Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/538

478 Mother Church shall either neglect or refuse to sing alone a hymn written by our Leader and Pastor Emeritus, as often as once each month, and oftener if the Directors so direct, a meeting shall be called and the salary of this singer shall be stopped."

Above all these lesser by-laws Mrs. Eddy holds one in which her supreme authority rests. A mesmerist or "mental malpractitioner" is to be excommunicated, and "if the author of Science and Health shall bear witness to the offence of mental malpractice, it shall be considered sufficient evidence thereof." The accused can make no defence, and has no appeal. In the matter of hypnotism, Mrs. Eddy's mere word is enough. She has, she says, an unerring instinct by which she can detect hypnotism in any creature:

I possess a spiritual sense of what the malicious mental practitioner is mentally arguing which cannot be deceived; I can discern in the human mind thoughts, motives, and purposes; and neither mental arguments nor psychic power can affect this spiritual insight.

Of late years Mrs. Eddy has shown a disposition to so modify the practice of Christian Science healing as not to conflict with the laws. Christian Scientists formerly treated all diseases, without regard to legal restrictions. But experience has shown Mrs. Eddy that an evasion of the law is regarded by the public as a defiance of the law, and forms a serious obstacle to the spread of Christian Science. It also has involved Christian Scientists constantly in lawsuits.

In March, 1901, Mrs. Eddy announced in the Journal that