CONCLUSION.
The moral of our story is an old one, always new. "There are more things
in heaven and earth than"--anybody short of Mary Baker G. Eddy can put
into a "science." From this text it would be logical to educe a cyclopedia
every month or so. But one little point will do here.
The practise of medicine, notwithstanding its grand achievements, is still
in its infancy. When I am ill, I call a doctor--the best in the vicinity.
It is the custom; and, as Montaigne said, _Que sais-je?_ I am not sure of
much, and when I have "_grippe_" I am quite certain of less than ever. But
the materials I have lately been at work on make me wish that "my doctor,"
instead of scorning all new things, would look into some of them, and add
them to his acquirements. He will have no need to accept "Christian
Science," which has been accurately described as "a way of getting cured
of things by believing something that isn't true." I must excuse "my
doctor" from accepted that inverted "science." But the general subject of
occult and psychic healing is worthy of his attention. "My doctor" knows
much: but, if he should enlarge his knowledge just a little, my faith in
him would stand the increment.
One thing I shall insist on. "My doctor" must not endeavor to supersede
Torquemada, Henry the Eighth, and the learned ecclesiastical doctors of
the Inquisition. He must not interfere with the right of private judgment
in saving the body, as they did in saving the soul. In such a case I
should count them his superiors, inasmuch as the soul is really worth more
than its external machinery, which, in a few years, more or less, must
wear out and go to the cemetery.
The Inquisition honestly held a theory that the soul could only be saved
by accepting a certain creed, and ought to be saved even at the cost of
breaking the body on a wheel. The Inquisition would have been right, if
its creed had really been the thing supposed. But four centuries of
Protestantism have established a different theory: it is that, whatever
any creed may be or do, every man has the prerogative of deciding for
himself the manner of thinking which shall raise him to heaven or lower
him to sheol. Still, I repeat, the soul is worth more than the body, and
if Protestantism applies to the greater, it should apply to the less.
Some things have been settled, I suppose, by long experience, and have
become matters of law for the protection of nations. Civilization requires
that a man who knows nothing of physiology shall not practise surgery;
that scarlet fever shall be quarantined; that school-children shall be
saved from small-pox by vaccination. Medical degrees certify that the
holders have studied medicine long enough at least to know something about
it in a way that the common judgment recognises. Nothing is to be said
against such requirements impartially applied to a whole people. They
simply must be enforced. Christian Science opposes them, dodges them when
it can; for it holds that human beings have no bodies except reflections
of a wretched lie called "mortal mind." In spite of its source, this
dangerous form of insanity should be dealt with as gently as possible,
but certainly should not go unrestrained.[59] Let it conform to laws, not
special to any religion or to any humbug masquerading as a religion, but
general to the citizens who compose a free and sane community.
THE END
FOOTNOTES:
[1] From $3.18 to $6.
[2] Mrs. Eddy's statement in her book, _Retrospection and Introspection_,
p. 61.
[3] For proof in detail see Chapters III. and IV.
[4] Our historical sources of information are referred to as we go along,
but a good deal of it has come from access to original documents, and from
living persons of the highest character who were long and intimately
acquainted with the subject of our chapter. The names of some of these
friends are given by permission.
[5] This circular alone--furnished to the writer by Dr. Quimby's son--is
complete proof as to origin of "mind-healing" in the United States.
[6] The reader is advised to consult the pamphlet and the book here
specified, in connection with our chapter. (Geo. H. Ellis, Publisher,
Boston)--G. C.
[7] These press articles and notices have been examined by the writer, and
are unmistakably genuine, as are the selections.
[8] U. S. Court of Admiralty. Judge Ware was sometimes spoken of as the
leading citizen of Maine.
[9] _The True History of Mental Science_, page 15.
[10] Philosophy of P. P. Quimby, page 53-54.
[11] Mrs. Sarah Ware Mackay.
[12] The gentleman is Hon. Edwin Reed, of Boston, Mass. His name is given
by his permission, from a feeling of gratitude to Dr. Quimby, and profound
respect for his memory.
[13] Mrs. Eddy's complete name, with reference to these gentlemen, would
be Mary Baker Glover Patterson Eddy.
[14] The writer has had these records authenticated at Portland.--G. C.
[15] The original print has been in my hands. A copy of the letter is
published in full in _The True History of Mental Science_ (Appendix
A).--G. C.
[16] The gentleman here traduced is Dr. L. M. Marston of Boston. He is a
practising physician, and a thoughtful, honest man. He is the author of a
well-written book entitled, _Essentials of Mental Healing_, which is much
superior to _Science and Health_, though containing some of the overdone
conceptions of mind-cure in general. But Dr. Marston properly employs
material as well as mental medicine.--G. C.
[17] _Retrospection and Introspection_, by Mary Baker G. Eddy, 10th
thousand, 1896. Pages 7, 8, 9.
[18] Ibid., page 35.
[19] _Retrospection and Introspection_, p. 10.
[20] Ibid., Page 12.
[21] The Great Novel, p. 17.
[22] _Retrospection and Introspection_, p. 28 to p. 35.
[23] The holy romance, page 28 and rest of chapter.
[24] _Retrospection and Introspection_, page 61.
[25] _Retrospection and Introspection_, p. 29.
[26] I have seen a brief article of his, entitled "Aristocracy and
Democracy," and written under date of February, 1863, in which he said:
"The religion of Christ is shown in the progress of Christian Science,
while the religion of society decays in proportion as liberal principles
are developed."--G. C.
[27] _Retrospection and Introspection_, from p. 40 to p. 43.
[28] This was half a century ago; but the productions--not "scribblings,"
of course, like Dr. Quimby's writings--are yet in mind among Mrs. Eddy's
old acquaintances. One critic of them has said: "They were stories wherein
the 'feller' married the girl in the last chapter, and they lived happily
ever after except when the baby was cutting teeth. The stories were not
essays, were not metaphysical, and were hardly physical. Had Mrs. Eddy not
written them, I never should have remembered them at all."
[29] _Retrospection and Introspection_, p. 38 to p. 46.
[30] Page 45.
[31] "Judge Hanna" is Mrs. Eddy's literary factotum. Mr. Tott is an actual
personage, but, being "in Science," he will probably never recognize his
picture--especially as there are many like him.
[32] See advertisements in all Christian Science publications.
[33] Page 47.
[34] This crude materialistic conception of "God" as "filling space" shows
most beautifully the Kindergarten quality of Mother Eddy's "metaphysics."
[35] The figures stand for the pages referred to.
[36] _Retrospection and Introspection_, p. 51.
[37] These facts are well remembered and well recorded. They were of
special interest to such of Mrs. Eddy's "loyal students" as had seceded
from her cult.--G. C.
[38] _Retrospection and Introspection_, p. 57.
[39] See _Christian Science History_, by Septimus J. Hanna, p. 42.
[40] For this amazing snivel see _Retrospection and Introspection_, p. 61.
[41] This chapter is written mostly from personal inspection and
knowledge. An elaborate description of the Church is given in The
Christian Science Journal for January, 1895.--G. C.
[42] _Retrospection and Introspection_, page 62.
[43] Published in the _Christian Science Journal_ of April, 1895.
[44] _War in Heaven: Sixteen Years' Experience in Christian Science,
Mind-Healing. By Josephine Curtis Woodbury. Third Edition. Boston, Mass.
Press of Samuel Usher, 1897._
[45] Several suits are pending as this book goes to press. One suit has
been "thrown out of court." It should be said, perhaps, that one of Mrs.
Woodbury's attorneys, F. W. Peabody, Esq., has such an abhorrence of
"Christian Science" in general, that he has been willing to take the part
of anybody who could enable him to expose Mrs. Eddy. In this good work may
he not be discouraged.
[46] The extraordinary matters of this chapter, however well or ill
suppressed, were all published, with great detail, in the issues of the
_Traveler_ from Dec. 12th to 22d, 1896, and from January 11th to 25th,
1897. Here they have simply been put into brief form, and relieved of all
unnecessary harshness. The papers have been preserved for evidence and are
in my hands.--G. C.
[47] The story, with many details, in issue of Dec. 14, 1896.
[48] A long story underlies the unfortunate marriage and separation of the
lady and gentleman involved in this case. But the facts are not essential
to the one and only subject of these pages, "Christian Science."
[49] Issue of Dec. 12, 1896.
[50] There were really two papers handed to Mr. Chamberlain, and he was to
take his choice between them. The case, too, was withdrawn, not wholly on
account of one thing, but many things which Mrs. Woodbury's lawyer found
it impossible to contend against. But the most direct cause of the
withdrawal is the one given.
[51] Boston _Traveler_, January 21, 1897.
[52] Until it is learned that generation rests on no sexual basis, let
marriage continue. Spirit will ultimately claim its own, and the voices of
physical sense be forever hushed.--_Science and Health_, page 274.
[53] January 15, 1897.
[54] I have seen what I suppose to be true copies of a series of letters
written by Mary Nash and different members of her family, with one or two
from some of Mrs. Woodbury's "loyal students." The letters might possibly
be taken to show that inharmony existed in the Nash family, and that the
daughter stayed away from father, mother and brothers on that account,
instead of being, if such was the case, just where a sensible and
affectionate daughter was most needed. The letters, at any rate, show the
most united affection for _her_, and more than willingness to do anything
she asked, if she would only return to her home. When finally she did so,
two physicians, according to Mr. Nash, declared her to be under hypnotic
control. Letters, under hypnotism, are suspect.--G. C.
[55] The chapters of our book from XI. to XVI. inclusive, were, in
substance, written at the request of Dr. William T. Harris, United States
Commissioner of Education, and published in his _Journal of Speculative
Philosophy_ for December, 1893, under the caption of "The Secret of Kant."
These chapters, while too abstruse for light readers, really explain what
"Christian Science" ignorantly chatters about as "Metaphysics."--G. C.
[56] As this book, including the present chapter, is for readers who may
or may not understand German, our quotations from Kant are taken from his
_Critique_ as in the old familiar, accessible translation by J. M. D.
Meiklejohn (Bohn's Philosophical Library--edition of 1860).
[57] _Critique of Pure Reason_; General Remarks on Transcendental
AEsthetic, p. 35.
[58] _Critique_; Transcendental Logic, p. 80.
[59] These words were written long before Dr. Alan McLane Hamilton
testified, in the Surrogate's Court, (New York City, Feb. 18th, 1901),
that sincere Christian Scientists are afflicted with a form of insane
delusion.