J i o t es by the Way.
By J. H. Sammis
Pantheism is " A l l is God, and God is All. " Dr. Hodge published that defini- tion in i860, nine years before Mrs. Eddy got her celestial inspiration. So then the fundamental principle of "Christian Science" is identical with that of Pantheism, viz: "God is All, and all is God." But Mrs. Eddy's ad- vertisement, in the Express of Nov. 6th, says ' ' Christian Science is not Pan- theistic." It defines Pantheism, after Webster, as "the universe taken, or con- ceived of as a whole, IS GOD." Now, pray, what is the difference between saying " t h e whole is Go d ," and saying " A l l is Go d ?" If the former is Pan- theism, the latter is ' ' Christian Sci- ence. ' ' Pantheism. The former views the uni- verse as idea, or as existing only in the mind, a wholly subjective thing; the lat- ter as material, or wholly objective; mind being only a phase of material manifestation. "Christian Science" borrows from the former. It is not Pantheism. It is Pantheistic. This Ed- dyite disclaims being Pantheistic be- eause Eddyism teaches that the All is Spirit. The Pantheist does not so teach because he knows that Spirit is per- sonal, and that if God is Spirit He must be a Person; and he sees with equal clearness that if God is All, He cannot be a Person. Any accredited psychol- ogist will tell you that; The "Scion- Varieties of Pantheism The extremes of Pan- theism are Idealistic Pan- theism, and Materialistic
The Eddyistlc Put your finger 011 a God Impersonal flea or an Eddyite and he isn't there. Mrs. Eddy explicitly denies that God is per- sonal, and calls the I Am " t h e Imper- sonal." Her agent in a late copy of the Los Angeles Express, claims that ' ' Christian Science'' holds to the per- sonality of God. But Mrs. Eddy is "Christian Science." She calls God "principle, a thing, An It. Her doc- trine, ' ' God is All, and All is God,'' in- volves the denial of the Personal Diety. We are self-conscious personalities only because we distinguish ourselves from all other things and persons. If God is All, and All is God His identity as an individual personality is lost in the One Whole. He becomes an infinite IT. Without the mirror not ourselves we could not see and know ourselves. I can say ' ' myself,'' because I am not thyself. Without the object thyself, there could be no limiting subject, my- self. God being All, could not say " 1 " for want of a " Y o u " in contrast. God in eternity was Personal beeause of the Tri-personality; and to Him all per- sons uncreated or created were and are ever present in His consciousness.
Eddyistic "Science"
The slogan of "Christian Sci- e n c e" is • " God
Is Pantheistic.
is All, and All is God." is Pantheism — frdm " p a n " —all, and, ' ' theos''—God— literally — All-Godism. The Standard Dictionary, defining Pan- theism, quotes Dr. A. A. Hodge that That
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