CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE BOOK OF MRS. EDDY.

Mark Twain.

‘' It is thefirst time since the damn-days of Creation that a Voice has gone crashing through space withsuch placid and complacent confidence and command.'

I.

THIS last summer, when I was on myway back to Vienna from the

Appetite-Cure in the mountains, I fell overa cliff in the twilight and broke somearms and legs and one thing or another,and by good luck was found by somepeasants who had lost an ass and theycarried me to the nearest habitation, whichwas one of those large, low, thatch-roofedfarm-houses, with apartments in thegarret for the family, and a cunning littleporch under the deep gable decoratedwith boxes of bright-colored flowers andcats; on the ground floor a large and lightsitting-room, separated from the milch-cattle apartment by a partition; and in thefront yard rose stately and fine the wealthand pride of the house, the manure-pile.That sentence is Germanic, and showsthat I am acquiring that sort of masteryof the art and spirit of the language whichenables a man to travel all day in one sen-tence without changing cars.

There was a village a mile away, and ahorse-doctor lived there, but there was nosurgeon. It seemed a bad outlook; minewas distinctly a surgery case. Then itwas remembered that a lady from Bostonwas summering in that village, and shewas a Christian Science doctor and couldcure anything. So she was sent for. Itwas night by this time, and she could notconveniently come, but sent word that itwas no matter, there was no hurry, shewould give me “absent treatment” now,and come in the morning; meantime shebegged me to make myself tranquil andcomfortable and remember that there wasnothing the matter with me. I thoughtthere must be some mistake.

“Did you tell her I walked off a cliffseventy-five feet high?”

“Yes.”“And struck a boulder at the bottom

and bounced?”“Yes.”

“And struck another one and bouncedagain?”

“Yes.”“And struck another one and bounced

yet again?”“Yes.”“And broke the boulders?”“Yes.”“That accounts for it; she is thinking

of the boulders. Why didn’t you tell herI got hurt, too?”

“I did. I told her what you told meto tell her: that you were now but anincoherent series of compound fracturesextending from your scalp-lock to yourheels, and that the comminated projectionscaused you to look like a hat-rack.”

“And it was after this that she wishedme to remember that there was nothingthe matter with me?”

“Those were her words.”“l do not understand it. I believe she

has not diagnosed the case with sufficientcare. Did she look like a person who wastheorizing, or did she look like one whohas fallen off precipices herself and bringsto the aid of abstract science the confirma-tions of personal experience?”

“Bitte?”It was too large a contract for the

Stubenmadchen’s vocabulary; she couldn’tcall the hand. I allowed the subject torest there, and asked for somethingto eat and smoke, and something hot todrink, and a basket to pile my legs in, andanother capable person to come and helpme curse the time away; but I cculd p^thave any of these things.

“Why?”“She said you would need notjffngd^t

all.”“But I am hungry, and thirsty,^acjrin

desperate pain.”“She said you would

delusions, but must pay nothem. She wants you to particularlyremember that there are no such tfungsiashunger and thirst and pain.”

586 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE BOOK OF MRS. EDDY.

“She does, does she?”“It is what she said.”“Does she seem to be in full and

functionable possession of her intellectualplant, such as it is?”

“Bitte?”‘ ‘Do they let her run at large, or do they

tie her up?”“Tie her up?”“There, good-night, run along; you

are a good girl, but your mental Geschirris not arranged for light and airy conversa-tion. Leave me to my delusions.”

11.It w'as a night of anguish, of course —at

least, I supposed it was, for it had allthe symptoms of it—but it passed at last,and the Christian Scientist came, and Iwas glad. She was middle-aged, andlarge and bony, and erect, and had anaustere face and a resolute jaw and aRoman beak and was a widow in the thirddegree, and her name was Fuller. I waseager to get to business and And relief, butshe was distressingly deliberate. Sheunpinned and unhooked and uncoupledher upholsteries one by one, abolished thewrinkles with a flirt of her hand and hungthe articles up; peeled off her gloves anddisposed of them, got a book out of herhand-bag, then drew a chair to thebedside, descended into it without hurry,and I hung out my tongue. She said,with pity but without passion:

“Return it to its receptacle. We dealwith the mind only, not with its dumbservants. ’ ’

I could not offer my pulse, because theconnection was broken; but she detectedthe apology before I could word it, andindicated by a negative tilt of her headthat the pulse was another dumb servantthat she had no use for. Then I thoughtI would tell her my symptoms and how Ifelt, so that she would understand thecase; but that was another inconsequence,she did not need to know those things;moreover, my remark about how I feltwas an abuse of language, a misapplicationof terms

“One does not feel," she explained;“there is no such thing as feeling: there-fore, to speak of a non-existent thing asexistent is a contradiction. Matter has

no existence ; nothing exists but mind ; themind cannot feel pain, it can onlyimagine it.”

“But if it hurts, just the same ”

“It doesn’t. A thing which is unrealcannot exercise the functions of reality.Pain is unreal; hence, pain cannot hurt.”

In making a sweeping gesture to indi-cate the act of shooing the illusion of painout of the mind, she raked her hand on apin in her dress, said “Ouch!” and wenttranquilly on with her talk. “You shouldnever allow yourself to speak of how youfeel, nor permit others to ask you howyou are feeling; you should never concedethat you are ill, nor permit others to talkabout disease or pain or death or similarnon-existences in your presence. Suchtalk only encourages the mind to continueits empty imaginings.” Just at thatpoint the Stubenmadchen trod on the cat’stail, and the cat let fly a frenzy of cat-profanity. I asked, with caution:

“Is a cat’s opinion about pain valu-able?”

“A cat has no opinion; opinionsproceed from mind only; the loweranimals, being eternally perishable, havenot been granted mind; Avithout mind,opinion is impossible.”

“She merely imagined she felt a pain—-the cat?”

“She cannot imagine a pain, for imagina-tion is an effect of mind; without mind,there is no imagination. A cat has noimagination.”

“Then she had a real pain?”“I have already told you there is no

such thing as real pain.”“It is strange and interesting. I do

wonder what was the matter with the cat.Because, there being no such thing as areal pain, and she not being able toimagine an imaginary one, it would seemthat God in his pity has compensated thecat with some kind of a mysterious emo-tion usable when her tail is trodden onwhich for the moment joins cat and Chris-tian in one common brotherhood of ”

She broke in with an irritated—“Peace! The cat feels nothing, the

Christian feels nothing. Your empty andfoolish imaginings are profanation andblasphemy and can do you an injury. Itis wiser and better and holier to recognize

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE BOOK OF MRS. EDDY. 587

and confess that there is no such thing asdisease or pain or death. ’

’

“I am full of imaginary tortures,” Isaid, “but I do not think I could be anymore uncomfortable if they were real ones.What must I do to get rid of them?”

“There is no occasion to get rid ofthem, since they do not exist. They areillusions propagated by matter, and matterhas no existence; there is no such thingas matter. ”

“It sounds right and clear, but yet itseems in a degree elusive; it seems to slipthrough, just when you think you aregetting a grip on it.”

“Explain.”“Well, for instance: if there is no such

thing as matter, how can matter propagatethings?”

In her compassion she almost smiled.She would have smiled if there were anysuch thing as a smile.

“It is quite simple,” she said; “thefundamental propositions of ChristianScience explain it, and they are summa-rized in the four following self-evidentpropositions: 1. God is All in all. 2. Godis good. \GOOd is Mind. 3. God, Spirit,being all, nothing is matter. 4. Life,God, omnipotent Good, deny death, evil,sin, disease. There-—now you see. ”

It seemed nebulous; it did not seem tosay anything about the difficulty in hand —-

how non-existent matter can propagateillusions. I said, with some hesitancy:

“Does—does it explain?”“Doesn't it? Even if read backward it

will do it. ”With a budding hope, I asked her to do

it backward.“Very well. Disease sin evil death

deny Good omnipotent God life matter isnothing all being Spirit God Mind is Goodgood is God all in All is God. There—

do you understand now?”“It—it—well, it is plainer than it was

before; still ”

“Well?”“Could you try it some more ways?”“As many as you like; it always means

the same. Interchanged in any way youplease it cannot be made to mean anythingdifferent from what it means when put inany other way. Because it is perfect.You can jumble it all up, and it makes no

difference; it always comes out the way itwas before. It was a marvelous mindthat produced it. As a mental tour deforce it is without a mate, it defies alikethe simple, the concrete and the occult.”

“It seems to be a corker.”I blushed for the word, but it was out

before I could stop it.“A what?”“A—wonderful structure—combination,

so to speak, of profound thoughts—un-thinkable ones—un ”

“It is true. Read backwards, or for-wards, or perpendicularly, or at any givenangle, these four propositions will alwaysbe found to agree in statement andproof. ’ ’

“Ah—proof. Now we are coming atit. The statements agree; they agree with—with—anyway, they agree; I noticedthat; but what is it they prove —I mean,in particular?”

“Why, nothing could be clearer. Theyprove: 1. God—Principle, Life, Truth,Love, Soul, Spirit, Mind. Do you getthat?”

“I—well, I seem to. Go on, please.”“2. Max—God’s universal idea, indi-

vidual, perfect, eternal. Is it clear?”“It—I think so. Continue.”“3. Idea —An image in Mind; the

immediate object of understanding.There it is—the whole sublime Arcanaof Christian Science in a nutshell. Doyou find a weak place in it anywhere?”

“Well—no; it seems strong.”“Very well. There is more. Those

three constitute the Scientific Definition ofImmortal Mind. Next, we have the Scien-tific Definition of Mortal Mind. Thus.First Degree : Depravity. 1. Physical-—Passions and appetites, fear, depravedwill, pride, envy, deceit, hatred, revenge,sin, disease, death.”

“Phantasms, madam—unrealities, as Iunderstand it.”

“Every one. Second Degree: EvilDisappearing. 1. Moral —Honesty, affec-tion, compassion, hope, faith, meekness,temperance. Is it clear?”

“Crystal.”‘ ‘ Third Degree ; Spiritual Salvation.

1. Spiritual—Faith, wisdom, power, pur-ity, understanding, health, love. You seehow searchingly and coordinately inter-

588 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE BOOK OF MRS. EDDY.

dependent and anthropomorphous it all is.In this Third Degree, as we know by therevelations of Christian Science, mortalmind disappears.”

‘‘Not earlier?”“No, not until the teaching and

preparation for the Third Degree arecompleted. ”

“It is not until then that one is enabledto take hold of Christian Science effect-ively, and with the right sense of sym-pathy and kinship, as I understand you.That is to say, it could not succeed duringthe processes of the Second Degree,because there would still be remains ofmind left; and therefore —but I inter-rupted you. You were about to furtherexplain the good results proceeding fromthe erosions and disintegrations effected bythe Third Degree. It is very interesting;go on, please. ’ ’

“Yes, as I was saying, in this ThirdDegree mortal mind disappears. Scienceso reverses the evidence before thecorporeal human senses as to make. thisscriptural testimony true in our hearts,‘ the last shall be first and the first shall belast, ’ that God and His idea may be tous—what divinity really is, and must ofnecessity be —all-inclusive.”

“It is beautiful. And with what exhaust-ive exactness your choice and arrangementof words confirms and establishes what youhave claimed for the powers and functionsof the Third Degree. The Second couldprobably produce only temporary absence ofmind, it is reserved to the Third to make itpermanent. A sentence framed under theauspices of the Second could have a kindof meaning—a sort of deceptive semblanceof it—whereas it is only under the magicof the Third that that defect would disap-pear. Also, without doubt, it is the ThirdDegree that contributes another remark-able specialty to Christian Science: viz.,ease and flow and lavishness of words,and rhythm and swing and smoothness.There must be a special reason for this?”

“Yes—God-all, all-God, good God, non-Matter, Matteration, Spirit, Bones, Truth. ”

“That explains it.”“There is nothing in Christian Science

that is not explicable; for God is one, Timeis one, Individuality is one, and may beone of a series, one of many, as an indi-

vidual man, individual horse; whereas Godis one, not one of a series, but one aloneand without an equal.”

“These are noble thoughts. They makeone burn to know more. How doesChristian Science explain the spiritualrelation of systematic duality to incidentaldeflection?”

“Christian Science reverses the seemingrelation of Soul and body—as astronomyreverses the human perception of themovement of the solar system—and makesbody tributary to the Mind. As it is theearth which is in motion, while the sun isat rest, though in viewing the sun rise onefinds it impossible to believe the sun notto be really rising, so the body is but thehumble servant of the restful Mind,though it seems otherwise to finite sense;but we shall never understand this whilewe admit that soul is in body, or mind inmatter, and that man is included in non-intelligence. Soul is God, unchangeableand eternal; and man coexists with andreflects Soul, for the All-in-all is theAltogether, and the Altogether embracesthe All-one, Soul-Mind, Mind-Soul, Love,Spirit, Bones, Liver, one of a series, aloneand without an equal.”

(It is very curious, the effect whichChristian Science has upon the verbalbowels. Particularly the Third Degree;it makes one think of a dictionary with thecholera. But I only thought this; I didnot say it.)

“What is the origin of ChristianScience? Is it a gift of God, or did itjust happen?”

“In a sense, it is a gift of God. Thatis to say, its powers are from Him, but thecredit of the discovery of the powers andwhat they are for, is due to an Americanlady.”

“Indeed? When did this occur?”“In 1866. is the immortal date

when pain and disease and death disap-peared from the earth to return no moreforever. That is, the fancies for whichthose terms stand, disappeared. The thingsthemselves had never existed; thereforeas soon as it was perceived that there wereno such things, they wrere easily banished.The history and nature of the great dis-covery are set down in the book here,and ’ ’

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE BOOK OF MRS. EDDY. 589

“Did the lady write the book?’’“Yes, she wrote it all, herself. The

title is ‘Science and Health, with Key tothe Scriptures’—for she explains thescriptures; they were not understoodbefore. Not even by the twelve Disciples.She begins thus—I will read it to you.”

But she had forgotten to bring herglasses.

“Well, it is no matter,” she said, “Iremember the words—indeed, all ChristianScientists know the book by heart; it isnecessary in our practice. We shouldotherwise make mistakes and do harm.She begins thus; ‘ln the year 1866 Idiscovered the Science of MetaphysicalHealing, and named it Christian Science. ’

And she says—quite beautifully, I think—

‘Through Christian Science, religion andmedicine are inspired with a diviner natureand essence, fresh pinions are given tofaith and understanding, and thoughts ac-quaint themselves intelligently with God. ’

Her very words. ’ ’

“It is elegant. And it is a fine thought,too—marrying religion to medicine,instead of medicine to the undertakerin the old way; for religion and medicineproperly belong together, they being thebasis of all spiritual and physical health.What kind of medicine do you give forthe ordinary diseases, such as ”

“We never give medicine in any circum-stances whatever! -We ’ ’

“But, madam, it says ”

“I don’t care what it says, and I don’twish to talk about it.”

“I am sorry if I have offended, but yousee the mention seemed in some wayinconsistent, and ”

“There are no inconsistencies in Chris-tian Science. The thing is impossible,for the Science is absolute. It cannot beotherwise, since it proceeds directly fromthe All-in-all and the Everything-in-Which, also Soul, Bones, Truth, one of aseries, alone and without equal. It isMathematics purified from material drossand made spiritual.”

“I can see that, but ”

“It rests upon the immovable basis of anApodictical Principle.”

The word flattened itself against mymind in trying to get in, and disorderedme a little, and before I could inquire into

its pertinency, she was already throwingthe needed light:

“This Apodictical Principle is the abso-lute Principle of Scientific Mind-healing,the sovereign Omnipotence which deliversthe children of men from pain, disease,decay, and every ill that flesh is heir to.”

“Surely not every ill, every decay?”“Everyone; there are no exceptions;

there is no such thing as decay—it is anunreality, it has no existence.”

“But Without your glasses your failingeyesight does not permit you to ”

“My eyesight cannot fail; nothing canfail; the Mind is master, and the Mindpermits no retrogression.”

She was under the inspiration of theThird Degree, therefore there could be noprofit in continuing this part of the sub-ject. I shifted to other ground andinquired further concerning the Discovererof the Science.

“Did the discovery come suddenly, likeKlondike, or after long study and calcula-tion, like America?”

“The comparisons are not respectful,since they refer to trivialities—but let itpass. I will answer in the Discoverer’sown words; ‘God had been graciouslyfitting me, during many years, for thereception of a final revelation of the abso-lute Principle of Scientific Mind-healing.’ ”

“Many years. How many?”“Eighteen centuries!”“All-God, God-good, good-God, Truth,

Bones, Liver, one of a series, alone andwithout equal—it is amazing!”

“You may well say it, sir. Yet it isbut the truth. This American lady, ourrevered and sacred Founder, is distinctlyreferred to and her coming prophesied, inthe twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse; shecould not have been more plainly indicatedby St. John without actually mentioningher name. ’ ’

“How strange, how wonderful!”“I will quote her own words, from her

Key to the Scriptures: ‘The twelfth chap-ter of the Apocalypse has a special suggest-iveness in connection with this nineteenthcentury. ’ There—do you note that ?

Think—note it well. ”“But—what does it mean ?”

“Listen, and you will know. I quoteher inspired words again: ‘ln the opening

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE BOOK OF MRS. EDDY.590

of the Sixth Seal, typical of six thousandyears since Adam, there is one distinctivefeature which has special reference to thepresent age. Thus:

“ ‘Revelation xii. i. And there appeareda great wonder in heaven—a woman clothedwith the sun, and the moon under her feet,and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.’“That is our Head, our Chief, our Dis-

coverer of Christian Science—nothing canbe plainer, nothing surer. And note this:

“ ‘Revelation xii. 6. And the woman fledinto the wilderness, where she had a placeprepared of God.’“That is Boston.”“I recognize it, madam. These are

sublime things, and impressive; I neverunderstood these passages before; please goon with the—with the-—proofs. ’ ’

“Yery well. Listen;

And I saw another mighty angel comedown from heaven, clothed with a cloud; anda rainbow was upon his head, and his facewas as it were the sun, and his feet as pillarsoffire. And he had in his hand a little book.'“A little book, merely a little book —

could words be modester? Yet howstupendous its importance! Do you knowwhat book that was?”

“Was it ”

“I hold it in my hand—ChristianScience!”

“Love, Livers, Lights, Bones, Truth,Kidneys, one of a series, alone and withoutequal—it is beyond imagination forwonder!”

“Hear our Founder’s eloquent words:‘Then will a voice from harmony cry, “Goand take the little book: take it and eat itup, and it shall make thy belly bitter;but it shall be in thy mouth sweet ashoney.” Mortal, obey the heavenlyevangel. Take up Divine Science. Readit from beginning to end. Study it,ponder it. It will be indeed sweet at itsfirst taste, when it heals you; butmurmur not over Truth, if you find itsdigestion bitter.’ You now know the his-tory of our dear and holy Science, sir, andthat its origin is not of this earth, butonly its discovery. I will leave the bookwith you and will -go, now; but giveyourself no uneasiness—l will give youabsent treatment from now till I go tobed.”

111.

Under the powerful influence of thenear treatment and the absent treatmenttogether, my bones were gradually retreat-ing inward and disappearing from view.The good work took a brisk start, now,and went on quite swiftly. My body wasdiligently straining and stretching, thisway and that, to accommodate the processesof restoration, and ■ every minute or two Iheard a dull click inside and knew thatthe two ends of a fracture had beensuccessfully joined. This muffled clickingand gritting and grinding and raspingcontinued during the next three hours,and then stopped—the connections hadall been made. All except dislocations;there were only seven of these: hips,shoulders, knees, neck; so that was soonover; one after another they slipped intotheir sockets with a sound like pulling adistant cork, and I jumped up as good asnew, as to framework, and sent for thehorse-doctor.

I was obliged to do this because I hada stomach-ache and a cold in the head,and I was not willing to trust thesethings any longer in the hands of a womanwhom I did not know, and in whoseability to successfully treat mere disease Ihad lost all confidence. My position wasjustified by the fact that the cold and theache had been in her charge from the first,along with the fractures, but had experi-enced not a shade of relief; and indeedthe ahhe was even growing worse andworse, and more and more bitter, now,probably on account of the protractedabstention from food and drink.

The horse-doctor came, a pleasant manand full of hope and professional interestin the case. In the matter of smell hewas pretty aromatic, in fact quite horsy,and I tried to arrange with him for absenttreatment, but it was not in his line, soout of delicacy I did not press it. Helooked at my teeth and examined my hock,and said my age and general conditionwere favorable to energetic measures;therefore he would give me somethingto turn the stomach-ache into the bottsand the cold in the head into the blindstaggers; then he should be on his ownbeat and would know what to do. He

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE BOOK OF MRS. EDDY.

made up a bucket of bran-mash, and saida dipperful of it every two hours, alter-nated with a drench with turpentine andaxle-grease in it, would either knock myailments out of me in twenty-four hours orso interest me in other ways as to make meforget they were on the premises. Headministered my first dose himself, thentook his leave, saying I was free to eatand drink anything I pleased and in anyquantity I liked. But I was not hungryany more, and I did not care for food.

I took up the Christian Scientist bookand read half of it, then took a dipperfulof drench and read the other half. Theresulting experiences were full of interestand adventure. All through the rum-blings and grindings and quakings andeffervescings accompanying the evolutionof the ache into the botts and thfe coldinto the blind staggers I could note thegenerous struggle for mastery going onbetween the mash and the drench andthe literature; and often I could tellwhich was ahead, and could easily dis-tinguish the literature from the otherswhen the others were separate, though notwhen they were mixed; for when a bran-mash and an eclectic drench are mixedtogether they look just like the ApodisticalPrinciple out on a lark, and no one cantell it from that. The finish was reachedat last, the evolutions were complete anda fine success; but I think that this resultcouid have been achieved with fewermaterials. I believe the mash was neces-sary to the conversion of the stomach-acheinto the botts, but I think one coulddevelop the blind staggers out of theliterature by itself; also, that blindstaggers produced in this way would beof a better quality and more lasting thanany produced by the artificial processes ofa horse-doctor.

For of all the strange, and frantic, andincomprehensible, and uninterpretablebooks which the imagination of manhas created, surely this one is the prizesample. It is written with a limitlessconfidence and complacency, and with adash and stir and earnestness which ofteqcompel the effects of eloquence, even when'the words do not seem to have any trace-able meaning. There are plenty of peoplewho imagine they understand the book; I

know this, for I have talked with them;but in all cases they were people whoalso imagined that there were no suchthings as pain, sickness and death, and norealities in the world; nothing actuallyexistent but Mind. It seems to me tomodify the value of their testimony.When these people talk about ChristianScience they do as Mrs. Fuller did: theydo not use their own language, but thebook’s; they pour out the book’s showyincoherences, and leave you to find outlater that they were not originating, butmerely quoting; they seem to know thevolume by heart, and to revere it as theywould a Bible—another Bible, perhaps Iought to say. Plainly the book waswritten under the mental desolations of theThird Degree, and I feel sure that nonebut the membership of that Degree candiscover meanings in it. When you readit you seem to be listening to a lively andaggressive and oracular speech deliveredin an unknown tongue, a speech whosespirit you get but not the particulars; or,to change the figure, you seem to belistening to a vigorous instrument whichis making a noise which it thinks is atune, but which to persons not membersof the band is only the martial tooting ofa trombone, and merely stirs the soulthrough the noise but does not convey ameaning.

The book’s serenities of self-satisfactiondo almost seem to smack of a heavenlyorigin—they have no blood-kin in theearth. It is more than human to be soplacidly certain about things, and so finelysuperior, and so airily content with one’sperformance. Without ever presentinganything which may rightfully be calledby the strong name of Evidence; andsometimes without even mentioning areason for a deduction at all, it thundersout the startling words, “I have Proved ”so and so! It takes the Pope and all thegreat guns of his church in battery assem-bled to authoritatively settle and establishthe meaning of a sole and single unclarifiedpassage of scripture, and this at vast costof time and study and reflection, but theauthor of this work is superior to all that;she finds the whole Book in an unclarifiedcondition, and at small expense of timeand no expense of mental effort she clarifies

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE BOOK OF MRS. EDDY.592

it from lid to lid, reorganizes and improvesthe meanings, then authoritatively settlesand establishes them with formula 1 whichyou cannot tell from “Let there belight!” and “Here you have it!” It isthe first time since the dawn-days of Crea-tion that a Voice has gone crashingthrough space with such placid and com-placent confidence and command.

IY.A word upon a question of authorship.

Not that quite; but rather, a question ofemendation and revision. We know thatthe Bible-Anuex was not written by Mrs.Eddy, but was handed down to hereighteen hundred years ago by the Angelof the Apocalypse; but did she translate italone, or did she have help? There seemsto be evidence that she had help. Forthere are four several copyrights on it—-1875, 1885, 1890, 1894. It did notcome down in English, for in that lan-guage it could not have acquired copy-right—there were no copyright lawseighteen centuries ago, and in my opinionno English language—at least up there.This makes it substantially certain that theAnnex is a translation. Then, was notthe first translation complete? If it was,on what grounds were the later copyrightsgranted?

I surmise that the first translation waspoor; and that a friend or friends of Mrs.Eddy mended its English three times, andfinally got it into its present shape, wherethe grammar is plenty good enough, andthe sentences are smooth and plausiblethough they do not mean anything. I thinkI am right in this surmise, for Mrs. Eddycannot write English to-day, and this isargument that she never could. lam notable to guess who did the mending, but Ithink it was not done by any member ofthe Eddy Trust, nor by the editors of the“C. S. Journal,” for their English is notmuch better than Mrs. Eddy’s.

However, as to the main point: it iscertain that Mrs. Eddy did not doctor theAnnex’s English herself. Her original,spontaneous, undoctored English furnishesample proof of this. Here are samplesfrom recent articles from her unappeasablepen; double-columned with them are acouple of passages from the Annex. It will

be seen that they throw light. The italicsare mine:

1. “What plague “Therefore the effi-spot, or bacilli were cient remedy is to(sic) gnawing (sic) at destroy the patient’sthe heart of this me- unfortunate belief, bytropolis . . . and both silently andbringing it” (the audibly arguing theheart) “on bended opposite facts in re-knee? Why, it was an gard to harmoniousinstitute that had en- being representingtered itsvitals—that, man as healthful in-among other things, stead of diseased, andtaught games,'' et showing that it iscetera. (P. 670, C. 8. impossible for matterJournal, article en- to suffer, to feel paintitled ‘‘ A Narrative — or heat, to be thirstyIny Mary Baker G. or sick.” (P. 375,

Eddy." 11 ) Annex.)2. “Parks sprang “Man is never sick ;

up (sic) . . . electric for Mind is not sick,street cars run (sic) and mattercannot be.merrily through sev- A false belief is botheral streets, concrete the tempter and thesidewalks and mac- tempted, the sin andadamized roads dot- the sinner, the diseaseted (sic) the place, ’ ’ and its cause. It isetcetera. (Ilrid.) well tobecalminsick-

3. “Shorn (sic) of ness; to be hopeful isits suburbs it had in- still better; but todeed little left to understand that sick-admire, save to (sic) ness is not real, andsuch as fancy a skele- that Truth can de-ton above ground stroy it, is best of all,breathing (sic) slowly for it is the universalthrough a barren (sic) and perfect remedy. ’ ’

breast.” (Ihid.) (Chapter edi, Annex.)You notice the contrast between the

smooth, plausible, elegant, addled Englishof the doctored Annex and the lumbering,ragged, ignorant output of the translator’snatural, spontaneous and unmedicatedpenwork. The English of the Annex hasbeen slicked up by a very industrious andpainstaking hand—but it was not Mrs.Eddy’s.

If Mrs. Eddy really wrote or translatedthe Annex, her original draft was exactlyin harmony with the English of herplague-spot or bacilli which were gnawingat the insides of the metropolis and bring-ing its heart on bended knee, thusexposing to the eye the rest of theskeleton breathing slowly through a

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE BOOK OF MRS. EDDY. 593

barren breast. And it bore little or noresemblance to the book as we have it now—now that the salaried polisher has holy-stoned all of the genuine Eddyties out of it.

Will the plague-spot article go into avolume just as it stands? I think not. Ithink the polisher will take off his coatand vest and cravat and “demonstrateover” it a couple of weeks and sweat itinto a shape something like the following—and then Mrs. Eddy will publish it andleave people to believe that she did thepolishing herself.

1. What injurious influence was it thatwas affecting the city's morals? It was asocial club which propagated an interest inidle amusements, disseminated a knowledgeof games, et cetera.

2. By the magic of the new and noblerinfluences the sterile spaces were trans-formed into wooded parks, the merryelectric car replaced the melancholy ’bus,smooth concrete the tempestuous planksidewalk, the macadamized road theprimitive corduroy, et cetera.

3. Its pleasant suburbs gone, there waslittle left to admire save the wreckedgraveyard with its uncanny exposures.

The Annex contains one sole and solitaryhumorous remark. There is a mostelaborate and voluminous Index, and itis preceded by this note:

“This Index will enable the student toAnd any thought or idea contained in thebook.”

Y.No one doubts —certainly not I—that

the mind exercises a powerful influenceover the body. From the beginning oftime, the sorcerer, the interpreter ofdreams, the fortune-teller, the charlatan,the quack, the wild medicine-man, theeducated physician, the mesmerist, andthe hypnotist, have made use of theclient’s imagination to help them in theirwork. They have all recognized thepotency and availability of that force.Physicians cure many patients with abread pill; they know that where the dis-ease is only a fancy, the patient’s confi-dence in the doctor will make the breadpill effective.

Faith in the doctor. Perhaps that is theentire thing. It seems to look like it.

In old times the King cured the king’sevil by the touch of the royal hand. Hefrequently made extraordinary cures.Could his footman have done it? No—

not in his own clothes. Disguised as theKing could he have done it? I think wemay not doubt it. I think we may feelsure that it was not the King's touch thatmade the cure in any instance, but thepatient’s faith in the efficacy of a King'stouch. Genuine and remarkable cureshave been achieved through contact withthe relics of a saint. Is it not likely thatany other bones would have done as wellif the substitution had been concealedfrom the patient? When I was a boy afarmer’s wife who lived five miles fromour village had great fame as a faith-doctor—that was what she called herself.Sufferers came to her from all around,and she laid her hand upon them andsaid, “Have faith—it is all that is neces-sary,” and they went away well of theirailments. She was not a religious woman,and pretended to no occult powers. Shesaid that the patient’s faith in her did thework. Several times I saw her makeimmediate cures of severe toothaches.My mother was the patient. In Austriathere is a peasant who drives a great tradein this sort of industry and has both thehigh and the low for patients. He getsinto prison every now and then for prac-tising without a diploma, but his businessis as brisk as ever when he gets out, forhis work is unquestionably successful andkeeps his reputation high. In Bavariathere is a man who performed so manygreat cures that he had to retire from hisprofession of stage-carpentering in order tomeet the demand of his constantly increas-ing body of customers. He goes on fromyear to year doing his miracles, and hasbecome very rich. He pretends to noreligious helps, no supernatural aids, butthinks there is something in his make-upwhich inspires the confidence of hispatients, and that it is this confidencewhich does the work and not somamysterious power issuing from himself.

Within the last quarter of a century, inAmerica, several sects of curers haveappeared under various names and havedone notable things in the way of healingailments without the use of medicines.

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There are the Mind Cure, the Faith Cure,the Prayer Cure, the Mental Science Cureand the Christian Science Cure; andapparently they all do their miracles withthe same old powerful instrument—thepatient's imagination. Differing names,but no difference in the process. Butthey do not give that instrument thecredit; each sect claims that its waydiffers from the ways of the others.

They all achieve some cures, there is noquestion about it; and the Faith Cure andthe Prayer Cure probably do no harmwhen they do no good, since they do notforbid the patient to help out the cure withmedicines if he wants to; but the othersbar medicines, and claim ability to cureevery conceivable human ailment throughthe application of their mental forcesalone. They claim ability to cure malig-nant cancer, and other affections whichhave never been cured in the history ofthe race. There would seem to be an ele-ment of danger here. It has the look ofclaiming too much, I think. Public confi-dence would probably be increased if lesswere claimed.

I believe it might be shown that all the“mind” sects except Christian Science havelucid intervals; intervals in which theybetray some diffidence, and in effect

confess that they are not the equals ofthe Deity; but if the Christian Scientisteven stops with being merely the equal ofthe Deity it is not clearly provable by hisChristian-Science Amended Bible. In theusual Bible the Deity recognizes pain,disease and death as facts, but the Chris-tian Scientist knows better. Knowsbetter, and is not diffident about say-ing so.

The Christian Scientist was not able tocure my stomach-ache and my cold; butthe horse-doctor did it. This convincesme that Christian Science claims too much.In my opinion it ought to let diseasesalone and confine itself to surgery. Thereit would have everything its own way.

The horse-doctor charged me thirtykreutzers, and I paid him; in fact, Idoubled it and gave him a shilling! Mrs.Fuller brought in an itemized bill for acrate of broken bones mended in twohundred and thirty-four places—onedollar per fracture. •

“Nothing exists but Mind?”“Nothing,” she answmred. “All else

is substanceless, all else is imaginary.” vI gave her an imaginary check, and now

she is suing me for substantial dollars. Itlooks inconsistent.