Article January 2, 1926 Issue

A professor is reported as having told his university...

William C. Brookes, Committee on Publication for Midlothian, Scotland,—Edinburgh

Evening News

A professor is reported as having told his university audience that if a patient desired treatment of a magical kind he "might go to a Christian Scientist," such treatment invoking mystery and appealing to "the superstitious elements lying latent in the patient's mind." As Christian Science has nothing in common with the magical, mysterious, or superstitious, I trust you will allow me to correct this misrepresentation of its teachings. From what was said by the professor at the beginning and end of his address, it is perfectly clear that he was using the term "magic" as a synonym for animal magnetism; or, to put it somewhat differently, he was enlarging on the subject of "magic" as a variant on his well-known theme that all Christian healing is done by means of suggestion, which is merely another name for animal magnetism. Your readers should know, on the contrary, that on page 484 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy says, "Animal magnetism is the voluntary or involuntary action of error in all its forms; it is the human antipode of divine Science."

The assertion that Christian Science is mysterious corresponds with the human sense of perplexity regarding the Sermon on the Mount, which "is the essence of this Science" (ibid., p. 271). What, indeed, could be more perplexing to the human mind than the demand, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect"? But "ye shall know the truth" is the comforting assurance which thrusts from the Christian pathway all possibility of gloom and mystery. Finally, the professor's proposition that Christian Science will appeal to "the superstitious elements lying latent in the patient's mind" is refuted by the fact that great multitudes of ordinary Christians have actually found refuge in Christian Science from the superstitious and speculative elements inherent in all material dogmas and doctrines. "Between Christian Science and all forms of superstition a great gulf is fixed, as impassable as that between Dives and Lazarus," writes Mrs. Eddy on page 83 of Science and Health; and again on page 327, "Reason is the most active human faculty." Christian Science requires one to believe nothing which he cannot both comprehend with true reason and prove in his own daily experience; and the professor may rest assured that that is the cause of the "incredible development" of Christian Science to which he refers.

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