Page:The Origin of Christian Science.djvu/214

206 The parallel we have drawn between Mrs. Eddy's psychology and that of the Neoplatonists is a deadly one. The identities here alone are so damaging to Mrs. Eddy's claim to originality as to destroy it utterly. Her case is absolutely hopeless. She and her followers are in a pitiable plight. They have entangled themselves in meshes out of which it is impossible for one to extricate them. They can “save their face” only by keeping themselves ignorant of the psychological shamming involved in their system or by a bracing and brazen affront. Many do it the first way, but a few, we are persuaded, do it the other way. Mrs. Eddy's advice to her disciples not to read anything opposed to her writings is a wise defensive policy. But it is the method of all slave-holders.