Article March 31, 1917 Issue

An article reprinted from a New York paper told how a...

S. T. Downs

The Columbia City (Ind.) Post

An article reprinted from a New York paper told how a doctor "lied in order to supply an antidote to the evil effects" of fear, and thereby effected the recovery of a woman whose sickness had become alarming to herself and family. In the discussion of the incident an attempt was made to establish a relation between it and Christian Science, also between Christian Science and New Thought, psychology, and other forms of suggestion,—the influence of one human mind over another. It is not uncommon for uninformed writers and speakers to make this mistake. Christian Science and suggestion are, however, direct opposites.

It is to be observed that, according to the article, the doctor used psychology, or mental suggestion, to cause belief in that which at the time was thought to be untrue. In spite of the fact that he was actuated by good motives, and in this instance the results seem to have been desirable, the practice of mental suggestion is fraught with the greatest danger. Christian Science is opposed to mental suggestion because it is a material, unspiritual concept. Its advocates admit it is just as effective in bringing about evil results as in producing desirable ones; and its use ultimates often in a worse mental, moral, or physical condition than that which it seeks to improve. In Christian Science mental suggestion is known as animal magnetism, which is an inclusive term for all evil and sin; it is a belief in many minds and in a power opposed to God.

Christian Science destroys fear in a much better way than by mental suggestion, namely, by the understanding of that which is eternally true. Instead of a belief in many minds, Christian Science establishes the fact that God is Mind, and there is no other. Since man is the image and likeness, or reflection of God, man cannot be separated from Him, and the activities of Mind, spiritual law, are ever operating and available in man's behalf. Through a demonstrable understanding of this power of good, and the activities of divine Mind, human consciousness is lifted above that which is opposed to Truth, Life, and Love, and the truth of being is brought into manifestation.

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