Chapter 20 — General Miscellany

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1             [Boston Herald, Sunday, May 15, 1898]


       THE UNITED STATES TO GREAT BRITAIN


3     HAIL, brother! fling thy banner
       To the billows and the breeze;
       We proffer thee warm welcome
6        With our hand, though not our knees.


       Lord of the main and manor!
       Thy palm, in ancient day,
9     Didst rock the country’s cradle
       That wakes thy laureate’s lay.


       The hoar fight is forgotten;
12       Our eagle, like the dove,
       Returns to bless a bridal
       Betokened from above.


15    List, brother! angels whisper
       To Judah’s sceptred race, —
       “Thou of the self-same spirit,
18       Allied by nations’ grace,


       “Wouldst cheer the hosts of heaven;
       For Anglo-Israel, lo!
21    Is marching under orders;
       His hand averts the blow.”


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1     Brave Britain, blest America!
       Unite your battle-plan;
3     Victorious, all who live it, —
       The love for God and man.



       TO THE PUBLIC


6     The following views of the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy
       upon the subject of the Trinity, are known to us to be
       those uniformly held and expressed by her. A reference
9     to her writings will fully corroborate this statement. —


       EDITOR Sentinel.
       The contents of the last lecture of our dear brother,
12    on the subject “The Unknown God Made Known,”
       were unknown to me till after the lecture was delivered
       in Boston, April 5.

15    The members of the Board of Lectureship are not
       allowed to consult me relative to their subjects or the
       handling thereof, owing to my busy life, and they seek a
18    higher source for wisdom and guidance. The talented
       author of this lecture has a heart full of love towards
       God and man. For once he may have overlooked the
21    construction that people unfamiliar with his broad
       views and loving nature might put on his comparisons
       and ready humor. But all Christian Scientists deeply
24    recognize the oneness of Jesus — that he stands alone
       in word and deed, the visible discoverer, founder, de-
       monstrator, and great Teacher of Christianity, whose
27    sandals none may unloose.

       The Board of Lectureship is absolutely inclined to
       be, and is instructed to be, charitable towards all, and


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1     hating none. The purpose of its members is to sub-
       serve the interest of mankind, and to cement the bonds
3     of Christian brotherhood, whose every link leads up-
       ward in the chain of being. The cardinal points of
       Christian Science cannot be lost sight of, namely — one
6     God, supreme, infinite, and one Christ Jesus.

       The Board of Lectureship is specially requested to be
       wise in discoursing on the great subject of Christian
9     Science.

       MARY BAKER EDDY



       FAST DAY IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1899


12    Along the lines of progressive Christendom, New
       Hampshire’s advancement is marked. Already Massa-
       chusetts has exchanged Fast Day, and all that it for-
15    merly signified, for Patriots’ Day, and the observance
       of the holiday illustrates the joy, grace, and glory of lib-
       erty. We read in Holy Writ that the disciples of St.
18    John the Baptist said to the great Master, “Why do we
       and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?”
       And he answered them in substance: My disciples
21    rejoice in their present Christianity and have no cause
       to mourn; only those who have not the Christ, Truth,
       within them should wear sackcloth.

24    Jesus said to his disciples, “This kind goeth not out but
       by prayer and fasting,” but he did not appoint a fast.
       Merely to abstain from eating was not sufficient to meet
27    his demand. The animus of his saying was: Silence
       appetites, passion, and all that wars against Spirit and
       spiritual power. The fact that he healed the sick man
30    without the observance of a material fast confirms this


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1     conclusion. Jesus attended feasts, but we have no record
       of his observing appointed fasts.

3     St. Paul’s days for prayer were every day and every
       hour. He said, “Pray without ceasing.” He classed
       the usage of special days and seasons for religious ob-
6     servances and precedents as belonging not to the Chris-
       tian era, but to traditions, old-wives’ fables, and endless
       genealogies.

9     The enlightenment, the erudition, the progress of relig-
       ion and medicine in New Hampshire, are in excess of
       other States, as witness her schools, her churches, and
12    her frown on class legislation. In many of the States
       in our Union a simple board of health, clad in a little
       brief authority, has arrogated to itself the prerogative
15    of making laws for the State on the practice of medicine!
       But this attempt is shorn of some of its shamelessness by
       the courts immediately annulling such bills and pluck-
18    ing their plumes through constitutional interpretations.
       Not the tradition of the elders, nor a paltering, timid,
       or dastardly policy, is pursued by the leaders of our rock-
21    ribbed State.

       That the Governor of New Hampshire has suggested to
       his constituents to recur to a religious observance which
24    virtually belongs to the past, should tend to enhance their
       confidence in his intention to rule righteously the affairs
       of state. However, Jesus’ example in this, as in all else,
27    suffices for the Christian era. The dark days of our fore-
       fathers and their implorations for peace and plenty have
       passed, and are succeeded by our time of abundance, even
30    the full beneficence of the laws of the universe which
       man’s diligence has utilized. Institutions of learning and
       progressive religion light their fires in every home.


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1     I have one innate joy, and love to breathe it to the
       breeze as God’s courtesy. A native of New Hampshire,
3     a child of the Republic, a Daughter of the Revolution, I
       thank God that He has emblazoned on the escutcheon
       of this State, engraven on her granite rocks, and lifted
6     to her giant hills the ensign of religious liberty — “Free-
       dom to worship God.”



       SPRING GREETING


9     Beloved brethren all over our land and in every land,
       accept your Leader’s Spring greeting, while


       The bird of hope is singing
12       A lightsome lay, a cooing call,
       And in her heart is beating
       A love for all —
15       ” ‘Tis peace not power I seek,
       ‘Tis meet that man be meek.”


       [New York Herald, May 1, 1901]



18                       [Extract]


       MRS. EDDY TALKS


       Christian Science has been so much to the fore of late
21    that unusual public interest centres in the personality
       of Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of the cult.
       The granting of interviews is not usual, hence it was
24    a special favor that Mrs. Eddy received the Herald
       correspondent.

       It had been raining all day and was damp without, so
27    the change from the misty air outside to the pleasant


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1     warmth within the ample, richly furnished house was
       agreeable. Seated in the large parlor, I became aware
3     of a white-haired lady slowly descending the stairs.
       She entered with a gracious smile, walking uprightly and
       with light step, and after a kindly greeting took a seat
6     on a sofa. It was Mrs. Eddy. There was no mis-
       taking that. Older in years, white-haired and frailer,
       but Mrs. Eddy herself. The likeness to the portraits
9     of twenty years ago, so often seen in reproductions, was
       unmistakable. There is no mistaking certain lines that
       depend upon the osseous structure; there is no mistaking
12    the eyes — those eyes the shade of which is so hard to
       catch, whether blue-gray or grayish brown, and which
       are always bright. And when I say frail, let it not be
15    understood that I mean weak, for weak she was not.
       When we were snugly seated in the other and smaller
       parlor across the hall, which serves as a library, Mrs.
18    Eddy sat back to be questioned.

       “The continuity of The Church of Christ, Scientist,”
       she said, in her clear voice, “is assured. It is growing
21    wonderfully. It will embrace all the churches, one by
       one, because in it alone is the simplicity of the oneness
       of God; the oneness of Christ and the perfecting of man
24    stated scientifically.”

       “How will it be governed after all now concerned in
       its government shall have passed on?”

27    “It will evolve scientifically. Its essence is evangelical.
       Its government will develop as it progresses.”

       “Will there be a hierarchy, or will it be directed by a
30    single earthly ruler?”

       “In time its present rules of service and present ruler-
       ship will advance nearer perfection.”


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1     It was plain that the answers to questions would be
       in Mrs. Eddy’s own spirit. She has a rapt way of talk-
3     ing, looking large-eyed into space, and works around a
       question in her own way, reaching an answer often
       unexpectedly after a prolonged exordium. She explained:
6     “No present change is contemplated in the rulership.
       You would ask, perhaps, whether my successor will be a
       woman or a man. I can answer that. It will be a man.”

9     “Can you name the man?”

       “I cannot answer that now.”

       Here, then, was the definite statement that Mrs. Eddy’s
12    immediate successor would, like herself, be the ruler.


       Not a Pope or a Christ


       “I have been called a pope, but surely I have sought
15    no such distinction. I have simply taught as I learned
       while healing the sick. It was in 1866 that the light of
       the Science came first to me. In 1875 I wrote my book.
18    It brought down a shower of abuse upon my head, but
       it won converts from the first. I followed it up, teaching
       and organizing, and trust in me grew. I was the mother,
21    but of course the term pope is used figuratively.

       “A position of authority,” she went on, “became
       necessary. Rules were necessary, and I made a code of
24    by-laws, but each one was the fruit of experience and the
       result of prayer. Entrusting their enforcement to others,
       I found at one time that they had five churches under
27    discipline. I intervened. Dissensions are dangerous in
       an infant church. I wrote to each church in tenderness,
       in exhortation, and in rebuke, and so brought all back to
30    union and love again. If that is to be a pope, then you


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1     can judge for yourself. I have even been spoken of as a
       Christ, but to my understanding of Christ that is impos-
3     sible. If we say that the sun stands for God, then all his
       rays collectively stand for Christ, and each separate ray
       for men and women. God the Father is greater than
6     Christ, but Christ is ‘one with the Father,’ and so the
       mystery is scientifically explained. There can be but
       one Christ.”

9     “And the soul of man?”

       “It is not the spirit of God, inhabiting clay and then
       withdrawn from it, but God preserving individuality and
12    personality to the end. I hold it absurd to say that when
       a man dies, the man will be at once better than he was
       before death. How can it be? The individuality of him
15    must make gradual approaches to Soul’s perfection.”

       “Do you reject utterly the bacteria theory of the
       propagation of disease?”

18    “Oh,” with a prolonged inflection, “entirely. If I
       harbored that idea about a disease, I should think myself
       in danger of catching it.”


21            About Infectious Diseases


       “Then as to the laws — the health laws of the States
       on the question of infectious and contagious diseases.
24    How does Christian Science stand as to them?”

       “I say, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.’
       We cannot force perfection on the world. Were vaccina-
27    tion of any avail, I should tremble for mankind; but,
       knowing it is not, and that the fear of catching small-
       pox is more dangerous than any material infection, I
30    say: Where vaccination is compulsory, let your children


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1     be vaccinated, and see that your mind is in such a state
       that by your prayers vaccination will do the children no
3     harm. So long as Christian Scientists obey the laws, I
       do not suppose their mental reservations will be thought
       to matter much. But every thought tells, and Christian
6     Science will overthrow false knowledge in the end.”

       “What is your attitude to science in general? Do you
       oppose it?”

9      “Not,” with a smile, “if it is really science.”

       “Well, electricity, engineering, the telephone, the steam
       engine — are these too material for Christian Science?”

12    “No; only false science — healing by drugs. I was a
       sickly child. I was dosed with drugs until they had no
       effect on me. The doctors said I would live if the drugs
15    could be made to act on me. Then homoeopathy came
       like blessed relief to me, but I found that when I pre-
       scribed pellets without any medication they acted just
18    the same and healed the sick. How could I believe in
       a science of drugs?”

       “But surgery?”

21    “The work done by the surgeon is the last healing that
       will be vouchsafed to us, or rather attained by us, as we
       near a state of spiritual perfection. At present I am
24    conservative about advice on surgical cases.”

       “But the pursuit of modern material inventions?”

       “Oh, we cannot oppose them. They all tend to newer,
27    finer, more etherealized ways of living. They seek the finer
       essences. They light the way to the Church of Christ.
       We use them, we make them our figures of speech.
30    They are preparing the way for us.”

       We talked on many subjects, some only of which are
       here touched upon, and her views, strictly and always


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1     from the standpoint of Christian Science, were continu-
       ally surprising. She talks as one who has lived with her
3     subject for a lifetime, — an ordinary lifetime; and so
       far from being puzzled by any question, welcomes it as
       another opportunity for presenting another view of her
6     religion.

       Those who have been anticipating nature and declaring
       Mrs. Eddy non-existent may learn authoritatively from
9     the Herald that she is in the flesh and in health. Soon
       after I reached Concord on my return from Pleasant
       View, Mrs. Eddy’s carriage drove into town and made
12    several turns about the court-house before returning.
       She was inside, and as she passed me the same ex-
       pression of looking forward, thinking, thinking, was on
15    her face.

       CONCORD, N. H.,
       Tuesday, April 30, 1901



       MRS. EDDY’S SUCCESSOR


       In a recent interview which appeared in the columns
       of the New York Herald, the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy,
21    Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, stated that
       her successor would be a man. Various conjectures
       having arisen as to whether she had in mind any particu-
24    lar person when the statement was made, Mrs. Eddy
       gave the following to the Associated Press, May 16,
       1901: —


27    “I did say that a man would be my future successor.
       By this I did not mean any man to-day on earth.

       “Science and Health makes it plain to all Christian
30    Scientists that the manhood and womanhood of God


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1     have already been revealed in a degree through Christ
       Jesus and Christian Science, His two witnesses. What
3     remains to lead on the centuries and reveal my successor,
       is man in the image and likeness of the Father-Mother
       God, man the generic term for mankind.”



       GIFT OF A LOVING-CUP


       The Executive Members of The Mother Church of
       Christ, Scientist, will please accept my heartfelt acknowl-
9     edgment of their beautiful gift to me, a loving-cup, pre-
       sented July 16, 1903. The exquisite design of boughs
       encircling this cup, illustrated by Keats’ touching couplet,


12       Ah happy, happy boughs, that cannot shed
       Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu!


       would almost suggest that nature had reproduced her
15    primal presence, bough, bird, and song, to salute me.
       The twelve beautiful pearls that crown this cup call to
       mind the number of our great Master’s first disciples, and
18    the parable of the priceless pearl which purchases our
       field of labor in exchange for all else.

       I shall treasure my loving-cup with all its sweet
21    associations.


       [Special contribution to “Bohemia.” A symposium]



       FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIAN SCIENCE


24    Most thinkers concede that Science is the law of God;
       that matter is not a law-maker; that man is not the
       author of Science, and that a phenomenon is chimerical,
27    unless it be the manifestation of a fixed Principle whose
       noumenon is God and whose phenomenon is Science.


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1     My discovery that mankind is absolutely healed of so-
       called disease and injuries by other than drugs, surgery,
3     hygiene, electricity, magnetism, or will-power, induced a
       deep research, which proved conclusively that all effect
       must be the offspring of a universal cause. I sought this
6     cause, not within but ab extra, and I found it was God
       made manifest in the flesh, and understood through divine
       Science. Then I was healed, and the greatest of all ques-
9     tions was solved sufficiently to give a reason for the hope
       that was within me.

       The religious departure from divine Science sprang from
12    the belief that the man Jesus, rather than his divine Prin-
       ciple, God, saves man, and that materia medica heals him.
       The writer’s departure from such a religion was based upon
15    her discovery that neither man nor materia medica, but
       God, heals and saves mankind.

       Here, however, was no stopping-place, since Science
18    demanded a rational proof that the divine Mind heals
       the sick and saves the sinner. God unfolded the way, the
       demonstration thereof was made, and the certainty of its
21    value to the race firmly established. I had found unmis-
       takably an actual, unfailing causation, enshrined in the
       divine Principle and in the laws of man and the universe,
24    which, never producing an opposite effect, demonstrated
       Christianity and proved itself Science, for it healed the
       sick and reformed the sinner on a demonstrable Principle
27    and given rule. The human demonstrator of this Science
       may mistake, but the Science remains the law of God —
       infallible, eternal. Divine Life, Truth, Love is the basic
30    Principle of all Science, it solves the problem of being;
       and nothing that worketh ill can enter into the solution
       of God’s problems.


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1     God is Mind, and divine Mind was first chronologi-
       cally, is first potentially, and is the healer to whom all
3     things are possible. A scientific state of health is a
       consciousness of health, holiness, immortality — a con-
       sciousness gained through Christ, Truth; while disease
6     is a mental state or error that Truth destroys. It is self-
       evident that matter, or the body, cannot cause disease,
       since disease is in a sense susceptible of both ease and
9     dis-ease, and matter is not sensible. Kant, Locke, Berke-
       ley, Tyndall, and Spencer afford little aid in understand-
       ing divine metaphysics or its therapeutics. Christian
12    Science is a divine largess, a gift of God — understood
       by and divinely natural to him who sits at the feet of
       Jesus clothed in truth, who is putting off the hypothesis
15    of matter because he is conscious of the allness of God —
       “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.”
       Thus the great Way-shower, invested with glory, is under-
18    stood, and his words and works illustrate “the way, the
       truth, and the life.”
~        Divine modes or manifestations are natural, beyond
21    the so-called natural sciences and human philosophy,
       because they are spiritual, and coexist with the God of
       nature in absolute Science. The laws of God, or divine
24    Mind, obtain not in material phenomena, or phenomenal
       evil, which is lawless and traceable to mortal mind —
       human will divorced from Science.

27    Inductive or deductive reasoning is correct only as it
       is spiritual, induced by love and deduced from God,
       Spirit; only as it makes manifest the infinite nature,
30    including all law and supplying all the needs of man.
       Wholly hypothetical, inductive reasoning reckons creation
       as its own creator, seeks cause in effect, and from atom


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1     and dust draws its conclusions of Deity and man, law and
       gospel, leaving science at the beck of material phenomena,
3     or leaving it out of the question. To begin with the
       divine noumenon, Mind, and to end with the phenom-
       enon, matter, is minus divine logic and plus human hy-
6     pothesis, with its effects, sin, disease, and death. It was
       in this dilemma that revelation, uplifting human reason,
       came to the writer’s rescue, when calmly and rationally,
9     though faintly, she spiritually discerned the divine idea
       of the cosmos and Science of man.



       WHITHER?


12    Father, did’st not Thou the dark wave treading
       Lift from despair the struggler with the sea?
       And heed’st Thou not the scalding tear man’s shedding,
15    And know’st Thou not the pathway glad and free?


       This weight of anguish which they blindly bind
       On earth, this bitter searing to the core of love;
18    This crushing out of health and peace, mankind —
       Thou all, Thou infinite — dost doom above.


       Oft mortal sense is darkened unto death
21    (The Stygian shadow of a world of glee);
       The old foundations of an early faith
       Sunk from beneath man, whither shall he flee?


24    To Love divine, whose kindling mighty rays
       Brighten the horoscope of crumbling creeds,
       Dawn Truth delightful, crowned with endless days,
27    And Science ripe in prayer, in word, and deeds.


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       A LETTER FROM OUR LEADER


       With our Leader’s kind permission, the Sentinel is
3     privileged to publish her letter of recent date, addressed
       to Mr. John C. Higdon of St. Louis, Mo. This letter
       is especially interesting on account of its beautiful tribute
6     to Free Masonry.


       Beloved Student: — Your interesting letter was handed
       to me duly. This is my earliest moment in which to
9     answer it.

       “Know Thyself,” the title of your gem quoted, is
       indeed a divine command, for the morale of Free Masonry
12    is above ethics — it touches the hem of his garment
       who spake divinely.

       It was truly Masonic, tender, grand in you to remember
15    me as the widow of a Mason. May you and I and all
       mankind meet in that hour of Soul where are no part-
       ings, no pain.

18                    Lovingly yours in Christ,
       MARY BAKER EDDY

       PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
21            February 9, 1906



       TAKE NOTICE


       I have not read Gerhardt C. Mars’ book, “The Inter-
24    pretation of Life,” therefore I have not endorsed it, and
       any assertions to the contrary are false. Christian Scien-
       tists are not concerned with philosophy; divine Science
27    is all they need, or can have in reality.

       MARY BAKER EDDY

       BOX G, BROOKLINE, MASS.,
30            June 24, 1908


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       RECOGNITION OF BLESSINGS


       REVEREND MARY BAKER EDDY,
3      Chestnut Hill, Mass.


       Beloved Leader: — Informally assembled, we, the ushers
       of your church, desire to express our recognition of the
6     blessings that have come to us through the peculiar priv-
       ileges we enjoy in this church work. We are prompted
       to acknowledge our debt of gratitude to you for your
9     life of spirituality, with its years of tender ministry, yet
       we know that the real gratitude is what is proved in
       better lives.

12    It is our earnest prayer that we may so reflect in our
       thoughts and acts the teachings of Christian Science that
       our daily living may be a fitting testimony of the efficacy
15    of our Cause in the regeneration of mankind.

       THE USHERS OF THE MOTHER CHURCH

       BOSTON, MASS., October 9, 1908


       Mrs. Eddy’s Reply


       Beloved Ushers of The Mother Church of Christ, Sci-
       entist: — I thank you not only for your tender letter to
21    me, but for ushering into our church the hearers and the
       doers of God’s Word.

       MARY BAKER EDDY

24    BOX G, BROOKLINE, MASS.,
       October 12, 1908



       MRS. EDDY’S THANKS


27    Beloved Christian Scientists: — Accept my thanks for
       your successful plans for the first issue of The Christian
       Science Monitor. My desire is that every Christian


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1     Scientist, and as many others as possible, subscribe for
       and read our daily newspaper.

3                              MARY BAKER EDDY

       BOX G, BROOKLINE, MASS.,
       November 16, 1908



6     [Extract from the leading Editorial in Vol. 1, No. 1, of The
       Christian Science Monitor, November 25, 1908]


       SOMETHING IN A NAME


9     I have given the name to all the Christian Science
       periodicals. The first was The Christian Science Jour-
       nal, designed to put on record the divine Science of
12    Truth; the second I entitled Sentinel, intended to hold
       guard over Truth, Life, and Love; the third, Der Herold
       der Christian Science, to proclaim the universal activity
15    and availability of Truth; the next I named Monitor,
       to spread undivided the Science that operates unspent.
       The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to
18    bless all mankind.

       MARY BAKER EDDY



       ARTICLE XXII, SECTION 17


21    MRS. EDDY’S ROOM. — SECTION 17. The room in
       The Mother Church formerly known as “Mother’s
       Room” shall hereafter be closed to visitors.


24    There is nothing in this room now of any special in-
       terest. “Let the dead bury their dead,” and the spiritual
       have all place and power.

27                             MARY BAKER EDDY


Page 354



       TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
       In view of complaints from the field, because of alleged
3     misrepresentations by persons offering Bibles and other
       books for sale which they claim have been endorsed by
       me, it is due the field to state that I recommend nothing
6     but what is published or sold by The Christian Science
       Publishing Society. Christian Scientists are under no
       obligation to buy books for which my endorsement is
9     claimed.

       MARY BAKER EDDY

       BOX G, BROOKLINE, MASS.,
12           April 28, 1909



       EXTEMPORE


       JANUARY 1, 1910


15                          I
       O blessings infinite!
       O glad New Year!
18       Sweet sign and substance
       Of God’s presence here.


       II
21       Give us not only angels’ songs,
       But Science vast, to which belongs
       The tongue of angels
24            And the song of songs.


       MARY BAKER EDDY


       [The above lines were written extemporaneously by
27    Mrs. Eddy on New Year’s morning. The members of her


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1     household were with her at the time, and it was gratifying
       to them, as it will be to the field, to see in her spiritualized
3     thought and mental vigor a symbol of the glad New Year
       on which we have just entered. — EDITOR Sentinel.



       MEN IN OUR RANKS


6     A letter from a student in the field says there is a grave
       need for more men in Christian Science practice.

       I have not infrequently hinted at this. However, if
9     the occasion demands it, I will repeat that men are very
       important factors in our field of labor for Christian
       Science. The male element is a strong supporting arm
12    to religion as well as to politics, and we need in our ranks
       of divine energy, the strong, the faithful, the untiring
       spiritual armament.

15                            MARY BAKER EDDY

       CHESTNUT HILL, MASS.,
       February 7, 1910



       A PÆAN OF PRAISE


       “Behind a frowning providence
       He hides a shining face.”


21    The Christian Scientists at Mrs. Eddy’s home are
       the happiest group on earth. Their faces shine with
       the reflection of light and love; their footsteps are not
24    weary; their thoughts are upward; their way is onward,
       and their light shines. The world is better for this
       happy group of Christian Scientists; Mrs. Eddy is hap-
27    pier because of them; God is glorified in His reflection
       of peace, love, joy.


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1     Whenwill mankind awake to know their present owner-
       ship of all good, and praise and love the spot where God
3     dwells most conspicuously in His reflection of love and
       leadership ? When will the world waken to the privilege
       of knowing God, the liberty and glory of His presence,
6     — where


       “He plants His footsteps in the sea
       And rides upon the storm.”


9                             MARY BAKER EDDY

       CHESTNUT HILL, MASS.,
       April 20, 1910



       A STATEMENT BY MRS. EDDY


       Editor Christian Science Sentinel: — In reply to in-
       quiries, will you please state that within the last five
15    years I have given no assurance, no encouragement nor
       consent to have my picture issued, other than the ones
       now and heretofore presented in Science and Health.

18                                  MARY BAKER EDDY

       CHESTNUT HILL, MASS.,
       July 18, 1910



       THE WAY OF WISDOM


       No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one,
       and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the
24    other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. — MATTHEW 6: 24.


       The infinite is one, and this one is Spirit; Spirit is
       God, and this God is infinite good.

27    This simple statement of oneness is the only possible
       correct version of Christian Science. God being infinite,


Page 357


1     He is the only basis of Science; hence materiality is wholly
       apart from Christian Science, and is only a “Suffer it to
3     be so now” until we arrive at the spiritual fulness of God,
       Spirit, even the divine idea of Christian Science, —
       Christ, born of God, the offspring of Spirit, — wherein
6     matter has neither part nor portion, because matter is the
       absolute opposite of spiritual means, manifestation, and
       demonstration. The only incentive of a mistaken sense
9     is malicious animal magnetism, — the name of all evil, —
       and this must be understood.

       I have crowned The Mother Church building with the
12    spiritual modesty of Christian Science, which is its jewel.
       When my dear brethren in New York desire to build
       higher,—to enlarge their phylacteries and demonstrate
15    Christian Science to a higher extent, — they must begin
       on a wholly spiritual foundation, than which there is no
       other, and proportionably estimate their success and
18    glory of achievement only as they build upon the rock of
       Christ, the spiritual foundation. This will open the way,
       widely and impartially, to their never-ending success, —
21    to salvation and eternal Christian Science.

       Spirit is infinite; therefore Spirit is all. “There is no
       matter” is not only the axiom of true Christian Science,
24    but it is the only basis upon which this Science can be
       demonstrated.



       A LETTER BY MRS. EDDY


27    MRS. AUGUSTA E. STETSON, NEW YORK CITY


       Beloved Student: — I have just finished reading your
       interesting letter. I thank you for acknowledging me as
30    your Leader, and I know that every true follower of


Page 358


1     Christian Science abides by the definite rules which de-
       monstrate the true following of their Leader; therefore,
3     if you are sincere in your protestations and are doing as
       you say you are, you will be blessed in your obedience.

       The Scriptures say, “Watch and pray, that ye enter
6     not into temptation.” You are aware that animal mag-
       netism is the opposite of divine Science, and that this
       opponent is the means whereby the conflict against
9     Truth is engendered and developed. Beloved ! you need
       to watch and pray that the enemy of good cannot separate
       you from your Leader and best earthly friend.

12    You have been duly informed by me that, however
       much I desire to read all that you send to me, I have not
       the time to do so. The Christian Science Publishing
15    Society will settle the question whether or not they shall
       publish your poems. It is part of their duties to relieve
       me of so much labor.

18    I thank you for the money you send me which was
       given you by your students. I shall devote it to a worthy
       and charitable purpose.

21    Mr. Adam Dickey is my secretary, through whom all
       my business is transacted.

       Give my best wishes and love to your dear students
24    and church.

       Lovingly your teacher and Leader,

       MARY BAKER EDDY

27    BOX G, BROOKLINE, MASS.,
       July 12, 1909



       TAKE NOTICE


30    I approve the By-laws of The Mother Church, and
       require the Christian Science Board of Directors to main-


Page 359


1     tain them and sustain them. These Directors do not
       act contrary to the rules of the Church Manual, neither
3     do they trouble me with their difficulties with individ-
       uals in their own church or with the members of branch
       churches.

6     My province as a Leader — as the Discoverer and
       Founder of Christian Science — is not to interfere in
       cases of discipline, and I hereby publicly declare that I
9     am not personally involved in the affairs of the church in
       any other way than through my written and published
       rules, all of which can be read by the individual who
12    desires to inform himself of the facts.

       MARY BAKER EDDY

       BROOKLINE, MASS.,
15     October 12, 1909



       A LETTER FROM MRS. EDDY


       In the Sentinel of July 31, 1909, there appeared under
18    the heading “None good but one,” a number of quota-
       tions from a composite letter, dated July 19, which had
       been written to Mrs. Augusta E. Stetson by twenty-four
21    of her students who then occupied offices in the building
       of First Church of Christ, Scientist, of New York, and
       were known as “the practitioners.” This letter was for-
24    warded to Mrs. Eddy by Mrs. Stetson with the latter’s
       unqualified approval. Upon receipt of this letter Mrs.
       Eddy wrote to Mrs. Stetson as follows: —


27    My Dear Student: — Awake and arise from this temp-
       tation produced by animal magnetism upon yourself,
       allowing your students to deify you and me. Treat your-
30    self for it and get your students to help you rise out of it.


Page 360


1     It will be your destruction if you do not do this. Answer
       this letter immediately.

3                        As ever, lovingly your teacher,

       MARY BAKER EDDY

       BROOKLINE, MASS.,
6     July 23, 1909



       A LETTER BY MRS. EDDY (1)


       TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST
9                        NEW YORK CITY


       Beloved Brethren: — In consideration of the present
       momentous question at issue in First Church of Christ,
12    Scientist, New York City, I am constrained to say, if I
       can settle this church difficulty amicably by a few words,
       as many students think I can, I herewith cheerfully
15    subscribe these words of love: —

       My beloved brethren in First Church of Christ, Sci-
       entist, New York City, I advise you with all my soul to
18    support the Directors of The Mother Church, and unite
       with those in your church who are supporting The Mother
       Church Directors. Abide in fellowship with and obedi-
21    ence to The Mother Church, and in this way God will
       bless and prosper you. This I know, for He has proved
       it to me for forty years in succession.

24                       Lovingly yours,

       MARY BAKER EDDY

       BROOKLINE, MASS.,
27           November 13, 1909



       A LETTER BY MRS. EDDY


       My Dear Student: — Your favor of the 10th instant is
30    at hand. God is above your teacher, your healer, or any


       (1) The text here given is that of the original letter as sent by Mrs. Eddy, and
       published in the Christian Science Sentinel of November 20, 1909. This letter was
       republished in the Sentinel of December 4, 1909, at Mrs. Eddy’s request, with
       the words “in Truth” inserted after the word “Abide.”


Page 361


1     earthly friend. Follow the directions of God as simplified
       in Christian Science, and though it be through deserts
3     He will direct you into the paths of peace.

       I do not presume to give you personal instruction as
       to your relations with other students. All I say is stated
6     in Christian Science to be used as a model. Please find
       it there, and do not bring your Leader into a personal
       conflict.

9     I have not seen Mrs. Stetson for over a year, and have
       not written to her since August 30, 1909.

       Sincerely yours,

12                           MARY BAKER EDDY

       BROOKLINE, MASS.,
       December 11, 1909



       A TELEGRAM AND MRS. EDDY’S REPLY


       [Telegram]


       MRS. MARY BAKER EDDY,
18           Chestnut Hill, Mass.


       Beloved Leader: — We rejoice that our church has
       promptly made its demonstration by action at its annual
21    meeting in accordance with your desire for a truly demo-
       cratic and liberal government.

       BOARD OF TRUSTEES,
24            FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
       NEW YORK, N. Y.,
       CHARLES DEAN, Chairman,
27                           ARTHUR O. PROBST, Clerk

       NEW YORK, N. Y.,
       January 19, 1910


Page 362


       Mrs. Eddy’s Reply


       CHARLES A. DEAN, CHAIRMAN BOARD of TRUSTEES,
3             FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, NEW YORK CITY


       Beloved Brethren: — I rejoice with you in the victory of
       right over wrong, of Truth over error.

6                        MARY BAKER EDDY

       CHESTNUT HILL, MASS.,
       January 20, 1910



       A LETTER AND MRS. EDDY’S REPLY


       MRS. MARY BAKER EDDY,
       Chestnut Hill, Mass.


12    Revered Leader, Counsellor, and Friend: — The Trustees
       and Readers of all the Christian Science churches and
       societies of Greater New York, for the first time gath-
15    ered in one place with one accord, to confer harmoniously
       and unitedly in promoting and enlarging the activities
       of the Cause of Christian Science in this community, as
18    their first act send you their loving greetings.

       With hearts filled with gratitude to God, we rejoice in
       your inspired leadership, in your wise counselling. We
21    revere and cherish your friendship, and assure you that
       it is our intention to take such action as will unite the
       churches and societies in this field in the bonds of Chris-
24    tian love and fellowship, thus demonstrating practical
       Christianity.

       Gratefully yours,

27       FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
       SECOND CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,


Page 363


1        THIRD CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
       FOURTH CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
3        FIFTH CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
       SIXTH CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
       FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, Brooklyn,
6        FOURTH CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, Brooklyn,
       FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, Staten Island,
       CHRISTIAN SCIENCE SOCIETY, Bronx,
9        CHRISTIAN SCIENCE SOCIETY, Flushing, L. I.,

       By the Committee

       NEW YORK, N. Y.,
12     February 5, 1910


       Mrs. Eddy’s Reply


       This proof that sanity and Science govern the Christian
15    Science churches in Greater New York is soul inspiring.

       MARY BAKER EDDY



       [The Christian Science Journal, July, 1895. Reprinted in Christian
18    Science Sentinel, November 13, 1909]“`        TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST ASSOCIATION
21    My address before the Christian Scientist Associa-


       tion has been misrepresented and evidently misunder-
       stood by some students. The gist of the whole subject
24    was not to malpractise unwittingly. In order to be
       sure that one is not doing this, he must avoid naming,
       in his mental treatment, any other individual but the
27    patient whom he is treating, and practise only to heal.
       Any deviation from this direct rule is more or less


Page 364


1     dangerous. No mortal is infallible, — hence the Scrip-
       ture, “Judge no man.”


       . . .


3     The rule of mental practice in Christian Science is
       strictly to handle no other mentality but the mind of
       your patient, and treat this mind to be Christly. Any
6     departure from this golden rule is inadmissible. This
       mental practice includes and inculcates the command-
       ment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
9     Animal magnetism, hypnotism, etc., are disarmed by
       the practitioner who excludes from his own conscious-
       ness, and that of his patients, all sense of the realism
12    of any other cause or effect save that which cometh
       from God. And he should teach his students to defend
       themselves from all evil, and to heal the sick, by
15    recognizing the supremacy and allness of good. This
       epitomizes what heals all manner of sickness and dis-
       ease, moral or physical.

       MARY BAKER EDDY



       [Christian Science Sentinel, February 15, 1908]


       CONCORD, N. H., TO MRS. EDDY, AND MRS. EDDY’S REPLY


       THE ESTEEM IN WHICH MRS. EDDY IS HELD IN CONCORD HAS
       BEEN OFFICIALLY EXPRESSED IN THE FOLLOWING PREAMBLE
24    AND RESOLUTIONS, WHICH WERE UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED BY
       THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN AND COMMON COUNCIL OF THAT
       CITY AND THUS HAVE BECOME A PART OF CONCORD’S RECORDS


27       Concord, New Hampshire, to Rev. Mary Baker G.
       Eddy


       Whereas, Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy has decided to
30    make her home in Massachusetts, after a residence of
       nineteen years in Concord, and


Page 365


1     Whereas, her residence here has been the source of so
       much good to the city, and

3     Whereas, the most kindly and helpful relations have
       ever existed between Mrs. Eddy and Concord and Con-
       cord people,

6     Be It Resolved, That the City of Concord, through its
       Board of Aldermen and Common Council, in joint
       convention, convey to Mrs. Eddy,

9      1. Its appreciation of her life in its midst,

       2. Its regrets over her departure, and

       3. The hope that though absent she will always
12    cherish a loving regard for the city, near which she was
       born, and for its people, among whom she has lived for
       so many years.

15    Be It Resolved, That the Mayor and City Clerk be
       authorized and instructed to sign and attest this testi-
       monial in behalf of the City Council.

18    Done this tenth day of February, nineteen hundred
       and eight.

       CHARLES R. CORNING, Mayor
21    Attest: HENRY E. CHAMBERLAIN, City Clerk


       Mrs. Eddy’s Reply
       TO THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL,
24            CONCORD, N. H.
       Gentlemen: — I have not only the pleasure, but the
       honor of replying to the City Council of Concord, in
27    joint convention assembled, and to Alderman Cressy,
       for the kindly resolutions passed by your honorable
       body, and for which I thank you deeply. Lest I should
30    acknowledge more than I deserve of praise, I leave their
       courteous opinions to their good judgment.


Page 366


1     My early days hold rich recollections of associations
       with your churches and institutions, and memory has a
3     distinct model in granite of the good folk in Concord,
       which, like the granite of their State, steadfast and
       enduring, has hinted this quality to other states and
6     nations all over the world.

       My home influence, early education, and church
       experience, have unquestionably ripened into the fruits
9     of my present religious experience, and for this I prize
       them. May I honor this origin and deserve the con-
       tinued friendship and esteem of the people in my native
12    State.

       Sincerely yours,

       MARY BAKER G. EDDY

15    BOX G, BROOKLINE, MASS.,
       February 13, 1908

Chapter 19 — A Memorable Coincidence and Historical Facts

From Miscellany by



Click here to play the audio as you read:




Page 326



       [The Christian Science Journal]


1     WE are glad to publish the following interesting
       letter and enclosures received from our Leader.
3     That legislatures and courts are thus declaring the liberties
       of Christian Scientists is most gratifying to our people; not
       because a favor has been extended, but because their
6     inherent rights are recognized in an official and authori-
       tative manner. It is especially gratifying to them that
       the declaration of this recognition should be coincident
9     in the Southern and Northern States in which Mrs. Eddy
       has made her home.


       MRS. EDDY’S LETTER


12    Dear Editor: — I send for publication in our periodicals
       the following deeply interesting letter from Elizabeth Earl
       Jones of Asheville, N. C., — the State where my husband,
15    Major George W. Glover, passed on and up, the State
       that so signally honored his memory, where with wet eyes
       the Free Masons laid on his bier the emblems of a master
18    Mason, and in long procession with tender dirge bore his
       remains to their last resting-place. Deeply grateful, I
       recognize the divine hand in turning the hearts of the noble


Page 327


1     Southrons of North Carolina legally to protect the practice
       of Christian Science in that State.
3     Is it not a memorable coincidence that, in the Court of
       New Hampshire, my native State, and in the Legislature
       of North Carolina, they have the same year, in 1903, made
6     it legal to practise Christian Science in these States?

       MARY BAKER EDDY

       PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
9             October 16, 1903



       MISS ELIZABETH EARL JONES’ LETTER


       Beloved Leader: — I know the enclosed article will make
12    your heart glad, as it has made glad the hearts of all the
       Christian Scientists in North Carolina. This is the result
       of the work done at last winter’s term of our Legislature,
15    when a medical bill was proposed calculated to limit or
       stop the practice of Christian Science in our State. An
       amendment was obtained by Miss Mary Hatch Harrison
18    and a few other Scientists who stayed on the field until the
       last. After the amendment had been passed, an old law,
       or rather a section of an act in the Legislature regulating
21    taxes, was changed as follows, because the representa-
       tive men of our dear State did not wish to be “discour-
       teous to the Christian Scientists.” The section formerly
24    read, “pretended healers,” but was changed to read as
       follows: “All other professionals who practise the art of
       healing,” etc.

27    We thank our heavenly Father for this dignified
       legal protection and recognition, and look forward to
       the day, not far distant, when the laws of every State
30    will dignify the ministry of Christ as taught and prac-
       tised in Christian Science, and as lived by our dear,


Page 328


1     dear Leader, even as God has dignified, blessed, and
       prospered it, and her.

3                     With devoted love,

       ELIZABETH EARL JONES

       105 BAILEY ST., ASHEVILLE, N. C.,
6            October 11, 1903


       The following article, copied from the Raleigh (N. C.)
       News and Observer, is the one referred to in Miss Jones’
9     letter: —


       The Christian Science people, greatly pleased at the
       law affecting them passed by the last Legislature, are
12    apt also to be pleased with the fact that the law recog-
       nizes them as healers, and that it gives them a license
       to heal. This license of five dollars annually, required
15    of physicians, has been required of them, and how this
       came about in Kinston is told in the Kinston Free Press
       as follows: —


18    Sheriff Wooten issued licenses yesterday to two
       Christian Science healers in this city. This is probably
       the first to be issued to the healers of this sect in the
21    State.

       Upon the request of a prominent healer of the church,
       the section of the machinery act of the Legislature cover-
24    ing it was shown, whereupon application for license was
       made and obtained.

       The section, after enumerating the different professions
27    for which a license must be obtained to carry them on in
       this State, further says, “and all other professionals who
       practise the art of healing for pay, shall pay a license fee
30    of five dollars.”


Page 329


1     This was construed to include the healers of the Chris-
       tian Science church, and license was accordingly taken
3     out.

       The idea prevails that the last General Assembly of
       North Carolina relieved the healers of this sect from paying
6     this fee, but this is not so. The board only excused them
       from a medical examination before a board of medical
       examiners.


9     Mrs. Eddy’s reference to the death of her husband,
       Major George W. Glover, gives especial interest to the
       following letter from Newbern, N. C., which appeared
12    in the Wilmington (N. C.) Dispatch, October 24, 1903.
       Mrs. Eddy has in her possession photographed copies of
       the notice of her husband’s death and of her brother’s
15    letter, taken from the Wilmington (N. C.) Chronicle as
       they appear in that paper in the issues of July 3 and
       August 21, 1844, respectively. The photographs are ver-
18    ified by the certificate of a notary public and were pre-
       sented to Mrs. Eddy by Miss Harrison.



       MISS MARY HATCH HARRISON’S LETTER


21    To the Editor: — At no better time than now, when the
       whole country is recognizing the steady progress of Chris-
       tian Science and admitting its interest in the movement,
24    as shown by the fair attitude of the press everywhere,
       could we ask you to give your readers the following com-
       munication. It will put before them some interesting
27    facts concerning Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, and some in-
       cidents of her life in North and South Carolina which
       might not have been known but for a criticism of this


Page 330


1     good woman which was published in your paper in
       August, 1901.

3     I presume we should not be surprised that a noteworthy
       follower of our Lord should be maligned, since the great
       Master himself was scandalized, and he prophesied that
6     his followers would be so treated. The calumniator who
       informed you in this instance locates Mrs. Eddy in Wil-
       mington in 1843, thus contradicting his own statement,
9     since Mrs. Eddy was not then a resident of Wilmington.
       A local Christian Scientist of your city, whose womanhood
       and Christianity are appreciated by all, assisted by a
12    Mason of good standing there and a Christian Scientist of
       Charleston, S. C., carefully investigated the points con-
       cerning Major Glover’s history which are questioned by
15    this critic, and has found Mrs. Eddy’s statements, rela-
       ting to her husband (who she states was of Charleston,
       S. C., not of Wilmington, but who died there while on
18    business in 1844, not in 1843, as claimed in your issue) are
       sustained by Masonic records in each place as well as
       by Wilmington newspapers of that year. In “Retro-
21    spection and Introspection” (p. 19) Mrs. Eddy says of
       this circumstance: —

       “My husband was a Free Mason, being a member in St.
24    Andrew’s Lodge, No. 10, and of Union Chapter, No. 3, of
       Royal Arch Masons. He was highly esteemed and sin-
       cerely lamented by a large circle of friends and acquaint-
27    ances, whose kindness and sympathy helped to support me
       in this terrible bereavement. A month later I returned to
       New Hampshire, where, at the end of four months, my
30    babe was born. Colonel Glover’s tender devotion to his
       young bride was remarked by all observers. With his
       parting breath he gave pathetic directions to his brother


Page 331


1     Masons about accompanying her on her sad journey to
       the North. Here it is but justice to record, they per-
3     formed their obligations most faithfully.”

       Such watchful solicitude as Mrs. Eddy received at the
       hands of Wilmington’s best citizens, among whom she
6     remembers the Rev. Mr. Reperton, a Baptist clergyman,
       and the Governor of the State, who accompanied her to
       the train on her departure, indicates her irreproachable
9     standing in your city at that time.

       The following letter of thanks, copied from the Wil-
       mington Chronicle of August 21, 1844, testifies to the love
12    and respect entertained for Mrs. Eddy by Wilmington’s
       best men, whose Southern chivalry would have scorned
       to extend such unrestrained hospitality to an unworthy
15    woman as quickly as it would have punished the assail-
       ant of a good woman: —



       A CARD


18    Through the columns of your paper, will you permit
       me, in behalf of the relatives and friends of the late
       Major George W. Glover of Wilmington and his be-
21    reaved lady, to return our thanks and express the feeling
       of gratitude we owe and cherish towards those friends of
       the deceased who so kindly attended him during his last
24    sickness, and who still extended their care and sympathy
       to the lone, feeble, and bereaved widow after his decease.
       Much has often been said of the high feeling of honor
27    and the noble generosity of heart which characterized the
       people of the South, yet when we listen to Mrs. Glover
       (my sister) whilst recounting the kind attention paid to
30    the deceased during his late illness, the sympathy ex-
       tended to her after his death, and the assistance volun-


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1     teered to restore her to her friends at a distance of more
       than a thousand miles, the power of language would be
3     but beggared by an attempt at expressing the feelings of
       a swelling bosom. The silent gush of grateful tears alone
       can tell the emotions of the thankful heart, — words are
6     indeed but a meagre tribute for so noble an effort in be-
       half of the unfortunate, yet it is all we can award: will our
       friends at Wilmington accept it as a tribute of grateful
9     hearts? Many thanks are due Mr. Cooke, who engaged
       to accompany her only to New York, but did not desert
       her or remit his kind attention until he saw her in the
12    fond embrace of her friends.

       Your friend and obedient servant,
       (Signed) GEORGE S. BAKER

15    SANBORNTON BRIDGE, N. H.,
       August 12, 1844


       The paper containing this card is now in the Young
18    Men’s Christian Association at Wilmington.

       The facts regarding Major Glover’s membership in
       St. Andrew’s Lodge, No. 10, were brought to light in a
21    most interesting way. A Christian Scientist in Charles-
       ton was requested to look up the records of this lodge,
       as we had full confidence that it would corroborate Mrs.
24    Eddy’s claims. After frequent searchings and much in-
       terviewing with Masonic authorities, it was learned that
       the lodge was no longer in existence, and that during the
27    Civil War many Masonic records were transferred to
       Columbia, where they were burned; but on repeated
       search a roll of papers recording the death of George
30    Washington Glover in 1844 and giving best praises to
       his honorable record and Christian character was found;


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1     and said record, with the seal of the Grand Secretary,
       is now in the possession of the chairman of the Christian
3     Science publication committee.

       In the records of St. John’s Lodge, Wilmington, as
       found by one of your own citizens, a Mason, it is shown
6     that on the twenty-eighth day of June, 1844, a special
       meeting was convened for the purpose of paying the last
       tribute of respect to Brother George W. Glover, who
9     died on the night of the twenty-seventh. The minutes
       record this further proceeding: —

       “A procession was formed, which moved to the resi-
12    dence of the deceased, and from thence to the Episcopal
       burying-ground, where the body was interred with the
       usual ceremonies. The procession then returned to the
15    lodge, which was closed in due form.”

       It has never been claimed by Mrs. Eddy nor by any
       Christian Scientists that Major Glover’s remains were
18    carried North.

       The Wilmington Chronicle of July 3, 1844, records that
       this good man, then known as Major George W. Glover,
21    died on Thursday night, the twenty-seventh of June. The
       Chronicle states: “His end was calm and peaceful, and to
       those friends who attended him during his illness he gave
24    the repeated assurance of his willingness to die, and of his
       full reliance for salvation on the merits of a crucified Re-
       deemer. His remains were interred with Masonic honors.
27    He has left an amiable wife, to whom he had been united
       but the brief space of six months, to lament this
       irreparable loss.”

30    From the Chronicle, dated September 25, 1844, we copy
       the following: “We are assured that reports of unusual
       sickness in Wilmington are in circulation.” This periodi-


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1     cal then forthwith strives to give the impression that the
       rumor is not true. It is reasonable to infer from news-
3     paper reports of that date that some insidious disease
       was raging at that time.

       The allegation that copies of Mrs. Eddy’s book, “Retro-
6     spection and Introspection,” are few, and that efforts are
       being made to buy them up because she has contradicted
       herself, is without foundation. They are advertised in
9     every weekly issue of the Christian Science Sentinel, and
       still contain the original account of her husband’s demise
       at Wilmington.

12    May it not be, since this critic places certain circum-
       stances in 1843, which records show really existed in 1844,
       that the woman whom he had in mind is some other one?
15    We can state Mrs. Eddy’s teaching on the unreality of
       evil in no better terms than to quote her own words.
       Nothing could be further from her meaning than that evil
18    could be indulged in while being called unreal. She
       declares in her Message to The Mother Church [1901]:
       “To assume there is no reality in sin, and yet commit
21    sin, is sin itself, that clings fast to iniquity. The Pub-
       lican’s wail won his humble desire, while the Pharisee’s
       self-righteousness crucified Jesus.”

24                    MARY HATCH HARRISON



       MAJOR GLOVER’S RECORD AS A MASON


       Of further interest in this matter is the following ex-
27    tract from an editorial obituary which appeared in 1845 in
       the Freemason’s Monthly Magazine, published by the
       late Charles W. Moore, Grand Secretary of the Grand
30    Lodge of Massachusetts: —


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1     Died at Wilmington, N. C., on the 27th June last,
       Major George W. Glover, formerly of Concord, N. H.

3     Brother Glover resided in Charleston, S. C., and was
       made a Mason in “St. Andrew’s Lodge, No. 10.” He was
       soon exalted to the degree of a Royal Arch Mason in
6     “Union Chapter, No. 3,” and retained his membership
       in both till his decease. He was devotedly attached
       to Masonry, faithful as a member and officer of the
9     Lodge and Chapter, and beloved by his brothers and
       companions, who mourn his early death.


       Additional facts regarding Major Glover, his illness and
12    death, are that he was for a number of years a resident of
       Charleston, S. C., where he erected a fine dwelling-house,
       the drawings and specifications of which were kept by his
15    widow for many years after his death. While at Wilming-
       ton, N. C., in June, 1844, Mr. Glover was attacked with
       yellow fever of the worst type, and at the end of nine days
18    he passed away. This was the second case of the dread
       disease in that city, and in the hope of allaying the excite-
       ment which was fast arising, the authorities gave the cause
21    of death as bilious fever, but they refused permission to
       take the remains to Charleston.

       On the third day of her husband’s illness, Mrs. Glover
24    (now Mrs. Eddy) sent for the distinguished physician who
       attended cases of this terrible disease as an expert (Dr.
       McRee we think it was), and was told by him that he could
27    not conceal the fact that the case was one of yellow fever
       in its worst form, and nothing could save the life of
       her husband. In these nine days and nights of agony
30    the young wife prayed incessantly for her husband’s
       recovery, and was told by the expert physician that


Page 336


1     but for her prayers the patient would have died on
       the seventh day.

3     The disease spread so rapidly that Mrs. Glover (Mrs.
       Eddy) was afraid to have her brother, George S. Baker,
       come to her after her husband’s death, to take her back to
6     the North. Although he desired to go to her assistance,
       she declined on this ground, and entrusted herself to the
       care of her husband’s Masonic brethren, who faithfully
9     performed their obligation to her. She makes grateful
       acknowledgment of this in her book, “Retrospection and
       Introspection.” In this book (p. 20) she also states,
12    “After returning to the paternal roof I lost all my hus-
       band’s property, except what money I had brought
       with me; and remained with my parents until after
15    my mother’s decease.” Mr. Glover had made no will
       previous to his last illness, and then the seizure of dis-
       ease was so sudden and so violent that he was unable
18    to make a will.

       These letters and extracts are of absorbing interest to
       Christian Scientists as amplification of the facts given by
21    Mrs. Eddy in “Retrospection and Introspection.”

Chapter 18 — Authorship of Science and Health

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Page 317



1     THE following statement, which was published in
       the Sentinel of December 1, 1906, exactly defin-
3     ing her relations with the Rev. James Henry Wiggin of
       Boston, was made by Mrs. Eddy in refutation of allega-
       tions in the public press to the effect that Mr. Wiggin
6     had a share in the authorship of “Science and Health
       with Key to the Scriptures.”


       MRS. EDDY’S STATEMENT


9     It is a great mistake to say that I employed the Rev.
       James Henry Wiggin to correct my diction. It was for
       no such purpose. I engaged Mr. Wiggin so as to avail
12    myself of his criticisms of my statement of Christian
       Science, which criticisms would enable me to explain
       more clearly the points that might seem ambiguous to
15    the reader.

       Mr. Calvin A. Frye copied my writings, and he will tell
       you that Mr. Wiggin left my diction quite out of the
18    question, sometimes saying, “I wouldn’t express it that
       way.” He often dissented from what I had written,
       but I quieted him by quoting corroborative texts of
21    Scripture.

       My diction, as used in explaining Christian Science, has
       been called original. The liberty that I have taken with


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1     capitalization, in order to express the “new tongue,” has
       well-nigh constituted a new style of language. In almost
3     every case where Mr. Wiggin added words, I have erased
       them in my revisions.

       Mr. Wiggin was not my proofreader for my book
6     “Miscellaneous Writings,” and for only two of my books.
       I especially employed him on “Science and Health with
       Key to the Scriptures,” because at that date some critics
9     declared that my book was as ungrammatical as it was
       misleading. I availed myself of the name of the former
       proofreader for the University Press, Cambridge, to
12    defend my grammatical construction, and confidently
       awaited the years to declare the moral and spiritual
       effect upon the age of “Science and Health with Key
15    to the Scriptures.”

       I invited Mr. Wiggin to visit one of my classes in the
       Massachusetts Metaphysical College, and he consented
18    on condition that I should not ask him any questions.
       I agreed not to question him just so long as he refrained
       from questioning me. He held himself well in check
21    until I began my attack on agnosticism. As I pro-
       ceeded, Mr. Wiggin manifested more and more agita-
       tion, until he could control himself no longer and,
24    addressing me, burst out with:

       “How do you know that there ever was such a man as
       Christ Jesus?”

27    He would have continued with a long argument,
       framed from his ample fund of historical knowledge,
       but I stopped him.

30    “Now, Mr. Wiggin,” I said, “you have broken our
       agreement. I do not find my authority for Christian
       Science in history, but in revelation. If there had never


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1     existed such a person as the Galilean Prophet, it would
       make no difference to me. I should still know that
3     God’s spiritual ideal is the only real man in His image
       and likeness.”

       My saying touched him, and I heard nothing further
6     from him in the class, though afterwards he wrote a
       kind little pamphlet, signed “Phare Pleigh.”

       I hold the late Mr. Wiggin in loving, grateful memory
9     for his high-principled character and well-equipped
       scholarship.



       LETTERS FROM STUDENTS


12    The following letters from students of Mrs. Eddy
       confirm her statement regarding the work which the
       Rev. Mr. Wiggin did for her, and also indicate what he
15    himself thought of that work and of Mrs. Eddy: —


       My Dear Teacher: — I am conversant with some facts
       which perhaps have not come under the observation of
18    many of your students, and considering the questions
       which have recently appeared, it may interest you to be
       advised that I have this information. On the tenth day of
21    January, 1887, I entered your Primary class at Boston.
       A few days later, in conversation with you about the
       preparation of a theme, you suggested that I call on the
24    late J. Henry Wiggin to assist me in analyzing and arrang-
       ing the topics, which I did about the twentieth of the
       above-named month. These dates are very well fixed in
27    my memory, as I considered the time an important one
       in my experience, and do so still. I also recall very
       plainly the conversation with you in general as regards
30    Mr. Wiggin. You told me that he had done some literary


Page 320


1     work for you and that he was a fine literary student and
       a good proofreader.

3     Upon calling on Mr. Wiggin, I presented my matter for
       a theme to him, and he readily consented to assist me,
       which he did. He also seemed very much pleased to
6     converse about you and your work, and I found that his
       statement of what he had done for you exactly agreed
       with what you had told me. He also expressed himself
9     freely as to his high regard for you as a Christian lady,
       as an author, and as a student of ability. Mr. Wiggin
       spoke of “Science and Health with Key to the Scrip-
12    tures” as being a very unique book, and seemed quite
       proud of his having had something to do with some
       editions. He always spoke of you as the author of this
15    book and the author of all your works. Mr. Wiggin
       did not claim to be a Christian Scientist, but was in
       a measure in sympathy with the movement, although
18    he did not endorse all the statements in your textbook;
       but his tendency was friendly.

       I called on Mr. Wiggin several times while I was in your
21    Primary class at the time above referred to, and several
       times subsequent thereto, and he always referred to you as
       the author of your works and spoke of your ability without
24    any hesitation or restriction. Our conversations were at
       times somewhat long and went into matters of detail
       regarding your work, and I am of the opinion that he
27    was proud of his acquaintance with you.

       I saw Mr. Wiggin several times after the class closed,
       and the last conversation I had with him was at the
30    time of the dedication of the first Mother Church edifice
       in 1895. I met him in the vestibule of the church
       and he spoke in a very animated manner of your


Page 321


1     grand demonstration in building this church for your
       followers. He seemed very proud to think that he had
3     been in a way connected with your work, but he always
       referred to you as the one who had accomplished this
       great work.

6     My recollections of Mr. Wiggin place him as one
       of your devoted and faithful friends, one who knew
       who and what you are, also your position as regards
9     your published works; and he always gave you that
       position without any restriction. I believe that Mr.
       Wiggin was an honest man and that he told the same
12    story to every one with whom he had occasion to talk,
       so I cannot believe that he has ever said anything
       whatever of you and your relations to your published
15    works differing from what he talked so freely in my
       presence.

       There is nothing in the circumstances which have
18    arisen recently, and the manner in which the statements
       have been made, to change my opinion one iota in this
       respect.

21    It will soon be twenty years since I first saw you and
       entered your class. During that time, from my connec-
       tion with the church, the Publishing Society, and my
24    many conversations with you, my personal knowledge of
       the authorship of your works is conclusive to me in every
       detail, and I am very glad that I was among your early
27    students and have had this experience and know of my
       own personal knowledge what has transpired during the
       past twenty years.

30    I am also pleased to have had conversations with
       people who knew you years before I did, and who have
       told me of their knowledge of your work.


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1     It is not long since I met a lady who lived in Lynn,
       and she told me she knew you when you were writing
3     Science and Health, and that she had seen the manu-
       script. These are facts which cannot be controverted
       and they must stand.

6             Your affectionate student,
       EDWARD P. BATES

       BOSTON, MASS., November 21, 1906


9     My Beloved Teacher: — I have just read your state-
       ment correcting mistakes widely published about the
       Rev. James H. Wiggin’s work for and attitude towards
12    you; also Mr. Edward P. Bates’ letter to you on the
       same subject; which reminds me of a conversation I
       had with Mr. Wiggin on Thanksgiving Day twenty
15    years ago, when a friend and I were the guests invited
       to dine with the Wiggin family.

       I had seen you the day before at the Metaphysical
18    College and received your permission to enter the next
       Primary class (Jan. 10, 1887). During the evening my
       friend spoke of my journeying from the far South, and
21    waiting months in Boston on the bare hope of a few
       days’ instruction by Mrs. Eddy in Christian Science.
       She and Mrs. Wiggin seemed inclined to banter me on
24    such enthusiasm, but Mr. Wiggin kindly helped me by
       advancing many good points in the Science, which were
       so clearly stated that I was surprised when he told me
27    he was not a Christian Scientist.

       Seeing my great interest in the subject, he told me
       of his acquaintance with you and spoke earnestly and
30    beautifully of you and your work. The exact words I
       do not recall, but the impression he left with me was


Page 323


1     entirely in accordance with what Mr. Bates has so well
       written in the above-mentioned letter. Before we left
3     that evening, Mr. Wiggin gave me a pamphlet entitled
       “Christian Science and the Bible,” by “Phare Pleigh,”
       which he said he had written in answer to an unfair
6     criticism of you and your book by some minister in the
       far West. I have his little book yet. How long must it
       be before the people find out that you have so identified
9     yourself with the truth by loving it and living it that you
       are not going to lie about anything nor willingly leave
       any false impression.

12    In loving gratitude for your living witness to Truth
       and Love,

       FLORENCE WHITESIDE

15    CHATTANOOGA, TENN.,
       December 4, 1906


       Beloved Teacher: — My heart has been too full to tell
18    you in words all that your wonderful life and sacrifice
       means to me. Neither do I now feel at all equal to ex-
       pressing the crowding thoughts of gratitude and praise
21    to God for giving this age such a Leader and teacher to
       reveal to us His way. Your crowning triumph over error
       and sin, which we have so recently witnessed, in blessing
24    those who would destroy you if God did not hold you up
       by the right hand of His righteousness, should mean to
       your older students much that they may not have been
27    able to appreciate in times past.

       I wonder if you will remember that Mr. Snider and
       myself boarded in the home of the late Rev. J. Henry
30    Wiggin during the time of our studying in the second
       class with you — the Normal class in the fall of 1887?
       We were at that time some eight days in Mr. and Mrs.


Page 324


1     Wiggin’s home. He often spoke his thoughts freely
       about you and your work, especially your book Science
3     and Health. Mr. Wiggin had somewhat of a thought
       of contempt for the unlearned, and he scorned the sug-
       gestion that Mr. Quimby had given you any idea for
6     your book, as he said you and your ideas were too
       much alike for the book to have come from any one but
       yourself. He often said you were so original and so
9     very decided that no one could be of much service to
       you, and he often hinted that he thought he could give
       a clearer nomenclature for Science and Health. I re-
12    member telling you of this, and you explained how long
       you had waited on the Lord to have those very terms
       revealed to you.

15    I am very sure that neither Mr. Wiggin nor his esti-
       mable wife had any other thought but that you were
       the author of your book, and were he here to-day he
18    would be too honorable to allow the thought to go out
       that he had helped you write it. He certainly never
       gave us the impression that he thought you needed
21    help, for we always thought that Mr. Wiggin regarded
       you as quite his literary equal, and was gratified and
       pleased in numbering you among his literary friends.
24    Everything he said conveyed this impression to us —
       that he regarded you as entirely unique and original.
       He told us laughingly why he accepted your invitation
27    to sit through your class. He said he wanted to see if
       there was one woman under the sun who could keep to
       her text. When we asked him if he found you could do
30    so, he replied “Yes,” and said that no man could have
       done so any better.

       Both Mr. and Mrs. Wiggin frequently mentioned


Page 325


1     many kindnesses you had shown them, and spoke of
       one especial day when amidst all your duties you per-
3     sonally called to inquire of his welfare (he had been
       ill) and to leave luscious hothouse fruit. One thing
       more, that I think will amuse you: Mr. Wiggin was
6     very much troubled that you had bought your house
       on Commonwealth Avenue, as he was very sure Back
       Bay property would never be worth what you then
9     paid for it. He regarded the old part of Boston in
       which he lived as having a greater future than the new
       Back Bay.

12    Years ago I offered my services to you in any capacity
       in which I could serve you, and my desire has never
       changed. Command me at any time, in any way, beloved
15    Leader.

       With increasing love and gratitude, ever faithfully your
       student,

18                       CARRIE HARVEY SNIDER

       NEW YORK, N. Y.,
       December 7, 1906

Chapter 17 — Answers to Criticisms

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Page 299



1            [Letter to the New York Commercial Advertiser]


       CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH


3     OVER the signature “A Priest of the Church,”
       somebody, kindly referring to my address to First
       Church of Christ, Scientist, in Concord, N. H., writes:
6     “If they [Christian Scientists] have any truth to reveal
       which has not been revealed by the church or the Bible,
       let them make it known to the world, before they claim
9     the allegiance of mankind.”

       I submit that Christian Science has been widely made
       known to the world, and that it contains the entire
12    truth of the Scriptures, as also whatever portions of truth
       may be found in creeds. In addition to this, Christian
       Science presents the demonstrable divine Principle and
15    rules of the Bible, hitherto undiscovered in the trans-
       lations of the Bible and lacking in the creeds.

       Therefore I query: Do Christians, who believe in sin,
18    and especially those who claim to pardon sin, believe
       that God is good, and that God is All? Christian
       Scientists firmly subscribe to this statement; yea, they
21    understand it and the law governing it, namely, that
       God, the divine Principle of Christian Science, is


Page 300


1     “of purer eyes than to behold evil.” On this basis they
       endeavor to cast out the belief in sin or in aught
3     besides God, thus enabling the sinner to overcome
       sin according to the Scripture, “Work out your own
       salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which
6     worketh in you both to will and to do of His good
       pleasure.”

       Does he who believes in sickness know or declare that
9     there is no sickness or disease, and thus heal disease?
       Christian Scientists, who do not believe in the reality
       of disease, heal disease, for the reason that the divine
12    Principle of Christian Science, demonstrated, heals the
       most inveterate diseases. Does he who believes in
       death understand or aver that there is no death, and
15    proceed to overcome “the last enemy” and raise the
       dying to health? Christian Scientists raise the dying to
       health in Christ’s name, and are striving to reach the
18    summit of Jesus’ words, “If a man keep my saying, he
       shall never see death.”

       If, as this kind priest claims, these things, inseparable
21    from Christian Science, are common to his church, we
       propose that he make known his doctrine to the world,
       that he teach the Christianity which heals, and send out
24    students according to Christ’s command, “Go ye into all
       the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,”
       “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast
27    out devils.”

       The tree is known by its fruit. If, as he implies,
       Christian Science is not a departure from the first cen-
30    tury churches, — as surely it is not, — why persecute
       it? Are the churches opening fire on their own religious
       ranks, or are they attacking a peaceable party quite


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1     their antipode? Christian Science is a reflected glory;
       it shines with borrowed rays — from Light emitting light.
3     Christian Science is the new-old Christianity, that which
       was and is the revelation of divine Love.

       The present flux in religious faith may be found to be
6     a healthy fermentation, by which the lees of religion will
       be lost, dogma and creed will pass off in scum, leaving a
       solid Christianity at the bottom — a foundation for the
9     builders. I would that all the churches on earth could
       unite as brethren in one prayer: Father, teach us the
       life of Love.

12    PLEASANT VEIW, CONCORD, N. H.,
       March 22, 1899



       [Letter to the New York World]


       FAITH IN METAPHYSICS


       Is faith in divine metaphysics insanity?

       All sin is insanity, but healing the sick is not sin.
18    There is a universal insanity which mistakes fable for
       fact throughout the entire testimony of the material
       senses. Those unfortunate people who are committed to
21    insane asylums are only so many well-defined instances
       of the baneful effects of illusion on mortal minds and
       bodies. The supposition that we can correct insanity
24    by the use of drugs is in itself a species of insanity. A
       drug cannot of itself go to the brain or affect cerebral
       conditions in any manner whatever. Drugs cannot
27    remove inflammation, restore disordered functions, or
       destroy disease without the aid of mind.

       If mind be absent from the body, drugs can produce
30    no curative effect upon the body. The mind must


Page 302


1     be, is, the vehicle of all modes of healing disease and of
       producing disease. Through the mandate of mind or
3     according to a man’s belief, can he be helped or be killed
       by a drug; but mind, not matter, produces the result in
       either case.

6     Neither life nor death, health nor disease, can be pro-
       duced on a corpse, whence mind has departed. This
       self-evident fact is proof that mind is the cause of all
9     effect made manifest through so-called matter. The
       general craze is that matter masters mind; the specific
       insanity is that brain, matter, is insane.



12              [Letter to the New York Herald]


       REPLY TO MARK TWAIN


       It is a fact well understood that I begged the students
15    who first gave me the endearing appellative “Mother,”
       not to name me thus. But without my consent, the use
       of the word spread like wildfire. I still must think the
18    name is not applicable to me. I stand in relation to
       this century as a Christian Discoverer, Founder, and
       Leader. I regard self-deification as blasphemous. I may
21    be more loved, but I am less lauded, pampered, provided
       for, and cheered than others before me — and where-
       fore? Because Christian Science is not yet popular, and
24    I refuse adulation.

       My first visit to The Mother Church after it was built
       and dedicated pleased me, and the situation was satisfac-
27    tory. The dear members wanted to greet me with escort
       and the ringing of bells, but I declined and went alone in
       my carriage to the church, entered it, and knelt in thanks
30    upon the steps of its altar. There the foresplendor of


Page 303


1     the beginnings of truth fell mysteriously upon my spirit.
       I believe in one Christ, teach one Christ, know of but
3     one Christ. I believe in but one incarnation, one Mother
       Mary. I know that I am not that one, and I have never
       claimed to be. It suffices me to learn the Science of the
6     Scriptures relative to this subject.

       Christian Scientists have no quarrel with Protestants,
       Catholics, or any other sect. Christian Scientists need to
9     be understood as following the divine Principle — God,
       Love — and not imagined to be unscientific worshippers
       of a human being.

12    In his article, of which I have seen only extracts, Mark
       Twain’s wit was not wasted in certain directions. Chris-
       tian Science eschews divine rights in human beings.
15    If the individual governed human consciousness, my
       statement of Christian Science would be disproved;
       but to demonstrate Science and its pure monotheism
18    — one God, one Christ, no idolatry, no human propa-
       ganda — it is essential to understand the spiritual idea.
       Jesus taught and proved that what feeds a few feeds
21    all. His life-work subordinated the material to the
       spiritual, and he left his legacy of truth to man-
       kind. His metaphysics is not the sport of philosophy,
24    religion, or science; rather is it the pith and finale of
       them all.

       I have not the inspiration nor the aspiration to be
27    a first or second Virgin-mother — her duplicate, ante-
       cedent, or subsequent. What I am remains to be proved
       by the good I do. We need much humility, wisdom,
30    and love to perform the functions of foreshadowing and
       foretasting heaven within us. This glory is molten in
       the furnace of affliction.


Page 304



       [Boston Journal, June 8, 1903]


       A MISSTATEMENT CORRECTED


3     I was early a pupil of Miss Sarah J. Bodwell, the
       principal of Sanbornton Academy, New Hampshire, and
       finished my course of studies under Professor Dyer
6     H. Sanborn, author of Sanborn’s Grammar. Among
       my early studies were Comstock’s Natural Philosophy,
       Chemistry, Blair’s Rhetoric, Whateley’s Logic, Watt’s
9     “On the Mind and Moral Science.” At sixteen years
       of age, I began writing for the leading newspapers, and
       for many years I wrote for the best magazines in the
12    South and North. I have lectured in large and crowded
       halls in New York City, Chicago, Boston, Portland,
       and at Waterville College, and have been invited to
15    lecture in London, England, and Edinburgh, Scotland.
       In 1883, I started The Christian Science Journal, and
       for several years was the proprietor and sole editor of
18    that periodical. In 1893, Judge S. J. Hanna became
       editor of The Christian Science Journal, and for ten
       subsequent years he knew my ability as an editor. In
21    a lecture in Chicago, he said: “Mrs. Eddy is from
       every point of view a woman of sound education and
       liberal culture.”
24    Agassiz, the celebrated naturalist and author, wisely
       said: “Every great scientific truth goes through three
       stages. First, people say it conflicts with the Bible.
27    Next, they say it has been discovered before. Lastly,
       they say they have always believed it.”
       The first attack upon me was: Mrs. Eddy misinterprets
30    the Scriptures; second, she has stolen the contents of her
       book, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,”


Page 305


1     from one P. P. Quimby (an obscure, uneducated man),
       and that he is the founder of Christian Science. Failing
3     in these attempts, the calumniator has resorted to Ralph
       Waldo Emerson’s philosophy as the authority for Christian
       Science! Lastly, the defamer will declare as honestly (?),
6     “I have always known it.”
       In Science and Health, page 68, third paragraph, I
       briefly express myself unmistakably on the subject of
9     “vulgar metaphysics,” and the manuscripts and letters
       in my possession, which “vulgar” defamers have circu-
       lated, stand in evidence. People do not know who is
12    referred to as “an ignorant woman in New Hampshire.”
       Many of the nation’s best and most distinguished men
       and women were natives of the Granite State.
15    I am the author of the Christian Science textbook,

       “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures;” and
       the demand for this book constantly increases. I am
18    rated in the National Magazine (1903) as “standing
       eighth in a list of twenty-two of the foremost living
       authors.”

21    I claim no special merit of any kind. All that I am
       in reality, God has made me. I still wait at the cross to
       learn definitely more from my great Master, but not
24    of the Greek nor of the Roman schools — simply how to
       do his works.



       A PLEA FOR JUSTICE


27    My recent reply to the reprint of a scandal in the
       Literary Digest was not a question of “Who shall be
       greatest?” but of “Who shall be just?” Who is or is
30    not the founder of Christian Science was not the trend
       of thought, but my purpose was to lift the curtain on


Page 306


1     wrong, on falsehood which persistently misrepresents
       my character, education, and authorship, and attempts
3     to narrow my life into a conflict for fame.

       Far be it from me to tread on the ashes of the dead or
       to dissever any unity that may exist between Christian
6     Science and the philosophy of a great and good man, for
       such was Ralph Waldo Emerson; and I deem it unwise to
       enter into a newspaper controversy over a question that
9     is no longer a question. The false should be antagonized
       only for the purpose of making the true apparent. I have
       quite another purpose in life than to be thought great.
12    Time and goodness determine greatness. The greatest
       reform, with almost unutterable truths to translate,
       must wait to be transfused into the practical and
15    to be understood in the “new tongue.” Age, with
       experience-acquired patience and unselfed love, waits
       on God. Human merit or demerit will find its proper
18    level. Divinity alone solves the problem of human-
       ity, and that in God’s own time. “By their fruits ye
       shall know them.”



       REMINISCENCES


       In 1862, when I first visited Dr. Quimby of Portland,
       Me., his scribblings were descriptions of his patients, and
24    these comprised the manuscripts which in 1887 I adver-
       tised that I would pay for having published. Before his
       decease, in January, 1866, Dr. Quimby had tried to get
27    them published and had failed.

       Quotations have been published, purporting to be Dr.
       Quimby’s own words, which were written while I was his
30    patient in Portland and holding long conversations with
       him on my views of mental therapeutics. Some words in


Page 307


1     these quotations certainly read like words that I said to
       him, and which I, at his request, had added to his
3     copy when I corrected it. In his conversations with
       me and in his scribblings, the word science was not
       used at all, till one day I declared to him that back
6     of his magnetic treatment and manipulation of patients,
       there was a science, and it was the science of mind,
       which had nothing to do with matter, electricity, or
9     physics.

       After this I noticed he used that word, as well as other
       terms which I employed that seemed at first new to him.
12    He even acknowledged this himself, and startled me by
       saying what I cannot forget — it was this: “I see now
       what you mean, and I see that I am John, and that you
15    are Jesus.”

       At that date I was a staunch orthodox, and my theologi-
       cal belief was offended by his saying and I entered a de-
18    murrer which rebuked him. But afterwards I concluded
       that he only referred to the coming anew of Truth, which
       we both desired; for in some respects he was quite a seer
21    and understood what I said better than some others did.
       For one so unlearned, he was a remarkable man. Had
       his remark related to my personality, I should still think
24    that it was profane.

       At first my case improved wonderfully under his
       treatment, but it relapsed. I was gradually emerging
27    from materia medica, dogma, and creeds, and drifting
       whither I knew not. This mental struggle might have
       caused my illness. The fallacy of materia medica, its
30    lack of science, and the want of divinity in scholas-
       tic theology, had already dawned on me. My ideal-
       ism, however, limped, for then it lacked Science. But


Page 308


1     the divine Love will accomplish what all the powers
       of earth combined can never prevent being accom-
3     plished — the advent of divine healing and its divine
       Science.



       REPLY TO McClure’s Magazine


6     It is calumny on Christian Science to say that man is
       aroused to thought or action only by ease, pleasure, or
       recompense. Something higher, nobler, more imperative
9     impels the impulse of Soul.

       It becomes my duty to be just to the departed and to
       tread not ruthlessly on their ashes. The attack on me
12    and my late father and his family in McClure’s Magazine,
       January, 1907, compels me as a dutiful child and the
       Leader of Christian Science to speak.

15    McClure’s Magazine refers to my father’s “tall, gaunt
       frame” and pictures “the old man tramping doggedly
       along the highway, regularly beating the ground with a
18    huge walking-stick.” My father’s person was erect and
       robust. He never used a walking-stick. To illustrate:
       One time when my father was visiting Governor Pierce,
21    President Franklin Pierce’s father, the Governor handed
       him a gold-headed walking-stick as they were about to
       start for church. My father thanked the Governor,
24    but declined to accept the stick, saying, “I never use
       a cane.”

       Although McClure’s Magazine attributes to my father
27    language unseemly, his household law, constantly en-
       forced, was no profanity and no slang phrases. McClure’s
       Magazine also declares that the Bible was the only book
30    in his house. On the contrary, my father was a great
       reader. The man whom McClure’s Magazine characterizes


Page 309


1     as “ignorant, dominating, passionate, fearless,” was
       uniformly dignified — a well-informed, intellectual man,
3     cultivated in mind and manners. He was called upon
       to do much business for his town, making out deeds,
       settling quarrels, and even acting as counsel in a lawsuit
6     involving a question of pauperism between the towns of
       Loudon and Bow, N. H. Franklin Pierce, afterwards
       President of the United States, was the counsel for
9     Loudon and Mark Baker for Bow. Both entered their
       pleas, and my father won the suit. After it was decided,
       Mr. Pierce bowed to my father and congratulated him.
12    For several years father was chaplain of the New
       Hampshire State Militia, and as I recollect it, he was
       justice of the peace at one time. My father was a
15    strong believer in States’ rights, but slavery he regarded
       as a great sin.

       Mark Baker was the youngest of his father’s family, and
18    inherited his father’s real estate, an extensive farm situ-
       ated in Bow and Concord, N. H. It is on record that
       Mark Baker’s father paid the largest tax in the colony.
21    McClure’s Magazine says, describing the Baker home-
       stead at Bow: “The house itself was a small, square box
       building of rudimentary architecture.” My father’s
24    house had a sloping roof, after the prevailing style of
       architecture at that date.

       McClure’s Magazine states: “Alone of the Bakers, he
27    [Albert] received a liberal education. . . . Mary Baker
       passed her first fifteen years at the ancestral home at Bow.
       It was a lonely and unstimulating existence. The church
30    supplied the only social diversions, the district school
       practically all the intellectual life.”

       Let us see what were the fruits of this “lonely and


Page 310


1     unstimulating existence.” All my father’s daughters were
       given an academic education, sufficiently advanced so that
3     they all taught school acceptably at various times and
       places. My brother Albert was a distinguished lawyer.
       In addition to my academic training, I was privately
6     tutored by him. He was a member of the New Hamp-
       shire Legislature, and was nominated for Congress, but
       died before the election. McClure’s Magazine calls my
9     youngest brother, George Sullivan Baker, “a workman in
       a Tilton woolen mill.” As a matter of fact, he was joint
       partner with Alexander Tilton, and together they owned a
12    large manufacturing establishment in Tilton, N. H. His
       military title of Colonel came from appointment on the
       staff of the Governor of New Hampshire. My oldest
15    brother, Samuel D. Baker, carried on a large business in
       Boston, Mass.

       Regarding the allegation by McClure’s Magazine that all
18    the family, “excepting Albert, died of cancer,” I will
       say that there was never a death in my father’s family
       reported by physician or post-mortem examination as
21    caused by cancer.

       McClure’s Magazine says that “the quarrels between
       Mary, a child ten years old, and her father, a gray-haired
24    man of fifty, frequently set the house in an uproar,”
       and adds that these “fits” were diagnosed by Dr. Ladd
       as “hysteria mingled with bad temper.” My mother
27    often presented my disposition as exemplary for her other
       children to imitate, saying, “When do you ever see
       Mary angry?” When the first edition of Science and
30    Health was published, Dr. Ladd said to Alexander Tilton:
       “Read it, for it will do you good. It does not surprise
       me, it so resembles the author.”


Page 311


1     I will relate the following incident, which occurred later
       in life, as illustrative of my disposition: —

3     While I was living with Dr. Patterson at his country
       home in North Groton, N. H., a girl, totally blind, knocked
       at the door and was admitted. She begged to be allowed
6     to remain with me, and my tenderness and sympathy were
       such that I could not refuse her. Shortly after, however,
       my good housekeeper said to me: “If this blind girl stays
9     with you, I shall have to leave; she troubles me so much.”
       It was not in my heart to turn the blind girl out, and so
       I lost my housekeeper.

12    My reply to the statement that the clerk’s book shows
       that I joined the Tilton Congregational Church at the age
       of seventeen is that my religious experience seemed to
15    culminate at twelve years of age. Hence a mistake may
       have occurred as to the exact date of my first church
       membership.

18    The facts regarding the McNeil coat-of-arms are as
       follows: —

       Fanny McNeil, President Pierce’s niece, afterwards
21    Mrs. Judge Potter, presented me my coat-of-arms, say-
       ing that it was taken in connection with her own family
       coat-of-arms. I never doubted the veracity of her gift.
24    I have another coat-of-arms, which is of my mother’s
       ancestry. When I was last in Washington, D. C., Mrs.
       Judge Potter and myself knelt in silent prayer on the
27    mound of her late father, General John McNeil, the
       hero of Lundy Lane.

       Notwithstanding that McClure’s Magazine says, “Mary
30    Baker completed her education when she finished Smith’s
       grammar and reached long division in arithmetic,” I was
       called by the Rev. R. S. Rust, D.D., Principal of the


Page 312


1     Methodist Conference Seminary at Sanbornton Bridge, to
       supply the place of his leading teacher during her tempo-
3     rary absence.

       Regarding my first marriage and the tragic death of my
       husband, McClure’s Magazine says: “He [George Wash-
6     ington Glover] took his bride to Wilmington, South Caro-
       lina, and in June, 1844, six months after his marriage, he
       died of yellow fever. He left his young wife in a miser-
9     able plight. She was far from home and entirely without
       money or friends. Glover, however, was a Free Mason,
       and thus received a decent burial. The Masons also paid
12    Mrs. Glover’s fare to New York City, where she was
       met and taken to her father’s home by her brother George.
       . . . Her position was an embarrassing one. She was a
15    grown woman, with a child, but entirely without means
       of support. . . . Mrs. Glover made only one effort at
       self-support. For a brief season she taught school.”

18    My first husband, Major George W. Glover, resided in
       Charleston, S. C. While on a business trip to Wilming-
       ton, N. C., he was suddenly seized with yellow fever and
21    died in about nine days. I was with him on this trip.
       He took with him the usual amount of money he would
       need on such an excursion. At his decease I was sur-
24    rounded by friends, and their provisions in my behalf were
       most tender. The Governor of the State and his staff,
       with a long procession, followed the remains of my be-
27    loved one to the cemetery. The Free Masons selected
       my escort, who took me to my father’s home in Tilton,
       N. H. My salary for writing gave me ample support.
30    I did open an infant school, but it was for the purpose of
       starting that educational system in New Hampshire.

       The rhyme attributed to me by McClure’s Magazine is


Page 313


1     not mine, but is, I understand, a paraphrase of a silly
       song of years ago. Correctly quoted, it is as follows, so
3     I have been told: —


       Go to Jane Glover,
       Tell her I love her
6        By the light of the moon
       I will go to her.


       The various stories told by McClure’s Magazine about
9     my father spreading the road in front of his house with
       tan-bark and straw, and about persons being hired to rock
       me, I am ignorant of. Nor do I remember any such stuff
12    as Dr. Patterson driving into Franklin, N. H., with a
       couch or cradle for me in his wagon. I only know that
       my father and mother did everything they could think of
15    to help me when I was ill.

       I was never “given to long and lonely wanderings,
       especially at night,” as stated by McClure’s Magazine. I
18    was always accompanied by some responsible individual
       when I took an evening walk, but I seldom took one. I
       have always consistently declared that I was not a medium
21    for spirits. I never was especially interested in the
       Shakers, never “dabbled in mesmerism,” never was “an
       amateur clairvoyant,” nor did “the superstitious coun-
24    try folk frequently” seek my advice. I never went
       into a trance to describe scenes far away, as McClure’s
       Magazine says.

27    My oldest sister dearly loved me, but I wounded her
       pride when I adopted Christian Science, and to a Baker
       that was a sorry offence. I was obliged to be parted
30    from my son, because after my father’s second marriage
       my little boy was not welcome in my father’s house.


Page 314


1     McClure’s Magazine calls Dr. Daniel Patterson, my
       second husband, “an itinerant dentist.” It says that
3     after my marriage we “lived for a short time at Tilton,
       then moved to Franklin . . . . During the following nine
       years the Pattersons led a roving existence. The doctor
6     practised in several towns, from Tilton to North Groton
       and then to Rumney.” When I was married to him, Dr.
       Daniel Patterson was located in Franklin, N. H. He had
9     the degree D.D.S., was a popular man, and considered a
       rarely skilful dentist. He bought a place in North Groton,
       which he fancied, for a summer home. At that time he
12    owned a house in Franklin, N. H.

       Although, as McClure’s Magazine claims, the court
       record may state that my divorce from Dr. Patterson was
15    granted on the ground of desertion, the cause neverthe-
       less was adultery. Individuals are here to-day who were
       present in court when the decision was given by the judge
18    and who know the following facts: After the evidence
       had been submitted that a husband was about to have Dr.
       Patterson arrested for eloping with his wife, the court
21    instructed the clerk to record the divorce in my favor.
       What prevented Dr. Patterson’s arrest was a letter from
       me to this self-same husband, imploring him not to do it.
24    When this husband recovered his wife, he kept her a
       prisoner in her home, and I was also the means of recon-
       ciling the couple. A Christian Scientist has told me that
27    with tears of gratitude the wife of this husband related
       these facts to her just as I have stated them. I lived
       with Dr. Patterson peaceably, and he was kind to me up
30    to the time of the divorce.

       The following affidavit by R. D. Rounsevel of Littleton,
       N. H., proprietor of the White Mountain House, Fabyans,


Page 315


1     N. H., the original of which is in my possession, is of
       interest in this connection: —


3     About the year 1874, Dr. Patterson, a dentist, boarded
       with me in Littleton, New Hampshire. During his stay,
       at different times, I had conversation with him about his
6     wife, from whom he was separated. He spoke of her being
       a pure and Christian woman, and the cause of the separa-
       tion being wholly on his part; that if he had done as he
9     ought, he might have had as pleasant and happy home as
       one could wish for.

       At that time I had no knowledge of who his wife was.
12    Later on I learned that Mary Baker G. Eddy, the Dis-
       coverer and Founder of Christian Science, was the above-
       mentioned woman.

15                       (Signed) R. D. ROUNSEVEL


       Grafton S. S. Jan’y, 1902. Then personally appeared
       R. D. Rounsevel and made oath that the within statement
18    by him signed is true.

       Before me,                (Signed) H. M. MORSE,
       Justice of the Peace


21    Who or what is the McClure “history,” so called, pre-
       senting? Is it myself, the veritable Mrs. Eddy, whom
       the New York World declared dying of cancer, or is it
24    her alleged double or dummy heretofore described?

       If indeed it be I, allow me to thank the enterprising
       historians for the testimony they have thereby given of the
27    divine power of Christian Science, which they admit has
       snatched me from the cradle and the grave, and made
       me the beloved Leader of millions of the good men and
30    women in our own and in other countries, — and all this


Page 316


1     because the truth I have promulgated has separated the
       tares from the wheat, uniting in one body those who love
3     Truth; because Truth divides between sect and Science
       and renews the heavenward impulse; because I still hear
       the harvest song of the Redeemer awakening the nations,
6     causing man to love his enemies; because “blessed are ye,
       when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall
       say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.”

       [Christian Science Sentinel, January 19, 1907]


       A CARD


       The article in the January number of The Arena maga-
12    zine, entitled “The Recent Reckless and Irresponsible
       Attacks on Christian Science and its Founder, with a
       Survey of the Christian Science Movement,” by the
15    scholarly editor, Mr. B.O. Flower, is a grand defence of
       our Cause and its Leader. Such a dignified, eloquent
       appeal to the press in behalf of common justice and truth
18    demands public attention. It defends human rights and
       the freedom of Christian sentiments, and tends to turn
       back the foaming torrents of ignorance, envy, and malice.
21    I am pleased to find this “twentieth-century review of
       opinion” once more under Mr. Flower’s able guardianship
       and manifesting its unbiased judgment by such sound
24    appreciation of the rights of Christian Scientists and of
       all that is right.

       MARY BAKER EDDY

Chapter 16 — Tributes

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1                           [New York Mail and Express]


       MONUMENT TO BARON AND BARONESS DE HIRSCH


3     THE movement to erect a monument to the late
       Baron and Baroness de Hirsch enlists my hearty
       sympathy. They were unquestionably used in a re-
6     markable degree as instruments of divine Love.

       Divine Love reforms, regenerates, giving to human
       weakness strength, serving as admonition, instruction, and
9     governing all that really is. Divine Love is the noumenon
       and phenomenon, the Principle and practice of divine
       metaphysics. Love talked and not lived is a poor shift
12    for the weak and worldly. Love lived in a court or cot
       is God exemplified, governing governments, industries,
       human rights, liberty, life.

15    In love for man we gain the only and true sense of love
       for God, practical good, and so rise and still rise to His
       image and likeness, and are made partakers of that Mind
18    whence springs the universe.

       Philanthropy is loving, ameliorative, revolutionary; it
       wakens lofty desires, new possibilities, achievements, and
21    energies; it lays the axe at the root of the tree that
       bringeth not forth good fruit; it touches thought to
       spiritual issues, systematizes action, and insures success;


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1     it starts the wheels of right reason, revelation, justice, and
       mercy; it unselfs men and pushes on the ages. Love
3     unfolds marvellous good and uncovers hidden evil. The
       philanthropist or reformer gives little thought to self-
       defence; his life’s incentive and sacrifice need no apology.
6     The good done and the good to do are his ever-present
       reward.

       Love for mankind is the elevator of the human race;
9     it demonstrates Truth and reflects divine Love. Good is
       divinely natural. Evil is unnatural; it has no origin in
       the nature of God, and He is the Father of all.

12    The great Galilean Prophet was, is, the reformer of re-
       formers. His piety partook not of the travesties of human
       opinions, pagan mysticisms, tribal religion, Greek phi-
15    losophy, creed, dogma, or materia medica. The divine
       Mind was his only instrumentality in religion or medi-
       cine. The so-called laws of matter he eschewed; with
18    him matter was not the auxiliary of Spirit. He never
       appealed to matter to perform the functions of Spirit,
       divine Love.

21    Jesus cast out evil, disease, death, showing that all
       suffering is commensurate with sin; therefore, he cast
       out devils and healed the sick. He showed that every
24    effect or amplification of wrong will revert to the wrong-
       doer; that sin punishes itself; hence his saying, “Sin
       no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” Love
27    atones for sin through love that destroys sin. His rod
       is love.

       We cannot remake ourselves, but we can make the
30    best of what God has made. We can know that all is
       good because God made all, and that evil is not a
       fatherly grace.


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1     All education is work. The thing most important is
       what we do, not what we say. God’s open secret is seen
3     through grace, truth, and love.

       I enclose a check for five hundred dollars for the
       De Hirsch monument fund.



       TRIBUTES TO QUEEN VICTORIA


       MR. WILLIAM B. JOHNSON, C.S.B., Clerk


       Beloved Student: — I deem it proper that The Mother
9     Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, the
       first church of Christian Science known on earth, should
       upon this solemn occasion congregate; that a special meet-
12    ing of its First Members convene for the sacred purpose of
       expressing our deep sympathy with the bereaved nation,
       its loss and the world’s loss, in the sudden departure of
15    the late lamented Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and
       Empress of India, — long honored, revered, beloved.
       “God save the Queen” is heard no more in England, but
18    this shout of love lives on in the heart of millions.

       With love,
       MARY BAKER EDDY

21    PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
       January 27, 1901


       It being inconvenient for me to attend the memorial
24    meeting in the South Congregational church on Sunday
       evening, February 3, I herewith send a few words of con-
       dolence, which may be read on that tender occasion.

27    I am interested in a meeting to be held in the capi-
       tal of my native State in memoriam of the late lamented
       Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Empress of India.


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1     It betokens a love and a loss felt by the strong hearts
       of New England and the United States. When contem-
3     plating this sudden international bereavement, the near
       seems afar, the distant nigh, and the tried and true seem
       few. The departed Queen’s royal and imperial honors
6     lose their lustre in the tomb, but her personal virtues can
       never be lost. Those live on in the affection of nations.

       Few sovereigns have been as venerable, revered, and
9     beloved as this noble woman, born in 1819, married in
       1840, and deceased the first month of the new century.



       LETTER TO MRS. McKINLEY


12    My Dear Mrs. McKinley: — My soul reaches out to God
       for your support, consolation, and victory. Trust in Him
       whose love enfolds thee. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect
15    peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth
       in Thee.” “Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee.”
       Divine Love is never so near as when all earthly joys seem
18    most afar.

       Thy tender husband, our nation’s chief magistrate, has
       passed earth’s shadow into Life’s substance. Through
21    a momentary mist he beheld the dawn. He awaits to
       welcome you where no arrow wounds the eagle soaring,
       where no partings are for love, where the high and holy
24    call you again to meet.

       “I knew that Thou hearest me always,” are the words of
       him who suffered and subdued sorrow. Hold this attitude
27    of mind, and it will remove the sackcloth from thy home.

       With love,
       MARY BAKER EDDY

30    PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
       September 14, 1901


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       TRIBUTE TO PRESIDENT McKINLEY


       Imperative, accumulative, holy demands rested on the
3     life and labors of our late beloved President, William
       McKinley. Presiding over the destinies of a nation
       meant more to him than a mere rehearsal of aphorisms,
6     a uniting of breaches soon to widen, a quiet assent or dis-
       sent. His work began with heavy strokes, measured
       movements, reaching from the infinitesimal to the
9     infinite. It began by warming the marble of politics
       into zeal according to wisdom, quenching the vol-
       canoes of partizanship, and uniting the interests of all
12    peoples; and it ended with a universal good overcoming
       evil.

       His home relations enfolded a wealth of affection, — a
15    tenderness not talked but felt and lived. His humanity,
       weighed in the scales of divinity, was not found wanting.
       His public intent was uniform, consistent, sympathetic,
18    and so far as it fathomed the abyss of difficulties was
       wise, brave, unselfed. May his history waken a tone
       of truth that shall reverberate, renew euphony, empha-
21    size humane power, and bear its banner into the vast
       forever.

       While our nation’s ensign of peace and prosperity
24    waves over land and sea, while her reapers are strong,
       her sheaves garnered, her treasury filled, she is suddenly
       stricken, — called to mourn the loss of her renowned
27    leader! Tears blend with her triumphs. She stops to
       think, to mourn, yea, to pray, that the God of harvests
       send her more laborers, who, while they work for their
30    own country, shall sacredly regard the liberty of other
       peoples and the rights of man.


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1     What cannot love and righteousness achieve for the
       race? All that can be accomplished, and more than his-
3     tory has yet recorded. All good that ever was written,
       taught, or wrought comes from God and human faith in
       the right. Through divine Love the right government is
6     assimilated, the way pointed out, the process shortened,
       and the joy of acquiescence consummated. May God
       sanctify our nation’s sorrow in this wise, and His rod
9     and His staff comfort the living as it did the departing.
       O may His love shield, support, and comfort the chief
       mourner at the desolate home!



       POWER OF PRAYER


       My answer to the inquiry, “Why did Christians of every
       sect in the United States fail in their prayers to save
15    the life of President McKinley,” is briefly this: Insuffi-
       cient faith or spiritual understanding, and a compound of
       prayers in which one earnest, tender desire works uncon-
18    sciously against the modus operandi of another, would
       prevent the result desired. In the June, 1901, Message
       to my church in Boston, I refer to the effect of one
21    human desire or belief unwittingly neutralizing another,
       though both are equally sincere.

       In the practice of materia medica, croton oil is not mixed
24    with morphine to remedy dysentery, for those drugs are
       supposed to possess opposite qualities and so to produce
       opposite effects. The spirit of the prayer of the righteous
27    heals the sick, but this spirit is of God, and the divine
       Mind is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever; where-
       as the human mind is a compound of faith and doubt,
30    of fear and hope, of faith in truth and faith in error.


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1     The knowledge that all things are possible to God ex-
       cludes doubt, but differing human concepts as to the
3     divine power and purpose of infinite Mind, and the so-
       called power of matter, act as the different properties of
       drugs are supposed to act — one against the other — and
6     this compound of mind and matter neutralizes itself.

       Our lamented President, in his loving acquiescence,
       believed that his martyrdom was God’s way. Hun-
9     dreds, thousands of others believed the same, and hun-
       dreds of thousands who prayed for him feared that the
       bullet would prove fatal. Even the physicians may have
12    feared this.

       These conflicting states of the human mind, of trembling
       faith, hope, and of fear, evinced a lack of the absolute
15    understanding of God’s omnipotence, and thus they pre-
       vented the power of absolute Truth from reassuring the
       mind and through the mind resuscitating the body of
18    the patient.

       The divine power and poor human sense — yea, the spirit
       and the flesh — struggled, and to mortal sense the flesh pre-
21    vailed. Had prayer so fervently offered possessed no
       opposing element, and President McKinley’s recovery
       been regarded as wholly contingent on the power of God,
24    — on the power of divine Love to overrule the pur-
       poses of hate and the law of Spirit to control matter, —
       the result would have been scientific, and the patient
27    would have recovered.

       St. Paul writes: “For the law of the Spirit of life in
       Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
30    death.” And the Saviour of man saith: “What things
       soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive
       them, and ye shall have them.” Human governments


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1     maintain the right of the majority to rule. Christian
       Scientists are yet in a large minority on the subject of
3     divine metaphysics; but they improve the morals and the
       lives of men, and they heal the sick on the basis that God
       has all power, is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent,
6     supreme over all.

       In a certain city the Master “did not many mighty
       works there because of their unbelief,” — because of the
9     mental counteracting elements, the startled or the un-
       righteous contradicting minds of mortals. And if he were
       personally with us to-day, he would rebuke whatever
12    accords not with a full faith and spiritual knowledge of
       God. He would mightily rebuke a single doubt of the
       ever-present power of divine Spirit to control all the con-
15    ditions of man and the universe.

       If the skilful surgeon or the faithful M.D. is not dis-
       mayed by a fruitless use of the knife or the drug, has not
18    the Christian Scientist with his conscious understanding
       of omnipotence, in spite of the constant stress of the
       hindrances previously mentioned, reason for his faith in
21    what is shown him by God’s works?



       ON THE DEATH OF POPE LEO XIII, JULY 20, 1903


       The sad, sudden announcement of the decease of Pope
24    Leo XIII, touches the heart and will move the pen of
       millions. The intellectual, moral, and religious energy
       of this illustrious pontiff have animated the Church of
27    Rome for one quarter of a century. The august ruler
       of two hundred and fifty million human beings has now
       passed through the shadow of death into the great forever.
30    The court of the Vatican mourns him; his relatives
       shed “the unavailing tear.” He is the loved and lost


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1     of many millions. I sympathize with those who mourn,
       but rejoice in knowing our dear God comforts such with
3     the blessed assurance that life is not lost; its influence
       remains in the minds of men, and divine Love holds
       its substance safe in the certainty of immortality.
6     “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.”
       (John 1: 4.)



       A TRIBUTE TO THE BIBLE


       LETTER OF THANKS FOR THE GIFT OF A COPY OF MARTIN LUTHER’S
       TRANSLATION INTO GERMAN OF THE BIBLE, PRINTED IN
       NUREM            BERG IN 1733


12    Dear Student: — I am in grateful receipt of your time-
       worn Bible in German. This Book of books is also the
       gift of gifts; and kindness in its largest, profoundest
15    sense is goodness. It was kind of you to give it to me.
       I thank you for it.

       Christian Scientists are fishers of men. The Bible is
18    our sea-beaten rock. It guides the fishermen. It stands
       the storm. It engages the attention and enriches the
       being of all men.



       A BENEDICTION
       [Copy of Cablegram]


       COUNTESS OF DUNMORE AND FAMILY,
24     55 Lancaster Gate, West, London, England


       Divine Love is your ever-present help. You, I, and
       mankind have cause to lament the demise of Lord Dun-
27    more; but as the Christian Scientist, the servant of God
       and man, he still lives, loves, labors.

       MARY BAKER EDDY

30    PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
       August 31, 1907


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       HON. CLARENCE A. BUSKIRK’S LECTURE


       The able discourse of our “learned judge,” his flash of
3     flight and insight, lays the axe “unto the root of the
       trees,” and shatters whatever hinders the Science of
       being.
6                    MARY BAKER EDDY
       PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
       October 14, 1907



       “HEAR, O ISRAEL”


       The late lamented Christian Scientist brother and the
       publisher of my books, Joseph Armstrong, C.S.D., is not
12    dead, neither does he sleep nor rest from his labors in
       divine Science; and his works do follow him. Evil has no
       power to harm, to hinder, or to destroy the real spiritual
15    man. He is wiser to-day, healthier and happier, than
       yesterday. The mortal dream of life, substance, or mind
       in matter, has been lessened, and the reward of good
18    and punishment of evil and the waking out of his Adam-
       dream of evil will end in harmony, — evil powerless, and
       God, good, omnipotent and infinite.

21                       MARY BAKER EDDY

       PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
       December 10, 1907



       MISS CLARA BARTON


       In the New York American, January 6, 1908, Miss
       Clara Barton dipped her pen in my heart, and traced its
27    emotions, motives, and object. Then, lifting the curtains
       of mortal mind, she depicted its rooms, guests, standing
       and seating capacity, and thereafter gave her discovery


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1     to the press. Now if Miss Barton were not a venerable
       soldier, patriot, philanthropist, moralist, and states-
3     woman, I should shrink from such salient praise. But
       in consideration of all that Miss Barton really is,
       and knowing that she can bear the blows which may
6     follow said description of her soul-visit, I will say, Amen,
       so be it.

       MARY BAKER EDDY

9      PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
       January l0, 1908



       THERE IS NO DEATH


12    A suppositional gust of evil in this evil world is the
       dark hour that precedes the dawn. This gust blows
       away the baubles of belief, for there is in reality no evil,
15    no disease, no death; and the Christian Scientist who
       believes that he dies, gains a rich blessing of disbelief in
       death, and a higher realization of heaven.

18    My beloved Edward A. Kimball, whose clear, correct
       teaching of Christian Science has been and is an inspira-
       tion to the whole field, is here now as veritably as when
21    he visited me a year ago. If we would awaken to this
       recognition, we should see him here and realize that he
       never died; thus demonstrating the fundamental truth
24    of Christian Science.

       MARY BAKER EDDY



       MRS. EDDY’S HISTORY


27    I have not had sufficient interest in the matter to read
       or to note from others’ reading what the enemies of
       Christian Science are said to be circulating regarding my
30    history, but my friends have read Sibyl Wilbur’s book,


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1     “The Life of Mary Baker Eddy,” and request the privi-
       lege of buying, circulating, and recommending it to the
3     public. I briefly declare that nothing has occurred in my
       life’s experience which, if correctly narrated and under-
       stood, could injure me; and not a little is already re-
6     ported of the good accomplished therein, the self-sacrifice,
       etc., that has distinguished all my working years.

       I thank Miss Wilbur and the Concord Publishing Com-
9     pany for their unselfed labors in placing this book before
       the public, and hereby say that they have my permission
       to publish and circulate this work.

12                    MARY BAKER EDDY

Chapter 15 — Peace and War

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1             [Boston Herald, March, 1898]


       OTHER WAYS THAN BY WAR


3     IN reply to your question, “Should difficulties between
       the United States and Spain be settled peacefully by
       statesmanship and diplomacy, in a way honorable and
6     satisfactory to both nations?” I will say I can see no
       other way of settling difficulties between individuals and
       nations than by means of their wholesome tribunals,
9     equitable laws, and sound, well-kept treaties.

       A bullet in a man’s heart never settles the question of
       his life. The mental animus goes on, and urges that the
12    answer to the sublime question as to man’s life shall come
       from God and that its adjustment shall be according to
       His laws. The characters and lives of men determine the
15    peace, prosperity, and life of nations. Killing men is
       not consonant with the higher law whereby wrong and
       injustice are righted and exterminated.

18    Whatever weighs in the eternal scale of equity and
       mercy tips the beam on the right side, where the immortal
       words and deeds of men alone can settle all questions
21    amicably and satisfactorily. But if our nation’s rights or
       honor were seized, every citizen would be a soldier and
       woman would be armed with power girt for the hour.


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1     To coincide with God’s government is the proper in-
       centive to the action of all nations. If His purpose for
3     peace is to be subserved by the battle’s plan or by the
       intervention of the United States, so that the Cubans
       may learn to make war no more, this means and end
6     will be accomplished.

       The government of divine Love is supreme. Love rules
       the universe, and its edict hath gone forth: “Thou shalt
9     have no other gods before me,” and “Love thy neighbor
       as thyself.” Let us have the molecule of faith that
       removes mountains, — faith armed with the understand-
12    ing of Love, as in divine Science, where right reigneth.
       The revered President and Congress of our favored land
       are in God’s hands.



15            [Boston Globe, December, 1904]


       HOW STRIFE MAY BE STILLED


       Follow that which is good.

18    A Japanese may believe in a heaven for him who dies
       in defence of his country, but the steadying, elevating
       power of civilization destroys such illusions and should
21    overcome evil with good.

       Nothing is gained by fighting, but much is lost.

       Peace is the promise and reward of rightness. Gov-
24    ernments have no right to engraft into civilization the
       burlesque of uncivil economics. War is in itself an evil,
       barbarous, devilish. Victory in error is defeat in Truth.
27    War is not in the domain of good; war weakens power
       and must finally fall, pierced by its own sword.

       The Principle of all power is God, and God is Love.
30    Whatever brings into human thought or action an ele-


Page 279


1     ment opposed to Love, is never requisite, never a neces-
       sity, and is not sanctioned by the law of God, the law
3     of Love. The Founder of Christianity said: “My
       peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give
       I unto you.”

6     Christian Science reinforces Christ’s sayings and doings.
       The Principle of Christian Science demonstrates peace.
       Christianity is the chain of scientific being reappearing in
9     all ages, maintaining its obvious correspondence with the
       Scriptures and uniting all periods in the design of God.
       The First Commandment in the Hebrew Decalogue —
12    “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” — obeyed,
       is sufficient to still all strife. God is the divine Mind.
       Hence the sequence: Had all peoples one Mind, peace
15    would reign.

       God is Father, infinite, and this great truth, when
       understood in its divine metaphysics, will establish the
18    brotherhood of man, end wars, and demonstrate “on
       earth peace, good will toward men.”



       [Christian Science Sentinel, June 17, 1905]


       THE PRAYER FOR PEACE


       Dearly Beloved: — I request that every member of The
       Mother Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, pray each
24    day for the amicable settlement of the war between
       Russia and Japan; and pray that God bless that great
       nation and those islands of the sea with peace and
27    prosperity.

       MARY BAKER EDDY
       PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
       June 13, 1905


Page 280


1     REV. MARY BAKER EDDY,
       Pleasant View, Concord, N. H.
3     Beloved Leader: — We acknowledge with rejoicing the
       receipt of your message, which again gives assurance of
       your watchful care and guidance in our behalf and of your
6     loving solicitude for the welfare of the nations and the
       peaceful tranquillity of the race. We rejoice also in this
       new reminder from you that all the things which make for
9     the establishment of a universal, loving brotherhood on
       earth may be accomplished through the righteous prayer
       which availeth much.

12                       WILLIAM B. JOHNSON, Clerk
       BOSTON, MASS., June 13, 1905



       [Christian Science Sentinel, July 1, 1905]


       “HEAR, O ISRAEL: THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD”


       I now request that the members of my church cease
       special prayer for the peace of nations, and cease in full
18    faith that God does not hear our prayers only because of
       oft speaking, but that He will bless all the inhabitants
       of the earth, and none can stay His hand nor say unto
21    Him, What doest Thou? Out of His allness He must
       bless all with His own truth and love.

       MARY BAKER EDDY
24    PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
       June 27, 1905



       [Christian Science Sentinel, July 22, 1905]


       AN EXPLANATION


       In no way nor manner did I request my church to cease
       praying for the peace of nations, but simply to pause in
30    special prayer for peace. And why this asking? Because


Page 281


1     a spiritual foresight of the nations’ drama presented
       itself and awakened a wiser want, even to know how
3     to pray other than the daily prayer of my church, —
       “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it
       is in heaven.”

6     I cited, as our present need, faith in God’s disposal of
       events. Faith full-fledged, soaring to the Horeb height,
       brings blessings infinite, and the spirit of this orison is the
9     fruit of rightness, — “on earth peace, good will toward
       men.” On this basis the brotherhood of all peoples is
       established; namely, one God, one Mind, and “Love thy
12    neighbor as thyself,” the basis on which and by which
       the infinite God, good, the Father-Mother Love, is ours
       and we are His in divine Science.



15                          [Boston Globe, August, 1905]


       PRACTISE THE GOLDEN RULE


       [Telegram]


18    “Official announcement of peace between Russia and
       Japan seems to offer an appropriate occasion for the ex-
       pression of congratulations and views by representative
21    persons. Will you do us the kindness to wire a sentiment
       on some phase of the subject, on the ending of the war,
       the effect on the two parties to the treaty of Portsmouth,
24    the influence which President Roosevelt has exerted for
       peace, or the advancement of the cause of arbitration.”
       Mrs. Eddy’s Reply


27    TO THE EDITOR OF THE Globe:


       War will end when nations are ripe for progress. The
       treaty of Portsmouth is not an executive power, although


Page 282


1     its purpose is good will towards men. The government of
       a nation is its peace maker or breaker.

3     I believe strictly in the Monroe doctrine, in our Con-
       stitution, and in the laws of God. While I admire the
       faith and friendship of our chief executive in and for all
6     nations, my hope must still rest in God, and the Scrip-
       tural injunction, — “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all
       the ends of the earth.”

9     The Douma recently adopted in Russia is no uncer-
       tain ray of dawn. Through the wholesome chastise-
       ments of Love, nations are helped onward towards
12    justice, righteousness, and peace, which are the land-
       marks of prosperity. In order to apprehend more,
       we must practise what we already know of the Golden
15    Rule, which is to all mankind a light emitting light.

       MARY BAKER EDDY



       MRS. EDDY AND THE PEACE MOVEMENT


18    MR. HAYNE DAVIS, American Secretary,
       International Conciliation Committee,
       542 Fifth Avenue, New York City


21    Dear Mr. Davis: — Deeply do I thank you for the
       interest you manifest in the success of the Association
       for International Conciliation. It is of paramount im-
24    portance to every son and daughter of all nations under
       the sunlight of the law and gospel.

       May God guide and prosper ever this good endeavor.

27                             Most truly yours,
       MARY BAKER EDDY
       PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
30       April 3, 1907


Page 283



       MRS. EDDY’S ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF APPOINTMENT
       AS FONDATEUR OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR
3             INTERNATIONAL CONCILIATION


       FIRST CHURCH OP CHRIST, SCIENTIST, NEW YORK CITY,
       MR. JOHN D. HIGGINS, Clerk


6     My Beloved Brethren: — Your appointment of me as
       Fondateur of the Association for International Concilia-
       tion is most gracious.

9     To aid in this holy purpose is the leading impetus of
       my life. Many years have I prayed and labored for the
       consummation of “on earth peace, good will toward
12    men.” May the fruits of said grand Association, preg-
       nant with peace, find their birthright in divine Science.

       Right thoughts and deeds are the sovereign remedies
15    for all earth’s woe. Sin is its own enemy. Right has its
       recompense, even though it be betrayed. Wrong may be
       a man’s highest idea of right until his grasp of goodness
18    grows stronger. It is always safe to be just.

       When pride, self, and human reason reign, injustice is
       rampant.

21    Individuals, as nations, unite harmoniously on the basis
       of justice, and this is accomplished when self is lost in
       Love — or God’s own plan of salvation. “To do justly,
24    and to love mercy, and to walk humbly” is the stand-
       ard of Christian Science.

       Human law is right only as it patterns the divine.
27    Consolation and peace are based on the enlightened sense
       of God’s government.

       Lured by fame, pride, or gold, success is danger-
30    ous, but the choice of folly never fastens on the good


Page 284


1     or the great. Because of my rediscovery of Chris-
       tian Science, and honest efforts (however meagre)
3     to help human purpose and peoples, you may have
       accorded me more than is deserved, — but ’tis sweet
       to be remembered.

6                     Lovingly yours,
       MARY BAKER EDDY
       PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
9        April 22, 1907


       [Concord (N. H.) Daily Patriot]



       A CORRECTION


12    Dear Editor: — In the issue of your good paper, the
       Patriot, May 21, when referring to the Memorial service
       of the E. E. Sturtevant Post held in my church building,
15    it read, “It is said to be the first time in the history of
       the church in this country that such an event has oc-
       curred.” In your next issue please correct this mistake.
18    Since my residence in Concord, 1889, the aforesaid
       Memorial service has been held annually in some church
       in Concord, N. H.

21    When the Veterans indicated their desire to assemble
       in my church building, I consented thereto only as other
       churches had done. But here let me say that I am
24    absolutely and religiously opposed to war, whereas I do
       believe implicitly in the full efficacy of divine Love to
       conciliate by arbitration all quarrels between nations
27    and peoples.

       MARY BAKER EDDY
       PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
30            May 28, 1907


Page 285



       TO A STUDENT


       Dear Student: — Please accept my thanks for your
3     kind invitation, on behalf of the Civic League of San
       Francisco, to attend the Industrial Peace Conference,
       and accept my hearty congratulations.

6     I cannot spare the time requisite to meet with you;
       but I rejoice with you in all your wise endeavors for
       industrial, civic, and national peace. Whatever adorns
9     Christianity crowns the great purposes of life and demon-
       strates the Science of being. Bloodshed, war, and op-
       pression belong to the darker ages, and shall be relegated
12    to oblivion.

       It is a matter for rejoicing that the best, bravest, most
       cultured men and women of this period unite with us in
15    the grand object embodied in the Association for Inter-
       national Conciliation.

       In Revelation 2: 26, St. John says: “And he that
18    overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to
       him will I give power over the nations.” In the words
       of St. Paul, I repeat: —

21    “And they neither found me in the temple disputing
       with any man, neither raising up the people, neither
       in the synagogues, nor in the city: neither can they
24    prove the things whereof they now accuse me. But
       this I confess unto thee, that after the way which
       they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers,
27    believing all things which are written in the law and in
       the prophets.”

       Most sincerely yours,
30                       MARY BAKER EDDY
       PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.


Page 286



       [The Christian Science Journal, May, 1908]


       WAR


3     For many years I have prayed daily that there be
       no more war, no more barbarous slaughtering of our
       fellow-beings; prayed that all the peoples on earth and
6     the islands of the sea have one God, one Mind; love
       God supremely, and love their neighbor as themselves.
       National disagreements can be, and should be, arbi-
9     trated wisely, fairly; and fully settled.

       It is unquestionable, however, that at this hour
       the armament of navies is necessary, for the purpose
12    of preventing war and preserving peace among nations.

Chapter 14 — Contributions to Newspapers and Magazines

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Table of Contents


Page 264



1                    [Boston Herald, May 5, 1900]

       A WORD IN DEFENCE


3     I EVEN hope that those who are kind enough to
       speak well of me may do so honestly and not too
       earnestly, and this seldom, until mankind learn more of
6     my meaning and can speak justly of my living.


       [Boston Globe, November 29, 1900]



       CHRISTIAN SCIENCE THANKS


9     On the threshold of the twentieth century, will you
       please send through the Globe to the people of New
       England, which is the birthplace of Thanksgiving Day, a
12    sentiment on what the last Thanksgiving Day of the
       nineteenth century should signify to all mankind?



       Mrs. Eddy’s Response


15    New England’s last Thanksgiving Day of this century
       signifies to the minds of men the Bible better understood
       and Truth and Love made more practical; the First
18    Commandment of the Decalogue more imperative, and


Page 265


1     “Love thy neighbor as thyself” more possible and
       pleasurable.

3     It signifies that love, unselfed, knocks more loudly than
       ever before at the heart of humanity and that it finds
       admittance; that revelation, spiritual voice and vision,
6     are less subordinate to material sight and sound and more
       apparent to reason; that evil flourishes less, invests less
       in trusts, loses capital, and is bought at par value; that
9     the Christ-spirit will cleanse the earth of human gore;
       that civilization, peace between nations, and the brother-
       hood of man should be established, and justice plead not
12    vainly in behalf of the sacred rights of individuals, peoples,
       and nations.

       It signifies that the Science of Christianity has dawned
15    upon human thought to appear full-orbed in millennial
       glory; that scientific religion and scientific therapeutics
       are improving the morals and increasing the longevity
18    of mankind, are mitigating and destroying sin, disease,
       and death; that religion and materia medica should be
       no longer tyrannical and proscriptive; that divine Love,
21    impartial and universal, as understood in divine Sci-
       ence, forms the coincidence of the human and divine,
       which fulfils the saying of our great Master, “The king-
24    dom of God is within you;” that the atmosphere of the
       human mind, when cleansed of self and permeated with
       divine Love, will reflect this purified subjective state in
27    clearer skies, less thunderbolts, tornadoes, and extremes of
       heat and cold; that agriculture, manufacture, commerce,
       and wealth should be governed by honesty, indus-
30    try, and justice, reaching out to all classes and peoples.
       For these signs of the times we thank our Father-
       Mother God.


Page 266



       [New York World, December, 1900]


       INSUFFICIENT FREEDOM


3     To my sense, the most imminent dangers confronting
       the coming century are: the robbing of people of life and
       liberty under the warrant of the Scriptures; the claims of
6     politics and of human power, industrial slavery, and insuf-
       ficient freedom of honest competition; and ritual, creed,
       and trusts in place of the Golden Rule, “Whatsoever ye
9     would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”



       [Concord (N. H.) Monitor, July, 1902]


       CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE TIMES


12    Your article on the decrease of students in the semi-
       naries and the consequent vacancies occurring in the
       pulpits, points unmistakably to the “signs of the times”
15    of which Jesus spoke. This flux and flow in one direc-
       tion, so generally apparent, tends in one ultimate — the
       final spiritualization of all things, of all codes, modes,
18    hypotheses, of man and the universe. How can it be
       otherwise, since God is Spirit and the origin of all that
       really is, and since this great fact is to be verified by the
21    spiritualization of all?

       Since 1877, these special “signs of the times” have in-
       creased year by year. My book, “Science and Health
24    with Key to the Scriptures,” was published in 1875.
       Note, if you please, that many points in theology and
       materia medica, at that date undisturbed, are now agitated,
27    modified, and disappearing, and the more spiritual modes
       and significations are adopted.

       It is undoubtedly true that Christian Science is destined


Page 267


1     to become the one and the only religion and therapeutics
       on this planet. And why not, since Christianity is fully
3     demonstrated to be divine Science? Nothing can be cor-
       rect and continue forever which is not divinely scientific,
       for Science is the law of the Mind that is God, who is
6     the originator of all that really is. The Scripture reads:
       “All things were made by Him; and without Him was
       not any thing made that was made.” Here let us re-
9     member that God is not the Alpha and Omega of man
       and the universe; He is supreme, infinite, the great for-
       ever, the eternal Mind that hath no beginning and no
12    end, no Alpha and no Omega.



       [New York American, February, 1905]


       HEAVEN


15    Is heaven spiritual?

       Heaven is spiritual. Heaven is harmony, — infinite,
       boundless bliss. The dying or the departed enter heaven
18    in proportion to their progress, in proportion to their fit-
       ness to partake of the quality and the quantity of heaven.
       One individual may first awaken from his dream of life
21    in matter with a sense of music; another with that of
       relief from fear or suffering, and still another with a bit-
       ter sense of lost opportunities and remorse. Heaven is
24    the reign of divine Science. Material thought tends to
       obscure spiritual understanding, to darken the true con-
       ception of man’s divine Principle, Love, wherein and
27    whereby soul is emancipate and environed with ever-
       lasting Life. Our great Teacher hath said: “Behold, the
       kingdom of God is within you” — within man’s spiritual
30    understanding of all the divine modes, means, forms, ex-
       pression, and manifestation of goodness and happiness.


Page 268



       [Boston Herald, March 5, 1905]


       PREVENTION AND CURE OF DIVORCE


3     The nuptial vow should never be annulled so long as
       the morale of marriage is preserved. The frequency of
       divorce shows that the imperative nature of the mar-
6     riage relation is losing ground, — hence that some funda-
       mental error is engrafted on it. What is this error?
       If the motives of human affection are right, the affec-
9     tions are enduring and achieving. What God hath joined
       together, man cannot sunder.
       Divorce and war should be exterminated according to
12    the Principle of law and gospel, — the maintenance of
       individual rights, the justice of civil codes, and the power
       of Truth uplifting the motives of men. Two command-
15    ments of the Hebrew Decalogue, “Thou shalt not commit
       adultery” and “Thou shalt not kill,” obeyed, will elimi-
       nate divorce and war. On what hath not a “Thus saith
18    the Lord,” I am as silent as the dumb centuries without
       a living Divina.
       This time-world flutters in my thought as an unreal
21    shadow, and I can only solace the sore ills of mankind by
       a lively battle with “the world, the flesh and the devil,”
       in which Love is the liberator and gives man the victory
24    over himself. Truth, canonized by life and love, lays
       the axe at the root of all evil, lifts the curtain on the
       Science of being, the Science of wedlock, of living and of
27    loving, and harmoniously ascends the scale of life. Look
       high enough, and you see the heart of humanity warming
       and winning. Look long enough, and you see male and
30    female one — sex or gender eliminated; you see the des-
       ignation man meaning woman as well, and you see the


Page 269


1     whole universe included in one infinite Mind and reflected
       in the intelligent compound idea, image or likeness, called
3     man, showing forth the infinite divine Principle, Love,
       called God, — man wedded to the Lamb, pledged to inno-
       cence, purity, perfection. Then shall humanity have
6     learned that “they which shall be accounted worthy to
       obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead,
       neither marry, nor are given in marriage: neither can
9     they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels;
       and are the children of God.” (Luke 20: 35, 36.) This,
       therefore, is Christ’s plan of salvation from divorce.


12       All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
       Whose body nature is, and God the Soul.
       — POPE



15                          [The Independent, November, 1906]


       HARVEST


       God hath thrust in the sickle, and He is separating the
18    tares from the wheat. This hour is molten in the furnace
       of Soul. Its harvest song is world-wide, world-known,
       world-great. The vine is bringing forth its fruit; the
21    beams of right have healing in their light. The windows
       of heaven are sending forth their rays of reality — even
       Christian Science, pouring out blessing for cursing, and
24    rehearsing: “I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
       and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground.”
       “Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I
27    will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you
       out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to
       receive it.”

30    The lie and the liar are self-destroyed. Truth is im-


Page 270


1     mortal. “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: . . . for so
       persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
3     The cycle of good obliterates the epicycle of evil.

       Because of the magnitude of their spiritual import, we
       repeat the signs of these times. In 1905, the First Con-
6     gregational Church, my first religious home in this capital
       city of Concord, N. H., kindly invited me to its one hun-
       dred and seventy-fifth anniversary; the leading editors
9     and newspapers of my native State congratulate me; the
       records of my ancestry attest honesty and valor. Divine
       Love, nearer my consciousness than before, saith: I am
12    rewarding your waiting, and “thy people shall be my
       people.”

       Let error rage and imagine a vain thing. Mary Baker
15    Eddy is not dead, and the words of those who say that she
       is are the father of their wish. Her life is proven under
       trial, and evidences “as thy days, so shall thy strength be.”
18    Those words of our dear, departing Saviour, breathing
       love for his enemies, fill my heart: “Father, forgive them;
       for they know not what they do.” My writings heal the
21    sick, and I thank God that for the past forty years I
       have returned good for evil, and that I can appeal to
       Him as my witness to the truth of this statement.

24    What we love determines what we are. I love the
       prosperity of Zion, be it promoted by Catholic, by Prot-
       estant, or by Christian Science, which anoints with
27    Truth, opening the eyes of the blind and healing the sick.
       I would no more quarrel with a man because of his religion
       than I would because of his art. The divine Principle of
30    Christian Science will ultimately be seen to control both
       religion and art in unity and harmony. God is Spirit,
       and “they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit


Page 271


1     and in truth.” If, as the Scriptures declare, God, Spirit,
       is infinite, matter and material sense are null, and there
3     are no vertebrata, mollusca, or radiata.

       When I wrote “Science and Health with Key to the
       Scriptures,” I little understood all that I indited; but
6     when I practised its precepts, healing the sick and reform-
       ing the sinner, then I learned the truth of what I had
       written. It is of comparatively little importance what a
9     man thinks or believes he knows; the good that a man does
       is the one thing needful and the sole proof of rightness.



       [The Evening Press, Grand Rapids, Mich., August, 1907]


       MRS. EDDY DESCRIBES HER HUMAN IDEAL


       In a modest, pleasantly situated home in the city of
       Concord, N. H., lives at eighty-six years of age the most
15    discussed woman in all the world. This lady with sweet
       smile and snowy hair is Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, Founder
       and Leader of Christian Science, beloved of thousands
18    of believers and followers of the thought that has made
       her famous. It was to this aged woman of world-wide
       renown that the editor of The Evening Press addressed
21    this question, requesting the courtesy of a reply: —

       “What is nearest and dearest to your heart to-day?”

       Mrs. Eddy’s reply will be read with deep interest by all
24    Americans, who, whatever their religious beliefs, cannot
       fail to be impressed by the personality of this remarkable
       woman.



       Mrs. Eddy’s Answer


       Editor of The Evening Press: — To your courtesy and
       to your question permit me to say that, insomuch as I
30    know myself, what is “nearest and dearest” to my heart


Page 272


1     is an honest man or woman — one who steadfastly and
       actively strives for perfection, one who leavens the loaf
3     of life with justice, mercy, truth, and love.

       Goodness is greatness, and the logic of events pushes
       onward the centuries; hence the Scripture, “The law of
6     the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me [man] free
       from the law of sin and death.”

       This predicate and ultimate of scientific being presents,
9     however, no claim that man is equal to God, for the finite
       is not the altitude of the infinite.

       The real man was, is, and ever shall be the divine ideal,
12    that is, God’s image and likeness; and Christian Science
       reveals the divine Principle, the example, the rule, and
       the demonstration of this idealism.

15                    Sincerely yours,
       MARY BAKER EDDY


       PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.



       [Cosmopolitan, November, 1907]


       YOUTH AND YOUNG MANHOOD


       EDITOR’S NOTE. — The Cosmopolitan presents this month to its
21    readers a facsimile of an article sent to us by Mrs. Eddy, with the
       corrections on the manuscript reproduced in her own handwriting.
       Not only Mrs. Eddy’s own devoted followers, but the public gen-
24    erally, will be interested in this communication from the extraordi-
       nary woman who, nearly eighty-seven years of age, plays so great
       a part in the world and leads with such conspicuous success her very
27    great following.

       Mrs. Eddy writes very rarely for any publications outside of the
       Christian Science periodicals, and our readers will be interested in
30    this presentation of the thought of a mind that has had so much
       influence on this generation.

       The Cosmopolitan gives no editorial indorsement to the teachings


Page 273


1     of Christian Science, it has no religious opinions or predilections to
       put before its readers. This manuscript is presented simply as an
3     interesting and remarkable proof of Mrs. Eddy’s ability in old age
       to vindicate in her own person the value of her teachings.

       Certainly, Christian Scientists, enthusiastic in their belief, are
6     fortunate in being able to point to a Leader far beyond the allotted
       years of man, emerging triumphantly from all attacks upon her, and
       guiding with remarkable skill, determination, and energy a very
9     great organization that covers practically the civilized world.
“        King David, the Hebrew bard, sang, “I have been
       young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the right-
12    eous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”

       I for one accept his wise deduction, his ultimate or
       spiritual sense of thinking, feeling, and acting, and its
15    reward. This sense of rightness acquired by experience
       and wisdom, should be early presented to youth and to
       manhood in order to forewarn and forearm humanity.

18    The ultimatum of life here and hereafter is utterly
       apart from a material or personal sense of pleasure, pain,
       joy, sorrow, life, and death. The truth of life, or life in
21    truth, is a scientific knowledge that is portentous; and
       is won only by the spiritual understanding of Life as God,
       good, ever-present good, and therefore life eternal.

24    You will agree with me that the material body is mortal,
       but Soul is immortal; also that the five personal senses
       are perishable: they lapse and relapse, come and go, until
27    at length they are consigned to dust. But say you,
       “Man awakes from the dream of death in possession of
       the five personal senses, does he not?” Yes, because
30    death alone does not awaken man in God’s image
       and likeness. The divine Science of Life alone gives
“        Copyright, 1907, by Mary Baker G. Eddy. Renewed, 1935.


Page 274


1     the true sense of life and of righteousness, and demon-
       strates the Principle of life eternal; even the Life that
3     is Soul apart from the so-called life of matter or the
       material senses.

       Death alone does not absolve man from a false material
6     sense of life, but goodness, holiness, and love do this, and
       so consummate man’s being with the harmony of heaven;
       the omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience of Life,
9     even its all-power, all-presence, all-Science.

       Dear reader, right thinking, right feeling, and right
       acting — honesty, purity, unselfishness — in youth tend
12    to success, intellectuality, and happiness in manhood.

       To begin rightly enables one to end rightly, and thus it is
       that one achieves the Science of Life, demonstrates health,
15    holiness, and immortality.



       [Boston Herald, April, 1908]


       MRS. EDDY SENDS THANKS


18    Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy has sent the following to the
       Herald: —
       Will the dear Christian Scientists accept my thanks
21    for their magnificent gifts, and allow me to say that I am
       not fond of an abundance of material presents; but I
       am cheered and blessed when beholding Christian healing,
24    unity among brethren, and love to God and man; this
       is my crown of rejoicing, for it demonstrates Christian
       Science.

27    The Psalmist sang, “That thy way may be known
       upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.”


Page 275



1             [Minneapolis (Minn.) News]


       UNIVERSAL FELLOWSHIP


3     Christian Science can and does produce universal
       fellowship. As the sequence of divine Love it explains
       love, it lives love, it demonstrates love. The human,
6     material, so-called senses do not perceive this fact until
       they are controlled by divine Love; hence the Scripture,
       “Be still, and know that I am God.”


9     BROOKLINE, MASS.,


       May 1, 1908



       [New York Herald]


       MRS. EDDY’S OWN DENIAL THAT SHE IS ILL
       Permit me to say, the report that I am sick (and I
       trust the desire thereof) is dead, and should be buried.
15    Whereas the fact that I am well and keenly alive to the
       truth of being — the Love that is Life — is sure and stead-
       fast. I go out in my carriage daily, and have omitted
18    my drive but twice since I came to Massachusetts.
       Either my work, the demands upon my time at home, or
       the weather, is all that prevents my daily drive.

21    Working and praying for my dear friends’ and my dear
       enemies’ health, happiness, and holiness, the true sense
       of being goes on.

24    Doing unto others as we would that they do by us, is
       immortality’s self. Intrepid, self-oblivious love fulfils the
       law and is self-sustaining and eternal. With white-winged
27    charity brooding over all, spiritually understood and de-
       monstrated, let us unite in one Te Deum of praise.


       BOX G, BROOKLINE, MASS.,
30       May 15, 1908


Page 276



       [Christian Science Sentinel, May 16, 1908]


       TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN


3     Since Mrs. Eddy is watched, as one watches a criminal
       or a sick person, she begs to say, in her own behalf, that
       she is neither; therefore to be criticized or judged by
6     either a daily drive or a dignified stay at home, is super-
       fluous. When accumulating work requires it, or because
       of a preference to remain within doors she omits her
9     drive, do not strain at gnats or swallow camels over
       it, but try to be composed and resigned to the shock-
       ing fact that she is minding her own business, and rec-
12    ommends this surprising privilege to all her dear friends
       and enemies.

       MARY BAKER EDDY



15            [Boston Post, November, 1908]


       POLITICS


       Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy has always believed that those
18    who are entitled to vote should do so, and she has also
       believed that in such matters no one should seek to dictate
       the actions of others.

21    In reply to a number of requests for an expression of
       her political views, she has given out this statement: —


       I am asked, “What are your politics?” I have none, in
24    reality, other than to help support a righteous government;
       to love God supremely, and my neighbor as myself.

Chapter 13 — Christmas

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Page 256



1     EARLY CHIMES, DECEMBER, 1898


       BEFORE the Christmas bells shall ring, allow me
3     to improvise some new notes, not specially musi-
       cal to be sure, but admirably adapted to the key of my
       feeling and emphatically phrasing strict observance or
6     note well.

       This year, my beloved Christian Scientists, you must
       grant me my request that I be permitted total exemption
9     from Christmas gifts. Also I beg to send to you all a
       deep-drawn, heartfelt breath of thanks for those things
       of beauty and use forming themselves in your thoughts
12    to send to your Leader. Thus may I close the door of
       mind on this subject, and open the volume of Life on
       the pure pages of impersonal presents, pleasures, achieve-
15    ments, and aid.



       CHRISTMAS, 1900


       Again loved Christmas is here, full of divine benedic-
18    tions and crowned with the dearest memories in human
       history — the earthly advent and nativity of our Lord
       and Master. At this happy season the veil of time
21    springs aside at the touch of Love. We count our bless-
       ings and see whence they came and whither they tend.
       Parents call home their loved ones, the Yule-fires burn,
24    the festive boards are spread, the gifts glow in the dark


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1     green branches of the Christmas-tree. But alas for the
       broken household band! God give to them more of
3     His dear love that heals the wounded heart.

       To-day the watchful shepherd shouts his welcome over
       the new cradle of an old truth. This truth has traversed
6     night, through gloom to glory, from cradle to crown. To
       the awakened consciousness, the Bethlehem babe has left
       his swaddling-clothes (material environments) for the
9     form and comeliness of the divine ideal, which has passed
       from a corporeal to the spiritual sense of Christ and is
       winning the heart of humanity with ineffable tenderness.
12    The Christ is speaking for himself and for his mother,
       Christ’s heavenly origin and aim. To-day the Christ is,
       more than ever before, “the way, the truth, and the
15    life,” — “which lighteth every man that cometh into the
       world,” healing all sorrow, sickness, and sin. To this
       auspicious Christmastide, which hallows the close of the
18    nineteenth century, our hearts are kneeling humbly. We
       own his grace, reviving and healing. At this immortal
       hour, all human hate, pride, greed, lust should bow and
21    declare Christ’s power, and the reign of Truth and Life
       divine should make man’s being pure and blest.



       CHRISTMAS GIFTS


24    Beloved Students: — For your manifold Christmas memo-
       rials, too numerous to name, I group you in one benison
       and send you my Christmas gift, two words enwrapped,
27    — love and thanks.

       To-day Christian Scientists have their record in the
       monarch’s palace, the Alpine hamlet, the Christian trav-
30    eller’s resting-place. Wherever the child looks up in


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1     prayer, or the Book of Life is loved, there the sinner is
       reformed and the sick are healed. Those are the “signs
3     following.” What is it that lifts a system of religion to
       deserved fame? Nothing is worthy the name of religion
       save one lowly offering — love.

6     This period, so fraught with opposites, seems illumi-
       nated for woman’s hope with divine light. It bids her
       bind the tenderest tendril of the heart to all of holiest
9     worth. To the woman at the sepulchre, bowed in strong
       affection’s anguish, one word, “Mary,” broke the gloom
       with Christ’s all-conquering love. Then came her resurrec-
12    tion and task of glory, to know and to do God’s will, —
       in the words of St. Paul: “Looking unto Jesus the author
       and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set be-
15    fore him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
       set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

       The memory of the Bethlehem babe bears to mortals
18    gifts greater than those of Magian kings, — hopes that
       cannot deceive, that waken prophecy, gleams of glory,
       coronals of meekness, diadems of love. Nor should they
21    who drink their Master’s cup repine over blossoms that
       mock their hope and friends that forsake. Divinely
       beautiful are the Christmas memories of him who sounded
24    all depths of love, grief, death, and humanity.

       To the dear children let me say: Your Christmas gifts
       are hallowed by our Lord’s blessing. A transmitted
27    charm rests on them. May this consciousness of God’s
       dear love for you give you the might of love, and may
       you move onward and upward, lowly in its majesty.

30    To the children who sent me that beautiful statuette
       in alabaster — a child with finger on her lip reading a book
       — I write: Fancy yourselves with me; take a peep into


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1     my studio; look again at your gift, and you will see the
       sweetest sculptured face and form conceivable, mounted
3     on its pedestal between my bow windows, and on either
       side lace and flowers. I have named it my white student.
       From First Church of Christ, Scientist, in London,
6     Great Britain, I received the following cabled message: —


       REV. MRS. EDDY, PLEASANT VIEW,
       Concord, N. H.

9     Loving, grateful Christmas greetings from members
       London, England, church.

       December 24, 1901


12    To this church across the sea I return my heart’s wire-
       less love. All our dear churches’ Christmas telegrams to
       me are refreshing and most pleasing Christmas presents,
15    for they require less attention than packages and give me
       more time to think and work for others. I hope that in
       1902 the churches will remember me only thus. Do not
18    forget that an honest, wise zeal, a lowly, triumphant
       trust, a true heart, and a helping hand constitute man,
       and nothing less is man or woman.



21                          [New York World]


       THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHRISTMAS


       Certain occasions, considered either collectively or
24    individually and observed properly, tend to give the
       activity of man infinite scope; but mere merry-making
       or needless gift-giving is not that in which human capac-
27    ities find the most appropriate and proper exercise.
       Christmas respects the Christ too much to submerge
       itself in merely temporary means and ends. It represents
30    the eternal informing Soul recognized only in harmony,


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1     in the beauty and bounty of Life everlasting, — in the
       truth that is Life, the Life that heals and saves man-
3     kind. An eternal Christmas would make matter an alien
       save as phenomenon, and matter would reverentially
       withdraw itself before Mind. The despotism of material
6     sense or the flesh would flee before such reality, to make
       room for substance, and the shadow of frivolity and the
       inaccuracy of material sense would disappear.

9     In Christian Science, Christmas stands for the real, the
       absolute and eternal, — for the things of Spirit, not of mat-
       ter. Science is divine; it hath no partnership with human
12    means and ends, no half-way stations. Nothing condi-
       tional or material belongs to it. Human reason and phi-
       losophy may pursue paths devious, the line of liquids, the
15    lure of gold, the doubtful sense that falls short of sub-
       stance, the things hoped for and the evidence unseen.

       The basis of Christmas is the rock, Christ Jesus; its
18    fruits are inspiration and spiritual understanding of joy
       and rejoicing, — not because of tradition, usage, or cor-
       poreal pleasures, but because of fundamental and de-
21    monstrable truth, because of the heaven within us. The
       basis of Christmas is love loving its enemies, returning
       good for evil, love that “suffereth long, and is kind.” The
24    true spirit of Christmas elevates medicine to Mind; it
       casts out evils, heals the sick, raises the dormant facul-
       ties, appeals to all conditions, and supplies every need of
27    man. It leaves hygiene, medicine, ethics, and religion
       to God and His Christ, to that which is the Way, in word
       and in deed, — the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

30    There is but one Jesus Christ on record. Christ is
       incorporeal. Neither the you nor the I in the flesh can
       be or is Christ.


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       CHRISTMAS FOR THE CHILDREN


       Methinks the loving parents and guardians of youth
3     ofttimes query: How shall we cheer the children’s Christ-
       mas and profit them withal? The wisdom of their elders,
       who seek wisdom of God, seems to have amply provided
6     for this, according to the custom of the age and to the full
       supply of juvenile joy. Let it continue thus with one
       exception: the children should not be taught to believe
9     that Santa Claus has aught to do with this pastime. A
       deceit or falsehood is never wise. Too much cannot be
       done towards guarding and guiding well the germinating
12    and inclining thought of childhood. To mould aright
       the first impressions of innocence, aids in perpetu-
       ating purity and in unfolding the immortal model, man
15    in His image and likeness. St. Paul wrote, “When I
       was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a
       child, . . . but when I became a man, I put away
18    childish things.”

       PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
       December 28, 1905


21                          [Ladies’ Home Journal]



       WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS TO ME


       To me Christmas involves an open secret, understood
24    by few — or by none — and unutterable except in Chris-
       tian Science. Christ was not born of the flesh. Christ
       is the Truth and Life born of God — born of Spirit and
27    not of matter. Jesus, the Galilean Prophet, was born
       of the Virgin Mary’s spiritual thoughts of Life and its
       manifestation.


Page 262


1     God creates man perfect and eternal in His own image.
       Hence man is the image, idea, or likeness of perfection
3     — an ideal which cannot fall from its inherent unity
       with divine Love, from its spotless purity and original
       perfection.

6     Observed by material sense, Christmas commemorates
       the birth of a human, material, mortal babe — a babe
       born in a manger amidst the flocks and herds of a Jewish
9     village.

       This homely origin of the babe Jesus falls far short
       of my sense of the eternal Christ, Truth, never born and
12    never dying. I celebrate Christmas with my soul, my
       spiritual sense, and so commemorate the entrance into
       human understanding of the Christ conceived of Spirit,
15    of God and not of a woman—as the birth of Truth, the
       dawn of divine Love breaking upon the gloom of matter
       and evil with the glory of infinite being.

18    Human doctrines or hypotheses or vague human phi-
       losophy afford little divine effulgence, deific presence or
       power. Christmas to me is the reminder of God’s great
21    gift, — His spiritual idea, man and the universe, —
       a gift which so transcends mortal, material, sensual giv-
       ing that the merriment, mad ambition, rivalry, and
24    ritual of our common Christmas seem a human mock-
       ery in mimicry of the real worship in commemoration
       of Christ’s coming.

27    I love to observe Christmas in quietude, humility,
       benevolence, charity, letting good will towards man, elo-
       quent silence, prayer, and praise express my conception
30    of Truth’s appearing.

       The splendor of this nativity of Christ reveals infinite
       meanings and gives manifold blessings. Material gifts


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1     and pastimes tend to obliterate the spiritual idea in con-
       sciousness, leaving one alone and without His glory.



       MRS. EDDY’S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE


       MY HOUSEHOLD


       Beloved: — A word to the wise is sufficient. Mother
6     wishes you all a happy Christmas, a feast of Soul and a
       famine of sense.

       Lovingly thine,
9                            MARY BAKER EDDY

       BOX G, BROOKLINE, MASS.,
       December 25, 1909

Chapter 12 — Readers, Teachers, Lecturers

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Page 243



1     THE NEW YORK CHURCHES


       MY BELOVED STUDENTS: — According to reports, the
3     belief is springing up among you that the several
       churches in New York City should come together and
       form one church. This is a suggestion of error, which
6     should be silenced at its inception. You cannot have lost
       sight of the rules for branch churches as published in our
       Church Manual. The Empire City is large, and there
9     should be more than one church in it.

       The Readers of The Church of Christ, Scientist, hold
       important, responsible offices, and two individuals would
12    meet meagrely the duties of half a dozen or more of the
       present incumbents. I have not yet had the privilege of
       knowing two students who are adequate to take charge
15    of three or more churches. The students in New York
       and elsewhere will see that it is wise to remain in their
       own fields of labor and give all possible time and attention
18    to caring for their own flocks.



       THE NOVEMBER CLASS, 1898


       Beloved Christian Scientists: — Your prompt presence in
21    Concord at my unexplained call witnesses your fidelity
       to Christian Science and your spiritual unity with your


Page 244


1     Leader. I have awaited your arrival before informing
       you of my purpose in sending for you, in order to avoid
3     the stir that might be occasioned among those who wish
       to share this opportunity and to whom I would gladly
       give it at this time if a larger class were advantageous
6     to the students.

       You have been invited hither to receive from me one or
       more lessons on Christian Science, prior to conferring on
9     any or all of you who are ready for it, the degree of C.S.D.,
       of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College. This oppor-
       tunity is designed to impart a fresh impulse to our spiritual
12    attainments, the great need of which I daily discern.
       I have awaited the right hour, and to be called of God
       to contribute my part towards this result.

15    The “secret place,” whereof David sang, is unquestion-
       ably man’s spiritual state in God’s own image and like-
       ness, even the inner sanctuary of divine Science, in which
18    mortals do not enter without a struggle or sharp experi-
       ence, and in which they put off the human for the divine.
       Knowing this, our Master said: “Many are called, but few
21    are chosen.” In the highest sense of a disciple, all loyal
       students of my books are indeed my students, and your
       wise, faithful teachers have come so to regard them.
24    What I have to say may not require more than one
       lesson. This, however, must depend on results. But
       the lessons will certainly not exceed three in number.
27    No charge will be made for my services.



       MASSACHUSETTS METAPHYSICAL COLLEGE


       The Massachusetts Metaphysical College of Boston,
30    Massachusetts, was chartered A.D. 1881. As the people
       observed the success of this Christian system of heal-


Page 245


1     ing all manner of disease, over and above the approved
       schools of medicine, they became deeply interested
3     in it. Now the wide demand for this universal bene-
       fice is imperative, and it should be met as heretofore,
       cautiously, systematically, scientifically. This Chris-
6     tian educational system is established on a broad and
       liberal basis. Law and order characterize its work
       and secure a thorough preparation of the student for
9     practice.

       The growth of human inquiry and the increasing pop-
       ularity of Christian Science, I regret to say, have called
12    out of their hiding-places those poisonous reptiles and de-
       vouring beasts, superstition and jealousy. Towards the
       animal elements manifested in ignorance, persecution,
15    and lean glory, and to their Babel of confusion worse
       confounded, let Christian Scientists be charitable. Let
       the voice of Truth and Love be heard above the dire
18    din of mortal nothingness, and the majestic march of
       Christian Science go on ad infinitum, praising God,
       doing the works of primitive Christianity, and enlighten-
21    ing the world.

       To protect the public, students of the Massachusetts
       Metaphysical College have received certificates, and these
24    credentials are still required of all who claim to teach
       Christian Science.

       Inquiries have been made as to the precise significa-
27    tion of the letters of degrees that follow the names of
       Christian Scientists. They indicate, respectively, the
       degrees of Bachelor and Doctor of Christian Science,
30    conferred by the President or Vice-President of the
       Massachusetts Metaphysical College. The first degree
       (C.S.B.) is given to students of the Primary class; the


Page 246


1     second degree (C.S.D.) is given to those who, after
       receiving the first degree, continue for three years as
3     practitioners of Christian Science in good and regular
       standing.

       Students who enter the Massachusetts Metaphys-
6     ical College, or are examined under its auspices by
       the Board of Education, must be well educated and
       have practised Christian Science three years with good
9     success.



       THE BOARD OF EDUCATION


       In the year 1889, to gain a higher hope for the race, I
12    closed my College in the midst of unprecedented pros-
       perity, left Boston, and sought in solitude and silence a
       higher understanding of the absolute scientific unity which
15    must exist between the teaching and letter of Christianity
       and the spirit of Christianity, dwelling forever in the
       divine Mind or Principle of man’s being and revealed
18    through the human character.

       While revising “Science and Health with Key to the
       Scriptures,” the light and might of the divine concur-
21    rence of the spirit and the Word appeared, and the
       result is an auxiliary to the College called the Board of
       Education of The Mother Church of Christ, Scientist,
24    in Boston, Mass.

       Our Master said: “What I do thou knowest not now;
       but thou shalt know hereafter;” and the spirit of his
27    mission, the wisdom of his words, and the immortal-
       ity of his works are the same to-day as yesterday and
       forever.

30    The Magna Charta of Christian Science means much,


Page 247


1     multum in parvo, — all-in-one and one-in-all. It stands
       for the inalienable, universal rights of men. Essentially
3     democratic, its government is administered by the
       common consent of the governed, wherein and whereby
       man governed by his creator is self-governed. The
6     church is the mouthpiece of Christian Science, — its
       law and gospel are according to Christ Jesus; its rules
       are health, holiness, and immortality, — equal rights and
9     privileges, equality of the sexes, rotation in office.



       TO A FIRST READER


       Beloved Student: — Christ is meekness and Truth
12    enthroned. Put on the robes of Christ, and you will
       be lifted up and will draw all men unto you. The
       little fishes in my fountain must have felt me when I
15    stood silently beside it, for they came out in orderly
       line to the rim where I stood. Then I fed these
       sweet little thoughts that, not fearing me, sought their
18    food of me.

       God has called you to be a fisher of men. It is not a
       stern but a loving look which brings forth mankind to
21    receive your bestowal, — not so much eloquence as tender
       persuasion that takes away their fear, for it is Love alone
       that feeds them.

24    Do you come to your little flock so filled with divine
       food that you cast your bread upon the waters? Then
       be sure that after many or a few days it will return
27    to you.

       The little that I have accomplished has all been
       done through love, — self-forgetful, patient, unfaltering
30    tenderness.


Page 248



       THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BOARD OF LECTURESHIP


       Beloved Students: — I am more than satisfied with your
3     work: its grandeur almost surprises me. Let your watch-
       word always be:


       “Great, not like Caesar, stained with blood,
6             But only great as I am good.”


       You are not setting up to be great; you are here for the
       purpose of grasping and defining the demonstrable, the
9     eternal. Spiritual heroes and prophets are they whose
       new-old birthright is to put an end to falsities in a wise
       way and to proclaim Truth so winningly that an honest,
12    fervid affection for the race is found adequate for the
       emancipation of the race.

       You are the needed and the inevitable sponsors for the
15    twentieth century, reaching deep down into the univer-
       sal and rising above theorems into the transcendental,
       the infinite — yea, to the reality of God, man, nature,
18    the universe. No fatal circumstance of idolatry can fold
       or falter your wings. No fetishism with a symbol can
       fetter your flight. You soar only as uplifted by God’s
21    power, or you fall for lack of the divine impetus. You
       know that to conceive God aright you must be good.

       The Christ mode of understanding Life — of extermi-
24    nating sin and suffering and their penalty, death — I
       have largely committed to you, my faithful witnesses.
       You go forth to face the foe with loving look and with the
27    religion and philosophy of labor, duty, liberty, and love,
       to challenge universal indifference, chance, and creeds.
       Your highest inspiration is found nearest the divine
30    Principle and nearest the scientific expression of Truth.


Page 249


1     You may condemn evil in the abstract without harming
       any one or your own moral sense, but condemn persons
3     seldom, if ever. Improve every opportunity to correct
       sin through your own perfectness. When error strives to
       be heard above Truth, let the “still small voice” produce
6     God’s phenomena. Meet dispassionately the raging ele-
       ment of individual hate and counteract its most gigantic
       falsities.

9     The moral abandon of hating even one’s enemies ex-
       cludes goodness. Hate is a moral idiocy let loose for
       one’s own destruction. Unless withstood, the heat of
12    hate burns the wheat, spares the tares, and sends forth a
       mental miasma fatal to health, happiness, and the morals
       of mankind, — and all this only to satiate its loathing of
15    love and its revenge on the patience, silence, and lives
       of saints. The marvel is, that at this enlightened period
       a respectable newspaper should countenance such evil
18    tendencies.

       Millions may know that I am the Founder of Chris-
       tian Science. I alone know what that means.



       READERS IN CHURCH


       The report that I prefer to have a man, rather than
       a woman, for First Reader in The Church of Christ,
24    Scientist, I desire to correct. My preference lies with
       the individual best fitted to perform this important
       function. If both the First and Second Readers are my
27    students, then without reference to sex I should prefer
       that student who is most spiritually-minded. What our
       churches need is that devout, unselfed quality of thought
30    which spiritualizes the congregation.


Page 250



       WORDS FOR THE WISE


       The By-law of The Mother Church of Christ, Scientist,
3     relative to a three years’ term for church Readers, was
       entitled to and has received profound attention. Rotation
       in office promotes wisdom, quiets mad ambition, satisfies
6     justice, and crowns honest endeavors.

       The best Christian Scientists will be the first to adopt
       this By-law in their churches, and their Readers will
9     retire ex officio, after three years of acceptable service as
       church Readers, to higher usefulness in this vast vineyard
       of our Lord.

12    The churches who adopt this By-law will please send
       to the Editor of our periodicals notice of their action.



       AFTERGLOW


15    Beloved Students: — The By-law of The Mother
       Church of Christ, Scientist, stipulating three years as
       the term for its Readers, neither binds nor compels the
18    branch churches to follow suit; and the By-law applies
       only to Christian Science churches in the United States
       and Canada. Doubtless the churches adopting this
21    By-law will discriminate as regards its adaptability to
       their conditions. But if now is not the time, the branch
       churches can wait for the favored moment to act on this
24    subject.

       I rest peacefully in knowing that the impulsion of this
       action in The Mother Church was from above. So I have
27    faith that whatever is done in this direction by the branch
       churches will be blest. The Readers who have filled this
       sacred office many years, have beyond it duties and


Page 251


1     attainments beckoning them. What these are I cannot
       yet say. The great Master saith: “What I do thou
3     knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”



       TEACHERS OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE


       I reply to the following question from unknown ques-
6     tioners:

       “Are the students, whom I have taught, obliged to
       take both Primary and Normal class instruction in the
9     Board of Education in order to become teachers of Pri-
       mary classes?”

       No, not if you and they are loyal Christian Scientists,
12    and not if, after examination in the Board of Education,
       your pupils are found eligible to enter the Normal class,
       which at present is taught in the Board of Education
15    only.

       There is evidently some misapprehension of my meaning
       as to the mode of instruction in the Board of Education.
18    A Primary student of mine can teach pupils the prac-
       tice of Christian Science, and after three years of good
       practice, my Primary student can himself be examined in
21    the Board of Education, and if found eligible, receive a
       certificate of the degree C.S.D.



       THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS, 1903


24    My Beloved Students: — I call you mine, for all is Thine
       and mine. What God gives, elucidates, armors, and tests
       in His service, is ours; and we are His. You have con-
27    vened only to convince yourselves of this grand verity:
       namely, the unity in Christian Science. Cherish stead-
       fastly this fact. Adhere to the teachings of the Bible,


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1     Science and Health, and our Manual, and you will obey
       the law and gospel. Have one God and you will
3     have no devil. Keep yourselves busy with divine Love.
       Then you will be toilers like the bee, always distributing
       sweet things which, if bitter to sense, will be salutary as
6     Soul; but you will not be like the spider, which weaves
       webs that ensnare.

       Rest assured that the good you do unto others you do
9     to yourselves as well, and the wrong you may commit
       must, will, rebound upon you. The entire purpose of
       true education is to make one not only know the truth
12    but live it — to make one enjoy doing right, make one
       not work in the sunshine and run away in the storm, but
       work midst clouds of wrong, injustice, envy, hate; and
15    wait on God, the strong deliverer, who will reward right-
       eousness and punish iniquity. “As thy days, so shall thy
       strength be.”



       THE LONDON TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION, 1903


       Beloved Students: — Your letter and dottings are an
       oasis in my wilderness. They point to verdant pastures,
21    and are already rich rays from the eternal sunshine of
       Love, lighting and leading humanity into paths of peace
       and holiness.

24    Your “Thanksgiving Day,” instituted in England on
       New Year’s Day, was a step in advance. It expressed
       your thanks, and gave to the “happy New Year” a higher
27    hint. You are not aroused to this action by the allure-
       ments of wealth, pride, or power; the impetus comes from
       above — it is moral, spiritual, divine. All hail to this
30    higher hope that neither slumbers nor is stilled by the
       cold impulse of a lesser gain!


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1     It rejoices me to know that you know that healing
       the sick, soothing sorrow, brightening this lower sphere
3     with the ways and means of the higher and everlasting
       harmony, brings to light the perfect original man and uni-
       verse. What nobler achievement, what greater glory can
6     nerve your endeavor? Press on! My heart and hope
       are with you.


       “Thou art not here for ease or pain,
9        But manhood’s glorious crown to gain.”



       THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS, 1904


       Beloved Brethren: — I thank you. Jesus said: “The
12    world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee,
       and these have known that Thou hast sent me.”



       THE CANADIAN TEACHERS, 1904


15    Beloved Brethren: — Accept my love and these words
       of Jesus: “Holy Father, keep through Thine own name
       those whom Thou hast given me, that they may be one,
18    as we are.”



       STUDENTS IN THE BOARD OF EDUCATION, DECEMBER, 1904


21    Beloved Students: — You will accept my profound
       thanks for your letter and telegram. If wishing is wise,
       I send with this a store of wisdom in three words: God
24    bless you. If faith is fruition, you have His rich blessing
       already and my joy therewith.

       We understand best that which begins in ourselves
27    and by education brightens into birth. Dare to be
       faithful to God and man. Let the creature become


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1     one with his creator, and mysticism departs, heaven
       opens, right reigns, and you have begun to be a Chris-
3     tian Scientist.



       THE MAY CLASS, 1905


       Beloved: — I am glad you enjoy the dawn of Christian
6     Science; you must reach its meridian. Watch, pray,
       demonstrate. Released from materialism, you shall run
       and not be weary, walk and not faint.



       THE DECEMBER CLASS, 1905


       Beloved Students: — Responding to your kind letter,
       let me say: You will reap the sure reward of right think-
12    ing and acting, of watching and praying, and you will
       find the ever-present God an ever-present help. I
       thank the faithful teacher of this class and its dear
15    members.



       “ROTATION IN OFFICE”


       Dear Leader: — May we have permission to print, as
18    a part of the preamble to our By-laws, the following
       extract from your article “Christian Science Board of
       Education” in the June Journal of 1904, page 184: —


21    “The Magna Charta of Christian Science means
       much, multum in parvo, — all-in-one and one-in-all. It
       stands for the inalienable, universal rights of men.
24    Essentially democratic, its government is administered
       by the common consent of the governed, wherein and
       whereby man governed by his creator is self-governed.
27    The church is the mouthpiece of Christian Science,
       — its law and gospel are according to Christ Jesus;


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1     its rules are health, holiness, and immortality, — equal
       rights and privileges, equality of the sexes, rotation
3     in office.”



       Mrs. Eddy’s Reply


       Christian Science churches have my consent to publish
6     the foregoing in their By-laws. By “rotation in office”
       I do not mean that minor officers who are filling their
       positions satisfactorily should be removed every three
9     years, or be elevated to offices for which they are not
       qualified.

       CHESTNUT HILL, MASS.,

12           March 6, 1909

Chapter 11 — Questions Answered

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Table of Contents


Page 238



1     QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS


       Will the Bible, if read and practised, heal as effectually
3     as your book, “Science and Health with Key to the
       Scriptures”?


       THE exact degree of comparison between the effects
6     produced by reading the above-named books can
       only be determined by personal proof. Rightly to read
       and to practise the Scriptures, their spiritual sense must
9     be discerned, understood, and demonstrated. God being
       Spirit, His language and meaning are wholly spiritual.
       Uninspired knowledge of the translations of the Scriptures
12    has imparted little power to practise the Word. Hence
       the revelation, discovery, and presentation of Christian
       Science — the Christ Science, or “new tongue” of which
15    St. Mark prophesied — became requisite in the divine
       order. On the swift pinions of spiritual thought man
       rises above the letter, law, or morale of the inspired Word
18    to the spirit of Truth, whereby the Science is reached
       that demonstrates God. When the Bible is thus read
       and practised, there is no possibility of misinterpreta-
21    tion. God is understandable, knowable, and applicable
       to every human need. In this is the proof that Chris-
       tian Science is Science, for it demonstrates Life, not


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1     death; health, not disease; Truth, not error; Love, not
       hate. The Science of the Scriptures coexists with God;
3     and “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures”
       relegates Christianity to its primitive proof, wherein
       reason, revelation, the divine Principle, rules, and prac-
6     tice of Christianity acquaint the student with God. In
       the ratio that Christian Science is studied and under-
       stood, mankind will, as aforetime, imbibe the spirit and
9     prove the practicality, validity, and redemptive power of
       Christianity by healing all manner of disease, by over-
       coming sin and death.


12    Must mankind wait for the ultimate of the millennium —
       until every man and woman comes into the knowledge of
       Christ and all are taught of God and see their apparent
15    identity as one man and one woman — for God to be
       represented by His idea or image and likeness?


       God is one, and His idea, image, or likeness, man, is one.
18    But God is infinite and so includes all in one. Man is the
       generic term for men and women. Man, as the idea or
       image and likeness of the infinite God, is a compound, com-
21    plex idea or likeness of the infinite one, or one infinite,
       whose image is the reflection of all that is real and eternal
       in infinite identity. Gender means a kind. Hence man-
24    kind — in other words, a kind of man who is identi-
       fied by sex — is the material, so-called man born of the
       flesh, and is not the spiritual man, created by God,
27    Spirit, who made all that was made. The millennium
       is a state and stage of mental advancement, going
       on since ever time was. Its impetus, accelerated by
30    the advent of Christian Science, is marked, and will


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1     increase till all men shall know Him (divine Love) from
       the least to the greatest, and one God and the brother-
3     hood of man shall be known and acknowledged through-
       out the earth.



       THE HIGHER CRITICISM


6     An earnest student writes to me: “Would it be asking
       too much of you to explain more fully why you call Chris-
       tian Science the higher criticism?”

9     I called Christian Science the higher criticism in my
       dedicatory Message to The Mother Church, June 10,
       1906, when I said, “This Science is a law of divine Mind,
12    . . . an ever-present help. Its presence is felt, for it
       acts and acts wisely, always unfolding the highway of
       hope, faith, understanding.”

15    I now repeat another proof, namely, that Christian
       Science is the higher criticism because it criticizes evil,
       disease, and death — all that is unlike God, good — on a
18    Scriptural basis, and approves or disapproves according
       to the word of God. In the next edition of Science and
       Health I shall refer to this.

21    MARY BAKER EDDY



       CLASS TEACHING


       Mrs. Eddy thus replies, through her student, Mr.
24    Adam Dickey, to the question, Does Mrs. Eddy approve
       of class teaching: —


       Yes! She most assuredly does, when the teaching is
27    done by those who are duly qualified, who have received
       certificates from the Massachusetts Metaphysical
       College or the Board of Education, and who have the


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1     necessary moral and spiritual qualifications to perform
       this important work. Class teaching will not be abol-
3     ished until it has accomplished that for which it was
       established; viz., the elucidation of the Principle and
       rule of Christian Science through the higher meaning
6     of the Scriptures. Students who are ready for this
       step should beware the net that is craftily laid and cun-
       ningly concealed to prevent their advancement in this
9     direction.



       INSTRUCTION BY MRS. EDDY


       We are glad to have the privilege of publishing an ex-
12    tract from a letter to Mrs. Eddy, from a Christian Scien-
       tist in the West, and Mrs. Eddy’s reply thereto. The
       issue raised is an important one and one upon which
15    there should be absolute and correct teaching. Christian
       Scientists are fortunate to receive instruction from their
       Leader on this point. The question and Mrs. Eddy’s
18    reply follow.


       “Last evening I was catechized by a Christian Science
       practitioner because I referred to myself as an immortal
21    idea of the one divine Mind. The practitioner said that
       my statement was wrong, because I still lived in my
       flesh. I replied that I did not live in my flesh, that
24    my flesh lived or died according to the beliefs I enter-
       tained about it; but that, after coming to the light of
       Truth, I had found that I lived and moved and had
27    my being in God, and to obey Christ was not to know
       as real the beliefs of an earthly mortal. Please give the
       truth in the Sentinel, so that all may know it.”


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       Mrs. Eddy’s Reply


       You are scientifically correct in your statement about
3     yourself. You can never demonstrate spirituality until you
       declare yourself to be immortal and understand that
       you are so. Christian Science is absolute; it is neither
6     behind the point of perfection nor advancing towards
       it; it is at this point and must be practised therefrom.
       Unless you fully perceive that you are the child
9     of God, hence perfect, you have no Principle to demon-
       strate and no rule for its demonstration. By this I
       do not mean that mortals are the children of God, —
12    far from it. In practising Christian Science you must
       state its Principle correctly, or you forfeit your ability
       to demonstrate it.



       TAKE NOTICE


       I hereby announce to the Christian Science field that
       all inquiries or information relating to Christian Science
18    practice, to publication committee work, reading-room
       work, or to Mother Church membership, should be sent
       to the Christian Science Board of Directors of The
21    Mother Church; and I have requested my secretary
       not to make inquiries on these subjects, nor to reply to
       any received, but to leave these duties to the Clerk of
24    The Mother Church, to whom they belong.

       MARY BAKER EDDY

       September 28, 1910





Love is the liberator.