The authorities inform us that religion depends upon

two elements: (1) The perception of need on the part of the

individual; and (2) the belief in the existence of some higher
power which can and will relieve the need. When a man turns
to some believed-in higher power, and supplicates it, in faith
and trust, to help him and to relieve his distress, then and there
that man becomes a religious being. Schleirmacher claims that
religion is the feeling of dependence. If this conception be
true, then the Christian Scientist becomes the most religious of
religious beings, for he depends upon God for everything, at all
times. Not content, as is the ordinary churchman, with asking
merely for a home in a better land after death, with occasional
answers to prayer, the Christian Scientist expects and demands
of God the alleviation of every ill; the balm for every pain;
health, happiness, and prosperity. In fact, he holds that these
things really exist for him in the Divine Mind, and that only
the error and illusion of mortal mind prevent them from
being in constant evidence. It must be confessed that of all
the idealistic philosophies, that of Christian Science holds the
greatest promise of pragmatic results the working out and
making good being confidently promised to those who will
follow its teachings. It is true that, to the uninitiated, material
good seems as much allied to the world of materiality as does
material evil and as much the result of illusion, maya, or
mortal mind. But, then, after all, it is probably true that one
must be a Christian Scientist in order to fully ) its teachings.
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Christian Science holds that its healing and removal of error
is wholly the result of spiritual power and arises from the
perception of the Truth. It claims to have nothing in connection
with suggestion, mental healing, faith-cure, and other forms of
healing manifested by the various New Thought schools and
others these manifestations being regarded as merely mortal
mind counterfeits of the real the serpents of the magicians
as compared with the serpent of Moses, and, like the former,
destined to be swallowed and destroyed by the Truth. The
most dangerous of all forms of mortal mind to the Christian
Scientist, is that known as malicious animal magnetism,
which is akin to hypnotism, mesmerism, and general evil
mental malpractice. This m. a. m. seems to be the devil of
Christian Science, although to an outsider it would seem that
if the fundamental tenets of the faith be true, there would be
no cause for alarm. By many kindly disposed and sympathetic
critics of Christian Science this m. a. m. belief is regarded as an
ugly excrescence upon a beautiful philosophy. Let it be hoped
that time will remove it.
It is absurd to deny the fact that Christian Science has exerted
a most potent influence upon the New Thought movement.
It is a fact that many of the New Thought teachers were
originally Christian Scientists, and left the fold chiefly because
they resented the authority of Mrs. Eddy, and sought to exercise
a greater personal influence of their own. Even among those
who did not serve their apprenticeship in C. S., there is found
a practical adoption of one or more of Mrs. Eddy s principles,
varied to suit the particular views of the adapter. Mental
Science, a prominent branch of the New Thought, adheres
to the practical features of Christian Science while using the
term Mind in place of God. Other added features have been
borrowed from Theosophy and the religions and philosophies

of ancient India and Greece. In fact, the philosophies of all

countries and times have been drawn upon by New Thought
until the verse quoted a little further back is almost literally true.
New Thought, Theosophy and Christian Science.
153
Mental Suggestion, particularly in its form of auto-suggestion,
has been boldly borrowed from the New Psychology, and
dressed up as affirmations,
statements, etc. The world-old
principles of Faith Healing (really based upon Suggestion)
have been used, under various names and guises, and with
various explanations and theories. The old ideas of magic, or
mental influence at a distance, have been blended with the
Psychic Research theories of telepathy. The theories of the
New Psychology (and of Hindu philosophy) regarding the
subconscious and superconscious planes of mentality have
been worked over into a semi-religious philosophy. Through
Dr. Quimby, Dr. Evans, and Julian A. Dresser, the Quimby
theories have reached New Thought, but the methods of
applying the same are found to have been adapted from Mrs.
Eddy s Science in the majority of cases. Faith Cure and Mental
Healing, however, are as old as the race, and there is no need for
a discussion between cults or schools on that point. It is merely
a question of names and theories.
I shall not speak at length regarding the successes and
failures of the New Thought movement. Enough for me
to say that New Thought contains within itself much of
the very highest in human thought, belief, and philosophy,
together with much of the lowest and most regrettable
superstition, credulity and false-knowledge. In so far as it has
manifested truth, the movement has succeeded; in so far as
it has manifested superstition, it has failed. It is the belief of
some careful observers that the movement will eventually
split itself up into three great sections the first of which will
be absorbed by Christian Science; the second, resolving itself
into a Religion of Science or a Science of Religion,
with a
fundamental belief in the Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood
of Man, the Mastery of Self, the development of the powers
latent in the mind of man and inherent in all nature; the third,
degenerating into a cult or cults of credulous superstition, low
forms of psychism and gross forms of occultism, revival of the
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154
witchcraft delusion, fetichism, and perhaps even phallicism
and voodooism. For be it remembered, there are dark sides to
mysticism and occultism, as well as the bright sides.
The New Thought movement is not homogeneous, but is
composed of a great variety of cults, schools, and varieties of
belief and practice, and but loosely united. In its garden are
many choice flowers and many rank and poisonous weeds, the
seeds of both having been sown long ago by the thinkers of the
past and now being watered by the rain of change and warmed
by the sun of interest, have grown and borne flower and fruit,
each according to its kind. From this garden may be expected
much, good and evil, which will influence the thought of the
future. Its flowers have begun to cross-fertilize each other, and
many new varieties will spring up to perplex the philosophers
of to-morrow. Surely such a mixful mixture ne er has been
mixed before, of the seeds of old Egypt, India, Chaldea, Persia,
Greece Hinduism, Buddhism, Paganism, Christianity, Religion,
Metaphysics, Philosophy, Rationalism, Mysticism, Occultism.

What shall the harvest be?

Added to the other elements bubbling in the pot, and now
showing at the surface, we find the great sociological and
economic problems manifested by the rise of Socialism, Labor
Unionism, Single Tax, and the rest all of which will exert
a strong influence in the new composite material which will
presently flow from the pot. Then there must be recognized
the inquiry and investigation of the Psychic Researchers, who
have lifted Spiritualism to the plane of science. If survival of the
individual soul can be scientifically established, it will give a new
impetus to thought in that direction, and will extend the domain
of science beyond the border. If science can prove the theory
of telepathy beyond a doubt, many of the theories regarding
life and mind will have to be revised. We are indeed entering
into a period of philosophical, metaphysical, theological and
sociological rebirth. The New Renaissance is upon us. The pot
is bubbling fiercely strange things are coming to the surface
New Thought, Theosophy and Christian Science.
155
and showing their form. What will eventually flow forth from
the pot to cool and crystallize then to await the coming of
another era of the Melting Pot? Ah! what, indeed?
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157