a of the "New Thought" is the complete development of man,--body,
soul, and spirit. Every possible human power is utilized; there is
recognition of the Creator; the Word of God is appropriated in
convenient texts; and Christ is claimed by its followers to be the
complete example and embodiment of all their ideals. Newly stated
theories of psychology are included in this system, and the whole
teaching stands as the embodiment of all the ideals of the one who first
suggested to humanity that they, by their own efforts, become as God.
The system wholly denies Scriptural regeneration, both as to its
necessity and as a fact; and is a veritable worship of self, as
predicted for the last days (II Tim. 3:2). It substitutes the
development of the will as a power for victory in the life, in place of
the God-provided victory over sin by the Spirit. Its followers seem to
be utterly blind to the plainest truths of the Scriptures, and are
marvelling at what they suppose to be a discovery; when, perchance, they
are able to comprehend some secondary truth of the Word of God. This
system, like "Christian Science," numbers its followers by the hundreds
of thousands. They support many periodicals, and their teachings are
read and accepted throughout the world.

In all these doctrines there is included much of the precious truth of
God, but this is employed only as a bait to cover the relentless hook of
Satan, by which he seeks to draw human souls away from God and into
perdition. Not one positive word is said of the future state of man, or
of his fitness to meet his God, and any belief in immortality is
borrowed from the revelation of God; for the systems themselves are
given over to distracting and diverting man from the thought of his need
of a Divinely wrought preparation for eternity. It is commonly stated by
the followers of these systems that it is of little importance what one
believes, for it is the _life_ that counts. Thus the great and necessary
fact that any true character as well as any eternal blessedness depends
upon what one believes, rather than on the life, is discredited.

These systems are mentioned only as examples of the almost innumerable
doctrines that are sweeping the world to-day. They often reappear under
new and misleading titles. The truth they acknowledge, and many forces
they employ, are God's gracious provision for His saints; yet when these
truths and forces are used alone, where the real purpose of God is