Article March 27, 1909 Issue

Christian Science is not the offspring of Swedenborg's...

Albert E. Miller—Lancaster, Pa.

Examiner and Express

Christian Science is not the offspring of Swedenborg's teaching, as alleged by a critic, and much less can it be said to bear any relationship whatsoever to that of Mesmer. On the contrary its works are a revival of the apostolic healing instituted by our Saviour and practised by his disciples and the early Christians for upward of three centuries after his ascension. The fact that Christian Science operates through a mental instead of a material process is no more argument in favor of its being mesmeric in its action than to charge the reformation of sinners to the influence of hypnotism on the part of those who show the sinners the way out of sin and thereby induce repentance. The whole process in such cases is purely mental, and the continuance of reform is dependent entirely on the state of mind of the repentant one.

Through the study of the Holy Scriptures Mrs. Eddy, the Founder of Christian Science, was finally led to the discovery that only through absolute dependence upon God, and a demonstrable understanding of our relationship to Him, can we hope to maintain ourselves in good moral and physical health. This led to the founding of Christian Science, and the eager acceptance of this teaching by the multitude of sick folk who have found healing in its ministrations, furnishes all the proof necessary to convince the unprejudiced that the origin of this faith lies entirely apart from the human and rests solely upon the divine. Therefore it is plainly evident that the credit for its good works cannot honestly be ascribed to any but the one who discovered Christian Science and founded the movement which bears this name.

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