Article December 3, 1910 Issue

A review of an attack on Christian Science contains the...

Alfred Farlow

Springfield (Mass.) Republican

A review of an attack on Christian Science contains the following statement: "To trace the belief in malicious animal magnetism to its source is to trace it to Mrs. Eddy." To be accurate, the gentleman should have said that the belief in the various forms of magnetism has existed for ages. It is not in any sense a part or a product of Christian Science. Mrs. Eddy has laid bare the false belief in this power which psychologists call "pernicious mental evil." and has shown the world how to counteract and destroy this deception by simply being awake to the truth.

Strange to say, this critic has taken as an example of what Christian Science teaches on this subject, the story of a deluded woman apparently filled with fear because of erroneous teaching entertained by certain persons as a subterfuge for legitimate Christian Science. No one could possibly do harm by the practice of Christian Science, since his every thought and deed is prompted by faith in the infinite God. To do evil one is obliged to abandon Christian Science and to substitute therefor an evil subterfuge.

The gentleman declares: "If one cites the enormous spread of Christian Science doctrine as an example thereof, it does not mean that all those who enroll themselves in this body subscribe to the pseudo-philosophy of Mrs. Eddy or are going to regulate their behavior and their business on the theory that nothing exists but mind. It means that on the one side of their natures they are willing to yield to the persuasiveness of doctrines that would make the rest of their thinking and doing utterly nonsensical." Here the gentleman forgets that Christian Science appears and appeals to us where it finds us, and demands of us not only the attainment of the purely spiritual life which it reveals, but also a wise disposition of the "powers that be," the more or less material condition in which it finds us. Our critic might have applied his jest to our Master's teaching with equally good grace. He said: "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; ... But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you," and yet he must have known the exalted practice which he recommended could not be reached in a day, but must be established by gradual improvement. He declared: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," and yet he must have known that perfection could not be reached at a single bound. Christian Science certainly demands no more than he did.

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