R1? A T 1?"' ^^^ OF F/iMc^ THE REAL KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE THE REAL KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE A SURPRISING DISCOVERY. BY RICHARD L. SWAIN, Ph.D. -^f^^i Of P,''i'.-p>^ JAN New York Chicago Toronto Fleming H. Revell Company London and Edinburgh Copyright, 191 7, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY New York: 158 Fifth Avenue Chicago: 17 N. Wabash Ave. Toronto: 25 Richmond St., W. London: 21 Paternoster Square Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street FOREWORD CHRISTIAN Science is not generally un- derstood because it is not fully explained. The leaders of this cult prefer that it should remain a beautiful mystery to the pub- lic, and to the majority of their members as well. They are right, probably, in thinking that a full understanding of it would drive many away. For this reason, not more than ten to twenty per cent of Mrs. Eddy's followers have ever been given a worthy idea of her teachings; moreover, the general public has been allowed to entertain the grossest misconceptions of this religion. In harmony with the method of partial con- cealment, preaching is not allowed in Christian Science services, and all other sufficient means of instruction are excluded. Consequently, one might attend a Christian Science church for a lifetime without learning its real beliefs. Through special instruction a few individuals are ad- vanced to a full understanding of their religion; yet even these are led on with caution, and if in the opinion of their instructors they are not suitable persons to be entrusted with a full knowledge of Christian Science, advancement may cease at any time. 5 6 FOREWORD In like manner the authorized lecturers sent out to interest the public are not allowed to re- veal Christian Science either too fully or too definitely for fear of chilling the people and driving them away, — a thing they would do, probably, in most cases. If, therefore, a person sincerely believes in Christian Science, I do not impeach his motive for withholding the full interpretation. On the other hand, since I do not believe in it, no one should impeach my motive for making it plain to the public. If this faith is true, its adherents are justified in giving it to the people only so far as the people can bear it; but if false, then the Christian Scientists are unwittingly com- mitting a great wrong against society by their method of partial concealment. For, in my opinion. Christian Science should be both gen- erally and fully understood. With these facts in mind, the excuse for this little book is apparent. I should have no desire to write on this subject if the Christian Scien- tists saw their way clear to give the thought of their inner circle to the public. All conversations reported in this book actually took place; and the exact phraseology is largely preserved. R. L. S. Bridgeport, Conn. CONTENTS Foreword I. Finding the Key II. Unlocking the Door III. The Trick of Two Languages IV. The Bible — Lies and Cipher Mes SAGES V. Christian Science Experience VI. Healing Without Medicine . 5 9 26 48 59 68 S2 FINDING THE KEY I BECAME interested in Christian Science thirty years ago through a friend who had taken Mrs. Eddy's course of lectures. Not until twenty years later, however, could I under- stand what the author of " Science and Health '* was trying to teach. It availed me nothing to read the founder's text-book, because it denied materiality with the greatest emphasis, only to speak of it in the next sentence as the most substantial reality. How to read this manual so that it would not uniformly contradict itself, no one offered to explain; al- though an explanation would have been perfectly simple for any one knowing Christian Science. But such information is not usually given to " beginners " or " outsiders." Ten years after my first introduction to this subject I tried to review " Science and Health " for a minister's association, but gave up in despair because I no sooner wrote down a state- ment than I found it at variance with what followed. 9 10 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE After confusion had run almost into despera- tion I went to a Christian Scientist, who be- lieved everything in the book and thought it clear and beautiful as a sunbeam, and asked her why Mrs. Eddy said she healed '' genuine, bona-fide, organic ailments " when there was no " organ- ism.'* My friend had not noticed the contradic- tion before, and while confessing her inability to explain it, still believed that an adept would be able to unravel its tangled meaning. She her- self could easily have given me the desired infor- mation if any one had cared to enlighten her. Just why she was not better taught will appear later. As already indicated, I gave up my review of " Science and Health.'* Then I reported to the ministers that I did not have the remotest idea of what Mrs. Eddy was trying to teach, because affirmation and denial alternated throughout the book with all the rhythm of breathing. My desire to understand Christian Science was still further increased by receiving from time to time beautiful invitations to hear its authorized lecturers. Hence, with lively anticipation I went to hear every one of them. These speakers claimed that Christian Science had the real thing, while the churches were only groping after it in the twilight. Yet just what it was they had, not once did they make clear. FINDING THE KEY 11 They contented themselves with speaking most beautifully and vaguely about some new revela- tion of which they were the sole possessors. While they appreciated ordinary Christians for their good intentions, at the same time they pitied them because they did not have the true light. With the rest of the audience I took it for granted that these experts sent out from head- quarters were doing their best to make us under- stand their doctrines, until I learned that they were sent out to attract, and not to enlighten overmuch, — too much enlightenment being re- garded as injurious to the cause. Consequently, when a question was sent up to one of these gentlemen asking him to explain to the people just how an intelligent Christian Scientist under- stood the apparent catastrophe which had recently occurred in San Francisco, he promptly returned the question with the statement, " Christian Science never answers any ques- tions." Not long after this I read in "Science and Health" that earthquakes were "The vapid fury of mortal mind"; so I asked a Christian Scientist if he thought earthquakes could be pre- vented. " Certainly," he said, " I believe that if a few good Christian Scientists in San Francisco had been demonstrating before the disaster, it would 12 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE never have happened." If he lived in a section where earthquakes were common he " would most certainly try to demonstrate," and he be- lieved " with perfect success." Sitting in a front seat, at one of these Chris- tian Science lectures delivered by a judge, was a man whose hands and arms were twisted into frightful shape. The poor fellow had driven ten miles through extreme cold to hear this lec- ture, and he was all interest and attention while the judge said to his audience: " You approve of loving one another, but we actually love; you think that the art of healing is a thing of the past, but we heal; and our heal- ing quite equals that of Jesus, — it is done in the same way, and besides, we have a perfect under- standing of the method whereby the sick are healed." The speaker declared: " Creeds and blind belief have no value ; it is simply a question of knowing the truth; — just open your eyes and see us do all that Jesus ever did." My eyes were open as I touched elbows with the cripple, but nothing happened, for the judge was only lecturing. That I was a little irritated in the face of such an opportunity and such bold assertions, I will admit. If the judge were honest in his strong statements, why did he not FINDING THE KEY 13 ask the poor fellow right before his eyes to stand up and stretch forth his twisted arms? Was he blind, or was he untruthful, or was he simply ignorant of what he was saying? To have healed that man would have been worth more to his cause than any number of assertions or a thousand lectures. I felt embarrassed for the speaker and the Christian Scientists present. Did they not see the irony of the situation? However, it was all wasted sympathy, for as I learned afterward, none of them had noticed any incongruity. They never do. When the lecture was over, I turned to the afflicted man on the front seat and asked him how he liked it. With a look of awe and rev- erence he replied : " Oh, wasn't it wonderful ! " But notwith- standing his faith, he went home as much de- formed as when he came. Jesus would either have healed this man or else he would not have mentioned the subject. When he did heal he requested the candidate to say nothing about it for fear of blinding the people to his higher mission. But it is perfectly certain that the lecturer could no more have healed that crippled man before him than he could have carried the church off on his back. Not long after this, I had another invitation to hear one of the most distinguished Christian 14 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE Science lecturers. He was very pleasing to me as a speaker, and said some very beautiful things without shedding any light on those parts of his religion which confuse the people. How- ever, as he looked more intelligent than the average, I went to call on him at his room that evening in the hotel and was cordially received. Disclaiming any controversial mood, I told him that I very much wanted to see Christian Science through his mind. I still labored under the impression that this religion was somehow based on the idealistic philosophies; but any idealistic philosophy with which I am acquainted is crammed full of error from Mrs. Eddy's point of view, and con- tains all the evil which she denies. Further- more, it requires years to become proficient in any of these great philosophies; whereas Chris- tian Science can be learned in a few hours when definitely stated, because it is the simplest and briefest system of thought ever propounded. It requires neither learning nor special ability to understand Christian Science since it is not a philosophy, but merely an elaborate idea. Beginning conversation with the lecturer at the hotel, I said : " We will be absolute idealists from the start by eliminating all matter from nature. We will recognize the fact that a chemist could take that FINDING THE KEY 15 brass bedstead before us and reduce it to invisible energies. Moreover, we will admit that these forces are modes of the divine Will. Now, in your view of the case does the will of God go forth in any such complex way as to produce what we experience as a bed? You will remem- ber that I myself do not think the bed just what It appears to be to an uneducated mind; but is there any reality there whatsoever?" I fully expected an affirmative answer, but he replied : "No, there is absolutely nothing there, not even as energy of the divine Will." " Well," I remarked, " would you not spend a very uncomfortable night if what we call the bed were removed from the room ? " He admitted that he would; but upon being asked^why, he said that it was because he too was " under the tyranny of mortal mind " the same as I was, and that, until he could demon- strate, or get rid of, the false sense of a mate- rial bed, or a bed of chemical energies, he would suffer the same as any one else if it were taken from the room. That Christian Scientists were still under the power of mortal mind was at that time a most illuminating bit of information to me; for while it is stated over and over again in " Science and Health" that they are, yet that book was so 16 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE muddling that I had never understood it before. Here, then, was a great lecturer upbraiding us for taking imaginary medicine, while he was sleeping on an imaginary bed. Why was it more difficult to get rid of the false sense of a bed than it was to get rid of the false sense of medicine and sickness? Having found this new trail, I enquired why he wore an overcoat in cold weather. It was the same excuse of "tyranny." He answered my next question by saying : " No, there is no such thing as heat and cold.'* " Why," I asked, " would it not do to recog- nize temperature as a beautiful manifestation of divine Mind? Cold is beautiful when you want to preserve your Thanksgiving turkey." I was still so dull of perception that I did not realize that from a Christian Science point of view a turkey is as non-existent as sickness; that to believe there was any human body to be kept warm, or turkey body to be kept cold, would be a denial of Christian Science itself, and would topple the whole structure to the ground. But wishing to travel this road still further I said: "Do you eat food?" He admitted that he did, but here again it was only because he was a slave to a false sense. He could dispense with non-existent medicine, but FINDING THE KEY 17 not as y€t with food which was equally non- existent. Likewise, he admitted that at this stage of the game he distinguished between " pure and decaying " foods, but that in reality both alike were nothing. That my obtuseness was frightful I will concede, but I still thought it was the ugliness of decaying food that made him deny the existence of food altogether. So I reminded him that decomposition, as a chem- ical process, was a beautiful manifestation of divine Mind, the mere liberation of beautiful energies that they might pass into flowers and vegetables, and that as intelligent children of God we only needed to know which combination of energies was good for the stomach, and which for the garden. But this I learned was all wide of the mark. There is no integration of energies constituting a stomach, or a flower, or a garden ; these all are illusions of mortal mind, and therefore without existence. God has flower thoughts, that is, beautiful thoughts, but they are not the false flowers which seem to decay. Decomposition of flowers or food is not even a thought with God. " For," said the lecturer, referring to himself, " I seem to weigh thirty pounds more than I used to, but as a matter of fact, I do not weigh anything; because there is nothing to weigh, nor anything to weigh it with." 18 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE In like manner the church in which he had just spoken did not exist. " I wish to make it very plain," I said, " I do not ask if there is a material church, but is there any force of the divine Mind constituting a church, such as could be changed by another energy of the divine Mind called fire?*' " Absolutely not," was his reply. Then I asked if God had ever heard or thought of the Boston and Maine railroad. But no such thought had ever been in God's mind; for no such thing as the Boston and Maine railroad had ever existed, — not even as spiritual energy. The speaker's appearing to come to our city on a train was likewise an illusion of mortal mind, the same as sickness. Chemistry and all the natural sciences, however spiritually conceived, were error, illusion, nothingness. To accept the fact of chemical combinations, whether as the force of God's will or as matter, would make room for all the trouble which Christian Science denies. Fire as divine energy and a church as divine energy would not combine without disas- ter. So the whole world of energies as we know it in practical life must be denied. I next wanted to know of him why he re- ceived material money if there was no mate- riality. He claimed that money, though an illusion, FINDING THE KEY 19 was as necessary to Christian Scientists as to any one else until they could get rid of the false sense of food, shelter, clothes, etc. He likewise stated that all references to materiality in " Science and Health," as in conversation, were > not meant to express truth; but that such ref4 erences were an effort to accommodate them-! selves to those who are afflicted with mortal' mind. And furthermore, since Christian Scien- tists are under the power of error at all points except sickness and sin, they too must speak much of the time in mortal mind language. For instance, they must say that their plumbing is out of order just as if it were, and ask a plumber to mend it just as if he could; but they know from their principle '* that God is All," and that God could not be out of repair, and that a plumber could not mend him. Therefore the whole plumbing business is an illusion to which they with the rest of us must submit until they can demonstrate, or get rid of, this false sense. Here I remarked that if people were not physically sick, then Christian Scientists could not heal them in any such sense as was generally supposed. "That is true," said he, "strictly speaking we do not heal, we demonstrate, or destroy the illusion of sickness. The fundamental heresy in Christian Science is to believe that the mind of 20 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE God or any other mind can heal a sick body; there is no sick body to heal; there is only an illusion to be gotten rid of. Those who believe in faith-cure and mind-cure have done us so much harm that we have found it necessary not to recognize such as authorized practitioners. For this we have sometimes been called narrow, but we find that we must require of our healers the right doctrine of God, namely, that He is All, and that a physical body or sickness is noth- ing but an illusion. With such information in mind it is amusing to hear people say: " Well, I am a Christian Scientist this far, I believe the mind has great influence over the body." Now, that is the one thing that you cannot believe and be a Christian Scientist, because such a belief throws the whole system over- board. Resuming the conversation, I told the lecturer that if his program involved the getting rid of everything taught by the physical sciences, and reported by the five senses, it would seem that they had not made much progress. Why had Christian Scientists not succeeded in demonstrat- ing all along the line? He answered that in getting rid of such an infinitely long h*ne of error, it was necessary to begin somewhere; so FINDING THE KEY 21 they began with the two practical points of sickness and sin. ^^ "Even at these two points/' I remarked, " your success is not peculiar to your belief, for there are many good and happy people who are not Christian Scientists; and I, for example, have better health than ninety-five per cent of your followers." We see little evidence that Christian Scientists are trying to demonstrate apart from sickness and sin, because they appear to take an epicurean delight in the pleasant illusions of life, such as wealth, fine clothes, and good food. Again turning to the lecturer I said : "Then there is no sickness because God is All, and He can not be sick; and there is no sin because He can not be sinful; and there is no railroad wreck because God can not be a railroad, nor a broken rail; and there is no mortal mind because God is All and He can not have mortal mind;— it would he as ridiculous for God to have such a terrible spell of mortal mind as it would for him to be sick/' The lecturer blushed scarlet while he replied : "Well, — well, — no, — really there is no such thing as mortal mind." "No such thing as mortal mind!" said I. " Is all this painful illusion caused by something which does not exist ? How can we proceed any 22 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE farther if we say that that which is absolutely non-existent fills the world with woe?" Rarely have I seen a man more embarrassed; but he said : "It is just like explaining a mistake;" and then his face suddenly changed into a beautiful smile while he continued, *' did you ever think of it? You can't explain a mistake; you can just say it is a mistake, and that is all you can say about it; — did you ever try to demonstrate? Oh, there is such a blessing in demonstrating ! " I shared his embarrassment, for it was a piti- ful situation. Just think of it: No mortal mind, no one to have illusions, nothing to cause illusions; nothing, nothing, nothing; and yet an endless stream of talk by no one, about nothing, which seems to be something — to no one, because there is no one but God. As for me, I would rather be dead than to purchase health at such a price. Yet I have all the lecturer's resources for keeping well, and many more for getting well if sickness should overtake me. To call everything in which we live and with which we deal an illusion is bad enough, but when they tell us that the person who has the illusion is non-existent, we feel ashamed for them. FINDING THE KEY 23 "Darkness,'* they say, "is the absence of light." That we all very well know; but the one who recognizes the absence of light is something, and the light energy which dazzles the eyes is some- thing. The mortal mind of which Mrs. Eddy speaks is not an immature mind, but according - to her teachings it is a mind absolutely without existence. When asked to explain it she could only say: " Mortal mind is not explainable, and has the marks of ignorance on its forehead." No, the marks of ignorance in this case were on her forehead. Of course the poor woman could not explain such a palpable absurdity. Physical forces are not the illusions of a mind which does not exist; but to say that they are is the fancy of a very queer mind. And this monstrous absurdity is not an incidental feature of Christian Science, for it confronts the Chris- tian Scientists every time they open their non- existent mouths, to speak an impossible word, about a non-existent mortal, who has an illusion — which is nothing. This is the deep chasm to which they all sooner or later must come, and into which they must look. Standing on the brink of this precipice they shudder for a mo- ment, and then try the formula, "Darkness is the absence of light" (trying to forget that 24 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE even this is the experience of some one), and then they hasten away, pever again to look into this chasm if they can avoid it. Christian Science is a bridge which connects with but one shore. Though they call them illu- sions, yet these non-existent, mortal-mind Chris- tian Scientists have common experiences with the rest of us. So this end of the bridge con- nects all right. But when they come to the other end of the bridge it doesn't connect, because God is All, and there " is no one to have these illu- sions." Then, for fear of dropping off into the water, they turn sharply upon their heels and promenade back, saying all the way ** Illusion, illusion, all these mortal experiences are illusion, because God is All, and mortal mind does not exist." A bridge that connects with but one shore may be all right to promenade on, but I submit that it is good for nothing else. At the end of my interview with the lecturer I could see it all as plain as day, and realized that I had found the armor whereby they ward off attacks, and at the same time I had discovered Achilles' vulnerable heel. When I returned home I hastened to find a " Science and Health," and behold, all the mys- tery was gone. I could just slip back and forth between Christian Science thought and " mortal FINDING THE KEY 25 mind " thought without a jostle. Both ideas might be in the same sentence, or a hundred times on the same page, but it no longer gave me any inconvenience. I was so pleased that I laughed. There was nothing to it. This was no philosophy. At least all the philosophy there was in it could have been learned I think in fifteen minutes, if it had been given bluntly and plainly. Just why the lecturer did not make it plain to his audience did puzzle me for the mo- ment, though this soon passed out of my mind, for I did not yet realize that he purposely kept it a mystery before them. When any one suggests " sticking pins into Christian Scientists," it is certain that he does not understand their teachings. The same is true when the suggestion is made, " Just imagine you have your pay and you have it." Christian Scientists simply smile at most published criti- cisms, and say, "Yes, that is the way it looks to one who is not a Scientist." Their private explanation is, that the " stick of a pin " is a dis- tressing illusion, and that the failure to receive the " error " called money is a calamity, so long as they are under the " tyranny of a false sense." II UNLOCKING THE DOOR CONTINUING to read "Science and Health/' I realized afresh how impos- sible it would be for any one to under- stand it without the key. To confirm this opin- ion I conversed with all the Christian Scientists whom I met ; no longer to argue, but to test their knowledge. It soon became apparent that most of them knew next to nothing about their re- ligion, judging from their own confessions and from the fact that they could answer only a few of the simplest questions. Once when I was in Mrs. Eddy's Memorial church examining her hymn-book, I found that she had not eliminated " error " from the hymns. At the same time I noticed an old gentleman going about dusting a little and then praying a little. He had already done both several times while I was there; so going over to him, and taking up a hymn-book, I called his attention to the error, asking him whether he passed over such parts with mental reservation. I said: 36 UNLOCKING THE DOOR 27 " You see this expression is error ; what do you think when you sing that? '' With a dazed look he rephed: " Oh, Christian Science is a life-long study ! " Among the many with whom I conversed, some knew a little more than this old man; and once in a while I found one who knew quite a little Christian Science. Usually, however, they would answer: " I never have heard that explained." Conversing one day with a friend who was attending a Christian Science church, I ex- plained to him some of the beliefs of this re- ligion. To which he replied : " Why, Christian Science does not teach any- thing like that at all; their doctrines are just about the same as yours, only they believe that God still heals, while you do not." In spite of my assurance to the contrary, he still persisted in believing that our views were very similar except on this one point of healing. As I knew Christian Science perfectly well, it now occurred to me that it would be very in- teresting to step into the Memorial church and have my understanding of Christian Science once more verified. Accordingly, I went to the church, but was disappointed at finding a group of about a dozen people present, apparently 28 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE holding some sort of conference. However, I was met at the door by the lady in charge who asked me if there was anything she could do for me. Wishing to avoid the crowd, I enquired if I might see the auditorium; and while there I stated that I should like to verify my understand- ing of Christian Science by asking a few ques- tions. Being granted the privilege, I asked my questions and received the answers anticipated. But upon asking a more difficult question the lady said: " Excuse me a moment, please ; " then going into the other room she brought out a woman who was very remarkable in appearance, un- usually well dressed, and a bundle of enthusiasm. After introducing this lady, whose headquarters were in three of the largest cities in the world, she turned to me, saying : " Now you may proceed with your questions." It was charming to see how the new lady made answer; though every one of the questions was answered as I expected it would be. Then I called their attention to the fact that so much of the beautiful required embodiment in " error " before it was satisfying, even to Christian Scientists. I said: "You all like flowers, but you are not satis- fied with thought-flowers; you prefer the mate- rial flowers that perish. You like best the art UNLOCKING THE DOOR 29 that is connected with material canvas, plaster, or marble; even thought-music does not satisfy until you have a material organ which sets the material atmosphere vibrating. What I want to know is, just how does this fact lie in the mind of an intelligent Christian Scientist ? " She blushed but did not answer. Here the lady in charge said : " It is warmer in the other room, suppose we go in there." This was another way of saying, " Let us join the little company ; " and by this time I was most happy to comply with the request. Having already given them my name and that of the Church of which I was the minister, I was cordially introduced to the company. Among them was a fine-looking gentleman, about forty years of age, an ex-minister of a great denomi- nation, who at that time was located in a large city as a Christian Scientist. He excused him- self and rose to go; but as they implored him to stay and help answer questions, he again took his seat. Then turning to me the lady once more said : " Now you may proceed with your questions." Here allow me to say that this gentleman handled " Science and Health " with remarkable dexterity; for whenever I would ask a question, his instant reply was, " Mrs. Eddy says on such 30 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE a page," and then without a moment's hesitation he would proceed to read the passage. Every- thing was going beautifully, and my understand- ing of Christian Science was being entirely con- firmed. Not many minutes passed, however, until the lady from the large cities surprised me by her hesitation. Then turning to me with a puzzled look she said: " Most people can not believe these things." *' Oh," I replied, " I do not care a rap what any one thinks of Christian Science, I want to see it through your eyes." Only one or two more questions were an- swered when she looked at me in a very cordial manner, saying most graciously: " Now Jhat is all you can know about Chris- tian Science until you have demonstrated." It would be impossible here to express my sense of disappointment, because knowing Chris- tian Science, and only wishing to hear it uttered once more by Christian Scientists* lips, I had come in to ask all the questions from A to Z; and here they were shutting me off at about E. There had been nothing even a little bit hard to understand, as I had the key and understood Christian Science as well as they did. There- fore in my desperation I said : *' Surely you yourselves will admit that one UNLOCKING THE DOOR 31 can not demonstrate until he knows the prin- ciple," They answered politely: " That is true, but that is all you can know about Christian Science now." That was as far as they were willing to en- lighten me if I could not believe their religion and go their way. Everything had come to a dead halt, and then I learned for the first time, but not the last, that they were not permitted to answer too many questions, or to explain too much, Inwardly I reeled for a few seconds, and then a happy solution suggested itself. So I replied : " Well, then let me he a Christian Scientist and expound it to you, and you tell me wherein I go astray." It is but moderate to say that they sat up and took notice. Now six months previous to that time I should have been as helpless as a little child, and could not have answered a word; being without the key I could not have unlocked the mysteries of " Science and Health." At that moment, how- ever, I was able to proceed with perfect assur- ance. The following is what happened. I be- gan by saying: " Now, as an intelligent Christian Scientist there are just three things that I must know: 32 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE " First, the meaning of Principle ; " Second, the meaning of Mortal Mind; " Third, the meaning and method of Demon- stration. " BY PRINCIPLE I mean that there is abso- lutely nothing in the universe but mind, and all mind is one, and that one mind is God. God and His ideas constitute All. He is Good, Truth, Love, Wisdom, Spirit, or any other beau- tiful thing of vi^hich you can think. In the large philosophical sense He is a Person ; and He is the only person. Though God has an infinite num- ber of beautiful ideas, yet they are neither persons nor things. Things, therefore, do not exist. God's ideas are as eternal as Himself, and perfectly reflect Him. No other ideas than God's exist, and His ideas always and only reflect His perfect being. God can not have ugly ideas, and therefore, since God and His perfect reflections are the sum-total of all things, ugly ideas never exist. His ideas, though not persons, can com- municate w^ith one another and with Him, yet never in such wise as to misrepresent His perfect nature. Principle means God, Good, All. He is not relatively all, but absolutely All. When you have said God, if you have the right under- standing, you have said everything. He is the beginning and the end, there is nothing else. We might go on piling up adjectives forever, but UNLOCKING THE DOOR 33 this is the sum of the whole matter. This, then, is what I mean by Principle. (The smiles, nods, and words of approval were most encouraging.) So I continued: "BY MORTAL MIND I mean error, illu- sion, nothingness; I mean anything and every- thing that is not God. Mortal mind is the false belief that there is a physical universe, such as is reported by the so-called five physical senses and taught by the so-called natural sciences. From my Principle that God is All, I know that * fire and earthquakes ' do not exist except as * the vapid fury of mortal mind.' Since God is All there can be no physical lungs or microbes, no physical body such as the anatomist studies, no physical food such as the farmer grows, no medicine such as the chemist analyzes, and no such thing as water composed of oxygen and hydrogen. All these are the false reports of mortal mind. There is no sickness, no sin, no death — except as illusions. There is no sur- geon's knife, no physical hand to guide it, no physical body to be cut. These all are very real as illusions, but are nothing in fact. God is All and could not be a surgeon's knife. It would not reflect his perfect nature, auid therefore could not exist. In reality there is neither gun- powder nor explosive of any kind — nothing but 34 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE God and His lovely ideas. Every suggestion to the contrary is the Mie ' of mortal mind. Both the surgical operation and the pain are alike il- lusions — things that do not exist, false reports of the so-called physical senses — which senses do not exist. There is no physical body to be clothed with a physical coat, or fed with phys- ical food, or sheltered by a physical house; all these are false reports, which seem very real until we can demonstrate their nothingness. Ex- cept as an illusion, there never was a railroad wreck, because it would not reflect God, or Good. Everything physical must be regarded as error; all those combined energies of which the chem- ist speaks, all the forces reported by the physicist — in short, all the natural sciences are built on error. There are neither favorable nor unfavor- able combinations of energies constituting what we call Nature. Nature, as laws and forces, is a false belief. There is no poison, no pistol, noth- ing but God and His perfect ideas. The natural world is dreadfully real as illusion, but not in fact. The suffering is terribly great as illusion, but not in truth. This, then, is the monster called Mortal Mind, which is nothing but * blind belief '; — and blind belief is nothing. ("Oh, wouldn't he make a fine Scientist!") "BY DEMONSTRATION I mean getting UNLOCKING THE DOOR 35 rid of the false sense of mortal mind, or getting ' rid of the sense of everything but God. To . demonstrate means to throw off the bondage of the five senses and to discredit the lies of phys- ical science. It is to destroy the infinite illusion of nature which seems to surround us, and thereby prove the non-existence of materiality on the one hand, and to prove the Allness of God on the other hand. When I demonstrate against sickness I do not heal in the commonly ^ accepted meaning of the word; I simply get rid of the false sense of sickness, pain, and death. I To believe that there is any sickness to heal would be to admit its reality and to deny that God is All. Neither do I pray God to forgive my sin, because that would be to acknowledge sin as a fact, and to discredit God. To demon- strate against the illusion of sin I simply deny its reality and forget it ; or I refuse to look any more on error. In so far as I lose the sense of matter and its pain I have demonstrated their nothingness, and proved the truth of Christian ' Science. Demonstration is compelling all mate- riality to pale into nothingness before God who remains the one eternal reality. This, then, is the meaning of demonstration : to prove that God \ is the only reality by losing the sense of every- I thing which is not God. " The Method Whereby I Demonstrate, is sim- 36 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE ply to affirm that God is All, and that sickness is nothing. By constantly keeping the thought in mind that God is All, the false sense should go; and when it is gone I have demonstrated. The constant repetition of the Truth, like ham- mer blows, shatters the crystal of * error,' and pain is felt no more. If the false sense returns I must still deny its reality, and affirm my Prin- ciple until the pain ceases forever. There is no need of analyzing illusions as there is no differ- ence between them, except in the intensity of the false belief. Therefore, it is not worth while to diagnose any sickness, since all sickness is error. Cancer is only a more stubborn form of material belief. The method of demonstration, then, is a complete turning away from false belief in matter and sickness, and a definite turning to God, who is Love, Truth, and Life. It is neither petition nor blind belief; it is right thinking. It is the denial of matter with all its ills, and the affirmation of God, who knows no sickness, sin, or death. (With the hearty approval of my hearers I continued.) "At my present stage of development I can demonstrate only at the points of sickness and sin. For though I have an infinitely long line of error to get rid of through demonstration, yet I must begin somewhere; and sickness and sin UNLOCKING THE DOOR 37 seem to afford a good place from which to start. In other respects I still live under the tyranny of mortal mind. But some day I shall be able to rid myself of the whole universe of falsehood which seems to surround me. However, in the meantime I shall be placed in many awkward positions. For example, we will suppose that my father is dead in my home. What shall I do, since at my present stage of development I can not demonstrate at the side of the casket? Until I can demonstrate, it will be necessary for me to put error out of sight through a burial; other- wise I should greatly suffer in my mortal mind. Still, I know that my neighbors who are not Christian Scientists are making light remarks about me after this manner: " ' Why does he bury the body if there is no materiality? What a ridiculous thing it is to take an imaginary body to an imaginary ceme- tery, in an imaginary hearse, to perform an im- aginary burial ! ' " Now, exactly what should I be thinking under such circumstances, as an intelligent Chris- tian Scientist? Why, this is what I should be thinking. I know that God is All, and that there is really no dead body there, but until I can demonstrate I should suffer in my false mind if I did not put error out of sight. When, hew- ever, I can demonstrate, as one day I will do, I 38 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE shall never see anything that resembles a dead body, a hearse, a cemetery, or a tombstone. These gruesome things do not reflect God, and therefore do not exist. God has no such er- roneous and unpleasant thoughts." ("Oh, he is a Christian Scientist, and knows more Science than many of the Scientists themselves!") Then one of the ladies bringing a pamphlet, asked me to read a portion of it aloud for all to hear. In substance it read, people originally thought the earth was flat, and that it was the center around which the sun revolved ; but finally Truth came along in the person of Copernicus, and set aside all this error, showing us that the earth was round, and that it revolved about the sun. When I had finished reading I remarked: " Yes, and that which Copernicus gave us was likewise error, but a more refined form of error. For if he had carried his demonstration clear to a finish, the material solar system would have disappeared altogether. Some time, we shall complete his demonstration, and there will re- main only beautiful, spherical thoughts that per- fectly reflect God, — not material balls composed of terrific, chemical energies. (Approval.) " We will again suppose that a street-car has run over a boy and crushed his leg, and that I UNLOCKING THE DOOR 39 heal him. The sneering remarks of my neigh- bors will be : " ' How could you heal him if there was noth- ing the matter with him? How could you tell which leg was hurt? How did you know when it was well ? * " Now, just what should be going through my mind as an intelligent Christian Scientist? Did anything happen? If so, what was it? Did I do anything, and if so what did I do? Why, this is what happened: The accident and injury were a sort of cyclone in the realm of error ; error was intensified until it became inky black. Even to the false sense of a Christian Scientist, this in- tensified error looked like a wound. What did I do? I allayed the storm; I relieved the density of error ; I brought the leg back to the normal state ; but that which remained was still error, only a more refined form of error. If I could have car- ried the demonstration to a finish there would have been no leg, either well or crushed, like- wise if I could completely demonstrate, the phys- ical street and street-car would disappear; but at this stage of our development the more refined forms of error, such as well legs, good streets and street-cars, temporarily serve a good pur- pose. (Here the lady from the large cities sprang to her feet, and with a strong gesture exclaimed, " Oh, you are a St. Paul!") 40 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE *' We are accused by our critics of liking ma- teriality overmuch, that we like material flowers more than thought-flowers, that we like beautiful stone churches, and that in every way we show a fondness for the beautiful that is thoroughly embodied in matter. How, therefore, am I to explain this as an intelligent Christian Scientist? That is not so diflicult because gleams of the beautiful reach us, penetrating this mass of il- lusion, and, therefore, it behooves us to make things just as beautiful as we can until we get rid of the false sense of materiality altogether. (Here it was remarked, " He is a Christian Scientist, no one could see the truth as he sees it without believing it;" to which I replied, "I hope I have not raised your expectations too high.") " This beautiful church seems to be built of material stone, but we know there are no stones here, it is only a dream. The beautiful thought, temple, will abide forever as a reflection of God, and it is best that we should embody this idea in the refined illusion called stone, but one day we shall demonstrate, and then our false sense of stone will disappear." ("Yes, that is the goal, that is the goal.") " If my hearing is getting dull my neighbors will say, ' Now you are losing your false sense/ UNLOCKING THE DOOR 41 and if my sight is growing dim they will assure me that I am still farther losing my mortal mind ; and then some smart fellow will step forward and remark, ' I should think that a pistol shot would be the quickest way of getting rid of mortal mind.' But in the face of such a foolish taunt I would remember that there is no pistol, and that if I so far forgot the Truth as to be- lieve I could destroy error with error, I should only swap one blind belief for another. In the event that I used the pistol, I should no longer seem to be living at i8 Depot Street, but should instantly surround myself with another set of errors. Thus I might die a million times in the sense of swapping errors, but would be no farther advanced than when I began. For the only way to rise to a Christian Scientist's heaven is through demonstration, and not through the illusion of death or suicide. One can not die because he never was born; physical birth and death are the propagation of illusion. All of me that exists reflects God, is one of God's ideas, and is as eternal and perfect as God Himself. The rest of me, the part that seemed to be born, does not exist. The illusion of physical birth and death is a part of that universal nightmare called ' human life.' Of this God knows abso- lutely nothing; there is nothing. In our dreams we see the burglar and the pistol as veritable 42 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE realities; but in the morning we know there has been no burglar there. It is just so in the dream of * mortal life'; only in this case neither the dream nor the dreamer exists, for both alike are nothing. (Approbation.) " Some people ask me why I receive material money for healing if there is no materiality. They say with a smile, * Just imagine you have the money and you have it.' Now, I know from Principle that money is nothing; but since I can not secure what is yet to me the first necessary error called food, nor the second necessary error called shelter, without the third error called money, money, therefore, is just as necessary to me until I can demonstrate as it is to any one else.'^ (Hearty approval.) Here I closed my exposition. But one of the ladies rising to go, came to me and placing her hand on my shoulder remarked: " Now before I go I want to say one word to you. In your work you must not tell beginners what you have told us ; if you do you will crush them. You must begin away down," putting one hand almost to the carpet to illustrate. " I do not think I agree with you in this," I contended, " because I thought I should go crazy when I tried to read " Science and Health " UNLOCKING THE DOOR 43 before I discovered the principles which I have been expounding to you this afternoon. When Mrs. Eddy said there was no ' organism,' and then in the next paragraph told how she on one occasion healed thirty people of ' genuine, bona- fide, organic ailments,' I was in despair; but now I know she never meant that she healed any one of anything; she simply helped to rid of a false sense thirty people who had organic ailments, as diagnosed by physicians who were afflicted with mortal mind. ' Science and Health ' should be printed in two colors — Christian Science thoughts, we will say in blue, and mortal mind , thoughts in red ; and then any one could under- j stand it, realizing that the author never meant I for truth anything that was printed in red, that; in such portions she was simply accommodating! herself to those afflicted with mortal mind. Whenj I found the principle which I have been explain-/ ing to you, I could read * Science and Health ' like a primer." But her reply was: " Ah, they are not all like you, they have not studied idealistic philosophy, and I tell you they can not bear it." Here I heard a startling noise, due to the sud- den pushing of chairs and the rushing of those present. I turned from the lady who was talk- ing with me to see what the confusion was about, and observed that they had already U THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE formed a circle about the room, and that every one was standing in perfect military form with the right arm drawn close up to the chest, and the forefinger pointing up like a bayonet, while every eye in the room was riveted on me. The scene was immensely impressive, and I won- dered what it could mean. No one moved a muscle, or took an eye from me. Then the lady from the large cities moved her finger warningly and said: " She is right, she is right, you — can't — ^tell — these — things — to — beginners." This scene was enacted so instantaneously that the plan could not have been extemporized at the m.oment without audible instruction. I conclude, therefore, that this is the common method of solemnly warning members of the inner circle, when they are inclined to go too far in their dis- closures. Here we will pass by some other very interest- ing incidents that occurred. Turning to a copy of " Science and Health " which lay on the table before me, I failed to find the passage for which I looked. On discover- ing that I had been using an old edition, those present very much wanted me to have the latest, and offered to loan me a copy; but I told them that it would not be convenient for me to re- turn it at the end of two weeks. Upon this UNLOCKING THE DOOR 45 remark the leading lady went to the bookcase and brought back a new copy of " Science and Health," saying: " Just let me present you with this." But I felt that I had no right to take it as I did not believe in Christian Science. So I replied : " No, I do not want you to give it to me, there is no reason why you should; I prefer to buy it of you." However, she insisted, saying: " Christian Science has done everything for me ; it has brought me health, and happiness, and money, and no good thing has it withheld. I have never met such an enquiring mind before in my life; so you must let me give it to you." Here the company started to go, and the two ladies after a little private consultation said: " Now, this is something we are not supposed to do, but would you care to see Mrs. Eddy's memorial room ? " I assured them that I would ; and so we visited the memorial room. The ladies were perfectly charming; and as we admired some of the ex- quisite things in the room, the leading lady re- marked : "You know at our present stage of develop- ment we must make things just as beautiful as 46 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE They were so sure that I was a Christian Scientist that I began to wonder how I might gracefully remind them again that I was not. So I remarked that I had a very beautiful stone church of the English Gothic. But the sugges- tion failed to carry, and the lady turned to me, saying in the most winsome manner: " Yes, and probably you can bring your whole Church over with you." I have no criticism on any of those present at the meeting here described. They were cour- teous, and I believe sincere. This occurred some ten years ago. But since that time I have lis- tened to several Christian Science lecturers with the exasperated feelings of one who understood fully the unfairness of their methods and yet was powerless to set matters right. They were addressing many members of other Churches who had been invited by beautifully printed cards, while the adroit lectures were calculated to draw these members from their own Churches without enlightening them on the real merits of Christian Science. These addresses, though per- fectly true to " Science and Health," were so subtly woven and carefully evasive, that they could but leave wrong impressions upon the minds of the people concerning Christian Science. Either they should not invite members of other Churches or else they should lift the veil. They UNLOCKING THE DOOR 47 should not leave the impression of some deep, sweet mystery, since there is no mystery in Christian Science as understood by their leaders. Whether it is true or not, it is so simple that a wayfaring man, though a fool, could understand it if it were explained. If they were frank and above-board about their views, I should have the most kindly feelings toward any one who ac- cepted them; though I think I know with mathe- matical certainty that their system taken as a whole is both false and dangerous. Dean Charles R. Brown took Mrs. Eddy's course of lectures twenty-five or thirty years ago. But now, I am told on what seems to be good authority, that even a Christian Scientist is not allowed to take the course of instruction in Boston, unless he has been a trusted practitioner for three years; and then he may receive the instruction only behind locked doors. It will be observed that the institution is at last under strict business management. Ill THE TRICK OF TWO LANGUAGES A DAM was the father of Abel. Translated r\ into Christian Science language, this would read, " An illusion was the father of a sensual belief." Mrs. Eddy's language is English in spelling and pronunciation, but in meaning it is largely an unknown tongue. This is why the uninstructed reader can not under- stand it. In the sentence, " Adam was the father of Abel " the only words that retain their English meaning are " was," " the," and " of." The Christian Science meanings for " Adam," " father," and " Abel " are to be found nowhere in the world except in Mrs. Eddy's dictionary. This makes " Science and Health " largely a cipher message. For the meaning of all impor- tant words you must go to Mrs. Eddy, and not to English lexicons. No one else, so far as I know, has ever had the audacity to do a thing like this; and it is clearly a case of falsifying the meaning of words. When she says that the word " fowl " means " soaring aspirations," it is not only ridiculous, but it is false. Almost every 48 TRICK OF TWO LANGUAGES 49 sentence in " Science and Health " contains some words used with their right meanings, and others used with their falsified meanings. If, therefore, the reader does not reaHze this, he is lost. To read her book as she intends you should, the mind must fly back and forth be- tween these two languages with the swiftness of a weaver's shuttle. This strange procedure of changing the truth- ful meanings of words was made necessary through Mrs. Eddy's desire to make the Bible appear to harmonize with " Science and Health.'* They were clearly so contradictory that nothing short of this drastic measure could pull them into harmony. If she felt inspired to write a new Bible, she had a right to do so; but she had no right to falsify the meaning of the words in which our Bible was written. How angry 1 should be if the publishers of this book put a glossary in the back assigning all kinds of false and ridiculous meanings to my words. Yet this is the very way Mrs. Eddy has dealt with the Bible, and if God is not angry, then He has no interest in the Scriptures. Under the guise of interpreting the Scriptures she has substituted a new Bible by falsifying the words. This unwarranted use of language still fur- ther serves Christian Science by keeping it a mystery to those who would be its enemies if 50 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE they understood it. It also makes Christian Science appear beautifully deep and almost mi- raculous to the eighty per cent of its members who are not instructed. Here, then, is a sample of Mrs. Eddy's dic- tionary which she calls a " Glossary " : " Adam — Error ; a falsity ; sickness, death, ' dust to dust,' red sandstone; nothingness; a product of nothing, as the mimicry of something." "Angels — God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intui- tions." " Children — God's spiritual thoughts. The children that seem to be born of physical parents are defined as, * Sensual and mortal beliefs ; Counterfeits of crea- tion.' " "Death — An illusion, the lie of life in matter; the unreal and untrue." " Dust— Nothingness." "Ears — Not organs of the so-called corporeal senses, but spiritual understanding." " Evening— Mistiness of mortal thought." " Eyes — Spiritual discernment." "Firmament — Spiritual understanding; the scientific line of demarcation between Truth and error, between Spirit and so-called matter." " Good— God." " Mother-God." " Purse — Error." " Rock — Spiritual foundation." " Sheep — Innocence ; inoffensiveness ; those who follow their leader." " Sun — The symbol of Soul governing man." It is perfectly plain that, while the foregoing TRICK OF TWO LANGUAGES 51 is English in form, it is altogether a new lan- guage in meaning. We will now read a little from " Science and Health " to show what it is like. These readings are from the edition bearing the date 1906. In each case the brackets immediately follow the word defined. Page 5, line 2^. "If prayer nourishes the belief that sin [false sense] is cancelled, and that man [a counterfeit of creation] is made better by merely praying [using imaginary sounds], it is an evil [more illusion]. He [the imaginary-self] grows worse [has intensified il- lusions] who continues in sin [illusion] be- cause he thinks himself [non-existent-self] for- given." " An apostle [a beautiful-thought-of-God] says [states through imaginary sounds] that the Son of God [God's most beautiful idea] came to destroy the works [apparent-deeds] of the devil [the only evil, the lie of nothingness]." Page 7, line 6. "Audible prayer [imaginary sounds] is impressive [thrills imaginary nerves] ; it gives momentary solemnity and elevation to thought [ false-thought] ; but does it produce any lasting benefit? " Page II, line 32. " * The prayer [right- thinking] of faith [the understanding that God is All, and that the physical body and its pains 52 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE are nothing] shall save the sick ' [those having illusions], says the Scriptures [that which seems to be expressed through non-existent material ink and paper]. What is this prayer? A mere request that God will heal the sick [the non- existent-self having illusions] has no power to gain more of the divine presence than is always at hand. The beneficial effect of such prayer for the sick [the non-existent man who has illu- sions] on the human mind [the false sense], making it [the false sense] act more powerfully on the body [nothing] through a blind faith in God. This, however, is one belief casting out another." That a non-existent mortal mind could have illusions is the most monstrous absurdity ever believed by any one. And yet, this is what Christian Scientists do believe, and blush when their attention is called to it. Although they never swerve from their steadfastness to this wild belief, yet they admit that it can not be ex- plained. Here is the difficulty: their doctrine that God is All will not permit of mortal mind; but they have mortal mind, so what can they do ? They will consistently believe in this colossal inconsistency. Page 64, line 26. " Until it is learned that God is the Father of all [beautiful thoughts, be- cause physical children do not exist], let mar- TRICK OF TWO LANGUAGES 53 riage [the union of hearts, and the illusion of physical union] continue, and let mortals [false beliefs] permit no such disregard of law [be- liefs of mortal mind for keeping order in an il- lusory physical society] as may lead to a worse [more illusory] state of society [imaginary phys- ical society] than now exists." Page 64, line 18. "Furthermore, the time cometh of which Jesus [God's most beautiful thought] spake [expressed himself in imaginary sounds], when he declared that in the resurrec- tion [when God's thoughts rise above the false sense of materiality which they never had] there shall be no more marrying nor giving in marriage [forming illusory physical unions], but men shall be as the angels [spiritual intui- tions]. Then shall soul [thought of God] re- joice in its own, wherein passion [false belief] hath no part. Then white-robed purity [God's compound idea] will unite in one person [com- pound idea] masculine wisdom and feminine love [God's strong and lovely ideas], spiritual understanding, and perpetual peace." Mrs. Eddy tells us on page 349 that none of the existing languages would express Christian Science. Consequently she manufactured, for the old familiar words, such meanings as I have put in brackets. The people who invented lan- guage lived in a world of illusions and, in the 54 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE stupidity of false belief, created most of their words as symbols for things which did not exist. Unfortunately, the Bible was written in these misleading symbols, and told nearly nothing but lies until Mrs. Eddy invented " brand new " definitions ; then, behold ! the Bible taught exactly what was found in " Science and Health." However, the English language would readily have expressed Christian Science if its founder had been willing to appear out of harmony with the Scriptures. Page 92, line 21. "Uncover error [nothing- ness] and it turns the lie upon you. Until the fact concerning error [the illusions taught by the natural sciences] — namely, its nothingness — appears, the moral demand will not be met, and the ability to make nothing of error [the so- called forces of nature] will be wanting. We should blush to call that real which is only a mis- take [what the sciences teach]." Page 75, line 13. " He [Jesus, God's most beautiful thought] restored Lazarus [made his old illusory body again appear] by the under- standing that he had never died, not by an ad- mission that his body was dead and lived again. Had he believed that Lazarus had lived or died in his body [nothingness], he would have stood on the same plane of belief with those who buried the body [imagined they did], and he could not, TRICK OF TWO LANGUAGES 55 therefore, have resuscitated it [have made the illusory body again appear]." Lest this kind of reading prove wearisome, I will give in continuous, narrative form Mrs. Eddy's idea of Jesus. God is the Father of His own ideas. God's Jesus [not man's Jesus] was one of God's eternal and most beautiful thoughts. The " Vir- gin-mother conceived this idea of God, and gave to her ideal the name of Jesus. . . . Woman perceived this spiritual idea, though at first faintly developed in infant form." This perfect idea of God partook partly of Mary's illusion, since the thought was perceived by her. Con- sequently, this perfect thought of God had to struggle somewhat with human illusions, though He always knew them to be illusions. If he had been entirely severed from human illusions, our false minds could not have been aware of him. Jesus, the perfect thought of God, was ever tri- umphant over the error associated with him, and the error in which others were so deeply sub- merged, and thus demonstrated the difference between a person who is an eternal thought of God and the false person who appears to have been born of non-existent flesh. Human beings, better known as false beliefs, killed Jesus, as they falsely thought, but "the lonely precincts of the tomb,"— a form of belief 56 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE into which his enemies could not enter while they thought they were physically alive, — " gave Jesus a refuge from his foes." In this densest illusion, the sepulchre, Jesus grappled with error, until he demonstrated its nothingness and again stood before them in his old illusory body. " His disciples believed Jesus dead while he was hid- den in the sepulchre; whereas he was alive, demonstrating within the narrow tomb the power of Spirit to overrule mortal, material sense." Those who first saw Jesus, after his demon- stration that the tomb was an illusion, thought him a spirit, though Christian Science knows that there is but one Spirit, God ; so Jesus made plain to them that it was the same illusory body which he had possessed before the deeper illu- sion of death. " To convince Thomas of this, he caused him to examine the nail-prints and the spear-wounds." And then, after another short, probationary period, he demonstrated the noth- ingness of this resuscitated body and rose above all material sense. This resuscitated body faded into nothingness as false sense disappeared. " In this, his final demonstration, called the ascen- sion, which closed the earthly record of Jesus, he rose above the physical knowledge of his disciples, and the material senses saw him no more. . . . Glory be to God and peace to the TRICK OF TWO LANGUAGES 67 struggling hearts! " (But I quite prefer the ac- count of Jesus given in the New Testament.) It must not be forgotten that '' Science and Health" repeatedly affirms that God and His sons, that is, God and His perfect ideas, can have no knowledge of non-existent error; it is the mortal mind that is cognizant of error and not divine Mind. Therefore, this experience of Jesus, a perfect thought of God, struggling with error to demonstrate its nothingness, is impos- sible. However, contradictions were the least of Mrs. Eddy's worries. Using words indiscriminately, with first the true meaning and then the false, makes " Science and Health" a game of "Hide-and-go-seek." Mrs. Eddy says the river " Gihon " means " The rights of women acknowledged morally, civilly, and socially." What a consternation it would have produced in Washington recently, if the pa- rading bands of women had put '' Gihon " on their banners. It would be just as sensible, how- ever, to say that " Gihon " means a wooden- horse, or a dish of ice cream. How did Mrs. Eddy know that Jacob's son " Gad " meant " Science ? " It is a wonder she did not say that " Gad " was a pesky fly. And then, what a suit- able, brother he would have been for " Dan," who is defined as " Animal magnetism." What a dreadful doctrine it is to teach that 58 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE parents are " non-existent illusions " bringing forth, instead of children, " Sensual beliefs, counterfeits of creation.'* This is worse than the smallpox. It makes but little difference what a word means if all agree as to what it shall mean, but to say that a little " child " is a " Sensual be- lief " calls for censure or pity. Whichever Mrs. Eddy deserves, may God forgive her. Is it any wonder that '' you must begin away down on the carpet, not to crush beginners ? '* How any one could receive such instruction is the greater mystery. The prohibition of preach- ing in Christian Science Churches was a prac- tical necessity to save it from ridicule and defeat. Only lectures, carefully censored, are safe. The leaders of this cult claim that at least eighty per cent of their own people do not understand it; but no one ever heard them tell why. They wish Christian Science to appear mysterious. Whereas, it is merely hidden under the false use of words. Bring it from under cover, and any one can master it in a fraction of the time it took him to learn the multiplication table. IV THE BIBLE— LIES AND CIPHER MESSAGES WE have already seen, to some extent, how Mrs. Eddy interprets the Bible; but we will now turn to that portion of her book which she specifically designates as the " Key to the Scriptures." She begins with Genesis, as she tells us, partly because " the real and living prelude " is so brief, and " the preponderance of unreality '* so great, that the book of Genesis as a whole " is the his- tory of the untrue image of God, named a sinful mortal." The Bible, as it stands, does not re- veal God : on the contrary it misrepresents Him. Therefore, she proceeds to change the Bible, and then shows that it harmonizes with " Science and Health." *' When the crude forms of human thought take on higher symbols and significations, the scientifically Christian view of the universe will appear." That is to say, after Mrs. Eddy has changed all the principal words of the Bible nar- rative, it then harmonizes with her views. When 60 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE she has substituted new words, it appears that instead of creating the earth and stars God merely unfolded His spiritual ideas." The writer of Genesis foolishly believed that there was a material substance called water — hence, his mis- take ! God could not move upon the face of the waters because there are none. He simply said, ** to the darkness upon the face of error, God is All-in-all." " God said, Let there be light." . Mrs. Eddy says : " This light is not from the sun, nor from volcanic flames, but it is the revelation of Truth and spiritual ideas." Here again the Biblical writer was mistaken, for there is no such light as that which is studied and taught in all our schools. There are no light waves traveling at the rate of 186,000 miles per second. This is the " lie " of mortal mind. It is perfectly clear that Mrs. Eddy believes no part of Genesis as it stands; because she elimi- nates important words and substitutes new ones in practically every sentence. Notice how she changes the next verse, in which God says: " Let there be a firmament." But Mrs. Eddy says in substance, " Let there be spiritual under- standing." Or : " Spiritual understanding is the firmament, THE BIBLE 61 whereby human conception distinguishes between Truth and error." Christian Scientists are always testifying to their great appreciation of the Scriptures; and it may be true; yet it is not an appreciation of the Bible given us by the inspired writers, but a substitute Bible. "And God called the firmament heaven." But Mrs. Eddy called it, " Calm and exalted thoughts." "And the evening and the morning were the second day." But Mrs. Eddy says, that it was not " material darkness and dawn." It was the " dawn of ideas, . . . forming each successive stage of progress." " God said. Let the waters be gathered to- gether unto one place." But Mrs. Eddy said : " Spirit gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels." There are no Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but there is a proper grouping of thoughts in God's mind. " And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind." But Mrs. Eddy says : "God determines the gender of His own ideas. Gender consists of Mind, not matter. . . . The divine Mind . . . names the fe- male gender last, in the ascending order of crea- 62 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE tion." Physical sex among animals and vege- tables is an illusion. " And the evening and the morning were the third day." But Mrs. Eddy says that v^hen God had determined the gender of His own ideas, ** The third stage in the order of Christian Science " was reached ; but there was no phys- ical fruit tree bearing physical fruit. " God said, Let there be lights in the firma- ment of heaven." But Mrs. Eddy said : " This text gives the idea of the refraction of thought, as it ascends higher." There were no sun, moon, and stars, as mortals suppose, to give light, but instead, " Truth and love enlighten the understanding. . . . The sun is a metaphorical representation of Soul outside the body." Hear, ye mortals! there is no physical light, and no physical head; neither is there any phys- ical sunshade to keep the imaginary light from the imaginary head; they all alike are illusions, the same as sickness and death. " And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven." But Mrs. Eddy said: " The fowls . . . correspond to aspirations soaring beyond and above corporeality." Mor- tals convert these '' soaring aspirations " into that which false sense calls meat, and then indulge THE BIBLE 63 in the illusion of eating them. If I can not keep well without believing in that kind of a Bible, I quite prefer to be sick. "And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth." But Mrs. Eddy says : " Spirit is symbolized by strength, presence, and power." According to this God made no whales, but he has some " whaling " big ideas. "And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply." God blessed the whales and living creatures; but Mrs. Eddy says: " Spirit blesses the multiplication of its own pure and perfect ideas," but "mortal mind in- verts the true likeness, and confers animal names and natures upon its own misconceptions." " And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creep- ing things, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so." But Mrs. Eddy says : " Spirit diversifies, classifies, and individualizes all thoughts, which are as eternal as " God who conceives them." The beautiful thoughts of God which the in- spired writer misnamed cattle are as ancient as God, — veal and beef do not exist. God's eternal ideas, misnamed " cattle and beasts," are frolic- some nevertheless, because as the " Founder of 64. THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE Christian Science " says, " His infinite ideas run and disport themselves." " The tireless worm, creeping slowly over lofty summits," is not a physical worm, but " patience symbolized." " The serpent of God's creating is neither subtle nor poisonous, but a wise idea, charming in its adroitness." Nothing less than one of these beautiful ser- pents could have woven the intricate fabric of " Science and Health," because it is '' charming in its adroitness." " And God said. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." But Mrs. Eddy says : "The world believes in many persons; but if God is personal, there is but one person, because there is but one God. . . . God has countless ideas as sons and daughters " but they are not other persons, since, '' His personality can only be reflected, not transmitted." Standing before a mirror, " If you lift a weight, your reflection does this also. If you speak, the lips of this likeness move in accord with yours." Then she likens "divine Science'* to the mirror; God is the person before this mirror, and man is the impersonal image in the mirror. However, Mrs. THE BIBLE 65 Eddy, one of these mere images in the mirror, is writing to us, the other impersonal images in the mirror, asking us to think of ourselves, the mirror, and of God, who is before the mirror. But now, the images are asked to perform all the functions of personality. Our images in the mirror never write books, nor found churches. The truth is that here is a head-on collision be- tween two trains of thought, and the wreckage of Christian Science is strewn all about. Or, to use another figure, she has come to the end of her bridge that does not connect with the shore; but that does not stop her march, because she just turns and promenades back, speaking fluently all the way. I am persuaded that this particular image in the mirror says a great many things that the God before the mirror never thinks of saying. An image of God that can think and will, is all that intelligent people mean by another person. " Every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." But Mrs. Eddy says : " God gives the lesser idea of Himself, to sup- port the greater." But that is hardly true if His ideas are only images of Himself in a mir- ror. All images in a mirror are supported by the one who stands before it. " But there went up a mist from the earth, and 66 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE watered the whole face of the ground." Here Mrs. Eddy says : " The lie claims to be the truth, when present- ing the exact opposite of truth." Is that "The Key to the Scriptures," which flatly calls the text a lie ? When Genesis speaks of God creating the body of man out of the dust of the ground, Mrs. Eddy asks : " Is this addition to His creation real or un- real? Is it the truth? or is it a He, concerning man and God? It must be the latter for God presently curses the ground." " Belief is be- neath understanding. It involves theories of material hearing, sight, touch, taste, and smell, termed the five senses. The appetites and pas- sions, sin, sickness, and death, follow in this train of error, or a belief in intelligent matter." This, I repeat, is no " Key." It is simply stat- ing flatly and bluntly what a big lie the second chapter of Genesis is. Even her new language can not save this Scripture. Finally she says : *' Mortals must emerge from this notion of material life as all-in-all. They must peck their shells open with Christian Science, and look up- ward." Can any one imagine an image in a mirror pecking its shell open? God, the only person, has no shell to peck open. If God before the THE BIBLE 67 mirror of " divine Science " were pecking His shell open, doubtless there would be a reflection of it; otherwise not. But Christians do not think that their physical bodies are all-in-all; they look upon them as the instruments of God's loving will, when their wills are dedicated to His. The Christian thinks that the human hand is beautiful when it gives " a cup of cold water in His name," and still more beautiful when it is ministering to the wants of His dear children in hospitals and orphan's homes; and not less beautiful when it is dressing the wounds of Christian Scientists, since they can not manage surgical cases. There are Christian Scientists who wear wooden legs, and these are preferable to dangling trouser legs, making their possessors more agreeable and useful in society. A friend of mine told me how his uncle in the South used to read a commentary with the Scriptures at family prayers, but after about three months, old " Aunt Dinah," the colored slave, made bold to tell her master one morning, that she preferred the gospel " cl'ar." After this brief study of the " Key to the Scriptures," I am happy to be counted in " Aunt Dinah's " class. No, this is not a " Key to the Scriptures," it is the worst kind of travesty on the Scriptures. It either changes them into a cipher message, or else brands them as a " lie." CHRISTIAN SCIENCE EXPERIENCE THE genuine Christian Scientist lives in a beautiful, psychic state. This is not a case of posing, but a matter of deep feel- ing. This experience is something to be reck- oned with. It contains some of the truest and best facts of life. While these facts are not pe- culiar to Christian Science, yet they are strongly accented by it. Such an experience at its best is a light shining in a dark world, causing the sad and suffering to look and wonder. When a chance companion enquires, " Wherefore your happiness," the possessor of this experi- ence calmly and gratefully answers, " Christian Science ! " When the tempted writhe and grovel, he confidently says, " Evil hath no power." His Master is ever saying, " Peace, be still," and the storm ceases. Beyond doubt thousands of Chris- tian Scientists once fretful and discouraged have found peace and joy. Their most serious mistake is in supposing that this experience belongs exclusively to Chris- tian Science, and that it proves the doctrines 68 EXPERIENCE 69 taught by Mrs. Eddy. They should have found this happy state of mind sooner, and the churches should have been more proficient in helping them to find it. But all this aside, the simple fact is, they have found an experience which they gladly commend to others, and upon this rock they are striving to build their Church. It is just here that they succeed, in spite of the great error and danger connected with Christian Science. Of this error and danger, however, they are oblivious, because the majority are un- informed on the main points of their religion. Yet they are by no means the only ones who have made the mistake of identifying a happy expe- rience with a false religion. To prove this, we have only to observe the people about us. I have known of individuals, once happy in their mother's church, becoming almost delirious with a new-found joy after enlisting under the ban- ner of Mr. Dowie. A charming little woman, a member of my church, coming under the in- fluence of the Russelites, was seized with such a new happiness that she could not listen to any- thing I had to say. Likewise, a beautiful and well-educated parishioner of mine, on becoming infatuated with the faith-cure of the Alliance people, was made a '' Magdalene " for sweetness and gentleness, — she was always breaking her alabaster box of precious ointment. Another one 70 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE becoming a Mental Science healer, carried on a nation-wide correspondence, and always had pa- tients visiting her from distant parts; she, too, was filled with calm and sweet repose. In any lo- cal church, of whatever name or order, there are some who are cooling off while others are enter- ing into richer and deeper experiences. Some- times, also, the sending of a member from a splen- did mother church to labor in one of its weakest missions will work in him a marvelous trans- formation, simply because of new responsibilities and beautiful intimacies with a little band of con- secrated workers. During my own youth, I ex- perienced the psychic influence of an extreme type of conversion and felt a glory ineffable. I still know a deep peace, but it is associated with a different set of ideas. Thus changes are al- ways taking place, yet multitudes of regular church members love and toil without weariness or complaint. All this proves that happiness is not peculiar to any one school of religion and, it might be added, neither is character. Furthermore, all happiness both appears and feels the same. For this reason, some men are very religious when they are slightly intoxicated; being happy they manifest new powers of eloquence, and bear abundant testimony to their religious comfort. It should be self-evident to all, that the value EXPERIENCE 71 of experience, in the long run, must rest upon a rational foundation. This would prevent the grave mistake of supposing that a mere, com- fortable feeling, or the power to heal, proves the tenets of a faith. Men should know that all re- ligious experience on the subjective side K. largely the same, since human nature is the same. A hundred different cults have healed and made happy their devoted followers. If a woman loves a man who appears to be worthy, she is just as happy as if he were worthy, until the mis- take is discovered. Her love and happiness at the start will not prove his character, but hers. Therefore lovers and religion should be pretty well investigated before we surrender our hearts. In like manner, when a quack doctor appears in a community, the enthusiasm may run so high that every word of caution falls on deaf ears. Yet caution is the more necessary in such a case, because no quack ever eliminates all truth from his advice. Neither was any religion ever so false as to eliminate all truth from its system. It is a matter of common observation that there is much misplaced love in this world of ours. That does not mean that there is too much love, but that its objects should be chosen with greater care. This principle fully applies to the religion we espouse. We should insist on a full explanation at least; for, on account of care- 72 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE lessness on the one hand, and overconfidence in subjective experience on the other, innumerable people have gone after religions that could not stand the test of an intelligent investigation or of a prolonged experience. It requires no argument to show that one should be happy in his religion, whatever it may be, and thereby prove his sincerity and devotion ; otherwise he simply reveals his own moral de- fects. For nothing is more certain than that any one will lose strength of character and fullness of joy, if he is not watchful; and that the keep- ing of these treasures is every man's chief duty, and requires vigilance, — a price that many are not willing to pay. Peace and happiness alone/i as we have already said, do not prove a religion/ true. If they did, all religions would be proved true. Experience must be corroborated by sound reason, before it is final. Through carelessness at this point, many have come to grief in follow- ing religions that began by giving them hope and happiness. This was notably true of many who followed Mr. Dowie with implicit faith. It is hardly less true with a large number who staked their all on Christian Science, and lost. For while Christian Science has made many people happy and morally better, at the same time it has wrought dreadful tragedies, both physical and moral, to numerous families, as witnessed by my EXPERIENCE 73 own eyes. Many who once were happy in Chris- tian Science now wish before God they had never heard of it. Careful observation will show that any family incurs a great risk in accepting this form of religion. Furthermore, this cult contains no good thing that is not more richly expressed in the simple, safe, and sane religion of Jesus; and besides, the religion of Jesus is free from the gross error that so encumbers the religion of Mrs. Eddy. Neither is the error in her writings *' nothingness," but it is the dan- gerous, palpable error of an untrained mind. Even Mrs. Eddy's Christian experience will not quite stand the highest test. In reading " Science and Health," I have carefully com- pared her religious experience with that of St. Paul and other Bible characters, and find it want- ing in the richer and deeper elements which glorify the latter. Her love lacks a certain quality always present in the love of the saints. Besides, she is ever stultifying her intellect and denying her senses while using them ; even as she denies her personality while asserting it. Claim- ing that we are impersonal thoughts of God, and not other wills, takes all meaning out of fellow- ship with God. On the other hand, treating us as illusions destroys the force of her appeal. While reading " Science and Health " my heart yearned for the reality in the writings of St. 74 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE Paul, who knew himself a sinner capable of diso- bedience, repentance, and reconciliation. He knew that no man was as perfect as God ; yet he believed that every man should be pressing toward the mark of his high calling. Paul saw us as members of God's family, and not as a mere constellation of ideas. Man, "the idea perfectly reflecting God," can not improve, as Mrs. Eddy tells us, while the other man whom she calls an illusion does not exist anyway. The difference between St. Paul's Letters and " Sci- ence and Health " is the difference between oratorio and "rag-time." Of course, Mrs. Eddy's religious experience was superior to her teachings, because she zvas a person even though she denied it ; and this fact compelled her to act like a person, in spite of her erroneous views. She appears in a bad light, simply because she is grappling with a problem too big for her. Rarely are such degrees of mind-hunger, lack of training, and restlessness, combined in one per- son. Her strong determination added to these characteristics made Mrs. Eddy a phenomenon. Therefore, while carefully avoiding her great intellectual mistakes, we should at the same time throw the mantle of charity over her ill-advised efforts to expound the meaning of the universe. Many Christian Scientists have a rich expe- rience which is nothing but just plain Chris- EXPERIENCE 75 tianity, with the novelty of a few mysteries and new associations added. But where they are sufficiently advanced to understand all that Mrs. Eddy taught, life becomes involved in an end- less chain of absurdities. Such Christian Scien- tists must become impervious to absurdities or else hypocritical. As further evidence of the appalling lack of understanding among devoted Christian Scien- tists I give the following incident : Two or three years ago I called at the office of a Christian Science State Press Agent. I was disappointed at not finding him in the city. But the old gentleman in the office asked if there were not something that he could do for me. After a little conversation with him I said : " Since Christian Science teaches that nothing but God and His perfect ideas exist, I do not understand who there is to have illusions. If God had undeveloped children it would be rea- sonable to expect illusions more or less in the course of development." The old gentleman replied : " I do not believe I could answer that ques- tion, and am very sorry Mr. is not in the city, but there is a lawyer on such a street, just around the corner, who is a good friend of Mr. , and by the way, a good Christian Scien- tist. Now, he would be glad to see you, and 76 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE could answer any questions you might ask him." I knew perfectly well that none of them could answer the question, but the pleasure of hearing what a Christian Science lawyer would say on the subject was something too good to miss. So I called on the lawyer, and after explaining my presence repeated the statement which I had made to the old gentleman. " Well," the lawyer said, " it is this way, you know how objects appear inverted in a camera; it is not that these objects are really upside down, but only that they appear to be." " Now, that is a nice illustration," said I, " but there is only one little point I wish to know, and that is, just who sees things upside down, since there is no one but God and His perfect ideas ? " The lawyer paid no attention to my question, but proceeded to give another illustration of what an illusion was. I again remarked: " Please excuse me, for there is but one lit- tle point I wish to know, and that is, just who sees it in this false way since there is nothing in existence but God and His perfect ideas? " Then lie replied : " I see your point, but I don't believe I could answer that off-hand. Now, you write your question down, and when Mr. comes home I will ask him, and then I will write you, EXPERIENCE 77 and see that you get just the right answer, for I observe that you are a very inteUigent man." I wrote the question carefully, left my address, thanked him, and departed, wondering what he would write me when he learned that the Agent could not answer the question. I likewise pon- dered over the thought of how a man who knew enough to practice law could overlook a matter so fundamental in the consideration of a ques- tion. After two weeks I received a letter from the lawyer, stating that he had laid my question be- fore Mr. , but they realized that since I was such a scholarly and learned man I should be satisfied with nothing short of a perfect answer; so they had decided to send my question up to headquarters, believing that I would not ob- ject to waiting a little longer if I knew that I was to get a correct answer. Knowing that they could not answer the ques- tion at headquarters, and realizing that they would not care to admit the absurdity of a " non- existent " person having "illusions," I waited for the next letter with increased anticipation. After about two months the letter came. It was courteous, and offered to render any further service possible. It also contained the following statement from headquarters : " Where ministers and scholars are interested 78 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE in Christian Science, it is quite best that they should think out such points for themselves." Now, in spite of the absurd notion that human beings do not exist; that the things for which they daily strive are "nothing"; that the laws of nature which enfold them are ''illusions"; that there is nothing to improve, since God's ideas, the only realities, are perfect; yet Chris- tian Scientists do act as if they were real beings. They give the lie to their philosophy, and de- vote themselves to the practical necessities, striv- ing as do other common-sense people, to look on the bright and hopeful side of life; they strive to learn, and develop, and conquer. Though they deny the existence of all mortals, yet they are ever trying to instruct these " non-existent beings" with the fine faith that they will suc- ceed. Though their theoretical inconsistencies undo them, yet their practical inconsistency in repudiating their theories in daily life saves them in part. Though Christian Scientists deny their per- sonal as well as their physical existence, yet we know that they do exist, and that their expe- rience is no great mystery; but that it rests on well-established psychic laws, the same as all other human experience. The very novelty of their popular statements excites a feeling of wonder in the common mind, and liberates its EXPERIENCE 79 fancies; and if the individual peacefully submits to the idea that there is no world of the physical senses, it will enable him to float off into a state of feeling akin to drifting. Then, when he con- centrates his mind on the thought that God is one, and God is all, and that man is just one of God's beautiful ideas, all complexness with its distractions ceases, and for the time being he has reached a state of perfect peace. Psychologically we all are capable of this experience of abstrac- tion and this feeling of unity; every man may learn to float if he has not learned to do so al- ready. He can accomplish this feat with fifty different sets of ideas. He can accomplish it without being religious at all, or he may reach this state of mind in connection with any re- ligion there is, if his reason does not revolt against the religion. This experience of calm and harmony is a legitimate side of life, and vastly important when the ideas associated with it are true to facts. When one has found this peaceful center in God and his own soul, if at the same time he can connect this inner unity and beauty with all the outer relations of life, he is simply sharing the experience of Jesus and St. Paul. However, the psychic state here de- scribed may not be used as a proof of the theories held by all who have reached a peaceful state of mind, for many happy people hold views 80 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE which are the worst kind of travesty on the teachings of Jesus. Possibly the closest analogy to this psychic state, apart from any religious aim, is that which is sometimes experienced in the simple pleasure of canoeing. You are comfortably reclining on a cushion, without any effort on your part you are completely bathed inside and out with the all-pervading ozone; you feel the delightful prick of a million little points of light and heat from the sun; you are soothed by the gentle, gliding motion of the canoe; you are lulled by the quiet drip of the blade; you are gazing into the vast overarching sky of blue; you are conscious that everything is blending and fusing with your own soul; and then you become aware of the sweet infinitude of your being, and all care is gone. Christian Science makes its approach by com- ing along with a few startling phrases and astounding promises ; and then seeks to bring the candidate into this experience of peace and one- ness which we have described. If the candidate embarks and gets this comfortable feeling, not being critical, he is usually convinced that the whole system of Christian Science is true, though he has but the vaguest notion of what it is. As already indicated, I am not finding fault with this experience of peace and rest. I am only regretting that it should be associated with EXPERIENCE 81 so many things both dangerous and untrue. However, as the average Christian Scientist knows but little of Mrs. Eddy's teachings, in many things his common sense prevails. It certainly would be interesting to know the innermost feeling of the business managers of this cult, because they are aware of its enormous contradictions and inconsistencies. Yet we only know that they regard a full disclosure of the system as unsafe for the masses, and that they limit their public work to the promulgation of a few catch phrases, and to the propagation of Christian Science experience. " How does Christian Science get such a hold on so many people?" This question can be answered in one phrase: — Through Christian Science experience. You may add to this, if you like, the good fellowship which they cultivate, and the hope of immunity from sickness. It is sometimes said that they have scholarly people in their ranks. They have some cultivated people, but I have never yet heard of a scholar who was a Christian Scientist. It is hard to conceive how such a thing could be. VI HEALING WITHOUT MEDICINE THAT a large proportion of those who are more or less sick would recover without treatment from any source, no one doubts. When people seek a physician or healer they do not ordinarily think they will die if they do not receive treatment. Some, however, are so fearful that they solicit aid for every little thing, and even anticipate their slightest trou- bles ; while others go to the opposite extreme and call a physician only as a last resort. But here as elsewhere the middle course is doubtless the best way to proceed. I frequently go without medicine when I have a cold, and fare just the same as Christian Scientists. They say they demonstrate, while I say nothing about it. Yet the obvious fact is that we get well at the same time. It is morally certain that ninety per cent of the demonstrations reported at the mid-week meetings of the Christian Science churches have no significance beyond the fact that ordinary ail- ments have been allowed to take their natural course; for thousands of other people have 82 HEALING WITHOUT MEDICINE 83 fared equally well without taking medicine or giving their trouble more than a passing thought. And that multitudes of others, both within and without the Christian Science church, are always well, observation will prove. Health is the rule and not the exception. Nevertheless, neither class is immune from the common, human ail- ments. Christian Scientists are inconvenienced by little ailments, and frequently die of the more serious diseases. Like other people they always die of something before they are through with sickness. During an influenza epidemic, two friends of mine attended one of their testimony meetings in Washington, where the coughing and hacking were so prevalent throughout the con- gregation that my friends decided it was not a safe place to be. It was a regular rendezvous for those afflicted with colds and influenza ; and since Christian Science has a large mortality through consumption and pneumonia, such gath- erings are not without danger to its own people. The children of Christian Scientists usually have measles, whooping-cough, and other children's diseases. (My wife and sons never had the measles, even though we are not of their faith.) Christian Scientists die of cancer, pneumonia, scarlet fever, consumption, and every human ail- ment of which others die. The great majority of them pass from this life before they can be 84 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE called old, while many of them die prematurely because they do not avail themselves of the help at hand. Some go about as cripples because their bones were not properly set when broken. The many tragedies that I have witnessed among them would make a pitiful story. The followers of Mrs- Eddy doubtless mean to be truthful, but when they are not it is simply that they are trying to make the desirable come true; because their doctrines and method of heal- ing compel them to say they are well when it is evident they are sick. Hence, some insist that they are well until they are dead. The First Reader in my city testified that her eyes were so far restored that she no longer needed glasses ; but on receiving a letter at the post office one day, and thinking herself unobserved, she went through a most trying ordeal to decipher its con- tents. The one who happened to see this thought that she had deliberately falsified, whereas she was foolishly and heroically trying to make it true. That such treatment of the eyes is posi- tively injurious we very well know. It is not my purpose to dogmatize on how much or how little is possible in the way of heal- ing without medicine, though I fully believe that some such healing is achieved. Up to the present time, however, the results are not so encourag- ing as many people believe. For I have closely HEALING WITHOUT MEDICINE 85 watched the practical workings of Christian Science in my parishes for twenty-eight years; and while many were treated whom I knew to be genuinely afflicted, yet not one of this class has ever been healed in all these years. And though several were reported as cured, yet they all either died of their old trouble or else lin- gered on without relief. Now it would be un- reasonable to demand that they should always heal, but when you have seen them fail a hun- dred times without succeeding once your faith inevitably grows weak. I am afraid I shall never witness one such cure to reward a life- long observation. With so many in every city that would make perfect test cases, why do not the Christian Scientists heal a few of these to show what is possible? It is not that all these subjects are unwilling, neither is it because many healers have not tried, for I can testify to an unbroken line of failures and disappointments for nearly a third of a century. I will admit that strong claims have been made concerning some treated under my observation, but the fact is that they died of the very thing of which they were cured. One was healed of cancer of the stomach, but died. Another was treated for tuberculosis for a long period of time, at the rate of five dollars a week, when his wife knew there would be nothing left to support her and the 86 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE baby. Notwithstanding the daily reports of im- provement, he died. Yet another was treated for deafness and blindness until it became neces- sary to stop treatment in order to save enough of her estate to support her for the remaining short period of her life. It was freely reported that she was gaining her sight and hearing, yet there was nothing in it. But what is the use of multiplying instances when they have all been alike? Can you imagine Jesus working on a blind man for two years without any improve- ment at the rate of five dollars a week? And yet the judge said, " See us do all Jesus ever did." The Christian Scientist who believed that earthquakes could be prevented had in some way lost a finger. When asked if he could restore the finger, he answered that he was sure he could. "Then why do you not do it?" he was asked. " Oh," said he, " that is such a little thing I never think of it." He was told that he should think of it, and that it was his duty to restore it if he could, but his reply was : " Why, there are so many good things to do that I never think of taking time for that." Said I : " You take my word for it, there is nothing you can do that will so much help your cause or humanity as to put that finger on. You do HEALING WITHOUT MEDICINE 87 that, and w€ will sit up and take notice." His finger is still off. Some may wonder how a finger could be put on if there is no physical finger. That is sim- ple. The stub of a finger is denser error than a whole finger. Now, if the denser error were to disappear, the more refined error would take its place. When we are rid of all error, there will be no physical fingers at all, such as can bleed and feel pain and pleasure. As Mrs. Eddy teaches, the body of Lazarus alive was more re- fined error than the body of Lazarus dead. Jesus resuscitated the finer illusion of a living body by destroying the denser illusion of a dead body. The more refined error of a whole finger temporarily serves a good purpose until we can altogether demonstrate the nothingness of phys- ical fingers. This is the whole principle of- Christian Science healing. Really it is not heal- ing at all, but the substitution of refined error for dense error until our physical bodies entirely disappear, — not through death, but through dem- onstration. This is what Christian Scientists mean by not dying. It is the belief of this cult that further demon- stration will be necessary after the great illusion of death has been passed. Though the dense error, or nothingness, of Mrs. Eddy's dead body has been put out of sight, yet she still has false 88 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE senses which she is trying to rise above through the old method of demonstration. Just how long it would take to get rid of all false sense of ma- teriality, even she did not know. Relatively few Christian Scientists understand all this, and the information will be -given, if ever, very gradually. As, for instance, a Baptist friend of mine who had become a Christian Scientist told me very earnestly that I was mis- taken in thinking that they did not heal real sick bodies through prayer and faith in God. I re- ported her statement to my friend without a finger. He replied in a confidential voice, and with a smile, " O, no, that is not Christian Science, but faith-cure," and then in a still more confidential tone he continued, '* but she thinks it is Christian Science." Not many months after this, she was made Second Reader. Thus it is clear that not all Second Readers are reliable sources of information on the subject of Chris- tian Science. If Christian Scientists should heal every sick person in the world we should still know, with absolute certainty, that their present explanation of how they heal is false. Nothing could prove their philosophy to be true because it is against all the axioms of the mind, all the facts of the natural sciences, and the deepest desires of the heart. Sickness itself is preferable to their view HEALING WITHOUT MEDICINE 89 of the universe; and this is no rash statement when their system of thought is fully under- stood. Even if we did not know by what means they heal, still we should be compelled to reject their explanation as derogatory to all that is dearest to a rational soul. However, the situa- tion is nothing like this, since we know very well by what means the members of this cult heal, even if they themselves do not. It is a scientific certainty that they unconsciously use the same means as all others who heal without medicine, regardless of the religion or philosophy with which such healing is connected. As a rule it makes little difference whether you take your medicine in milk or water. At least neither the milk nor the water is the medicine. If wittingly or unwittingly you apply the principles of heal- ing, you will gQt the same results, whether they are mixed with Christian Science or Dowieism; though the followers of Mr. Dowie will firmly believe that his " ism " is an essential part of the medicine, and Mrs. Eddy's followers will be equally certain that her " ism " is the healing ele- ment. So think they all, of whatever name or order. But well-informed people know that the particular form of belief has very little, if any- thing, to do with the fact of healing; and as neither Christian Science nor Dowieism has for them a pleasant flavor, they will prefer to take 90 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE their medicine with some system of thought I more agreeable. It must be admitted that the psychic laws of healing are just the same, whether employed in connection with any one of fifty contradictory theories, or in connection with the pure religion of Jesus. Let no one be cen- sured for using the psychic laws of healing, with discretion, but let every one be condemned who employs them wildly, or connects them with absurd and grotesque theories that would under- mine all rational life, and jeopardize the common weal. It would be absurd to suppose that the recognition of psychic laws is a breaking away from God, because the psychic laws are God's laws, and, therefore, to use them intelligently is an act of obedience to the Creator. The Chris- tian Church is remiss for not understanding these laws more fully and employing them more devoutly. Yet these particular laws of God must never be used without due regard for all His other laws; and herein is the remissness of the Christian Science church. It would honor God more if it recognized and obeyed all His laws. Even if there were no laws of nature, as Christian Scientists claim, still it would be no more absurd to take medicine during a serious illness, and at the same time apply the psychic laws of healing, than it is for them to be eating food, which they say does not exist, while trying HEALING WITHOUT MEDICINE 91 to practice the absurd theory that there is no natural world. If it is not safe to dispense with the illusions called food and shelter, neither is it safe in every case to dispense with medicine and surgery. I have practiced healing on myself, and upon patients formerly treated both by Christian Sci- ence and the Immanuel Church. It would be foolish, however, to suppose that I have powers which these Churches do not possess. My suc- cess is quite in keeping with theirs, and subject to the same limitations. Healing without medi- cine is a good thing in its place, but a curse the moment it transcends its proper bounds. Yet the psychic benefits should not be neglected when you have resorted to medicine, for the laws of mind and body, as well as the love and presence of God, should be utilized at all times, whether sick or well, whether it is a case for taking medicine, or a case that may be safely treated without medicine. Mrs. Eddy naturally put her best testimonials into the text-book, *' Science and Health " ; de- voting as she did one hundred pages of valuable space to seventy-one testimonials from persons who had received help. These stories made such a strange impression on my mind that I was moved to tabulate the items which they con- tained. Taking a large sheet of paper, I set 92 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE down the principal data under the following heads : (i) Kinds of ailments;- (2) Number of cures under each disease. (3) The character of the people healed (as bankers, lawyers, mer- chants, housewives, etc.). (4) The sentiments expressed (as love, gratitude, religious fervor, etc.). Then, taking another large sheet of paper, I tabulated the same items found in the testi- monials of a book compiled by a well-known patent medicine firm. When the work was done I laid the two sheets of paper side by side for comparison in the four respects mentioned. The degree of similarity was so striking that it al- most startled me. You could read the two tabulated sheets up or down, crosswise or bias, and they were essentially identical. In each case principal diseases were conspicuous by their ab- sence. Occasionally there was wrought a won- der, according to the report, like the cure of a cancer; but for the most part it was stomach trouble and rheumatism, or nerves and heart, or some other chronic trouble. In both books they nearly all had been at death's door, and had been given up by their physicians. The people in the two sets of stories were similar, judged by their occupations and by the degree of intelligence manifested in their written testimonials. The HEALING WITHOUT MEDICINE 93 love and gratitude toward benefactors, as well as their thanks to God, were almost identical. I even tried the experiment of substituting " bot- tles " for " Science and Health," and vice versa, and found that I could not tell one from the other. (Eliminating, of course, the criticism of the churches found in the Christian Science testi- monials.) Here, then, are the figures out of the one hun- dred pages of " Science and Health " in regard to cures, classified approximately: Cured of tobacco and liquor 13, stomach trou- ble 10, catarrh 10, back and limb trouble 9, eyes 9, rheumatism and neuralgia 8, heart 7, nerves 6, consumption 6, mind trouble 4, tu- mors 4, epilepsy 2, eczema 2, hernia 2, blood poison of a year's standing i, cancer i, asthma i, anemia i, insomnia i, Bright's disease i, varicose vein i, deafness in one ear i. Some of these letters are so very amusing that one wonders why they were published. I some- times think that Christian Scientists have not only lost all sense of humor, but the capacity to recognize the ridiculous. For example here is one testimony: " I was healed of numerous diseases pro- nounced incurable. . . . The healing was so gently done that I was well several days before 94 THE KEY TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE I fully realized it." Her husband, I believe, first discovered that she was well. In addition to the foregoing I have made some examination of about one dozen kinds of heal- ing and find them all alike. There is some hon- esty and some charlatanism in mo»t healing cults. They all do both good and harm. A good psychologist could go the rounds and be an ex- pert in every school because he would under- stand that the theory associated with the works had nothing to do with it. The sensible thing for any one to do is to learn^ a few of the simple truths of scientific psy- chology, relate them to a simple and sane re-| ligion, and then live an unselfish, devoted, Chris- tian life, full of hope and good cheer. Then; God your Father, and wise friends, your broth- ers, and a life devoted to good works, will be a source of blessing never failing. So live in God and for God that you can always say, " Thy will be done," and corroding care will fly away. Call on your physician when you really need him, and do not forget that your minister may have much valuable help to give you in times of spe- cial need. As for Mrs. Eddy, she probably meant all right, but she did not know the modern mind either in religion, theology, philosophy, psychol- ogy, or in Biblical interpretation. It does not HEALING WITHOUT MEDICINE 95 matter, so far as her theories are concerned, whether she was a good woman or not. If her views were true and verifiable, we would accept them whether she was a saint or a sinner. Printed in the United States of America Date Due ^\ -c ' > ^^ ~ " 5- ' ' ***!ii^« Hill UH.--' K ■• • ..; ■^ *«?«»««»»»!! '4'*i ti: NO . ■■"'- i'^ my:. HY2r52 FACULTY API 5 5.!^ M.Vj.'SS .. ■■ 5? i^KtU^^^^^^ I. B_nn a iiirariiiiii )iim ■■v--- mmmm ^ ' ■•,i/,w,im BP955 S97 The real key to Christian science, a Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 1 1012 00010 5223 iiiiiiiiiiiii iPiSWiiiil