0.0 – Christian Science Publication Contents

 6	OBTRUSIVE MENTAL HEALING 

  	    The question will present itself:  Shall people be treated
  	mentally without their knowledge or consent? The
 9	direct rule for practice of Christian Science is the Golden
  	Rule, "As ye would that men should do to you, do ye." 
  	Who of us would have our houses broken open or our
12	locks picked? and much less would we have our minds
  	tampered with. 
  	    Our Master said, "When ye enter a house, salute it." 
15	Prolonging the metaphysical tone of his command, I say,
  	When you enter mentally the personal precincts of human
  	thought, you should know that the person with whom
18	you hold communion desires it. There are solitary ex-
  	ceptions to most given rules:  the following is an exception
  	to the above rule of mental practice. 
21	    If the friends of a patient desire you to treat him with-
  	out his knowing it, and they believe in the efficacy of
  	Mind-healing, it is sometimes wise to do so, and the end
24	justifies the means; for he is restored through Christian
  	Science when other means have failed. One other oc-
  	casion which may call for aid unsought, is a case from
27	accident, when there is no time for ceremony and no other
  	aid is near. 
  	    The abuse which I call attention to, is promiscuous 

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 1	and unannounced mental practice where there is no neces-
  	sity for it, or the motive is merce...nary, or one can to ad-
 3	vantage speak the truth audibly; then the case is not
  	exceptional. As a rule, one has no more right to enter
  	the mind of a person, stir, upset, and adjust his thoughts
 6	without his knowledge or consent, than one has to enter
  	a house, unlock the desk, displace the furniture, and suit
  	one's self in the arrangement and management of another
 9	man's property. 
  	    It would be right to break into a burning building and
  	rouse the slumbering inmates, but wrong to burst open
12	doors and break through windows if no emergency de-
  	manded this. Any exception to the old wholesome rule,
  	"Mind your own business," is rare. For a student of
15	mine to treat another student without his knowledge, is
  	a breach of good manners and morals; it is nothing less
  	than a mistaken kindness, a culpable ignorance, or a
18	conscious trespass on the rights of mortals. 
  	    I insist on the etiquette of Christian Science, as well
  	as its morals and Christianity. The Scriptural rule of
21	this Science may momentarily be forgotten; but this is
  	seldom the case with loyal students, or done without
  	incriminating the person who did it. 
24	    Each student should, must, work out his own problem
  	of being; conscious, meanwhile, that God worketh with
  	him, and that he needs no personal aid. It is the genius
27	of Christian Science to demonstrate good, not evil, — 
  	harmony, not discord; for Science is the mandate of
  	Truth which destroys all error. 
30	    Whoever is honestly laboring to learn the principle of
  	music and practise it, seldom calls on his teacher or mu-
  	sician to practise for him. The only personal help re-
 
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 1	quired in this Science is for each one to do his own work
  	well, and never try to hinder others from doing theirs
 3	thus. 
  	    Christian Science, more than any other system of
  	religion, morals, or medicine, is subject to abuses. Its
 6	infinite nature and uses occasion this. Even the human-
  	itarian at work in this field of limitless power and good
  	may possess a zeal without knowledge, and thus mistake
 9	the sphere of his present usefulness. 
  	    Students who strictly adhere to the right, and make the
  	Bible and Science and Health a study, are in no danger
12	of mistaking their way. 
  	    This question is often proposed, How shall I treat
  	malicious animal magnetism? The hour has passed for
15	this evil to be treated personally, but it should have been
  	so dealt with at the outset. Christian Scientists should
  	have gone personally to the malpractitioner and told
18	him his fault, and vindicated divine Truth and Love
  	against human error and hate. This growing sin must
  	now be dealt with as evil, and not as an evil-doer or per-
21	sonality. It must also be remembered that neither an evil
  	claim nor an evil person is real, hence is neither to be
  	feared nor honored. 
24	    Evil is not something to fear and flee before, or that
  	becomes more real when it is grappled with. Evil let
  	alone grows more real, aggressive, and enlarges its claims;
27	but, met with Science, it can and will be mastered by
  	Science. 
  	    I deprecate personal animosities and quarrels. But if
30	one is intrusted with the rules of church government, to
  	fulfil that trust those rules must be carried out; thus it
  	is with all moral obligations. I am opposed to all personal
 
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 1	attacks, and in favor of combating evil only, rather than
  	person. 
 3	    An edition of one thousand pamphlets I ordered to
  	be laid away and not one of them circulated, because I
  	had been personal in condemnation. Afterwards, by a
 6	blunder of the gentleman who fills orders for my books,
  	some of these pamphlets were mistaken for the corrected
  	edition, and sold. 
 9	    Love is the fulfilling of the law. Human life is too
  	short for foibles or failures. The Christian Science Jour-
  	nal will hold high the banner of Truth and Love, and be
12	impartial and impersonal in its tenor and tenets. 
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