Article September 22, 1928 Issue

In the serial story, "The Planter of the Tree," on the...

Theodore Burkhart, Committee on Publication for the State of Oregon,—Portland

Telegram

In the serial story, "The Planter of the Tree," on the Telegram's feature page, which appears in a recent issue, the heroine, Sally, is represented as remembering having once gone to "a Christian Science meeting," where "the speaker had impressed upon the audience the wonderful effect of will-power." That, together with what follows in the story, would give the reader the impression that Christian Science advocates the use of so-called human will for recovery of the sick and injured. Such is far from the truth. Christian Science, in no uncertain manner, condemns the use of human willpower, which is not a factor in healing by the purely spiritual means employed by Christian Science. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, makes this statement: "Human will belongs to the so-called material senses, and its use is to be condemned. Willing the sick to recover is not the metaphysical practice of Christian Science, but is sheer animal magnetism" (p. 144); and, again, in the same textbook (p. 206) she indicates the wide difference between the two methods in these words: "Will-power is capable of all evil. It can never heal the sick, for it is the prayer of the unrighteous; while the exercise of the sentiments—hope, faith, love—is the prayer of the righteous. This prayer, governed by Science instead of the senses, heals the sick."

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