MR WORTHINGTON AND HIS TEACHING.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 8134, 30 March 1892, Page 6

MR WORTHINGTON AND HIS TEACHING.

Br PmixAUETHBa, (Contributed.) I tfbis series cf papers upon Mr Worthirigton's teaching would be incomplete if I did sot show what must be the inevitable moral result of such teaching upon the great majority' of his hearers. To those who honestly believe in the truth of his premisses, and have sufficient mental acuteness to cany them out to their logical conclusions (when this is possible), only one result can follow, viz., the total confusion of all moral distinctions, and of the fundamental difference between right and wrong. No doubt Mr Worthingtan's disciples do not carry out bis teaching to ite logical results ; most men and women take far shorter cuts to conclusions that suit them than by the ratioeinative process, but the consequences would be the same in either case, (liven a religious system that identifies man with God, that denies the existence of sin and evU, except ac a necessary " mistake "in the process of man's spiritual development, ''a iall towards God," as Theodore Parker used to say, that asserts man's complete independence of the laws of matter—and it is easy to foresee the result.- Sin that is a necessary stage in man's advance to perfection is not sin at all, but to be welcomed as the very means and mainspring of goodness. '' Evil be thou my good" should be the real motto of Mr Worthington'a teaching, a motto which need not take long to be translated into practice. Let no one imagine that lam misinterpreting Mr Worthington. ; Listen to this—" This limit, or tlie-not-yet-truth, is the only evil; and good and evil are side by side in this process ; for each degree or stage in it is good in itself, as so much knowledge gained" (the italics are mine) (pp. 84-86). v Again, " When mistakes consequent upon evilr—or limitation—-are detected and understood for what they are, then all is seen to be good only" (p. 85). Further on he says that these experiences of sin and evil are "the school forms by which he (man) matriculates for eternity, by which he reaches the perfect manifestation of that expression of ttte first chapter of Genesis " (p. 86). In other words, to take a concrete example, Williams, the Windsor murderer, instead of being the fiend in human shape which most people would incline to believe him, has merely been " gaining knowledge " with which "to matriculate for eternity," where we have no doubt he will succeed in taking a very high degree! At present one can only hope that the *• limitations of good" {vid, supra), in which this atrocious scoundrel has been indulging may be further "limited" by the hangman's rope, and that with all possible despatch. - I have no wish to make jokes upon so ghastly a, subject, but really it is difficult to see with what other weapons so fatuous and glaring an absurdity can be met. ' Again, I ask, what must be .the; moral effect of such teaching as this ? Take merely two sentences like the following: " Every man is the expression of God in Its {sic) entirety" (p. 58), and "All sin is an incident of regeneration" (p. 319), and judge what the result must be when worked out in the ordinary detail of every day life. History supplies us but too frequently wifch the answer. A sect of taen and women who profess to manifest and be in direct communication with the Divine Spirit, and who are untrammelled by any social or domestic ties, are in danger in the long run of developing relations towards each other which are highly objectionable, and may be positively immoral. I am far from accusing the Worthingtoriians of any such tendency. All of them, no doubt, are leading blameless and useful lives, but I maintain, without the slightest reserve, that doctrines such as they are taught, when pushed to their logical conclusion, have had these results before, and may have these results again. But is this in reality Mr Wortbington's teaching ? many people may exclaim. In answer, take the following extract from his pamphlet on "Heredity":—"Human relationships are in reality non-existent, as we generally understand them. All socalled relationships that are not based on spiritual love, however riveted by the chains of human law and public opinion, are literally worthless whea viewed from the standpoint of the spiritual realities of life " ("Heredity." p. 19). I think we have heard of this "Spiritual love " before, but its results so far, as exhibited in America And elsewhere, have not been altogether respectable or savoury. Probably the opinion of moat people will be that we ate better without it. \ After this few people will be surprised to hear that Mr Worthington looks upon the tie between parent and child as a purely physical one, which like " every other socalled relationship is a myth and a fable." (Heredity, p. 20.) Parents are merely " that portion of the community who arrived here a little earlier" than their children, and a3 such are to be kept in their place. But Mr Worfchington is cpot only a philosopher, he is a physiologist as weiL As he knows moreabout theology than most theologians, so he knows more medicine than all the doctors. The great mistake, it appears, of modern medical science is its deplorable ignorance of the true meaning of heredity. Heredity is in. reality re-incarnation; you inherit merely from your past self, or selves, not from your physical ancestors. Strictly speaking'you have no ancestors at all, you are your ancestors. We have all heard of people whose ancestors were manufactured for them, and even their portraits painted, but the idea of a man who is his own family-tree has a delightful simplicity and inexpensiveness about it. What social rivalries and domestic heartburnings would it Rot save were the idea only carried out in every-day life. But let us try to work out the theory physiologically. For instance, doctors tell us of a disease called locomotor ataxy, which is caused by degeneration of the posterior roots of the spinal cord. According to Mr Worthington, disease is either due to some taint engendered in a previous existsaco or ifc is the result of Belief, Fear, or Animal Magnetism in the present life (Heredity, p. 9). If the latter, it is of coarse non-existent, a subjective delusion; if the former, it may "out-picture" in some form or other aa circumstances permit. It is needless to add that "to see this (doctrine of heredity) cteariy the mind mast be quite divested of that delusion of delusions, that matter is real" (p. 16); but when once this is done everything is quite easy. The man with the locomotor ataxy has thus two alternatives before him —either his disease is imaginary, which seems rather hard, or he contracted it in a previous existence. Whether he had a spinal cord in a previous existence is not stated, nor why, if he had, the disease should not have attacked it then and there. But of course the answer is plain. The poor man never had a spinal cord at all, and sever will have, for spinal cord is matter, and matter is " that delusion of delusions."

I am told by people who have put themselves under his care, that Mr Worthington, like "Clement's Tonic" and a few other panaceas, cures all diseases, or rather shows his pupils how it can be done. The proces3is beautiful in its simplicity. Yon merely affirm that there is nothing the matter vnth yon. In many cases this must have a quite admirable effect, and though it might not suit the medical profession from a financial point of view, should provide them with a very valuable hint. In the case of rather serious affections like cancer and tubercle the cure might leave something to be desired, but for that frequent and feminine malady " the nerves" it would be difficult to put limits to its beneficial effects. One can imagine, of course, that ra some infectious fevers, such as diphtheria and smallpox, the system migbfc aot be without danger to the public health, but then no system is quite perfect, and it is so easy to pick hotes. But no one can deny its advantages. If you have sufficient faith you'are cured, if you are not cured you have not sufficient faith. Could anything be more delightfully simple ? It is pleasant in taking leave of Mr Worthington's philosophy, to point to one application of it which, in properly selected eases, might be fraught with material advantage to the whole human race.