Article July 11, 1901 Issue

A Friendly Beacon

We copy from a recent issue of The Beacon, "a weekly magazine of helpfulness and hopefulness," edited and published by Mr. Huntington Smith, at 295 Washington St., Boston, the following words of "helpfulness and hopefulness" on behalf of Christian Science and Christian Scientists:—

The vigorous attacks upon Christian Science which are being made from the pulpit and which are appearing with noteworthy frequency in the medical journals, are doubtless actuated by excellent motives, but there is no good reason for believing that they will be especially efficacious in restricting the spread of this particular form of belief. It is all well enough to denounce Christian Science as the apotheosis of negation; to say that it is humbug, pure and simple; to declare that those who profess its teachings are mercenary because they take pay for their services; to assert that the so-called "cures" of Christian Science are the result of the hypnotic phenomenon known as autosuggestion,—it is all very well to make this indictment in the most uncompromising terms, but the fact remains that the belief is taking a strong hold upon a large class of fairly intelligent people who find in it something that they have not found elsewhere. Christian Science, they say, gives them peace of mind; the ability to overcome evil; and by taking their thoughts away from the body and its ills gives them a mental freedom to which they have hitherto been strangers.

Now this may be largely delusion, but to the Christian Science adherent it is very real; and while ministers of the gospel and doctors of medicine denounce it, let them also ask themselves whether this outbreak of what they call fanaticism has not a legitimate cause, and whether they themselves are wholly without responsibility in the matter If the people turn away from the traditional forms of belief and run after new and strange gods is it not fair to suppose that they have not been getting from the old doctrines the help that they demand? If the churches are to a certain extent losing their hold on the people, is it the fault of the people or is it because the churches themselves fail to give the people the comfort and strength they continually ask for? And if people are turning away from the doctors to new ways of healing, is it entirely because of their folly and stupidity, or is it partly at least because the doctors in pursuing the traditional methods have failed to give them relief from their physical ills?

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