Article March 12, 1927 Issue

Christian Science is not merely a healing method, but...

Paul Gassner, Committee on Publication for Germany,—Halle a/Saale (translation)

Zeitschrift für Heilmagnetismus

Christian Science is not merely a healing method, but above all it is Christian religion. The teaching of Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of Christian Science, is entirely different from the teachings of Quimby. Before Mary Baker Eddy gained her knowledge of Christian Science she went to a certain Quimby because she assumed that he healed through his recognition of the Christ-power; it was not until later that she discovered that he was not the religious person she had thought him to be, but a magnetic healer. He himself stated that his system had nothing whatever in common with any religion. Mary Baker Eddy, on the other hand, gained her knowledge by studying the Bible. She recognized that primitive Christianity, as taught and proved by Jesus, which we are enjoined to emulate, was no longer being practiced in all its phases, and the aim of her religion was to give mankind again a complete knowledge of Christianity.

Mrs. Eddy did not see in the healing of the sick the chief aim, but one of the conditions of Christianity, namely, the putting into practice of one's faith. She recognized that this practice of one's faith, with the resultant works which Jesus enjoined all faithful Christians to do, included not only the destruction of sin, but also the healing of disease. In the early centuries the followers of Jesus obeyed his commands by destroying sin and healing the sick. The healing of disease, as one of the practices of Christianity, disappeared from the church as the church turned from the spiritual and strove for worldly power. Jesus did not heal by practicing or transferring human will-power; and he taught that he did not do the works himself, but rather that the Father, the eternal Truth, worked through him. The Christian Scientist is following faithfully Jesus' example, by knowing that he, personally, is not a healer, and that the laws of Truth are as effective to-day as they were at the time of primitive Christianity. Christian Science repudiates all influence of human will. In the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, chapters IV and V are especially written against mesmerism, animal magnetism, and every suggestion of human will. Hence, Christian Science must not be associated with systems such as Coué's system of autosuggestion.

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