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Show ALAS, FOR HUMAN FRAILTY. A singular fad that is a curious combination of religion gone mad. of esoteric medeciae and mental- suggestion, has been for the past year spreading spread-ing throughout the New England states. Boston, like Athens, the mother of religious novelties, for-I for-I tune tellers and mental eccentricities, claims the maternity of this misshapen babe which, like '"the four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts and creeping things" of St. Peter's vision, is unpleasant, at first, to the eye, but after a time seems acceptable lo the New England stomach. The fad has invaded in-vaded Brooklyn and threatens to become fashionable fashion-able in the towns and cities of the eastern states and those of the middle west. Its exponents and defenders, like the followers of Christian Science ' and Theosophy. loudly proclaim that, before, a dec ade, it will embrace the entire country. I , This peculiar cult has appropriated to itself tho I high-sounding name of Emanuelism. in compliment I to the "Church of the Emanuel," Boston, where the 1 Joundling was delivered, and its paternity aeknowl- I edged by the Protestant Episcopal minister of the I church. I If we are to believe its sire and sponsors, the I baic principles of the new birth are: 'floral sua- I , si(". re-education, evoking suggestion and spiritual I hypnosis." It is also maintained by these individ- I that: "Man is a very suggestible animal, and J J rem his subconscious region a wealth of dynamic I energy may be evoked." 'c may incidentally remark that, from the high- I fluting language and big words used in the official I proclamation of this latest cult, its mysteries are 1 concealed from all but high school graduates and I r university professors. i ; Only in one important respect does Emanuelism differ from Christian Science, and that is -when it professes to work hand in hand with the medical profession. It claims to cure psychologically; that is. by mental suggestion; all nervous derangements. It has ample scope for the exercise of its religio-medieal religio-medieal skill in fashionable Boston, where, the Emanuelists assure us: "Melancholia, moral fa- Itigue. hysteria, suicidal mania, pseopathie sexualis, kleptomania and psychonneurosis" are quite common com-mon among the great but decreasing non-Catholic population. At present, the followers of this twentieth cen- Itury heresy attend the weekly services in the churches where the cult is followed and the fad fashionable, fash-ionable, and whose pastors are its exponents and t p reject "health thoughts'' that operate on the "ub- conscious mind" in a manner entirely familiar to J the traveling faker, if not to the reputable physi- I cian. i.inanueiism proiesses to teach the wisdom and I utility of confession. It returns partially lo the : Information doctrine of confession of sins de- I nounced by Cranmer as the "invention of the devil " I 'I l'e patient is taken into a retired corner and is en- I enraged to lay bare his mind, his inmost thoughts and actions to Ids or her pastor. In these intimate conferences, the minister, who is always on the alert, claims to have a better opportunity than the doctor to ascertain the real cause of the trouble. I , The fact that the poor minister himself is, in many 1 f a hollow-eyed, sallow complexioned man. with I receding chest and noticeably narrow shoulders, a j physical weakling walking ihe rim of the pre'ei- I r? of collapse, seems to make no impression on I ,lp minds of the nervous wrecks seeking the prom- I ised aid of Emanuelism. j The contention of the Rev. Dr. R4.b MacDonald. j of the fashionable ' Washington Avenue Baptist ! church. Brooklyn, X. Y.. that: "The older appeal j was only 10 t,ie sn"l man's preparation for I ! eternity, while this movement takes hold of his mcn- J -""" i 1 i tal and bodily life, and fits him for daily living right here and now-" whether true or not, will attract thousands, for, among the great non-Catholic masses today, men and women are more concerned for the health of their bodies than that .of their souls. . Sir Erederick Traves, one of Great Britain's most talented physicians, said the other day in a speech at Bristol that: "He had met with two kinds of folly which were constantly in rebellion against the efforts of his art the folly of pride and the folly of religion gone mad." The fact is, the ministers view with alarm the falling away of their congregations, and they are prepared to resort to any expedient to arrest the disintegration. The public schools and modern or ''higher" criticism are working havoc among beliefs founded on the Bible and private interpretation. I Protestantism, having passed through many phases of evolution and change, like Luthcranism and Calvinism, is now hurrying with accelerated motion towards final disruption, and dissipation into other and more dangerous forms of infidelity. For three centuries the followers of Luther, Calvin and Latimer occupied the same position towards the Church of Christ that the Samaritans, a small remnant of whom survive at Xaplous, the ancient Shechem, did to the Church of Israel or the Rev-elat Rev-elat ion of God. The Samaritans revolted against the synagogue, increased and multiplied till they threatened the subversion of the Jewish faith, then broke up into fragmentary sects and finally dissolved dis-solved into idolatry and heathen practices. Looking down from the unchangeable heights of the infalli hie and unalterable Catholic Church, the Rock of Ages, on the restless sectaries ''running to and fro" seeking Christ and never finding him, on Spiritism, Christian Science, Theosophy and Emanuelism, one is forcibly reminded of the curse pronounced in the sixth chapter of Isais against the apostate Jews of his time: "Blind the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes; lest tiny see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and be converted, and I heal them." |