Article September 25, 1909 Issue

Our critic erroneously assumes that Mrs. Eddy teaches...

Alfred Farlow

Shreveport (La.) Journal

Our critic erroneously assumes that Mrs. Eddy teaches there is no power in a material drug until mortals consciously invest it with power. It is not the individual's belief in a special drug which gives it power, but his belief in matter in general; that is, his belief in the general constituency, conditions, and effects of materiality; and this applies to an infant, for even the embryonic mortal is subject to the universal belief in material law until it attains to sufficient spiritual strength to overrule it. Mortals naturally believe in the power of matter; they even believe it has unknown properties until, through a proper understanding of God, they lose this belief. Therefore Mrs. Eddy makes reference to the fact that the law of general belief must be broken in order that a patient may be healed through Christian Science.

Just how much power my understanding of God would have in antidoting a poison for myself I do not know; I am not sure that I have ever had occasion to test it in this respect, though I have been able in my practice to destroy the effects of poison in others. I only hold that it is in accord with the intelligent law of God, and with the present demonstration of mortals, to overrule the power of poison through an absolute dependence upon Spirit; that the rational, scientific explanation of this possibility lies in the fact that whatever of power there may be in poison is supported by the universal belief, either consciously or unconsciously. Either this is true or the dreadful results of the poison must be attributed to the law of Him who is name Love.

When we are able to antidote poison by correcting the victim's thought, we have our proof that poison was an erroneous thought. Also, by our victory over the erroneous belief we prove that the spiritual thought of one is capable of destroying the erroneous belief of the majority. Even the poison of which a patient is unconscious and which is unknown to any mortal is nevertheless supported by the universal belief of life, substance, and intelligence in matter, which belief can be overcome and overruled by a sufficient realization that God, Spirit, is the only real power.

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