Page:The Origin of Christian Science.djvu/27

Rh the teachings of Christ, but is in Christian Science. Now this rule is a fundamental principle of Christian Science. It is the principle Mrs. Eddy claims to have discovered after twenty years of searching. “In following these leadings of scientific revelations,” she says, “the Bible was my only text-book.” But whence did she get “these leadings” in the following of which the Bible became her guide?

But I need not so soon anticipate the line of argument. Look again at the language of this remarkable claim and see that these three things are clearly affirmed.

1. That Mrs. Eddy is the discoverer and founder of Christian Science.

2. That the Bible was her authority for the system.

3. That she was not influenced by any other authorities.

I undertake in this essay to prove that Mrs. Eddy's claim in all three counts just specified is false. If I show that she was influenced by others fundamentally, so much as to do little more than to reproduce their system, then I disprove the third proposition and show that the first and main element of her claim, namely, that she is the discoverer and founder of Christian Science, has no truth in it. If I show that the principles of Christian Science are in a system that is not only non-Christian and pagan but anti-Christian, a system that was inspired by those who wanted to resist the spreading tide of Christianity, then I