Editorial July 13, 1907 Issue

A DISTINCTION

Annie M. Knott

Christian Science teaches us that we are to be alert in distinguishing between that which seemeth to be and that which really is. This distinction clearly seen, we are ready to acquaint ourselves with the things of God. In the Epistle to the Galatians Paul makes a clear distinction between the fruits or ideas of Spirit and the evils which spring from a belief in matter or the carnal mind. The latter he describes as "idolatry," "adultery," "witchcraft," "hatred," "murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like." After telling of these evils and many others, he lifts thought to the "love, joy, peace" of Spirit, and says that in order to realize these we must "live in the Spirit;" and how to do this is the message of Christian Science to mankind to-day.

Some years ago, one who was looking into mental healing said she objected to Christian Science "because it taught animal magnetism." She was told that she was greatly mistaken in thinking so, and that the very opposite is true,—that Christian Science teaches the great evil and delusion of the belief in animal magnetism in any or all of its phases. It was added, however, that Mrs. Eddy was the first, since the days of Christ Jesus and his apostles, to make clear the distinction between the divine Mind, with its pure and uplifting influence, and the "fleshly mind," with its self-asserted claim to power over mortals and its deadly results.

Prior to Mrs. Eddy's discovery of the Science of Mind there was wide-spread ignorance and indifference concerning mental influence, with occasional attempts to use or teach the application of so-called mental power for sinister purposes. With Christian Science there was revealed not only the power of divine Mind to heal the sick, but also its power to protect every faithful follower of Christ, Truth, from the delusions and encroachments of the "carnal mind," or malicious animal magnetism. Outside of Christian Science no one has ever told us how we may protect ourselves from the sinister influence of mortal mind. On the contrary, works on physiology and philosophy for the most part ignore the divine Mind and would make the human mind the only power; and the result of this ignorance of Truth appears in the vice, crime, and wretchedness with which mortals are unable to cope.

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July 13, 1907
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