at the organization was formed in Lynn, and later in the same
year appeared her _Science and Health_. The years since then have been
filled with controversies in the law courts and newspapers, caresses
and blows from the ruling hand of Mother Eddy, and numerous
developments from small beginnings, until now over one hundred
thousand are identified with the organization. These are almost
without exception proselytes from other churches.

[Illustration: MARY BAKER EDDY]

Mrs. Eddy's doctrines are founded on a metaphysical theory known as
subjective idealism, and advanced centuries before her birth. It
posits the all-comprehensiveness of mind and the non-existence of
matter. If bodies do not exist, diseases cannot exist, and must be
only mental delusions. If the mind is freed of these delusions the
disease is gone. This was Quimby's method of procedure already quoted.
In _Science and Health_ she says that the object of treatment is "to
destroy the patient's belief in his physical condition." She also
advises: "Mentally contradict every complaint of the body." She
continues: "All disease is the result of education, and can carry its
ill effects no further than mortal mind maps out the way. Destroy
fear," she says, "and you end the fever." However, as with other
healers, practice and theory are two different things. Listen further:
"It would be foolish to venture beyond our present understanding,
foolish to stop eating, until we gain more goodness and a clearer
comprehension of the living God." Again: "Until the advancing age
admits the efficacy and the supremacy of Mind, it is better to leave
the adjustment of broken bones and dislocations to the fingers of the
surgeon, while you confine yourself chiefly to mental reconstruction,
and the prevention of inflammation and protracted confinement."[205]

With the exception of Christian Science, no modern religious movement
has come so prominently before the public and gained so many adherents
in a short time as the Christian Catholic Apostle Church of Zion, and
both movements owe their popularity solely to their healing. John
Alexander Dowie (1847-1907), the founder of this sect, was born in
Edinburgh, Scotland, but in 1860, with his parents, he went to
Australia, returning for two years to his native city for college
study. In 1870 he was ordained to the Congregational ministry. He
served three churches, and after some political activity was offered a
portfolio in the Australi