Life — September 13, 1888 — page 2: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“Wile there's Bife there's Hope.” XII. SEPTEMBER 13, 1888. 98. 28 West Tw Y-THIRD T, New York. Published every Thursday, $5.00 a year in advance, postage free. Single copies, 10 cents. Back numbers can be had by applying to this office. Vol. 1, bound, $t5.00; Vol. II. bound, $10.00; Vols. TIN, IV., V., Vi, VIL, Vit. 1X, ko'and XL, bound, of in flat oumbers, at regular rates. Rejected contributions will be destroyed unless accompanied by a stamped and directed envelope, Subscribers wishing address changed will greatly facilitate matters by sending old address as well as oem. FEW months ago some of Lire’s readers were shocked because we announced our belief that the class of sanc- timonious evil-doers who call themselves “Christian Scien- tists" is composed exclusively of knaves and fools. On Sunday, a week ago, our esteemed contemporary, the Sum, published a page of interviews with these quacks, and if any of our readers who were shocked on the occasion we have mentioned will take the trouble to read them, we are con- vinced that they will be compelled to admit that our charac- terization of these empirics was none too severe. So ridicu- lous an amount of twaddle as these interviews has never yet been in print outside of the “Christian Science” publica- tions, and the simple perusal of them ought to be sufficient to convict these charlatans, out of their own mouths, in the minds of all reasoning and reasonable persons. . . * Fo instance, a woman who, with the assistance of a husband runs a school of “ Chri city, where pupils are charged for being given hypodermic injections of nonsense—for in its financial aspects “ Christian Science" is more than ordinarily material—explains that dis- ease is but a shadow, and when asked by a reporter if there is no such thing as disease, elucidates, as read in the follow- ing dialogue: far as you can see with your present understanding there are more diseased than healthy people. They are but the shadows.” “Do ydu mean to say that the small-pox is a shadow? that rheumatism is a shadow ? that the fevers are shadows? that tumors and cancers and polypi are shadows, and that you can think them ‘0 the people who suffer from such things they seem the most real things in the world, and it sounds almost too good to be true that only by a change of thinking the ugly tumor begins to dissolve and finally disappear! And so with all the others, But it is really true, and there are thousands of cases to prove it, if we will but take the time to investigate.” “Do you mean to say that a mere change of thinking can remove a tumor?” “Ido.” . . . A NOTHER leading “ Christian Scientist,” of Boston, who is referred to by an admirer in the same line of char- latanry as a “battle-axe of the truth,” confidently asserts that he can live forever and likewise bestow immortality upon his patients—victims would be a better word, The dialogue between this quack and the reporter is as follows : “Then, under proper conditions, you think true Christian Scien- tists can live forever?" **You mean in a physical or spiritual sense ?” “I mean the physical.” “ T supposed you meant that, and my answer is ye “Do you believe that you can sustain your own life indefinitely ?” “1 do." “Then, why cannot you sustain others with the same perpetual life “‘Lcan under the right conditions.” “What are the right conditions ?” “Well, a person whose mind is in accord with mine and who has arisen above the consciousness of physical existence can prolong his life for generations. I feel a great deal younger than I did ten years ago, and there is no reason why I should not continue to grow youn . . . I should be borne in mind that this nonsensical rubbish emanates from the acknowledged leaders and repre- sentatives of “Christian Science,” and that this is the faith they all pretend to hold. Of course, no one denies the value of mental treatment in some diseases, but whatever good the “Christian Science” charlatans have done in this respect is offset by an enormous overbalance of evil. Several deaths have already been brought to public notice this year, due directly to the malpractice of these mounte- banks, and other deaths have been occasioned by neglect to call in responsible physicians until it has been too late, ow- ing to “Christian Science" sophistry. And the worst of it is that this pernicious influence is spreading. Carlyle’s classi- fication, “ mostly fools,” applies to the population of America as well as it did to that of England, and anything that seems like magic-healing is eagerly entertained by sick people of even ordinary intelligence. And it is by reason of this cir- cumstance that “ Christian Science” is a paying speculation, and that “colleges” for the instruction of the knaves who go into the business for money, and the deluded fools who go into it with the hope of doing good, are springing up all over the country. . . HIS is the reason why it is quite time for the pulpit and the press to take cognizance of this evil and use their best efforts to suppress it. Dr. Buckley, of the Chréstian Advocate, wrote a satirical exposition of this new fad for the Century, a year or more ago, but since then it has spread enormously, and is no longer a subject for jest or light treatment. Leonard Woolsey Bacon attacks the cult, from an evangelical point of view, in last month's Forum, and his words should have weight with the upholders of that religious system upon which “Christian Science” is a blas- phemous mockery. comicbooks.com