Editorial May 9, 1914 Issue

"Human will-power is not Science"

Archibald McLellan

Occasionally we hear a testimony given at a Wednesday evening meeting in which the speaker refers to "the financial demonstration" which he has made; whereas the facts as stated clearly indicate that this so-called demonstration was nothing more than the exercise of will-power, or to use the more recent term, psychology. If the reader in charge of the meeting is clear enough in his understanding of Christian Science, and courageous and loving enough to explain what a great gulf lies between Christian Science and psychology, no harm will have been done; but unless this explanation is made, it is possible that some may go away from the meeting with a very erroneous concept of Christian Science.

In Science and Health (p. 206) Mrs. Eddy writes: "In the scientific relation of God to man, we find that whatever blesses one blesses all." Therefore, a demonstration in Christian Science can have no other effect than to bless not only those who are most intimately connected with it, but also all mankind. It does not impoverish one person to enrich another, nor does it invade the rights of any one. This is in complete contrast to the effects of the exercise of human willpower, concerning which Mrs. Eddy writes on page 104 of Science and Health: "Christian Science goes to the bottom of mental action, and reveals the theodicy which indicates the rightness of all divine action, as the emanation of divine Mind, and the consequent wrongness of the opposite so-called action,—evil, occultism, necromancy, mesmerism, animal magnetism, hypnotism." Again, on page 144, she writes: "Human will-power is not Science. Human will belongs to the so-called material senses, and its use is to be condemned. ... Human will-power may infringe the rights of man. It produces evil continually, and is not a factor in the realism of being."

The one paramount purpose of Christian Science is to enable mankind to know God aright, and the one paramount duty of Christian Scientists is to seek first the kingdom of God. When they really do seek first this kingdom, they cannot help being blessed with health, intelligence, and substance. Christian Science neither buys nor sells, and its prayer is not, "My will be done," but "Thy will be done." Men are not given power through Christian Science to enforce their will upon other men, but, through the understanding of God which true prayer gives them, they are enabled to deal intelligently, justly, compassionately, and unselfishly with all mankind, and every business problem thus solved is a blessing. On the other hand, every business transaction founded on the basis set forth in the following excerpts from a recent article by a distinguished exponent of psychology, in a popular magazine, not only blesses no one, but must be ultimately demoralizing in its effects. We quote from this writer as follows:—

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