vement to
the Church? This is not a new religion. It is not an institution seeking
to build itself up for the mere sake of the institution. We do not ask
anybody to leave the church. We ask them to become better members of
their churches than before. New Thought is designed to make people
better and more efficient in whatever relation of life they may find
themselves. In other words: 'New Thought teaches men and women only the
old common-sense doctrine of self-reliance and belief in the integrity
of the universe and of one's own soul. It dignifies and ennobles manhood
and womanhood.' The main idea on which Christianity is founded is that
of communion with God, that of worshipping God in spirit and in truth.
This is the very corner-stone of those modern movements that recognize
men and women as the living temples of the God within.... I predict that
this new interpretation and new understanding will become universal in
the new age which is now dawning."

A further paragraph, however, reveals the synthetic character of the
movement. "It is the realization in practical affairs of the teachings
not only of the Nazarene, but of every other great religious teacher
since the world began; for in their essence these teachings are
fundamentally alike; and the New Thought and other new spiritual
movements are but the efforts to apply, in our relations one with
another, these simple and sublime truths."

_The Range of the Movement_

I have quoted at length from these programs, affirmations and this one
address to indicate the range of the movement as it has found official
expression. We must look, however, to the literature of the movement as
a whole for a full understanding of its reach and influence. The
literature in general falls into three classes: (1) books concerned
mostly about healing; (2) books which instruct as to character,
spiritual states and fullness of life; (3) what one may call success
books which apply New Thought to business and the practical conduct of
life. The lines of demarcation between these three types of books is, of
course, not clear and there is a material which is common to all of
them, but the distinction thus suggested is real.

As a principle of healing New Thought differs from Christian Science in
almost the whole range of its assumptions. It does not deny the reality
of matter, not the reality of suffering, nor does it distinguish, as
does Christian Science, between the Divine Mind and the