Article March 29, 1913 Issue

In your review of the January magazines you mention...

E. M. Ramsay

Dundee (Scotland) Advertiser

In your review of the January magazines you mention Sir Thomas Clouston's article in the Quarterly Review on "Mind Cures," in which, among other systems, he discusses and criticizes Christian Science. "We do not deny the existence of these cures," he says; "we only deny that they are due to occult, mystical, or unexplainable causes." To this we reply that Christian Science makes no claim to act through any mysterious or occult agency. As its name implies, it claims to be a scientific system, and science has no partnership with mystery. Christian Science teaches that all disease, as well as every other form of woe, is the direct result of unhealthy, inaccurate thinking, and that in order to get rid of unsound bodily conditions we must first get rid of the unsound thoughts which occasioned these conditions. The question then arises, How shall we acquire better thoughts; what are right thoughts, and whence do they emanate? Christian Science teaches that right thoughts, true ideas, holy aspirations, and pure desires are the progeny, the outcome of that absolute Truth, that divine Mind or intelligence which we have been accustomed to call God. It therefore shows us that in order to live happier, healthier, and more useful lives, it is a matter of paramount necessity to gain a clearer understanding of the nature of Mind to become more conscious of our own nature—"Now are we the sons of God," as John expresses it.

The false belief that God is a supernatural and incomprehensible being is not, of course, the teaching of the Bible, where we are told that God is our Father, "a very present help in trouble," a source of information, our counselor, guide, with whom men should be in intimate touch and to whom they should turn in the perplexities of every-day life. There is nothing supernatural about purity, humility, mercy, kindness, joy, or courage; yet these are spoken of as the way by which men are to reach God, as the qualities of which the kingdom of heaven is composed. If this is so, then they must be the qualities of God Himself, the only cause and creator.

The article under discussion has the following: "It would be a futile question to ask what mind is in its nature. In science, we must think of mind, not as a self-existing, self-acting entity, but as an energy which is dependent on brain and brain-memories for its exhibition, as electricity, motion, or heat are on matter." To the Christian Scientist such statements as these appear as unscientific as they are deplorable. If this were true, we could never get at the root of any trouble, as it is plain that behind all so-called material conditions and physical actions must lie some procuring thought, and that nothing can get rid of a false thought but the perception of the truth. Mind manifests itself in ideas, and when you get the right idea you are in touch with Mind, and you get the right effect.

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