Article February 7, 1914 Issue

Nothing but a misapprehension could cause any one to...

John Ashcroft

St. Louis (Mo.) Republic

Nothing but a misapprehension could cause any one to confuse Christian Science Mind-healing with mental suggestion, or attribute the healing efficacy of the former to the latter. The Rev. Mr.—'s identification of these opposites as one, in a recent sermon, illustrates a fallacy as old as the race. The Scriptures indicate that all who have ever contended for the omnipotence and omnipresence of divine Mind have done so in opposition to the belief in minds many. Moses encountered this in his conflict with Pharaoh ; the Pharisees sought to attribute the healing work of Christ Jesus to Beelzebub; and the experience of Philip, Peter, and John with Simon of Samaria, further illustrates this phase of human nature.

Much of this misapprehension arises from ignoring the capitalization in Christian Science literature. When a Christian Scientist refers to Mind, he refers to God, the one supreme, infinite intelligence. When he speaks of mind or minds, he refers to the human sense of things. To Mind, God alone, does the Christian Scientist concede the power to heal. It should require no argument to prove that God is intelligence, and that there can in reality be no other Mind if He is infinite. The belief that there are minds many is the basis of the belief in the possibility of mental suggestion; the understanding that there is but one Mind, and that infinite, is the basis of Christian Science practise.

Mental suggestion is generally regarded as the vehicle of human will. There is no more emphatic declaration in the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, than the following: "Every Christian Scientist, every conscientious teacher of the Science of Mind-healing, knows that human will is not Christian Science" (p. 451). Furthermore, the Manual of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Mass., specifically prohibits the study of hypnotism by Christian Scientists.

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