A Last Word About Christian Science. 185 



—has the same effect on the body as physical pain, and may therefore 

 impair the appetite, digestion, nutrition, cause loss of sleep, emacia- 

 tion and exhaustion. It is plain that if there be any weak point 

 in the system it may now give way, be it the heart, lungs, stomach, 

 bowels, liver, brain, or other part. What are the indications in 

 such a case ? To treat the particular organ affected — the weak 

 part which has first failed — or the underlying low physical state and 

 its antecedent low mental state ? Of course the latter. Any thing 

 which now properly diverts the mind from the bodily disorder, and 

 particularly from its mental cause, will cure. Too often a symptom 

 or set of symptoms coming on frighten and subdue the patient at once, 

 instead of'exciting in him a manly resistance. It is a well-known fact 

 that many symptoms and sometimes severe disorders may be bluffed 

 off, snubbed, as it were, till they take their departure. A little of the 

 Spartan training would do most of us good. Let us learn to live sim- 

 ply and lie hard, fortify ourselves, and render the system invulnerable 

 by the careful observance of the laws of health, rather than foster the 

 spirit of dependence which renders us so helpless and vulnerable. 

 Resources we must have within us. Let the will be in command and 

 the nervous system under control. When the mind is preoccupied 

 with useful thoughts and the body with useful actions there is little 

 room or leisure left for harmful introspection and attention to differ- 

 ent organs, which do their work best when least observed. Many of 

 the organs, such as the heart, for example, are embarrassed by the at- 

 tention too often given them, and exhibit disordered functions just so 

 long as they are the object of attention, and no longer. 



I do not know that I have cleared up as yet any mystery which may 

 envelop Christian Science, but if the lines do not, perhaps reading be- 

 tween them may, express my meaning. Christian Science is a 

 sort of epidemic delusion. — A moment's reflection will show that 

 our prevailing ideas respecting almost any subject, correspond 

 at best to a very loose process of reasoning. The accidents of 

 personal experience, our opportunities of observation, the traditions 

 which colored our first ideas, the influence of dominant feelings — 

 these sources of error or self T deeeption must have had as much to do 

 with our present solidified knowledge as any thing that can be called 

 the exercise of individual judgment and reasoning power. Mistaken 

 judgment, or illusion, is often due to faulty mental habits, such as the 

 want of attention, discrimination and comparison; it is due also to de- 

 fective grouping of elements, a grouping which answers to the indi- 

 vidual experience but not to general experience; also to a partial or 

 one-sided seeing, to which the mind by its peculiar predisposi- 



