilize for the
furtherance of Christ's purposes in the world.
For I believe that the church of Jesus Christ
ought to stand for all that is Christian. If
there is any new revelation of the meaning
and power of the truth which He taught, or
any new manifestation of it, or any new em-
phasis of any old and neglected truth which
can rightly claim the name of Christian, then
I believe that the Christian church ought to
be large enough and catholic enough and
progressive enough to accept it and assimi-
late it, and turn its ethical forces into service
for the blessing and salvation of mankind.
When I heard of people leaving their own
churches to join Christian Scientists, it seemed
to me that it surely ought not to be, that any
earnest follower of Jesus should feel com-
pelled to leave the church of Jesus Christ, in
order to accept any truth which Jesus taught.
4 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
It was in this spirit that I began my study of
this movement.
VARIOUS SECTS.
The first thing that confronts one, in study-
ing what is known as Christian Science, is the
fact, that the spirit of discord has already en-
tered into its ranks, and divided the followers
of Mrs. Eddy, into a number of opposing sects.
Some of these manifest their religious zeal, by
calling the others heretics, and disf ellowship all
who refuse to pronounce their own peculiar and
distinctive shibboleths. As a sample of that
"odium theologicum," which unfortunately
seems quite natural to all religions, an article
in a recent magazine,* gives an illustration.
After speaking of the necessity for careful
discrimination, the writer says "The name
* Christian Science ' should be limited solely
to the doctrines and methods and text-books
and church of Mrs. Eddy, author of * Science
and Health,' with which half fanatical, per-
sonality-worshipping movement the ISTew
Thought has no more connection than exists
between the Free Eeligious Association and
the Pope of Rome." Those who represent the
best thought and spirit of the movement, are
beginning to disown and repudiate the name
* Arena, Feb., 1899.
jl kew religion. 5
of Christian Scientists, yet I shall use the term
in a general and comprehensive sense, as that
by which the movement is most familiarly
known. It is unnecessary to enter into the
differences, which divide its adherents into op-
posing schools of thought.
ITS ORIGIN.
To find out what Christian Science is, let
us glance at its origin. Mrs. Mary Baker
Glover Eddy, who claims to have been its
founder, and who practically asserts her own
infallibility, and is so regarded by some of the
more ignorant of her followers, begins her
book entitled " Science and Health " with this
statement : " In the year 1866 I discovered the
science of metaphysical healing, and named it
Christian Science." Primarily, then it was a
theory or system of mental therapeutics.*
* Christian Scientists object to having their religion referred
to as prii7iarily a system of therapeutics. But that this is true,
in point of time, Mrs. Eddy herself states in the passage
quoted. That it is also true, in point of fact, the whole under-
lying ground work of Science and Health shows. See
especially chapter 12. Its therapeutics is not only the secret
of the success of Christian Science, but it is the corner stone of
the system. Christian Science lecturers, while they deny this,
yet they continually refer to its cures, and speak of them as
«« demonstrations " of its truth. Its therapeutics was the central
point, around which the whole system was constructed.
6 CHKISTIAN SCIENCE.
Mrs. Eddy states in her preface that *' When
God called her to proclaim His Gospel to this
age, there came also the charge to plant and
water His vineyard." So, in 1867, she opened
a school of Christian Science mind healing, to
instruct practitioners in her methods. Now
the founder of Christian Science makes much
of the principles and teaching of Jesus, but in
carrying on this school for the prophets of the
new faith she seems to have been actuated by
something more mundane and mercenary than
his example. For instance, the charge for
the primary course in this school was 300
sordid and material dollars ; for the normal
course, $200 ; for the course in obstetrics, $100,
and for the theological course, $200 more —
altogether $800 in hard, material bank notes,
exclusive of board, and strictly in advance.
Now, inasmuch as such useless things as
anatomy, physiology and materia medica were
ignored in this school, the courses only oc-
cupied a few weeks and practitioners were
turned out with remarkable rapidity. Mrs.
Eddy states that during seven years she had
some 4,000 students. Mrs. Eddy was also
pastor of the first Christian Science church.
In 1875 she issued the first edition of " Science
and Health." The price for this book is three
dollars, and, inasmuch as Mrs. Eddy is said to
A NEW EELIGION. 7
be her own publisher, and the book has reached
its 163d edition, it is not to be wondered at that
the preface closes with this note : " The author
takes no patients, and declines medical consul-
tation."
SOUVENIR SPOONS.*
In addition to this, the founder of Christian
Science has recently launched forth in the
Souvenir Spoon business. The following is
from the Christian Science Sentinel of Jan.
26, 1899 :
1^ " On each of these most beautiful spoons is
a motto in bas-relief that every person on
earth needs to hold in thought. Mother
requests that Christian Scientists shall not
ask to be informed what this motto is, but
each Scientist shall purchase at least one
spoon, and those who can afford it, one dozen
spoons, that their families may read this
motto at every meal and their guests be made
partakers of its simple truth.
" Mary Baker Eddy. ^
* The souvenir spoons which " Mother " Eddy urges, as a
means of grace, at three dollars each for plain silver, and five
dollars, gold-plated, contain a medallion of Mrs. Eddy on the
handle, an etching of Mrs. Eddy's home at Concord, N. H,, in
the bowl, and on the back, a text from Mrs. Eddy's book, " Sci-
ence and Health."
8 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
IN'ow the ordinary " mortal mind " is quite
justified in regarding this as a shrewd bit of
business, under the garb of piety, and it does
seem as if the dollars in it, stick out very
large in " Mother " Eddy's spirituality. It is
on a par with the doings of a certain Christian
Science doctor, in Chicago, who is said to use
his sermons as a part of his advertisements,
with expressions on one page, such as —
" Christ has come to his people," " He hath
clothed his Church with the gifts of healing,'*
" He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel
to the poor " ; and on a following page,
"Terms will be forwarded on application,"
" Hot and cold water and porcelain baths in
nearly all rooms," " All the comforts of a first-
class hotel."
The commercial side to the early history of
Christian Science is referred to, not only to
show that its founder had what most people
would call an " eye to business," in the method
of her revelation of its blessings to mankind,
but also because there are some who think that
the same factor helps to explain the enthusiasm
of some of its practitioners to-day. Yet it
would be unfair to intimate that a mercenary
spirit was prominent as a motive, with the
great majority of its followers. Far from it,
since there is no doubt that Christian Scientists,
A NEW RELIGION. 9
as a rule, are as purely unselfish and self-sacri-
ficing people, as are found in any of our
churches.
THE GOSPEL OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
The gospel of the orthodox Christian
Scientists is contained in the book referred to,
of some 600 pages, entitled " SCIENCE AND
HEALTH." If the author is correct, this the
" only true and authoritative exposition of the
science of metaphysical healing." " Those who
depart from this method forfeit their claims to
belong to its school." (Page 6.) *
The author implies that her system of
mind healing was a divine revelation,^ and
says that while other methods "may have
occasional gleams of divinity," "yet they re-
main intensely human in their origin and
tendency, and are not scientifically Christian."
Yet the human in the author comes out quite
strong, only a few lines below, in her effort to
guard the rights and privileges (and per-
quisites) of her discovery. (Page 6.)
SCIENCE AND HEALTH.
The book, " Science and Health," is a most
remarkable production. In its entire disregard
* Page references are to Science and Healthy 1 1 8th edition.
» See Note i, Appendix. Mrs. Eddy's '« Revelation."
10 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
of all common sense it leaves Jules Yerne en-
tirely in the rear. Kow, I am aware, that
those who accept its teachings will attribute
any adverse criticism to prejudice or misunder-
standing. Yet, after a second examination of
it I can say without any exaggeration that
from a literary standpoint it is simply beneath
criticism. There are many good thoughts in
it, and many practical and beautiful suggestions
in it, but it is chiefly made up of the most as-
tonishing propositions, strung together in the
most inconsequential and disjointed way, with-
out any logical sequence in the process of its
thought, but iterated and reiterated in the
most dogmatic manner, as if boldness of
assumption was more convincing than reason-
able argument. On page seven the author
summarizes the fundamentals of Christian
Science in the four following propositions :
" 1. God is all in all.
" 2. God is good. God is mind.
"3. God, Spirit, being all, nothing is
matter.
"4. Life, God, omnipotent good, deny
death, evil, sin, disease."
Then the author repeats the last proposition
backward, and remarks that " the metaphysics
of Christian Science, like the rules of mathe-
matics prove the rule by inversion." She
A NEW RELIGION. 11
still further illustrates this by the following :
<' There is no pain in Truth, and no truth in
pain ; no nerve in Mind, and no mind in nerve ;
no matter in Mind, and no mind in matter ; no
matter in Life, and no life in matter ; no matter
in Good, and no good in matter." These
astonishing propositions are stated with the
utmost seriousness, and with the dogmatism
and sententiousness of a divine oracle giving
some ex cathedra decision. But how they
prove anything, or, even mean anything, that
is clear and unambiguous, it is difficult to dis-
cover.
For example, if the first proposition is in-
terpreted to mean, that " God is all in all," so
as to leave no place for the personality of the
individual, then it denies a fact of human con-
sciousness, which man Tcnoios, and must know
before he can know anything else.
The third proposition is truly " fundamental "
to the whole theory of Christian Science, but
it is opposed not only to Christianity and to
Science, but also to reason and common sense.
It is a dangerous theory because false.
Proposition four is an amazing piece of
assumption. Mrs. Eddy repeats it backward.
It reads equally well either way, as do most
other parts of the book, if taken by paragraphs.
It asserts, that if God is, there is no such thing
/
12 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
as sin, evil, or death ; and vice versa, if there is
any disease, sin, evil or death, there is no God.
Is this true? Is it a fact, that disease, sin,
etc., are so incompatible with the nature and
purposes of God, that to admit their existence,
is to deny the existence of God? There is
neither truth, reason, nor logic in such a state-
ment. Mrs. Eddy does not undertake to prove
any of her propositions, though she reiterates
them in the most positive and dogmatic man-
ner. The Holy Scriptures ^ have considerable
to say about sin, evil and death, but Mrs.
Eddy has a very unique way of warping them
all to suit her theories, by a fanciful and
picturesque method of interpretation, which
scorns the plain meaning of words, and makes
anything mean what she would like to have it
mean. When she cannot do this, she does not
hesitate to intimate that the Scriptures lie.
(Page 517.)
INVEESIONS.
Mrs. Eddy's " inversions," above referred to,
afford an illustration of her unique logic. She
says "there is no pain in Truth, and no truth in
pain." This is specious, but deceptive, because
the terms of the inversion are equivocal.
What Mrs. Eddy means to affirm, is, that
•See Note 2, Appendix. " Christian Science and the Bible."
A NEW EELIGION. 13
there is no reality in pain, because there is no
pain in truth. But give "truth" the same
meaning, in both terms, and if there is any
truth in the common experiences of human
life, then the falsity of the statement becomes
apparent. The crucial words are not univocal
in both terms of any of the inversions, they are
therefore illogical and misleading.
A EEDISCOVERY?
Christian Science claims to be a rediscovery
of the power employed by Christ in healing
the sick, and of the principles on which He
wrought his divine works. Mrs. Eddy says
these principles must be accepted and believed
in before we can have a right understanding
of what true science or true Christianity is.
She then goes on to explain the peculiar
^iiilosophical theory on which her system is
iDased. It will be essential that we understand
something of this before we can at all compre-
hend what Christian Science claims to be.
BRIEF SUMMARY.
But before we enter upon that let me
state just here that in my study of the subject
I have come to the conclusion that what is
new in Christian Science is not true, and what
is true is not new. The only new thing about
1^ CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
it is the false metaphysical theory on which it
is based, which we shall see is opposed both to
reason, and to common sense, and is dangerous
hecause false. The power of healing is not
new and is partly true. It is a power which
was undoubtedly exercised in the primitive
church, and there has been no age since in
which occasional instances of it cannot be
found. Before I conclude I shall endeavor to
show that the root principle of this healing
power is the same, whether attributed to the
bones of saints and martyrs, to the virtue of
sacred relics, the odylic force, to magnetism or
spiritualism, faith cure, hypnotism or to Chris-
tian Science. Of course, Christian Science
repudiates this thought, but it is a fact, never-
theless, -and can be substantiated.
THE KEYSTONE OF THE SYSTEM.
But let us glance briefly at the philosophy
of the movement we are considering. Mrs.
Eddy says (page 8); "Christian Science ex-
plains all cause and effect as mental, not
physical. It lifts the veil of mystery from
soul and body. It shows the Scientific re-
lation of man to God, disentangles the inter-
laced ambiguities of Being and sets free the
imprisoned thought ; so that we may know, in
Divine Science, that the universe, including
A NEW RELIGION. 15
man and his divine Principle, is harmonious
and eternal. Science shows that what is
termed matter is but the subjective state of
what is here termed mortal mind.'''' This ex-
pression, "mortal mind," is used to signify
everything visible and invisible, material or
immaterial, save only mind, or God, the all in
all. There is nothing real but mind, which is
immortal, omnipotent and omnipresent. All
else is not. All else is only deception and
illusion, unreal, non-existent. All else only
seems. For want of a better ivord, Mrs. Eddy
uses what she confesses to be the inadequate
term—" mortal mind "—to express it.
On page 173 she says : " The realm of the
real is spiritual. The opposite of spirit is
matter, and the opposite of the real is the
unreal, or material. Matter is an error of
statement." " :N"othing we can say or believe
regarding matter is true, except that matter is
unreal and is therefore belief." " Spirit is the
only substance and consciousness recognized
by Science. The senses oppose this ; but there
are no material senses, for matter has no sen-
sation." " All that we term sin, sickness and
death is comprised in a belief in matter."
"Free the mind, therefore, of a belief in
matter, and there will be no such thing as
sin, sickness or death." Such things are only
16 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
dreams — delusions, creations of the mortal
mind. And yet Christian Science claims to be
a method of healing the very material bodies
whose existence it denies. As an instance of
its utter illogicalness, turn to page 246 of
" Science and Health," where it states that it
is " mortal mind that convulses matter." But
matter is defined as " merely a subjective state
of the mortal mind," and " mortal mind " is a
non-reality, a nonentity. Yet, how can one
nonentity or non-existence convulse another
nonentity? Drugs and medicines are non-
entities, and so should not be used to cure
physical bodies, which are also nonentities.
Food is unreal and has no life-sustaining
properties ; it is only a " belief of the mortal
mind," which has no existence, and Mrs. Eddy
thinks that the time may come when material
food will be unnecessary. If Christian Scien-
tists would live without food they could prove
the truth of their philosophy. The fact is,
that Christian Science seems to have a unique
way of using language which regards some-
thingness and nothingness as interchangeable
terms, either of which it assumes by turns, and
both of which it occasionally asserts at the
same time.
And yet it calls itself a science. And there
are sane and intelligent people whose minds
A NEW KELIGIOK. 17
are SO confused by the kaleidoscopic gyrations
of its cabalistic reasoning, that they become
hypnotized, and, being unable to distinguish
the true from the false in its philosophy, they
settle down into a sort of mental paralysis and
accept it all.
When Mrs. Eddy asserts the nothingness of
matter she runs her idealism into the bald and
barren denial of the common sense of the
world. There is nothing like it in even such
idealists as Fichte and Berkeley. With them
matter was the expression of the idea or in-
telligence that controlled it. It was not real,
in the sense of being self-existent, or in the
permanency of its forms, but it was actual. So,
when Mrs. Eddy asserts the nothingness ot
piatter she teaches a new philosophy. Start-^
ing with the dictum that disease and sickness
inhere in matter or in the mental conception
of it, it is an easy thing by destroying one to
destroy the other also. But universal experi-
i^nce of mankind is against this theory, and
even Christian Scientists are compelled to con-
duct themselves, especially in food and drink
and clothing, as if matter was something.
CLAIMS PROVE NOTHII^a.
M:rs. Eddy adduces no proof of her prop-
ositions, but simply begs the whole question,
18 CHKISTIAN SCIENCE.
by the most astounding assumptions. Pro-
fessor Bates says ; " Matter is the middle term
between God, and the soul is the medium of
the divine revelation. The relation of the
soul to the body is a figure of the relation of
God to the world. He is incarnate in matter,
as the soul is incarnate in the body. Matter is
not evil. The soul knows and communes with
God, through matter."
AK EFFOKT AT SELF-DECEPTION.
The philosophy of Christian Science is a
denial of every sound principle of reasoning
that the world has known. The Christian
Scientist rejects all science, except his own.
He constructs a world after arbitrary principles
of his own, which his own experience tells him
is false. He tries to make himself believe that
there is no such thing as matter, and yet he
eats and drinks and lives like other people,
with this self-deception at his heart. Now,
whatever may be the immediate effects of this
cultivation of mental delusions, it must tend in
the long run to a life of unreality, which will
issue in a species of mental insanity.
A BAD FORM OF BIGOTRY.
Christian Science also is a bad form of big-
otry. It is narrowing and dwarfing in every
A NEW RELIGION. 19
wa}^ With Science and Health as its Bible,
and the Bible as its supplement, it scorns all
other knowledge. In fact, all other knowl-
edge, all other education about all material
things, is a sham and delusion of the mortal
mind. Even now some Christian Scientists are
taking their children out of the public schools
and starting schools of their OAvn, where chil-
dren can be as free as possible from the ad-
verse claims of mortal mind upon them.
In Racine, Wisconsin, it is reported, that the
Christian Scientists recently petitioned the
school board to abolish the study of physiology
in the public schools, on the ground that it
teaches what is not true, concerning the human
body, and thus fosters erroneous and danger-
ous views of human life.
THE OLD PATH, SAFER.
In opposition to the narrowness of Christian
Science stands the old Christianity of Christ
and the Gospels, a Christianity of sympathy
and of common sense ; a religion of faith and
love, which looks to God as a Father, who
placed man in a world which He had made,
and in which man was to work out his sal-
vation, and to grow in grace and in the
knowledge of God, as he grew in the knowl-
edge of all his Father's works.
CHAPTEE IL
THE NAME A MISNOMER.
In exposing the errors and absurdities of
Christian Science, we must not be unfair, nor
deny that there is anything good about it.
"While we may and ought to expose its evils,
yet we need not be blind to that which has
won for it the devotion of many earnest peo-
ple. And again, while we condemn its phi-
losophy and its theology as false and danger-
ous, yet we may admit that its protest against
extreme materialism and intellectual pride, is
at least most timely. In its practical teaching,
the emphasis Avhich it places upon the fact that
close dependence on God will lift human life
above all care, and worry, and anxiety, is a
truth which the Christian religion has always
taught, but which very few Christians have
tried to realize as they ought. Another lesson
which we might learn from it, is the great
stress placed upon another old truth, that the
secret of godliness is the secret of health.
While we may freely admit all that is good
and true about Christian Science, yet on the
other hand we ought not to be blind to its
20
THE NAME A MISNOMER. 21
evils and untruths. Our purpose is to point
out some of these latter, in order to show
Christian people that they need not leave their
own churches in order to embrace all that is
true in Christian Science, nor need they accept
its falsehoods and delusions in order to share
in all the helpfulness and partake of all the '
powers which Christ came to reveal.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE, NEITHER CHRISTIAN
NOR SCIENTIFIC.
Saint Paul wrote some very good advice to
Timothy, which is quite up to date, and perti-
nent to the question before us. He said:
1 Timothy vi. 20: "O, Timothy, keep that
which is committed to thy trust, avoiding pro-
fane and vain babblings and oppositions of
science, falsely so-called, which some profess-
ing have erred concerning the faith."
A very little study of history will reveal
that it was something similar to Christian
Science, which the apostle had in mind, when
he wrote these words, and a very little study
of Christian Science will reveal that both as
to its Christianity, and its science, it is " falsely
so-called."
The term Christian has a clear and distinct
meaning. A Christian is one who believes in
Jesus Christ, as revealed in the Gospels, ac-
22 CHKISTIAN SCIENCE.
cepts his message and tries to obey his com-
mands. Kow, it is true that those who call
themselves Christian Scientists, do speak of
Jesus Christ with great reverence, but the
Christ of Christian Science is not the Christ of
the Gospels, but an entirely new invention
evolved from the fertile brain of Mrs. Eddy.
I say new, and yet not new, either, save in one
particular, since her Jesus Christ is a poorly
digested mixture and recrudescence of a num-
ber of old heresies, which she has revamped
and set forth as a new revelation. It is only
by an entire perversion and disregard of the
plain meaning of words and the whole teach-
ing of the Christian centuries that the Chris-
tianity of Mrs. Eddy can be shown to have any
identity with the Christianity of Christ and
his apostles. Her ''Science and Health,"
page 478, speaks of Jesus as "the highest
human concept of a perfect man," and yet
■page 229 as only a "human corporeal con-
cept." Page 358 speaks of Him as knowing
'' the mortal error which constitutes the ma-
terial body," but intimates that He was less
free from error and less true in this respect
than Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, in that He " had
not conquered all the beliefs of the flesh, or
his sense of material life."
We shall refer to the teachings of Christian
THE NAME A MISNOMER. 23
Science about Jesus Christ again when we come
to speak of its theology. But for a religion to
call itself " Christian," which has no clear con-
ception of a personal God, which denies the
incarnation, which knows no sin and recog-
nizes no need of a Saviour — for such a system
to call itself Christian is either a confession of
ignorance on the part of those who do it, or
an appeal to the ignorance of others.
The same argument applies to the assump-
tion of the word "science," as a part of its
name.^ I think it was the Duke of Argyle
who defined science as a " systematic knowl-
edge of phenomena or facts in their relation
to other facts, and to ourselves." A scientist,
therefore, is one who has attained such scien-
tific knowledge in some branch of scientific
research. Putting the two words together,
and a Christian Scientist is a person who, in
addition to his scientific knowledge, is also an
open and avowed Christian. But can you tell
me of any scientist, whether Christian or un-
believer, who has accepted the theories and
opinions of Mrs. Eddy ? I have yet to hear
of even one single one of any reputable stand-
ing who has done so. Mrs. Eddy says in the
preface to her book that " no intellectual pro-
ficiency is required in the learner " of her sci-
3 See Note 3, Appendix. Mrs, Eddy's «« Science."
24 CHBISTIAN SCIENCE.
ence. (I make no comments.) The name is
an entire misnomer.
THE NAME, A BID FOR POPULARITY.
Mr. P. T. Barnum used to say that " people
like to be humbugged." The term "science "
sounds well and is taking in the ears of this
generation, which is eager to follow any one
who professes to have a knowledge beyond
the range of common men, and helps to fool
some, who are not piously inclined, and with
" Christian " prefixed, the name helps to fool
others, who are piously inclined, but who want
to find some new and easier, or more exciting
method of serving God. It may seem ungen-
erous, yet I can but think that the name was
a shrewd bid for popularity, and is falsely ap-
plied to " Christian Science," because it denies
nearly all the accepted tenets of Christianity,
as taught in the Catholic faith, and opposes
nearly all the precepts on which the science
of the world is based.
ILLOGICAL CONCLUSIONS.
There are many intelligent people, who
seem to lack logical perception, just as some
are wanting in color perception, and are what
we call color blind. This fact forms one of
the secrets of the success of the Christian
THE NAME A MISNOMER. 25
Science movement. For example, it is often
claimed that the cures which Christian Science
undoubtedly effects are '^ demonstrations " * of
its truth, since, as its adherents are fond of
quoting, " by their fruits ye shall know them."
But sacred shrines'* and the bones of saints,
have wrought cures, as remarkable as any that
Christian Science can boast of. Does this
prove that shrines and saints' bones contain
the divine principle ? Faith cure, magnetism,
hypnotism, and a dozen other systems, also
heal cases, after their methods, equally won-
derful, but does their " demonstration " of the
power to heal, prove the truth of any or all of
their conflicting theories ?
The only demonstration there is — is that
they all can heal certain classes of disease, and
the fact is, whatever their theory about it may
be, that the principle by which the cure is
effected, is the same in them all, whether they
know or believe it or whether they do not.
Almost any person, after a little instruction
and practice, can heal as well as any Christian
Scientist.
But Christian Scientists, in their desire to
make it appear that they have a monopoly
of the method or principle of healing which
* Preface to Science and Health, page viii.
* See Note 4, Appendix. Shrine of Bishop Neuman.
26 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
Jesus used, frantically denounce all other
methods. Yet Jesus Himself said that it was
no proof of anything distinctively Christian
about either the s^^stem or the method of those
who assumed the title, that they claimed to
work cures in his name. He declared, " many
will say unto Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in thy name ? and in thy
name have cast out devils ? and in thy name
done many wonderful works ? and then will I
profess unto them, I never knew you : depart
from Me, ye that work iniquity " {i. e., without
law). Matt. vii. 22.
CABALISTIC.
The same sort of illogicalness applies to the
cures and conversions wrought by reading
Mrs. Eddy's book. Its peculiar effect upon the
minds of those who are led to take it up from
sickness or intellectual unrest, is often thought
to be a " demonstration" of its truth. But the
fact is that these persons are confused by the
circuitous convolutions of its inconsequential
reasoning, its constant suppression of half
truths, and its astounding assumptions, until
they become bewildered and hypnotized, and
are ready to accept anything that Mrs. Eddy
says, because the book so boldly and confi-
dently affirms that Mrs. Eddy knows.
THE NAME A MISNOMER. 27
The word hypnotized is used purposely,
since this is the essential principle which
underlies the whole scheme. Science and
Health is largely made up of cabalistic utter-
ances, which on close examination mean noth-
ing clear and definite, but which are claimed
to be momentously full of some mysterious
and occult significance, which to those who
can discover it, will be the revelation of
divine truth — or divine science. This is prac-
tically a cabalistic method of hypnotizing.
Christian Science healers, who seek to heighten
the mystery by continued silence, and the
repetition of similar mystic utterances, work
on the same principle.
CHAPTEK III.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE,
DANGEROUS AND IMMORAL.
In order to understand Christian Science, it
will be necessary to examine it under three
heads, and see what it is, as to its philosophy,
its theology, and its therapeutics. The first
is the most fundamental, since it is the key to
its peculiar theology, and explains the theory
upon which its therapeutics was constructed.
We have already referred to the uniqueness of
its philosophy, in the absolute denial of mat-
ter.
ISTow the more thoroughly this is understood,
not only the more absurd, but the more dan-
gerous will it be seen to be, in its influences
both on the intellectual and the moral life.
Let us glance at these two points. In the
first place, Christian Science is an intellectual
sin.
AN INTELLECTUAL SIN, AND LOGICAL COM-
EDY.
It is a deliberate prostitution and debase-
ment of the human reason by the cultivation
28
THE PHILOSOPHY DANGEROUS. 29
of a delusion. Its adherents make believe that
there is no such thing as matter, that every
material thing is only an " erroneous belief of
the mortal mind." Mortal mind is a nothing-
ness, and so matter is an erroneous belief of
one nothingness in another nothingness. ISTow,
this is a dangerous mental heresy, and tends
to intellectual bankruptcy. Yet their whole
system is founded on it. It is the very ground-
work of science and health. Mrs. Eddy's
scheme stands or falls with it.
But what is the basis on which Christian
Scientists profess to believe in the absolute
non-existence of matter ? Their whole expe-
rience is against their theory and the common
sense of the world denies it, and the only rea-
son which can be adduced is that "Mother
Eddy says so." Observe that I am not ob-
jecting to the fact that intelligence is the
reality below all phenomena, that mind has
.power over matter, but to the absolute denial
of any actuality to matter. Take a practical
point. Mrs. Eddy says (" Science and Health,"
page 387), "Admit the common hypothesis
that food is what sustains life, and there fol-
lows the necessity for another admission in the
opposite direction, namely, that food has power
to destroy life, through its deficiency or ex-
cess in quality or quantity." " If mortals think
30 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
that food disturbs the harmonious functions of
mind and body, either the food or this thought
must be dispensed with. If this decision be
not destroyed, it may some day say that they
are dying from want of food."
Yet Christian Scientists feed their non-exist-
ent bodies, which are only ''illusions" and
" false claims of the mortal mind " with other
" illusions " and " false claims of the mortal
mind," which also have no existence — called
food — just the same as other people do, all the
time that they profess to believe that they have
no bodies and that there is no such thing as food,
save as " erroneous beliefs of the mortal mind."
So, to express it very mildly, I say this is an
intellectual sin, a mental heresy, a debasement
of the human reason, which is one of God's
greatest gifts to man.
Then see the comedy of this logic in its ef-
fect on civilization. If Mrs. Eddy says true in
her denial of matter, then there is no use in'
schools to teach children to read, because all
books, even "Science and Health," with its
key to the Bible, are only " delusions." There
is no use in studying such " erroneous beliefs "
as mathematics and botany and chemistr}^ nor
anything else. Better close up all our schools
and colleges and institutions of learning, and
shut up all sho}>5 and stores and cease all
THE PHILOSOPHY DANGEROUS. 31
physical labor — to provide food and everything
else — so that mankind may just give itself up
to meditation on divine science — as revealed
by Mrs. Eddy — where mind can feed on mind
and enjoy the supreme felicity of its own ever-
lasting oneness and allness. This, it seems to
me, is the plain logical issue to which the
philosophy of Christian Science would lead us.
A FORMULA FOR IMMORALITY.
Now, it may appear invidious and unchari-
table and even malicious to assert that the
philosophical theory on which Christian Sci-
ence rests, has a direct tendency to foster and
encourage immorality and crime. While bear-
ing witness to the fact that Christian Scien-
tists, as far as I know them, do try to live
pure, upright and beautiful lives, lives that just
now manifest more of that sense of closeness
to God than the lives of ordinary Christians
do, yet, in spite of this, I assert that its phi-
losophy is immoral, and will tend in the long
run to encourage vice and crime.^ Mrs. Eddy
says " An error in the premises must appear in
the conclusion," and, that " incorrect reasoning
leads to practical error." In this she is quite
correct. On page 444 she tries to guard
against the " practical error," to which her own
6 See Note 5, Appendix. (A system of deception.)
32 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
reasoning leads, by saying, " A sinner is not
reformed merely by assuring him that he can-
not be a sinner, because there is no sin. To
put down the claim of sin you must detect it,
remove the mask, point out the illusion, and
thus get the victory over sin and prove its un-
reality." ^ow, not to dwell upon the fact
that Mrs. Eddy contradicts herself in her use
of the word sin, the point I desire to empha-
size is that, if " the soul cannot sin," if sin is
only an error of the mortal mind, then the
practical outcome of this theory will surely be
that man, being spiritual, his nature cannot
be corrupted by anything his mortal mind can
do, by any immoralities he may indulge in.
Christian Scientists may deny this — I am
quite sure they would most deeply deplore it
— but Mr. Max Mtiller said that " history is a
truer, though, perhaps, a sterner, teacher than
any theory."
AN APPEAL TO HISTORY.
Christian Science is a new religion, and is
seeking just now, as new religions always do,
to justify itself before the world by the high
living of its members. So I appeal to history
to show how a precisely similar theory has led
to error in Gnosticism. Dr. Waterman in his
recent history of the apostolic age, says " the
THE PHILOSOPHY DANGEROUS. 33
Gnostics held that man was dragged down by
the imprisonment of his spirit in his body. De-
liver him from that bondage and he would
soon and easily be perfected." "The two
notions" (bear in mind that Dr. AV^aterman is
speaking of Gnosticism, not of Christian Sci-.
ence), " the two notions that knowledge is sal-'
vation, and that matter is an evil which must
be shaken off as a condition of passing into a
higher state of being, led some high-minded
men to devote themselves nobly to plain living
and high thinking. Some of the Gnostic
founders were certainly men of devotion and
self-denial. But frequently the followers of
such leaders ran, after a generation or so, into
depths of licentious immorality. They said
" the body was an evil thing, anyhow, why try
to keep it from doing evil things ? " The only
course for a true Gnostic was to let his body
do as it would, and keep his soul proudly
apart, well aware that it was a separate or-
ganism, with a distinct character of its own
now, and a distinct destiny of its own here-
after." Dr. Waterman speaks of this as " a
doctrine of practical corruption." So, after
the novelty of Mrs. Eddy's theory has worn
off, I can readily see how her formula, that the
body is nothing, and cannot corrupt the soul,
will be used as a cloak to cover shameless im-
34 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
morality and extreme self-indulgence. Mrs.
Eddy's " incorrect reasoning " is sure to lead
" to practical error."
ITS THEOLOar.
As to the theology of Christian Science in
general, it is not easy to speak, since its lan-
guage is so vague and unscientific and its rea-
soning so fragmentary and disjointed that it is
difiicult to tell just what is taught. Then, too,
the Scriptures are appealed to and interpreted
in such an eccentric way, and their plain and
manifest meaning is warped and perverted to
suit their peculiar theories, so that one ban
scarcely recognize them.^ But the Christian
Science idea of God is unmistakably panthe-
istic. The writings of their doctors and
teachers are rank with pantheism. In fair-
ness, however, I will say that I do not think
they intend to teach this. What they aim
at, is the doctrine of Divine Immanence, but
in Mrs. Eddy's absolute denial of matter,
and in her eagerness to avoid materialistic
pantheism, she runs headlong to the other ex-
treme and lands flat in spiritual pantheism,
which is no better. I am well aware that they
all vehemently deny this, but what does this
denial amount to when you can confront them
2 See Note 2, Appendix. '• Christian Science and the Bible."
THE PHILOSOPHY DANGEROUS. 36
with the deadly witness of their own testi-
mony. For example, " Science and Health,"
page 226, says, " God is Spirit, and Spirit is di-
vine Principle." "Nothing possesses reality
or existence except Mind, God, who is all in
all." "Everything in God's universe. His is
idea." Page 225, " God is supreme Being, the
only Life, Substance and Soul, the only Intel-
ligence of the universe, including man."
At times Mrs. Eddy speaks of God in terms
of personality, but the prevailing trend of
Science and Health sets forth God in imper-
sonal and abstract terms, which admit of no
personality, of which " principle " seems to
predominate. I have not time to multiply
quotations, but I submit that the Avhole trend
of " Science and Health," is pantheistic. The
God of Christian Science is more like the
Brahma of Hindu mythology, than the God
whom Christ revealed and taught us to wor-
ship. Their favorite expression for God is
" Principle." He is not a person, a father who
hears and answers prayer, for we are told that
" prayer to a personal God is a hindrance."
As to its teaching about Jesus Christ the
same pantheistic taint runs through this also.
Mrs. Eddy says, " Christ is the idea of truth,
and this idea comes to heal sickness and sin."
Jesus, however, is different from the Christ.
36 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
Jesus was a *' human concept," born of the
Yh'gin, the Virgin's Son, while Christ was
God's Son, his "spiritual and eternal idea."
(Pages 228 and 229.) Yet the two were joined
in some occult way by the union of the divine
idea with the man Jesus. It was the Virgin's
Son, who was man. " He appeared to men in
such form of humanity as they could under-
stand and perceive." But his body was only
an appearance, " an error of the mortal mind,"
a delusion to which He lent Himself. There-
fore, the crucifixion was an unreality, the pas-
sion an illusion, and his sacrifice for sin, a
delusion. Christian Science has no place for
sin. It is only " a false belief." Its existence
" denies God," (page 7). As man is a part of
fi-od, he is " incapable of sin," (page 476). The
soul cannot sin, (pages 464, etc.). ^.^
Eut why pursue the thought further ?|^ can
only say, that a more dreary swamp of meta-
physical contradictions or a cruder conglomer-
#!tion of exploded theological heresies thari
Christian Science offers I have never se^enTj
Jesus taught us to pray, saying, " Our FatherT^""^
but Christian Science turns Our Father into
^ a principle," and why pray to a " principle."
St. Paul preached Jesus Christ and Him
crucified, yea, risen from the dead, but Chris- •
tian Science teaches us that our Lord was an
THE PHILOSOPHY DANGER0U8. 37
" idea," " which dwells forever in the bosom of
the Father," (page 229).
Mrs. Eddy says we cannot sin because sin
is only an erroneous belief of the mortal mind,
but St. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved,
said, " If we say that we have no sin, Ave de-
ceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
We need to-day to heed the admonition of
St. Paul to " keep that which is committed to
our trust." The Catholic faith has been the
church's safeguard from errors in the past, and
we need to hold fast to its everlasting truths
to guard us from the fascinating delusions of
all falsely-called sciences or religions of to-
day. " Keep that which is committed to thy
trust," and you can be sure that the old faith
and the old religion which alone have met the
wants of men in the past and have stood un-
shaken by heresies nigh 2,000 years, will alone
be able to meet the real needs of men in the
present, and to preserve the " truth as it is in
Jesus " for the wants of 2,000 years to come."
" If thou put the brethren in remembrance
of these things, thou shalt be a good minister
of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of
faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou
hast attained. But refuse profane and old
wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto
godliness." — 1 Timothy iv. 6 and 7.
CHAPTEE lY.
MENTAL HEALING EXPLAINED.
In endeavoring to follow the admonition of
St. John, to " try the spirits, whether they are
of God," we have examined the spirit of Chris-
tian Science, as to its philosophy, and found it
opposed to the common sense of the world,
and its theory likely to prove a formula for
corruption. We have glanced at its theology,
and found its idea of God, a spiritual panthe-
ism, contrary to the plain meaning of the
Holy Scriptures, as the Christian world has
always received and interpreted them. Its
doctrines about Jesus Christ, are in one sense
novel, and present Him as a new invention of
Mrs. Eddy, although in another sense, they
can be shown to be only a recrudescence and
fresh mixture of a number of old and exploded
heresies.
METHODS OF DISAEMING CRITICISM.
While we have tried to be fair in our criti-
cisms of Christian Science, and to state noth-
ing which is not true, jet we have not hesi-
tated to speak plainly, and to condemn its
38
MENTAL HEALING EXPLAINED. 39
manifest errors and absurdities. Yet there
are two stock phrases which Christian Scien-
tists use, to answer all unfavorable and dis-
paraging criticisms. The first is that of " ig-
norance." They say the critic has never had
a revelation of the "Divine Principle," "he
does not know what Christian Science is," and
therefore " is incompetent to speak of it." The
second, is the cry of " persecution."
As to the first, it is a confession of the
vagueness and mysticism of their system,
which uses words in such various and fanciful
senses, that it requires a special illumination
to know what they mean. But any one who
has studied Christian Science, and kept his
mind clear from its bewildering confusions of
thought, can with equal truth and with better
reason assert, that those whose minds have be-
come imbued (hypnotized) with its occult
phrases, do not themselves really understand
the significance of the system in which they
profess to believe.
As to the charge of " persecution," the Chris-
tian Science movement, in organizing a new
church, and setting itself up as a new sect and
practically inviting Christian people to leave
their own churches and become Christian
Scientists, naturally and necessarily invites
criticism of the principles on which it is
40 CHEISTIAN SCIENCE.
founded. While practically teaching that their
own system is the true, and only true one, it
seems to me something like cant for them to
assume a role of injured innocence, and claim
that they are being persecuted for truth's sake,
when the falseness of their theories is shown
up.
ANOTHER PLEA.
Yet some of them simply say, " Why not
let us alone ? " " If we find peace in Christian
Science, why disturb us with adverse criti-
cisms ? " Why indeed ? Why criticise or ob-
ject to any untruths or false theories, if peo-
ple enjoy them ? Why condemn any evil sys-
tems or delusions, so long as there is some
good in them ? The simple reason is, that un-
truths in theory are sure to lead to untruths
in practice.
A LOST HERITAGE.
That which first drew attention to Christian
Science, and has helped more than anything
else to win for it the place it holds in the pop-
ular mind, is its system of mental or meta-
physical healing. In this, it calls our atten-
tion to a lost heritage of the Christian Church ;
but the question is, is it desirable for us to re-
gain itf NoAV, there is no doubt that the
healing of bodily diseases was a part of the
MENTAL HEALING EXPLAINED. 41
ministry of our Lord. His mission was to the
Avhole man. Nor again, is there any doubt
that the apostles possessed and exercised the
power of healing, and considered it a part of
their mission. St. Matthew x. 1-8, records
that Jesus called his twelve disciples *'and
gave them authority over unclean spirits to
cast them out, and to heal all manner of dis-
ease and all manner of sickness." When He
sent them out to preach the Gospel of the
kingdom He said to them, "Heal the sick,
raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, etc." That
the disciples exercised this power is evident
from the story of their labors in the Book of
Acts. The third chapter tells of the healing
of the lame man at the Beautiful gate, by Peter
and John. The eighth chapter of Acts men-
tions that when Philip went down to preach
Christ at Samaria, "Many that were palsied
and lame were healed." Acts ix. 33, contains
records of the cure of Eneas, Avho had kept
his bed for eight years. Acts xiv. 9, bears
witness that at Lystra Paul cured " a certain
man impotent in his feet, a cripple from his
mother's womb, who had never walked."
SPECIAL INSTANCES.
There are some instances which deserve es-
pecial attention, as showing that the presence
4-2 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
of the healer was not always necessary in
order to effect the cure. The Gospels mention
four cases, where Jesus healed at a distance,
even without the knowledge on their part
that He was about to do so. Acts v. 15, states
that the shadow of Peter passing by cured
multitudes, both of men and women, and Acts
xix. 12, testifies that when handkerchiefs or
aprons were carried to the sick from St. Paul,
"The diseases departed from them." This
leaves no doubt that the original disciples of
our Lord regarded the healing of the bodies of
men as a part of their ministry. IS'or was this
gift confined to the first disciples. The epis-
tles effectually settle that it was not, and his-
tory establishes the fact that for Avell-nigh 300
years gifts of healing seem to have been ex-
ercised in the church. But gradually the
power seems to have died out, or Christians
neglected its use, until it was no longer consid-
ered a sign of the indwelling spirit, and at last
even the consciousness of its possession faded
from the church at large. Yet here and there
through the centuries there are occasional re-
appearances of the power. But the notion be-
came prevalent that the gift of healing was
an exceptional gift — vouchsafed only for the
peculiar emergencies of the early days of the
church, as a special evidence of its divine mis-
MENTAL HEALING EXPLAINED. 43
sion, though there is no intimation in the New
Testament, to warrant any such conclusion.
A SUGGESTIVE TENDENCY.
Now it is evident to any one who has
watched the various forms of mental thera-
peutics which have arisen during the past
generation, that most of them are religious in
their character, and indicate a tendency to re-
turn to a belief in the double mission of the
Gospel as Jesus taught it and his disciples
practiced it. This is suggestive of a great
truth, which both the wise priest and the wise
physician will do well to ponder — because at
least some diseases are the result of sins, and
some sins the result of disease, so that to save
from one it is sometimes necessary to cure the
other.
THE METHODS OF JESUS.
Let me say a word here as to the methods
of healing which Jesus employed, as explana-
tory of something later. As we examine the
cures wrought by Jesus, they can be arranged
under four heads. First, those in which He
simply spake the word — such as to the blind
man, " receive thy sight," or to the man with
the withered arm, " stretch forth thy hand,"
or to the impotent man at Bethesda, " Arise,
44 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
take up thy couch, and walk." The second
class of cures are such as in addition to the
spoken word Jesus had recourse to personal
touch, when He laid his hands on people and
they recovered. This would seem to be his
usual custom, since those who came to Him, as
a rule, besought Him, like the centurion, to
" come and lay thine hands on her, that she
may be healed."
The third class of cures were those wrought
at a distance, to which I have already referred,
and the fourth, those in which Jesus resorted
to the use of material means, as when He
anointed the eyes of a blind man with clay
mingled with saliva, or when He put saliva on
the tongue, and his fingers in the ears of one
who was deaf and dumb.
Yet on careful study, in the light of recent
knowledge, the principle which underlies them
all is the same, and the variation in method
was adopted simply because He, who knew the
temperament of each, probably adopted the
method by which the result could be best at-
tained. I have mentioned these instances in
order to lead up to the principle which under-
lies the power of healing, which has undoubt-
edly been exercised by many in the past, and
MENTAL HEALING EXPLAINED. 45
is also exercised by many to-day. Now, in
speaking of the cures' wrought by Jesus, it has
been the custom to regard them as supernatu-
ral and call them miracles, as if Jesus wrought
them solely as the Son of God. Yet there is
nothing in the New Testament to support this
view. Jesus came, as perfect man, to reveal
the powers which belong to perfect manhood.
He had no thought of any exclusive use of his
power to heal, nor even to forgive sins. He
said the first should belong to all that be-
lieved, and to his disciples He said : " Whose-
soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto
them."
THE POWER OF HEALING, THE BIRTHRIGHT
OF MAN.
As I mentioned above, the history of the
first three centuries proves that it was not his
purpose to have men regard the power of
healing as exclusively a divine jpow€y\ but
rather as something revealed by Him as a
birthright of man, God's child ; a natural
power, natural to the true nature of man,
whom God made in his own image, and in
whom He breathed a portion of his own spirit.
In man's ignorance of his own spiritual self he
has been in the habit of calling everything he
could not understand miraculous, and attribut-
46 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
ing it to some special intervention of God, or
of the devil. I propose to show that it is
only on account of ignorance of our spiritual
selves, our lack of knoAvledge of the marvelous
soul forces which God has given us, that we
do so. If we believed more fully in Jesus ,
Christ, we should believe that a part of his
mission was to reveal man to himself, in order
that he might know that his true life was a
life indwelt by the spirit of God, and that
with God nothing was impossible.
We have made but little progress in the
knowledge of ourselves for many centuries.
Our attention has been diverted to things
physical and material. But just at the height
of our materialism, when man had claimed to
find thought forces in the grey matter of the
brain, and his origin in protoplastic cells, the
providence of God turned our attention to the
study of the inner spiritual man, and led him
to find in psychic forces the real forces which
make and control the life of man. Psychology
is practically a new science, and its recent
revelations have been among the most start-
ling and wonderful discoveries of this wonder-
ful age.
PSYCHIC FORCES CONTROL FUNCTIONS.
Let us apply some of these to the special
MENTAL HEALING EXPLAINED. 47
question now before us in their relation to
disease and its cure. The ancient wise man of
Israel said : " As a man thinketh in his heart, so
is he." There is a profounder truth here than
the world has yet recognized. Medical men
are beginning to declare that the mind is the
most potent factor in nearly all physical ills.
Some one has said : " We feel as we think we
feel. If we think we feel pain, we feel pain ;
if we think we feel sick, we are sick." I am
not speaking of merely imaginary ills, but of
the power of the imagination to exercise a real
though unconscious control over the functions
of the body. The books tell us that in ex-
periments medical students who imagine they
are bleeding to death grow weak and faint,
and that one student actually died, when only
warm water was spurted over an imagined
incision in an artery in his arm. Fear will
not only blanch the hair, but will paralyze the
heart and stop its healthy action. The sight
of an accident has thrown persons into spasms
from which they have died, and has often
given to nervous people a shock from which
they have never recovered. Dr. Schofield, of
the Koyal College of Surgeons, England, says
that " not only functional and organic diseases
are caused by the mind, but that death itself
is quite common." I might give you page
48 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
after page of instances from reputable books
and medical journals which prove beyond
gainsay that the mind not only produces
certain diseases, but that it also is important
in determining the effect of many medicines,
and that bread pills or a little powdered sugar
— or even plain water — would often produce
the effect which the doctor had led the patient
to believe it would produce. Dr. Schofield
says that the symptoms of many diseases can
be produced in a patient by the simple sugges-
tion of them; that the surest way to be
attacked by any infectious disease is to be
afraid of it, because the mind can induce the
symptoms of diseases by thinking about them.
I could bring you other testimony from noted
physicians to the same effect.
THE SECRET REVEALED.
Now, this is the remarkable discovery I
, referred to which has recently been made,
viz, that as the mind can undoubtedly cause
many diseases, unconsciously to itself, so it has
been ascertained, that if the impression of
disease can he removed from the mind the
disease itself will very often entirely dis-
appear. This is the root principle which lies
at the foundation of all mental therapeutics.
This is the secret of all the cures wrought by
MENTAL HEALING EXPLAINED. 49
the various methods of healing, whether by the
Christian Science method or the faith-healing
method, by the magnetic or a dozen others.
They are all simply different methods of re-
lieving the unconscious mind of the impression
of disease and implanting in its place the im-
pression of ease and hope and health. Christian
Science does this by impressing the mind with
the idea of the non-existence of any disease,
by denying the existence of matter. This is
one theory, but it is based on a falsehood and
is opposed to the common sense of the world.
Faith cure has another theory and magnetic
healing another, and so on, but the principle un-
derneath them all is the same. Kow, you may
find a key which will fit one door of a house,
and it may be simply a coincidence, but if it
fits and unlocks all the doors you are justified
in thinking you have the master-key. Such is
the principle whose action I will now try to
explain as briefly as I can. If any of you
have read Dr. Hudson's " Law of Psychic
Phenomena " you have the explanation more
in detail. In a few words, it is practically
this : Indirect investigation of psychic con-
ditions induced by hypnotism has established
the fact that we possess two minds. Dr.
Hudson calls them the objective and the sub-
jective minds.
60 CHEISTIAN SCIENCE.
THE TWO MINDS.
Dr. Schofield speaks of them as the con-
scious and the unconscious mind, others refer
to the hitter as the soul — and others still as the
subliminal self. In ordinary sleep, when the
conscious mind is dormant, the unconscious
mind continues active. Dreams are an evi-
dence of this. JS'ow it is found that the
unconscious mind, or soul, while apparently
incapable of inductive reasoning, is the seat of
the memory and the affections, and also has
the power to control the functions of the
body. As a rule it receives its impressions
from, and is under the control and guidance of
the conscious or objective mind with which it
is associated, but it is also capable of acting
independently. JSTow it has been found that if
the direction and guidance of one's own ob-
jective mind is removed or placed in abeyance,
or rendered passive by sleep, which is what
hypnotism is — or in any other way, then the
subjective mind will receive impressions and
accept almost implicitly the direction and
guidance of the objective mind of another. In
the hypnotic or sleep condition the patient has
as much confidence in the objective mind that
controls him as he has in his own. If the
hypnotizer assures him that a lead pencil is a
MENTAL HEALING EXPLAINED. 51
steam engine, or that a chair is the President
of the United States, the mind receives the
image suggested. The way this is applied to
the cure of disease is simply this. The phy-
sician has a patient suffering from any disease
who wants to be healed. The desire to be
healed predisposes to faith. If the healer finds
that the patient has perfect faith in what he
says, then the subjective mind will receive the
suggestion awake, about as readily as when
asleep. And the differences in method are
simply different ways of securing this faith, or
the yielding of the subjective mind to receive
the suggestion of the healer. This is essential
in all. The patient may not be aware himself
that he is yielding, but until he does so noth-
ing can be done. The secret is always — if
thou helievest^ thou canst he healed. But
when the subjective mind- is secured, then the
suggestion is implanted, that there is no pain
or sickness — or that it has gone, and " as a per-
son thinketh, so is he." Of course, in deep
seated or chronic cases immediate cure is not
suggested, or not attained, but only gradual
improvement, and the treatment requires fre-
quent repetitions of the " suggestion."
TESTIMONY OF PHYSICIANS.
Dr. Woods, medical superintendent of Hox-
52 CHEISTIAN SCIENCE.
ton House Asylum, England, says he has
treated over 1,000 cases by suggestion, and
finds it a most potent remedy, not only in
functional, but in organic troubles.* Dr. Keed,
of Cincinnati, says he has seen it relieve pain
more speedily than morphine, and that he has
seen it induce sleep more quickly than chloro-
form.f A j)rominent physician of this city
tells me that he has performed painful opera-
tions simply by suggesting to the patient, while
in the hypnotic condition, that he would feel
nothing, and the operation was painless. An-
other physician of this city tells me that he
has used suggestion, in hundreds of cases, both
in the sleeping and waking condition, and also
at a distance, with results which if he had
mentioned them ten years ago, would have
caused him to be considered the rankest kind
of a lunatic. He says he can cure by this
method any case whatever, that any Christian
Scientist on earth can cure ; and he also tells
me, having made a professional study of psy-
chic laws, that I am perfectly correct in stat-
ing that the principle is the same, whether
those who practice it, know it or do not know
it, and whether the method is called Christian
Science or Faith Cure, or Scriptural Healing,
* Journal Society for Psychical Research, 1897.
f Medical Mirror, Feb. i, 1899.
MENTAL HEALING EXPLAINED. 53
or Divine Healing, or Magnetic Healing;
whether the cure be attributed to bones of
saints, the holy coat at Treves, the grotto at
Lourdes, the King's touch, or to charms or
idols.
PEOPLE OF ONE IDEA, DANGEROUS.
Christian Scientists, of course, deny this,
but a careful examination has convinced me
absolutely, that the secret of the cures in all
these methods is scientifically explained by the
wonderful control of the soul or unconscious
mind over the functions and processes of the
body. I have no time to mention the deduc-
tions from this psychic law, as they relate to
what is called " auto-suggestion," or the power
one has to cure one's self. All wise physicians
are recognizing and making use of it, and will
probably do so more and more. But people of
one idea are always dangerous. Doctors who
believe in the wonderful power of the soul or
unconscious mind over the body, say they have
yet to hear of a dislocated or broken bone
suggested into place or wholeness, or a well-
developed case of cancer, and various other
diseases, suggested away.^ There are always
two sides to every question, and while the
« Note Appendix. The Christian Science theory, breaks at
its strongest point.
64 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
powers of the mind over the body may lead
some to think that the mind is all, and alone
important, yet it is also well to remember that
the body also is a radical part of man in this
present state of existence, and has direct rela-
tion to and influence upon the mind. Materia
medica has a place in psychology as well as in
physiology, and will continue side by side in
the practice of the wise phj^sician.
SHALL THE CHURCH ENDEAVOR TO REGAIN
ITS LOST HERITAGE?
Now shall the church endeavor to regain its
lost heritage, and the clergy return again to
the healing of the body as a part of their
Christian ministry ? I have not the slightest
doubt that with a little practice they could all
do so, as well as Christian Scientists. Would
it be wise ? In exceptional cases it might be,
but I am constrained to believe that the best
plan is for the clergyman to know his own
business and to cooperate with the physician,
and I believe it is also the part of the wise
physician to recognize the aid that a discreet
clergyman can render, especially in critical
cases. The evolution of history is the out-
working of God, and changed methods may he
an indication of an advance in His jpurjposes.
The greater knowledge required to-day in
MENTAL HEALING EXPLAINED. 55
ministering to the salvation of mankind, indi-
cates that a division of labor may be of divine
ordering, and that physicians are as truly
called of God to their part of the ministry of
saving men, as the clergy are to theirs, and
that it is not wise to combine the two again*
One profession is about all that a man can well
attend to. The sad story of the death of
Harold Frederic illustrates what I mean/
When stricken with paralysis, the condition of
his heart was such that he needed rest and
quiet. Physicians said that his life could un-
doubtedly have been prolonged. But he came
under the influence of Christian Scientists
who were ignorant of those physiological laws
which the researches and experience of cen-
turies have established, and they encouraged
him to walk and drive and go about, just as if
"nothing was the matter." As usual, the
healers were unwilling to consult with the
doctors ; they must have the whole direction
or none at all. So he went about under the
direction of Christian Scientists, as if " noth-
ing was the matter," and the sad result ^ you
all know. ISTow, this illustrates the danger in
treating according to any psychic method, by
those who have no education in anatomy and
' See note, Appendix. What can be done ?
8 See Appendix, note 8. The most devoted adherents.
5G CHxilSTIAN SCIENCE.
physiology, and who repudiate the experience
and common sense of the centuries in their
devotion to any one " idea-ism " which a rest-
less age may offer.
CONCLUSION.
To conclude, while Christian Science has
much that is beautiful and attractive, yet I say
that all of it can be attained just as well in the
church by those who will seek it. I must say,
also, that I can but think that some Christian
Scientists are deceived, and mistake the play-
ing at metaphysics for the cultivation of spir-
ituality. My advice to all is, not to be carried
away by the fascination of the new "ism."
Its philosophy is dangerous, its theology is
heresy, and its therapeutics is quackery. Al-
though your soul may hunger for some new
and more spicy food to feed its spiritual long-
ings, yet I say this — that if you use faithfully
{i. e., with faith) and earnestly the means
which Christ has appointed in his church, you
will surely find them ample to minister to
your soul's truest needs, and to guide your feet
in ways of peace, here and forever.
APPENDIX.
Note 1.
Mrs. Eddy's "Revelation."
An article in the Arena for May, 1899, contains almost con-
clusive evidence, that Mrs. Eddy was indebted for her " revela-
tion " of the theory of Mental Healing, to Dr. P. P. Quimby,
of Portland, Maine, to whom she formerly went for treatment.
The article claims that neither the name, " Christian Science,"
nor that of her book " Science and Health," were original with
her.
See also, "True History of Christian Science," by J. A.
Dresser.
Note 2.
Christian Science and the Bible
Christian Scientists profess to respect the Bible, but a more
wretched perversion of its whole meaning, " mortal mind "
never conceived. The ordinary Christian would fail to recog-
nize even the Lord's Prayer, under Mrs. Eddy's interpretation.
It reads as follows, and is used in Christian Science Services
(page 332).
Our Father which art in Heaven,
Our Father and Mother God, all-harmonious^
57
58 APPENDIX.
Hallowed be Thy name.
Adorable one.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy Kingdom is conies
God is ever-present and omnipotent.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven.
Enable us to know — as in Heaven, so on earth — God is
All in all.
Give us this day our daily bread ;
Give us grace for to-day ; feed Thou the famished affec-
tions.
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 evil ;
And leaveth us not in temptation, but deliver eth us from
evil — sin, disease, and death.
for Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory
forever.
For God is omnipresent Good, Substance, Life, Truth,
Love.
As a sample of Mrs. Eddy's picturesque method of exegesis
and the playfulness of her etymology, note the following (page
233).
" The word Adam is from the Hebrew Adama/i, signifying
the red color of the ground, dust, nothingness. Divide the name
Adam into two syllables, and it reads, a dam or obstruction.
This suggests the thought of something fluid, of mortal mind
in solution, etc." Yet there are people who take Mrs. Eddy
seriously, and really believe that her phrases mean something.
Let any one read her " Exegesis," pages 496 to 517, and he
will find that she becomes so entangled in the jumble of her
mystic and fanciful interpretations, that in order to extricate
herself, she is obliged to assert that the second chapter of
Genesis, " is a lie " (page 517). The key to the Bible would
be amusing, were it not pitiful,
APPENDIX. 59
Note 3.
Mrs. Eddy's Science.
As an example of the scientific character of Mrs. Eddy's
mind, and her (in)capacity for accurate observation, note the
following astounding passage. Science and Health page 549.
"It is related that a father, anxious to try such an experiment,
plunged his infant babe, only a few hours old, into water for
several minutes, and repeated this operation daily, until the
child could remain under water twenty minutes, moving and
playing without harm, like a fish."
Let any one put a newborn babe under the water even for one
minute, and if the « awakening of the mortal mind," (which
Mrs. Eddy speaks of, in the previous paragraph) ever comes to
that child, it will assuredly be in the « Spiritual Life," unless
artificially restored. The value of Mrs. Eddy's scientific ob-
servations can be readily estimated.
Note 4.
Shrine of Bishop Neuman.
Philadelphia, Pa., November 17, 1898.— The fame of
the miracles wrought at the tomb of Bishop Neuman in St.
Peter's Church, Fifty-eighth street and Girard avenue, con-
tinues to grow, with the result that every day the number of
pilgrims to the shrine increases. The fathers say that the
number in a day reaches into the hundreds.
From far and near the people come, afflicted with various
ailments, each hoping that he or she will be the one upon
whom the next miracle will be wrought. The pilgrims who
come are not confined to the Catholic faith. All denominations
are represented there at various times.
The chapel is opened at five o'clock in the morning, and
60 APPENDIX.
from that time until nine o'clock at night there is always one or
more persons kneeling upon the marble slab above the Bishop's
dust.
One of the most marvelous cures witnessed by a father was
laid before the court of inquiry at Rome. It was the case of a
little boy who was ruptured. When, with his mother, he
passed the priest, as he was being taken to the chapel, the
priest spoke and asked what was the matter with him that he
looked so extremely ill. His mother told the father the cir-
cumstances. When the boy was taken home he was cured.
He ran and played about as other children, and from that day
had no further trouble. Written statements from the doctor
who pronounced his illness a rupture and from the physician
who examined him later, saying there was nothing the matter
with him, were taken to Rome and laid before the court of in-
quiry.
It is said that consumption has been cured there and cancer
healed. The blind have seen and the paralyzed have walked.
The tomb of Bishop Neuman gives evidence of becoming in
time as celebrated for its miraculous cures as the shrine of St.
Anne de Beaupre in Canada.
— St, LouiSf Globe Democrat,
Note 5.
A System of Deception.
A case recently came to my knowledge, of a young lad, a
son of Christian Science parents, who fell and hurt his fore-
head, producing a bruise, which became swollen to the size of
half a hen's egg. His mother said to him : " my son, there is
nothing the matter, you need pay no attention to it, there is
absolutely nothing the matter." She washed the blood from
the forehead, and the boy was soon out again playing with his
companions. One of the neighbors, coming along, said to
APPENDIX. 61
him : " why, Harry, what is the matter, you have a dreadful
bruise." He replied, " there is nothing the matter, at all.'*
But it was plainly evident, that something was the matter.
The boy was being taught to delude himself. Now if this de-
ception is taught and practiced in such things — may it not ex-
tend to others? If matter is "nothing" in such things as
visible and bloody bruises, is matter anything, that one should
hesitate to take, in the form of money or pocketbooks or any-
thing that lies handy ?
Note 6.
The Christian Science Theory Breaks at the
Very Point Where Its Failure is
Most Easily Demonstrated.
Mrs. Eddy says (page 392), " Have no fears that matter can
ache, swell and be inflamed, from a law of any kind, when it
is self-evident that matter can have no pain or inflammation.
Your body would sufier no more from tension or wounds than the
trunk of a tree which you gash, or the electric wire which you
stretch, were it not for mortal mind." Yet Christian Scientists
go to dentists to have their teeth — which are *« illusions of the
mortal mind " filled, with other «' illusions of the mortal mind "
or else to have the illusion extracted. Even Mrs. Eddy con-
fesses (page 100) that in case a " false belief," called by ordi-
nary people — a bone, becomes broken or dislocated, " it is bet-
ter to refer such cases to a surgeon." Thus, it is in cases most
capable of accurate observation, where the absurdity of the
Christian Science theory becomes so evident that it is even by
Mrs. Eddy a confessed failure.
As an illustration of the stupidity of Christian Science, an
oculist gives a case in point. A convert to the " ism " who had
trouble with one of her eyes, was treated by a healer, without
success. In spite of all her efforts to make believe that " noth-
62 APPENDIX.
ing was the matter," the eye continued to grow worse, until in
desperation the woman went to consult an oculist. He dis-
covered a very fine splinter, and removed it, and gave imme-
diate relief. Here was a case where no amount of mental
therapeutics of any sort could avail.
Note 7.
What Can Be Done?
In nearly every community in which Christian Science has
made any progress, there are cases where the ignorance of the
Christian Science practitioners, as to the nature and causes of
disease, and their refusal to cooperate with physicians, have
undoubtedly led to the premature death of patients. This is a
sort of malpractice which is criminal. But Christian Scientists
retort that when physicians are parties to the premature death
of patients, nothing is said. And the fact that cases, which
even skillful physicians have " given up," have been cured by
the various methods of mental treatment, makes the plea plausi-
ble, and helps to prevent any steps being taken to protect the
public.
But what can be done ? Some urge that the state authori-
ties should prevent any mental or metaphysical healer from
taking charge of a case until the opinion of some competent
physician has been obtained certifying that the case is a proper
one for mental treatment. But here the " odium medicum "
comes in, and there is no meeting ground. As long as the
Christian Scientist bases his theory of healing on the non-ex-
istence of matter, and seeks to make people believe that he
has a monopoly of the divine method of healing in order to
bolster up his religion, of course no reputable physician could
cooperate. The only solution that I can see, is for physicians
generally (as some are doing) to study psychology and to
recognize that psychic forces are far more potent than any
APPENDIX. 63
others, in the treatment of certain diseases, when the pubhc
will cease to be fooled, and there will be no more need for
Christian Scientists — nor Faith Curists " et id omne genus."
Note 8.
The Most Devoted Adherents.
it is often asked in surprise, how those who have lost mem-
bers of their families by such diseases as diptheria, scarlet or
typhoid fever, under Christian Science treatment, where lives
have been sacrificed by the credulity of parents and the igno-
rance of Christian Science healers, it is asked how such people
can have anything more to do with the fad ? Yet it is just
these people who are often the most devoted adherents to the
cult. They cling to it with desperation, for the simple reason
that if they ever allowed themselves to doubt it, their con-
sciences would accuse them of being parties to the untimely
death of those they loved.
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By Rev. GEO. HODGES, D.D.
RectorofCalvary Church, Pittsburgh vs, ^.,^
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The Credentials of Christianity — Business on Christian Principles — The
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this revival of the times and the men that are woven into Bishop
Clark's biography. A list of the names of the latter would create an
instant and eager demand for the book. It is written sufficiently in the
ana spirit and style to give it zest to the last page."
— The Courier, Boston.
" His life has been a busy one, and it is a matter for congratulation
that he has yielded to the importunities of his friends and published a
volume of his reminiscences. It abounds in character sketch and anec-
dote, a model of what such a volume ought to be. It has not a dull
page." — The Advertiser, Boston.
" The book abounds in pleasant anecdotes and incidents of Church
history in the United States and of notable characters among prelates
and pastors. These will render it of especial interest to Episcopalian
readers, to whom the names are, of course, more familiar than to others.
But the intense human interest that pervades the book, and its genial
manner, will effectually prevent its seeming a dull volume to any one."
Inter-Ocean, Chicago.
*^^*/>r salt' at all bookstores, or copies sent post-paid on receipt of price
by the publisher
THOMAS WHITTAKER
2 and 3 Bible House New York
PSALM-MOSAICS
^ BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS
By Rev. A. SAUNDERS DYER, M.A.
589 Pages. 8vo, Cloth. Price $2.50
** Let no one be misled by the title of this book into fancying it a
work of dry or abstruse theological reading. On the contrary, it is a
very lively and extensive collection of matter illustrative of the Psalms,
both prose and verse being employed. It is a sort of commonplace
book on the Psalter, evidently the work of considerable time and exten-
sive reading, and arranged with sufficient orderliness and method to
avoid the appearance of desultoriness. It is a book to lie on one's
table, to be taken up with the study of each Psalm, and one peculiarly
rich in suggestive matter. For instance, on the one hundred and thirty-
sixth Psalm there is given the striking story of its use by St. Athanasius
on the night when his enemies attacked the cathedral in Alexandria, and
with each Psalm is usually given some historic association.^ A good
index will aid the reader in keeping track of this widespread miscellany."
— T/ie Churchman.
" This is a good book, furnishing much fresh historical matter illus-
trative of the influence of the Psalms in literature and biography, and it
will be very useful to all Christians and especially to expounders of the
Word." — N, V. Observer,
" A magnificent collection of biographical and historical illustrations
of the Psalms gathered as a devotional help to th * reader in the religious
life. It is a commentary of unique interest in its wealth of fresh and
helpful material."— T/^^ Parish Visitor.
" Rev. A. S. Dyer has prepared a unique and quite interesting book
for Bibhcal scholars. It may be described tersely as a collection of
biographical, historical and miscellaneous illustrations of the Psalms
gathered from many sources and classified in the order of the Psalms to
which they relate. It is a book of material which Christians may use to
advantage. It is not in any sense a connected narrative, but a collection
of diversified incidents and suggestions of considerable illustrative value,
and ordinarily of even greater devotional helpfulness."
— The Con^remtionalist^
THOMAS WHITTAKER, Publisher
2 and 3 Bible House NEW YORK
Date Due
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