Christian Science History

A Statement of Facts Relating to the Authorship of the Christian Science Text-Book, “Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures”

by Septimus J. Hanna




Table of Contents



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE HISTORY


prefatory remarks

The purpose of this booklet is to present to all fair­minded people a few facts in contradistinction to falsehoods as to the life and work of the Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy, the author of the Christian Science text-book, “Science And Health With Key To The Scriptures,” and the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.

Many years ago, John Gay, an English poet, penned these truthful lines:

He, who would free from malice pass his days,
Must live obscure, and never merit praise.

No great moral or religious reformer, in ancient or modem times, has escaped the truth of this poetic sentiment. Mrs. Eddy, as the greatest religious reformer of modern times, has, in some measure, shared the fate of her predecessors. As in other cases, so in her case, adverse criticism or opposition have come from two classes — those who entirely misapprehend the scope and purpose of the reformation, or those who, having sought a knowledge of Christian Science, as did some of old time, for the loaves and fishes, and having been disappointed in carrying out their selfish ends, have turned with the rage of envy and malice upon her who desired to be their benefactor, and (vainly) seek to injure her.

Her early struggles against the unworthy and selfish, and the trials, difficulties, and persecutions, growing out of a misunderstanding of her mission, during the formulatory period of her labors, have become a matter of well-known history. The many thousands, nevertheless, both within and without the ranks, who are cognizant of the wonderful and beneficent results — even thus far — of her self-sacrificing labors, have done her meet homage, and every day the number is increasing.

We have but to point to her book “Pulpit and Press,” published in 1895, now in its seventh edition, in part corroboration hereof. This book abounds in extracts from the press, according to Mrs. Eddy fair and sincere recognition of her achievements and her rightful place in history. I briefly cull from two or three papers, as a fair index to all.

The Chicago Inter Ocean said: —

In 1866, while living in Lynn, Mass., Mrs. Eddy (then Mrs. Glover) met with a severe accident and her case was pronounced hopeless by the physicians. There came a Sunday morning when her pastor came to bid her good-bye before proceeding to his morning service, as there was no probability that she would be alive at its close. During this time she suddenly became aware of a divine illumination and ministration. She requested those with her to withdraw, and reluctantly they did so, believing her delirious. Soon, to their bewilderment and fright, she walked into the adjoining room, “and they thought I had died, and that it was my apparition,” she said.

From that hour dated her conviction of the principle of divine healing, and that it is as true to-day as in the clays when Jesus of Nazareth walked the earth. “J felt that the divine Spirit had wrought a miracle,” she said, in reference to this experience. “How, I could not tell, but later I found it to be in perfect Scientific accord with the divine law.” From 1866 to 1869, Mrs. Eddy withdrew from the world to meditate, to pray, to search the Scriptures.

From the Boston Sunday Globe: —

Mrs. Eddy applied herself, like other girls, to her studies, though perhaps with an unusual zest, delighting in philosophy, logic, and moral science, as well as looking into the ancient languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

Her last marriage was in the spring of 1877, when, at Lynn, Mass., she became the wife of Dr. Asa Gilbert Eddy. He was the first organizer of a Christian Science Sunday School, of which he was the superintendent, and later he attracted the attention of many clergymen of other denominations by his able lectures upon Scriptural topics. He died in 1882. Mrs. Eddy is known to her circle of pupils and admirers as the editor and publisher of the first official organ of this sect. It was called the Journal of Christian Science, and has had great circulation with the members of this fast-increasing faith.

In recounting her experiences as the pioneer of Christian Science, she states that she sought knowledge concerning the physical side in this research through the different schools of allopathy, homeopathy, and so forth, without receiving any real satisfaction. No ancient or modern philosophy gave her any distinct statement of the science of mind healing. She claims that no human reason has been equal to the question.

And she also defines carefully the difference in the theories between faith cure and Christian Science, dwelling particularly upon the terms belief and understanding, which are the key words respectively used in the definitions of these two healing arts, Mrs. Eddy believes that “the laborer is worthy of his hire,” and, moreover, that he deserves to have a home and family of his own. Indeed, one of her motives in buying so large an estate was that she might do something for the toilers, and thus add her influence toward the advancement of better home life and citizenship.

From the Jackson Patriot, Jackson, Mich.: —

In a previous article we have referred to cyclic changes that came during the last quarter of preceding centuries. Of our remarkable nineteenth century not the least eventful circumstance is the advent of Christian Science. That it should be the work of a woman is the natural outcome of a period notable for her emancipation from many of the thraldoms, prejudices, and oppressions of the past. We do not, therefore, regard it as a mere coincidence that the first edition of Mrs. Eddy’s “Science and Health” should have been published in 1875. Since then she has revised it many times, and the ninety-first edition is announced. Her discovery was first called “the science of divine Metaphysical healing.” Afterward she selected the name Christian Science. It is based upon what is held to be scientific certainty, namely, that all causation is of Mind, every effect has its origin in desire and thought. The theology — if we may use the word — of Christian Science is contained in the volume entitled, “Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures.”

From The Reporter, Lebanon, Ind.: —

Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, author of its text-book, “Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures,” president of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, and first pastor of the Christian Science denomination, is without doubt one of the most remarkable women in America. She has within a few years founded a sect that has over one hundred thousand converts, and very recently saw completed in Boston as a testimonial to her labors, a handsome fire­proof church that cost $250,000, and was paid for by Christian Scientists all over the country.

Mrs. Eddy asserts that in 1866 she became certain that “all causation was Mind and every effect a mental phenomenon.” Taking her text from the Bible, she endeavored in vain to find the great curative principle — the Deity — in philosophy and schools of medicine, and she concluded that the way of salvation demonstrated by Jesus was the power of Truth over all error, sin, sickness, and death. Thus originated the divine or spiritual science of Mind Healing, which she termed Christian Science.

She concludes her book “Pulpit and Press” with the following statement: —

“From Canada to New Orleans, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, I have received leading newspapers with uniformly kind and interesting articles at or about the date of the dedication of the Mother Church. They were, however, too voluminous for these pages; hence I abridged those I copied, and could append only a few of the names of other prominent newspapers whose articles were reluctantly omitted.”




falsehoods

For years it has been periodically asserted by the falsifiers that Mrs. Eddy was dead, and that her students are concealing the fact, and falsely using her name.

That she is a confirmed invalid, too feeble to perform any labor whatever.

That she is confined in an insane asylum at Concord, New Hampshire.

The fact that Mrs. Eddy, ever since she has resided in Concord — over ten years — has been seen by scores of Concord people taking her daily ride, in storm or sunshine, and is known by thousands to be one of the busiest and hardest-working persons in the world, is a sufficient refutation of the falsehood about the state of her health.

As to the silly sophistry about her insanity, I would say, that if one who is doing the mighty work for humanity that she is doing, is insane, in God’s name let us have a whole world of insane people!

Is there a clearer-headed woman in the world than she who can marshall a force of 700,000 good men and women as are on our planet, dictate orders, command and countermand with love, and the response follow all along the lines in heavenly harmony — with one Mind, one God — amen!

It is no new thing under the sun that great reformers, and especially religious reformers, moving in advance of supposedly settled religious conceptions, are accounted insane by those who are unable to understand their high mission. Such misapprehensions of God and His laws have so largely prevailed and been handed down the ages, that a system of religion based on spiritual, instead of material premises, is thought to be supernatural, and the spiritual by many is deemed to be absurd, if not uncanny.

Current mortal thought is unaware that the spiritual is the only truly natural, and that the natural, so-called, can only be understood through the lens of spiritual perception. An anonymous writer has well said that “To undertake to account for spiritual by the logic of material phenomena is an infinitely greater paradox than to express a mother’s ecstasy in algebraic terms, or to analyze grief by the chemistry of a tear.”

If even human mentality defies the highest reaches of material science, is it strange that the divine or spiritual should transcend human analysis?

A student for whom Mrs. Eddy has shown much long-suffering and patience has been endeavoring to create a furor by making personal attacks upon Mrs. Eddy, and is now attempting to show that she obtained her first knowledge of Christian Science or mental healing from the late Dr. Phineas P. Quimby, to who reference is more fully made hereafter. The falsehoods set afloat, fail to settle into the general thought, against whom they are directed, — all effort to bring about such a result by flooding the press, pulpit, and post offices therewith to the contrary notwithstanding.

Mrs. Eddy is above noticing such reports. In her marvelous charity she has hitherto forborne to lift the curtain on her calumniator. But God will do this in His own time and way, for “There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.”




as to her last class

Mrs. Eddy writes to me: “In my last class I did not refer to mental malpractice, — its members generally had taken the primary course, and this instruction properly comes before that class. Without a question the student of Christian Science is qualified to teach, preach, or to practice divine Metaphysics who knows not thoroughly how wisely and successfully to handle this heinous sin — mental malpractice. Without this understanding the cannot separate the tares from the wheat and destroy the tares — he cannot divide between an impartation from the immortal or divine Mind, and temptation, or the evil suggestion of human thought and argument, but this must be done in order to obey the former and to resist and destroy the latter, and not till it is done will he be protected and imbued with wisdom and power to rise superior to evil suggestions. This attainment is indispensable whereby to establish a student on the Scientific basis of Christian Science.”

She further writes of this class: “In 1898 I selected and taught a class of students, glad to give to the world such men and women to demonstrate Christian Science.”




specific cases

I now mention some specific cases, showing the reckless manner in which statements are made about distinguished people.

A business of man of Concord, N.H., — a man of average intelligence, — within two years past stated unqualifiedly that Mrs. Eddy could neither read nor write; yet she was born and educated near Concord, and for several years previously to this incident had resided in that city. How easily could this man, had he chosen, have informed himself as to the truth!

A Christian Scientist residing in Foxcroft, Maine, sent to a friend of his, who is a Methodist minister, a copy of the Christian Science Sentinel, containing some editorial remarks upon a sermon preached against Christian Science by the Rev. W. A. Bartlett. A newspaper published some extracts from this sermon and commented briefly upon it. The Bristol (N. H.) Enterprise republished these, giving credit only to an exchange. The copy came to the editor of the Sentinel with the word “Exchange” at the bottom of the article cut off, so that it appeared to have been published by the Bristol Enterprise. This led the editor of the Sentinel to the inference that Mr. Bartlett was a resident of Bristol, N. H., which proved to have been an error, and the Methodist minister in question called attention to this error by a letter written to his Scientist friend. This letter contained an unqualified charge against Mrs. Eddy, which I literally quote: —

“A few days ago, she [Mrs. Eddy] sent to a man near my home, the executor of the estate of an old woman who had just ‘passed on,’ a bill for $250 for ‘treatment.’ She had never seen the woman and will never see the $250.”

It will be observed that this charge was made as if based upon actual personal knowledge. The gentleman in Foxcroft, Maine, forwarded the minister’s letter to me to know if this were true. I knew it was false, as she has not for years received or treated a single patient. I requested our correspondent to call upon his friend, the minister, for the proof of his charge. He accordingly did so, and the minister at first positively refused to furnish it. My correspondent was not disposed to let the matter rest there, and insisted that the proof must be forthcoming. After some delay, the minister thus wrote him: —

“It now appears that my informant was in error, and that the bill did not come direct from Mrs. Eddy, but from one of her satellites or disciples who probably did the ‘treatment’ act. And thus endeth this chapter, and now let us have peace.”

Having shown, as I started out to do, that our ministerial friend was entirely mistaken in his very positive statement, I am quite willing to let the chapter end here. I have, however, no more to do with personality in this case than in the others.




not a pope

Mrs. Eddy has been likened to a pope. Whereas she exercises no power over her Church of above thirteen thousand members — apart from compliance with its Bylaws which the Church adopts, and she declines to receive even a salary. Her large income is the result of her growing popularity as an author and the increasing demand for her books all over the continent. Self-deification or worship she abhors — as all know who have a true knowledge of her, and whose honesty keeps pace with their convictions. The hundreds of thousands who adhere to her do this simply from love, because of the benefit they have received from her works.




unfair methods

In Mrs. Eddy’s article published in a number of newspapers, among others, the Boston Traveler, entitled, “Leader’s Counsel,” addressed to the Church in Concord, N. H., a typographical error occurred, which made one clause of this address read as follows: “Rest assured that the injustice done by press and pulpit in this denomination will cease,” etc., whereas, it should have read “to this denomination.”

The lecture which Rev. Irving C. Tomlinson delivered at Music Hall, Boston, contained a reference to Biblical history to which Mrs. Eddy took exception, and published her correction in the Christian Science Sentinel and Journal. Mr. Tomlinson at once graciously removed this reference from his lecture. In his lecture he thus reverently refers to Christ Jesus: —

“Christian Scientists regard Christ Jesus as the crown and glory of God’s creation. In him all that is worthy among men finds complete fulfilment. He is the great physician, who, through the understanding of infinite Mind, healed all manner of diseases. He is the high-priest, who, through the knowledge of the power of Spirit, first scientifically destroyed sin in all its forms. He is the good Samaritan, who, realizing the infinite resources of omnipotent Good, with scientific certainty, first bound up the gaping wounds of humanity.

“What to the building is its foundation, what to the ripening clusters is the parent vine, what to the temple is its fair entrance, that Christ Jesus is to Christian Science. He is the comer-stone of the godlike structure that in his name we are striving to rear aloft. He is the vine, we are the branches, which, with their ripening fruit, draw their strength and life from him. He is the door through which we would enter and abide within the holy of holies. Wherefore we each and all say with our Leader, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, the Reverend Mary Baker Eddy, ‘All Christian Scientists deeply recognize the oneness of Jesus.’” The typographical errors were as promptly corrected as was possible, yet the papers containing them were industriously circulated by the person seeking to make capital out of them.




mrs. eddy’s charities

In view of the publicity now given to Mrs. Eddy’s large charities, it will not again be charged by fair-minded people that she is a mercenary person. Her charities during the last three years have averaged $88,987 per year. This statement is furnished by her bookkeeper and taken verbatim from her books. With her economical mode of living she could readily be a millionaire, but it gives her more pleasure to do good than to make money. She now seldom gives to beggars, having learned from sad experience the effects thereof. She never gives to be seen of men, but to such persons as she knows to be needy and to such objects as are worthy.

In years past when Mrs. Eddy began to teach Christian Science, she kept a “Christian Scientists’ Home” — and her teaching, room, and board were gratuitous. In subsequent years she received into each of her college classes some indigent students, who, after receiving a free course of instruction, went away, earned the money, and sent her their tuition with a letter declaring: “Nothing can pay for what you have taught me.” As a rule she returned the money with her thanks. Strange to say it is her charity students, or those she taught with the hope of reforming them, who have sought to hide from the public her real character, and to abuse it.




her tenderness toward others’ views

Mrs. Eddy has recently said in a letter to me: “A new discovery of science always has awakened the world to fierce combat, and Christian Science is no exception to this rule. I have even marveled at the press and pulpit’s patience with me, when I have taken away their gods, and they knew not where I had laid them; and humbly thank God, and the vox populi, for these signs of our times.”




spiritual sense

In a communication to me dated July 21, 1899, Mrs. Eddy writes: —

“In justice to myself, and the readers of your booklet, I send a brief explanation of my writings, that appeared in your first editions, and has been quoted by a clergyman and ignorantly or intentionally misconstrued. The spiritual sense referred to therein is, the discerning of the purpose of a mental malpractitioner whose thoughts turn on me with evil intent. This spiritual discernment is neither universal, nor indiscriminate mind reading. It is a consciousness wherewith good is done and no evil can be done. This phenomenon appeared in my childhood, is associated with my earliest memories and has increased with my spiritual increase. It has aided me in healing the sick, and subordinating the human to the Divine. While this metaphysical phenomenon puzzles poor philosophy, and is not in the slightest degree theosophy, hypnotism, clairvoyance, or an element of the human mind, I regard it as a component part of the Science of Mind not yet understood.”

Our Master perceived the thought of their heart. Solomon says, “A prudent man forseeth the evil, and hideth himself.” “Until the facts concerning error — namely its nothingness — appear, the moral demand will not be met, and the ability to make nothing of error will be wanting.” Science and Health




early literary career

Mrs. Eddy’s own writings, as well as authentic historical works and encyclopædias, show that many years before she began her real life-work in the field of religion and metaphysics, even in her girlhood days, she had attained to high standing and recognition as a writer of unusual merit, in both prose and poetry, and had contributed liberally to the press and periodicals, as shown by many of her productions yet extant. She had also appeared before public audiences in the capacity of a lecturer on important topics, receiving the plaudits of learned and discriminating people wherever she was heard. Not only so, but prior to entering upon her mission as a Christian Scientist, Mrs. Eddy had a large circle of friends, many of whom have passed away; but many thousands yet live who love her. I can truthfully say that she is universally beloved by those who know her best, and has to-day more friends than any other woman of whom I know, — friends who appreciate and acknowledge her worth and work.




church associations

At the age of twelve years Mrs. Eddy was admitted to membership in the Congregational (Trinitarian) Church, of which body her parents had been members for half a century. In this association she had many dear friends. In her book entitled “Retrospection and Introspection,” published in 1893, she thus refers to her admission into this Church: —

“In connection with this event, some circumstances are noteworthy. Before this step was taken, the doctrine of Unconditional Election, or Predestination, greatly troubled me; for I was unwilling to be saved, if my brothers and sisters were to be numbered among those who were doomed to perpetual banishment from God. So perturbed was I by the thoughts aroused by this erroneous doctrine, that the family doctor was summoned, and pronounced me stricken with fever.

“My father’s relentless theology emphasized belief in a final Judgment Day, in the danger of endless punishment, and in a Jehovah merciless towards unbelievers; and of these things he now spoke, hoping to win me from dreaded heresy.

“My mother, as she bathed my burning temples, bade me lean on God’s love, which would give me rest, if I went to Him in prayer, as I was wont to do, seeking His guidance. I prayed; and a soft glow of ineffable joy came over me. The fever was gone, and I rose and dressed myself, in a normal condition of health. Mother saw this, and was glad. The physician marveled; and the horrible decree of Predestination — as John Calvin rightly called his own tenet — forever lost its power over me.

“When the meeting was held for the examination of candidates for membership, I was of course present. The pastor was an old-school expounder of the strictest Presbyterian doctrines. He was apparently as eager to have unbelievers in these dogmas lost, as he was to have elect believers converted, and rescued from perdition; for both salvation and condemnation depended, according to his views, upon the good pleasure of infinite Love. However, I was ready for his doleful questions, which I answered without a tremor, declaring that never could I unite with the Church, if assent to this doctrine was essential thereto.

“Distinctly do I recall what followed. I stoutly maintained that I was willing to trust God, and take my chance of spiritual safety with my brothers and sisters, — not one of whom had then made any profession of religion, — even if my credal doubts left me outside the doors. The minister then wished me to tell him when I had experienced a change of heart; but tearfully I had to respond that I could not designate any precise time. Nevertheless, he persisted in the assertion that I had been truly regenerated, and asked me how I felt when the new light dawned within me. I replied that I could only answer him in the words of the Psalmist: ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.’

“This was so earnestly said, that even the oldest church-members wept. After the meeting was over they came and kissed me. To the astonishment of many, the good clergyman’s heart also melted, and he received me into their communion, and my protest along with me. My connection with this religious body was retained till I founded a Church of my own, built on the basis of Christian Science, ‘Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.’”

Upon severing her connection with her old Church Mrs. Eddy received the following letter of dismissal from the pastor: —

January 13, 1875.

This certifies that Mrs. Mary M. Glover is a member of this Church in good and regular standing. At her own request, she is dismissed from this and recommended to any evangelical Church in Lynn.

When received there her particular connection with us will cease.

Theodore C. Pratt.

Pastor of Congregational Church, Tilton, N. H.

In the year 1878 Mrs. Eddy was called to preach in Boston at the Baptist Tabernacle of the Rev. Daniel C. Eddy, D.D., — by the pastor of that church. She accepted the call, and during her ministry there the congregation so increased in number that the pews were not sufficient to seat the audience and benches were used in the aisles. At the close of her engagement she parted with her friends there in Christian fellowship, although not in full unity of doctrine.




writing of the text-book

Many incidents, showing Mrs. Eddy’s reputation as a writer and worker in church and benevolent societies, might here be chronicled, but that is not the purpose of this work, and our space will not warrant further elaboration of this subject. Not until after she began her investigations and labor in the field of Christian metaphysics and of writing the Christian Science text-book, can she, in any true sense, be said to have been obscure. During this time she necessarily secluded herself from the world and society. She could not otherwise have done her work. For three years previous to commencing the writing of “Science and Health” she had been deeply immersed in the study of Scripture, to ascertain its spiritual import. That some of her former friends and associates in the Church, and out of it, who believe that all the spiritual truth necessary to human good has already been given to the world, and there is no need of further investigation or revelation, should have lost interest in her, or even have turned away from her, as some did, is not strange. Such things have been usual in the case of reformers in all ages. But for every friend lost by reason of her departure from the old conditions, she has gained thousands in her new and higher life.




thankful hearts

Thankful hearts all over the world, because of the beneficial results of her labors, have risen up and called her blessed, and are daily doing so. They are not only glad to call her their friend and benefactor, but by common, and almost unknown impulse, they endow her with the endearing name of “Mother.” In this world of selfishness, where hatred and malice have so large a place, is it not indeed a happy and hopeful thing that there should be such touching evidences of love and gratitude as those manifested toward the Leader of this great movement? Ought it not to be cause for rejoicing, rather than condemnation and criticism, among good people everywhere? One of the most touching sights ever coming under my personal observation, has been the spontaneity and depth of feeling with which great, strong men have stood in the presence of this woman — slight of physique — although she is five feet and five inches tall — and called her “Mother.”

What does this mean? It is not her personality that inspires this feeling on the part of those who know her. It is explainable only on the ground of the largeness of her spiritual nature and the depth of her conception of the love of God — a conception so great that it is radiated unconsciously to herself. This indefinable atmosphere surrounding her, and its effect upon those brought in contact with her, leads to the misapprehension that her followers worship her personality. Their reverence for her is based, not on her personality or on personal sense, but in the fact that she, more than any other person known to them, has shown them the way out of disease and false human conditions, into the higher and better way of spiritual understanding, life, and love.

While it is doubtless true that Mrs. Eddy’s adherents may not always be as wise as they are zealous in the way they refer to their Leader, I know the charge that they worship her personality to be wholly without foundation. This charge is easily traceable, as to its origin, to a class of persons whose own personality is yet their god.




expressions of friendship

I deem it not inappropriate to note a few of the recent expressions of love, friendship, and gratitude for Mrs. Eddy by some who are well enough acquainted with her and her labors for humanity — including themselves — to be able to speak truthfully and intelligently.

First: we quote from the remarks of the Hon. Wm. G. Ewing, a prominent lawyer and jurist of Illinois, who has recently retired from the bench of the Superior Court of Chicago. In introducing Mrs. Annie M. Knott on the occasion of her lecture in Detroit, Mich., February 13, 1899, in speaking of Mrs. Eddy he said: “She is a second great Mary who has taught the world how to know God.” Speaking of Christian Science: “It was brought to the world over thirty years ago, born from the suffering and pain of Mrs. Eddy, whom I have no hesitation in deliberately pronouncing the most marvelous woman of all the ages.”

The Hon. Joseph R. Clarkson, of Omaha, Neb., an eminent lawyer and ex-judge of the district court there, in an article published in the Christian Science Sentinel thus speaks: —

“How can one acquaint himself with God? By studying ‘Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures,’ and other works by Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, and, with God’s help, living the life they teach, for they teach what Jesus taught, and enable mankind to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. They tear away the veil which has more or less darkened the pages of Scripture and endue them with the brightness which God’s words should reflect.

“Mrs. Eddy’s writings arouse an insatiate hunger for more of the Bible, more of God, more of the Christ, more of Jesus, more of the Holy Comforter; incite a glorious zeal for strife in God’s cause, after His way, and beget a quiet scorn for that life which deems itself complete in mortal man.”

The Hon. Hoke Smith of Atlanta, Ga., publicly referring to Mrs. Eddy, said: “It is an indisputable fact that Mrs. Eddy is the most illustrious woman of the continent.”

The Hon. James A. D. Richards of Ohio, an ex-member of Congress, says: “I am reading the writings of that grand woman, who has brought incalculable blessings to the human race.”

Sir Douglas Galton, of England, in his address on the occasion of the dedication of the Christian Science church in London, thus tenderly speaks of her: —

“We have here a rich word from our Leader and Teacher, our beloved Mother in Israel, Mary Baker G. Eddy.”

The Right Honorable Charles Adolphus Murray, Earl of Dunmore, Scotland, in a recent letter to Mrs. Eddy said: “Your good works speak for themselves.”

The Marchioness of Bath, England, writes to Mrs. Eddy: —

“I wish I could tell you half the deep, heart-felt gratitude and love I feel toward you for this glorious Truth you have imparted to us.”

Mr. Henry D. Nunn, a prominent newspaper man of Colorado, himself the beneficiary of marvelous healing in Christian Science, in a recent number of the Denver Republican, said: —

“To the Christian Scientist who has been freed from pain, and vice, and despair, through the proclamation of Truth by Mary Baker G. Eddy, it seems natural and right to feel grateful. Deplorable as was the condition of the chattel slave, his yoke was easy, compared to the abject wretchedness of thousands of slaves to whiskey, morphine, lust, or wasting disease who have been cleansed and redeemed by the marvelous power of Truth, as unfolded in her book, ‘Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures.’”




they of her own household

For the truest and best knowledge of Mrs. Eddy we love to tum to those who have severally been in her home, four, eleven, and seventeen years, namely: Miss

Julia S. Bartlett of Boston; Mrs. Laura E. Sargent of Oconto, Wis.; Miss Clara M. S. Shannon of Montreal, Canada; Mr. Calvin A. Frye of Concord, N. H., and many others. These persons are good characters; they are not her kindred, but they know her every-day life. Let them be asked what they think of Mrs. Eddy. Doubtless they will tell you of her sternness, but will also tell you of her patience, wisdom, and love; and they will answer for her, as the world cannot, from observation and experience. It would do any one good to hear, as I have heard, their heartfelt tributes to her who has rebuked and blessed them by counsel and example. The fact is, those who know this wonderful woman, or her writings, appreciate her just in proportion to their understanding of her, and the quantity and quality of their own goodness.




One Of The Most Serious Falsehoods

The following pages specifically refute one of the most serious falsehoods which have been circulated against Mrs. Eddy. I have no apology to offer for publishing them, and only ask a just and discriminating public disinterestedly to read and then pass judgment.

The authorship of a book which is revolutionizing the world, — as “Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures” is doing, — is too important a matter to be passed lightly by. Those who have studied this book sufficiently to have even a small understanding of its import, wonder that there should be claimed any relationship between Dr. Quimby’s writings and this work. Those who have studied it with such a measure of understanding that, as a result thereof, they have been able to heal themselves of the most serious diseases, and also to heal others, are unable to comprehend such a claim. Those who study the Christian Science Bible Lessons, made up of alternate citations from the Bible and “Science and Health,” touching and illuminating the Bible at every point, see the unmistakable connection between them, and know that “Science and Health” is truly what it purports to be, a spiritual key to the Scriptures.

I have had the privilege of reading well authenticated copies of Dr. Quimby’s MSS., and also extracts from his original pennings as published, purporting to be authentic; and I can truthfully say, that no intelligent, unbiased person, having any understanding or ability to understand the teaching of “Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures,” could for a single moment be made to believe that there is the slightest resemblance between the two. That the author of the mighty spiritual truths which form the web and woof of the Christian Science text-book could have borrowed the smallest ray of light from Dr. Quimby’s fragmentary jottings, however meritorious in themselves, is too preposterous for a moment’s serious consideration.

It is quite manifest from Dr. Quimby’s MSS., that his conceptions and those of the author of “Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures,” are, as has been well stated by another, “at polar opposites.”

Only those having a ready predisposition to being duped will be misled by the ridiculous claims put forth by those who seek to exalt themselves by attempting to injure an­ other.




As To Dr. Quimby

In view of the recent revival of the old and outworn falsehoods as to the authorship of the Christian Science text-book, “Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures,” I herewith republish certain articles heretofore published in the Boston Post, the Boston Traveler, and the Christian Science Journal.

The Rev. Mary Baker Eddy being so generally known and so universally recognized as the author of “Science and Health” it seems incredible that persons at this late day should have the hardihood to raise any question relative to her authorship. For years before she consented to consult Dr. P. P. Quimby, — as he was called a quack, — she had attained pathological and religious views of the broadest sort admissible at that date.

Following are two letters which appeared several years ago in the Boston Post and the Boston Traveler.

The Founder of the Mental Method of Treating Disease.

To the Editor of the Boston Post: —

We were interested in your late article on mental healing, having been acquainted with the late Dr. Phineas P. Quimby, who died many years ago, and whom we regarded highly. He was a contemporary of the noted mesmerist, Dr. Newton, and often amused us with his unique descriptions of their mesmeric performances. He, Dr. Quimby, told us one evening, on our way to a lecture at the city hall in Portland, Me., that he would exhibit some of his power to us in the hall. Accordingly, after we were seated, he said to us, “I shall set them to coughing,” and immediately one after another commenced coughing, until the assembly in general joined in chants, longer or shorter, according to directions. Then all of a sudden the coughing stopped, but our laughter was not over, for immediately the people commenced sneezing as if a sudden coryza had seized them, and pocket handkerchiefs were in quick requisition.

Dr. Quimby’s method of treating the sick was manipulation; after immersing his hands in water he rubbed the head, etc. He never called his practice a mental method of treating disease, to our knowledge; and we knew him and his history. He was very successful in many cases of lameness. We asked him several times if he had any system of treating disease aside from manipulation and mesmerism, and he always evaded the subject. We were his patient, but he never gave us any further information relative to his practice, but always said, “It is a secret of my own, and I have thought best not to divulge it.” After treating the sick he would retire to a side room and note with a pen the especial case, with such other paraphrase as he thought best. This copy he gave to certain individuals to bring out, or, as he said, “put into shape.” His scribblings were fragmentary, but sometimes very interesting. He requested us to transform them frequently, and to give them different meanings, which we did. He never took a student, to our knowledge, or gave information of his healing that was practical. He called his scribblings, essays, but never the “Science of Health.” “Science and Health” is a work by Mrs. Mary B. G. Eddy, issued in 1875. She discovered the science of healing embodied in that work, after years of practical proof, through homœopathy, that Mind instead of matter is the principle of pathology, and finally sealed her proof by a severe casualty, from which she recovered through her exercise of mental power over the body, after the regular physicians had pronounced her case incurable.

For eighteen years Mrs. Eddy has been toiling with pen and tongue to explain her discovery of the science of mental healing, and thousands owe their recovery from hopeless suffering and their knowledge of mental healing to her unselfish labors. Her books have been widely circulated. “Science and Health” is in its fifth edition [It is now — May, 1899 — in its 165th edition of one thousand copies each]. A grateful multitude acknowledge the blessings of her mental system of treating disease. Perhaps the following, in the words of her husband, the late Dr. Asa G. Eddy, best expresses it: “Mrs. Eddy’s works are the outgrowths of her life. I never knew so unselfish an individual.”

The last time Mrs. Eddy saw Dr. Quimby, and a short time before his death, he said to her, “I owe to you all the popularity I have in Portland.” She had sent some leading articles through the press that helped destroy the prejudice against Dr. Quimby, and announced his practice an improvement on animal magnetism. Mrs. Eddy has established a Metaphysical College in Boston, chartered by the Commonwealth in 1881, where the mental treatment of disease is taught on the strict principle of Christian Science.

Eugene Greene, Providence, R. I.

To Whom it May Concern.

Mr. George A. Quimby, son of the late Phineas P. Quimby, over his own signature and before witness, stated in 1883, that he had in his possession at that time all the manuscripts that had been written by his father. And I hereby declare that, to expose the falsehood of parties publicly intimating that I have appropriated matter belonging to the aforesaid Quimby, I will pay the cost of printing and publishing the first edition of those manuscripts with the author’s name: —

Provided, that I am allowed first to examine said manuscripts, and do find that they were his own compositions, and not mine, that were left with him many years ago, or that they have not since his death, in 1866, been stolen from my published works. Also that I am given the right to bring out this one edition under the copyright of the owner of said manuscripts, and all the money accruing from the sales of said book shall be paid to said owner. Some of his purported writings, quoted by Mr. D——, were my own words, as near as I can recollect them.

There is a great demand for my work “Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures,” hence Mr. D——’s excuse for the delay to publish Quimby’s manuscripts namely, that this period is not sufficiently enlightened to be benefited by them (?), is lost, for if I have copied from Quimby, and my book is accepted, it has created a demand for his.

Mary Baker G. Eddy.

Boston Traveler, May 21, 1887.

Second: I republish from the Christian Science Journal an extract from a letter written to Mrs. Eddy by one of her students.

Uncovered

by Rev. Mary B. G. eddy

The following extract copied from a letter to me recently received from a well-known Christian Scientist, may at least amuse the readers of our Journal.

After doing justice to this subject, I had dropped it, as we naturally turn away from a fossilized falsehood. But evidence and testimony on the side of Truth are always in order, and proverbially better late than never.

“It might be interesting for you to know that Mr. A. J. Swartz of Chicago, went to see the late Dr. P. P. Quimby’s son, and procured his father’s writings for the purpose of having them published in order to show the world that your ideas were borrowed from Quimby. After having examined­ them, to their utter disappointment, it was found there was nothing that would compare in any way to ‘Science And Health;’ and he, Swartz, concluded that it would aid you too much to publish them, so they were returned to the owner.

“Mrs. Swartz saw and read these MSS. and she gave me this information.

Mary H. Philbrick.

Austin, Ill., May 18, 1892.”

Third: I republish from the Journal of Christian Science of October 6, 1883, parts of a decision of the United States Circuit Court at Boston, bearing essentially upon the subject in hand. The defendant in the action having since deceased, by request of Mrs. Eddy, we “tread lightly on the ashes of the dead.” The article was written by the Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy, and is thus entitled: —

Infringement of “Science and Health,” etc. The Decision of the

United States Circuit Court.

This decision was based upon a proceeding instituted by Mrs. Eddy against one Edward J. Arens, to restrain him from publishing a pamphlet printed and issued by him, which, for the most part, contained matter pirated from the works of Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy. Some time later, the said Arens having published another pamphlet differing a little from the first one, the bill was amended to include this second piracy. Arens, in his answer, alleged that the copyrighted works of Mrs. Eddy were not original with her, but had been copied by her, or by her direction, from manuscript originally composed by Dr. P. P. Quimby; further stating, that he had not published nor distributed any of the pamphlets complained of for more than a year previous to the time of his answer.

Testimony was taken on the part of Mrs. Eddy, the defendant, Arens, being present in person and by counsel, which testimony showed that the sworn answer of Arens, in which he averred that he had not distributed any of such pamphlets within the past year, was wholly untrue; and also showed a gross and wholesale piracy committed by Arens on the copyrighted works of Mrs. Eddy, as set forth in her bill of complaint.

The time for taking testimony on the part of the defendant, Arens, having nearly expired, he gave notice, through his counsel, that he should not put in any testimony, and a stipulation for a judgment and decree in favor of Mrs. Eddy was drawn up and signed by his counsel. [Note. Mrs. Eddy in her “Miscellaneous Writings,” page 381, referring to the failure on the part of defendant Arens’ counsel to introduce proof in support of his answer, says: “Mrs. Eddy requested her lawyer to inquire of defendant’s counsel, why he did not present evidence to support his claim that Dr. Quimby was the author of her writings. Accordingly, her counsel asked the defendant’s counsel this question, and he replied, in substance, “There is no evidence to present.”­ Ed.] Upon the filing of this stipulation, the following decree was made by the Court: —

CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES.

District of Massachusetts

Decree for perpetual Injunction.

Sept. 24, 1883. It is ordered, adjudged, and decreed as follows: that the copyright heretofore obtained by the complainant under the name of Mary Baker Glover, upon the book entitled “The Science of Man, etc.,” and the copyright upon the book entitled “Science and Health,” Vol. 2, by Mary Baker Glover Eddy, whereby there was secured good and valid copyrights, that the said defendant has infringed the said copyrights and upon the exclusive rights of the complainant under the same, by publication, sale, and distribution of the works “The Understanding of Christianity, or God, etc.,” and “Christianity, or the Understanding of God, etc.,” by Edward J. Arens.

And it is further ordered, adjudged and decreed, that a perpetual injunction be issued against the defendant according to the prayer of the bill.

And it is further ordered, etc., that the complainant recover of the defendant her cost of suit taxed at ($113.09) one hundred thirteen and 9-100 dollars.

By the Court,

Alex H. Trowbridge,

Deputy Clerk.

And upon such decree the following injunction was issued and served upon E. J. Arens:

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Massachusetts District, ss.

The President of the United States of America to

E. J. Arens, of Boston, in the

State of Massachusetts.

Your Agents and Servants send

Greeting.

Whereas

Mary B. G. Eddy, of said Boston, has exhibited her Bill of Complaint before the Justices of our Circuit Court of the United States for the First Circuit, begun and holden at Boston, within and for the District of Massachusetts, on the Fifteenth day of May, A.D. 1883, against you, the said

Edward J. Arens,

praying to be relieved touching the matters therein complained of; and whereas, by an Order from said Court, made on the Twenty-fourth day of September, A.D. 1883, it was ordered that a Writ of Injunction issue, under the seal of the said Court, to restrain you, and each and every of you, from doing all the matters and things, from the doing of which you are prayed to be restrained in said Bill, according in full with the prayer of said Bill. We, therefore, in consideration thereof, enjoin and command you, each and every of you that from, and immediately after the receipt and notice of this, our Writ, by you, or any of you, you shall not, directly or indirectly, print, publish, sell, give away, distribute, or in any way or matter dispose of a certain work or book entitled “The Understanding of Christianity or God, etc.” by Edward Arens: or a certain work or book entitled “Christianity, or the Understanding of God, etc.,” by Edward Arens: which said books are copies from, and infringements of the copyrighted works of the complainant, as set forth in the Bill of Complaint in this cause.

Whereof, you are not to fail, on pain of ten thousand dollars, to be levied on your and each of your goods, chattels, lands and tenements, to our use.

Witness

The Honorable Morrison R. Waite, at Boston, this twenty-seventh day of September, in year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-three.

Alex H. Trowbridge.

Deputy Clerk.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Massachusetts District, ss.

Boston, Oct. 4, 1883.

I hereby acknowledge personal

service of the within injunction.

Edward J. Arens.

It seems scarcely necessary to add, that Mr. Arens’ defense, as set forth in his answer, having been that the works, the copyright of which he infringed, were not original with Mrs. Eddy, he would, had it been possible, have produced the proof necessary to support his answer. It is evident that this defense was vital in the case, as he apparently had no other. The fact that he failed to produce his proof is conclusive evidence that no such proof existed.

No honest or disinterested person, in the face of this record, would undertake to falsify the record by insisting that Mrs. Eddy’s works were plagiarized from Dr. Quimby’s writings. The absurdity, as well as the utter falsity of this claim, are at once apparent. As a mere matter of self-respect, if for no other reason, the persons now lending themselves to the circulation of the falsehood, will see that they are merely stultifying themselves.




More Of Dr. Quimby

Mrs. Eddy further says of Dr. Quimby: —

“He was neither a scholar nor a metaphysician. I never heard him say that matter was not as real as Mind, or that electricity was not as potential or remedial, or allude to God as the Divine Principle of all healing. He certainly had advanced views of his own, but they commingled error with truth, and were not Science. On his rare humanity and sympathy one could write a sonnet.”

In the same article Mrs. Eddy says that Dr. Quimby was a magnetic practitioner. She asked him “how manipulation could benefit the sick. He answered kindly and squarely, in substance, ‘Because it conveys electricity to them.’ That was the sum of what he taught her of his medical profession.’’

Mrs. Eddy in her “Miscellaneous Writings,” page 379, further says: —

“It was after Mr. Quimby’s death that I discovered, in 1866, the momentous facts relating to Mind and its superiority over matter, and named my discovery Christian Science. Yet, there remained the difficulty of adjusting in the scale of Science a metaphysical practice, and settling the question, What shall be the outward sign of such a practice: if a Divine Principle alone heals, what is the human modus for demonstrating this, — in short, how can sinful mortals prove that a Divine Principle heals the sick, as well as governs the universe, time, space, immortality, man?” She adds: “But an unlooked-for, imperative, call for help, impelled me to begin this stupendous work at once, and teach the first student in Christian Science. Even as when an accident called fatal to life, had driven me to discover the Science of Life, I again, in faith, turned to Divine help, — and commenced teaching.

The results of that first teaching have spread over the world, and are too well known to require recapitulation here.

On March 2, 1866, the late Mr. Julius A. Dresser of Boston, Mass., in a letter to Mrs. Eddy wrote, — “No; I would not cure if I could, — not to make a practice of it,­ as Dr. Quimby did.”

After Mrs. Eddy’s text-book was published and Mr. Dresser had read it, he commenced practising as a healer of the sick, and remained in this practice until his death. Is it fair to conclude, after his own statement, as above, that he practised according to Dr. Quimby?

Mr. Edward H. Hammond of Baltimore, Md., obtained a written statement signed by Mr. George Quimby, son of Dr. P. P. Quimby, saying that at that date (1883) he had in his possession all his father’s manuscripts.

Fourth: I republish from the Christian Science Journal of November, 1886, the following attested statement in reference to Dr. Quimby’s method of healing the sick: —

“I was treated by Dr. P. P. Quimby, in Portland, for neuralgia in the head. Mrs. Eddy was also a patient of his. I first met her there, and it was in the summer of 1862. His mode of treating the sick was to immerse his hands in water and manipulate their heads. My father (W. P. Morgan) offered him one thousand dollars ($1,000) to explain his method of treating disease; to which the doctor replied: “I cannot; I do not understand it myself.” I never knew of his attempting to teach any one. His method was entirely different from Mrs. Eddy’s system of Christian Science.

(Witness) Mrs. E. A. Thompson

“We concur in affirming the known truth of the above statement.

Mrs. A. D. Morgan.

W. P. Morgan, A.M.

Mrs. A. R. Rutten

“Minneapolis, Minnesota, September, 1886.”

Many more are ready to bear testimony to the facts as above stated.




From Mrs. Eddy

Fifth: To the foregoing I am glad to add the following from the pen of Mrs. Eddy: —

“In 1861, when I first visited Dr. Quimby of Portland, Me., his scribblings were descriptions of his patients; and comprised the manuscripts that, in 1887, I advertised I would pay for having published. Before his decease, in January, 1866, he had tried to get them published and failed. The quotations contained in the article above — purporting to be Dr. Quimby’s own words — were written while I was his patient in Portland and holding long conversations with him on my views of mental therapeutics. Some words in these quotations certainly read like words that I said to him, and, at his request to correct his copy, had added thereto. 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 of his magnetic treatment and manipulation of patients, there was a Science, and it was the science of Mind, that had nothing to do with matter, electricity, or physics. After this I noticed he used that word, as well as other terms which I employed, which seemed at first new to him. 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 are Jesus.” At that date I was a staunch orthodox, and my theological belief was offended by his saying, and I entered a demurrer that 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, and understood what I said better than some others did — and, for one so unlearned, he was a remarkable man. Had his remark related to my personality, I should still think it was profane. At first my case improved wonderfully under his treatment, but relapsed. I was gradually emerging 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 lack of science, and the want of divinity in scholastic theology, had already dawned on me. My idealism, however, limped, for then it lacked Science. But the divine Love will accomplish what all the powers of earth combined can never prevent being accomplished — the advent of divine healing and its Divine Science.

Mary Baker G. Eddy

“Concord, N. H., 1899.”




Another Letter From Mrs. Eddy

In a letter to the editor of the Christian Science Journal, April 25, 1899, Mrs. Eddy writes, —

“When I advertised in 1887 that I would pay for publishing P. P. Quimby’s manuscripts, said manuscripts were withheld from the public. Since then they have been handled and compiled by those who have had opportunity to read my books, which may account for his so-called book being published. What I have read of this nondescript, I regret to say, is disappointing and misguiding, — a conglomeration of meaningless, mortal notions, half mesmerism and half nonsense.”

It is not yet explained how Mrs. Eddy could have “developed” from the Quimby source “a system of thought radically different from it.” To plagiarize is to publish matter as one’s own that was written by another. We are thus confronted by an unheard-of plagiarism.




Mr. Kimball Refutes The Falsehood

In his lecture on Christian Science, delivered in the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago, March 1, 1899, Mr. Edward A. Kimball, C.S.D., thus forcibly spoke upon the fabrication under consideration: —

“There is one falsehood, however, that came under the jurisdiction of the United States Courts several years ago, to the effect that Mrs. Eddy is not the discoverer of Christian Science, and that her works are not original. The Federal Court, in taking cognizance of this false claim, confirmed her status as the author and originator of the substance and details of her text-book, “Science and Health,” and entered a decree of injunction against the would-be infringer. A well-ordered mind usually accepts such a decree as decisive and conclusive.

“As a falsehood which has been exposed, it is now hoary with age, and its promulgators should have become weary of the use for which it is being urged in vain. Nevertheless there are people who are intent on assaulting Christian Science without regard to ways and means, who rehabilitate this fabulous charge, and continue it in ignoble service.

“My attention has been called to a sermon preached in Massachusetts in which this old story is repeated to the effect that Mrs. Eddy got her ideas from the manuscript of the late Dr. Quimby of Maine. This whole question of originality was involved in and disposed of by the legal decision referred to, and the fact that Mrs. Eddy is the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science is now formulated as history and acknowledged by encyclopædias, dictionaries, and biographical works. There are, however, several features of the case which the court decision does not take cognizance of, and which are worthy of mention.

“1. Dr. Quimby was an avowed mesmerist.

“2. Christian Science and mesmerism are like polar opposites. They are antipodes, and could not possibly proceed from the same source.

“3. The proposition that a professional mesmerist could originate “Science and Health,” or that the discoverer of Christian Science could also be a mesmerist, is not only inconceivable but impossible.

“4. People who have examined the fragments of manuscripts which Dr. Quimby wrote, and made the examination with a view of using them to discredit Mrs. Eddy’s position, have admitted that they were valueless for such a purpose.”




Refutation Of Another Falsehood

In refutation of the oft-repeated falsehood that Mrs. Eddy courts deification or claims to be Christ, I republish a telegram from Mrs. Eddy to the New York World, published in that newspaper February 1, 1895, as follows: —

Concord, N. H., February 1, 1895.

“A despatch is given to me, calling for an interview to answer for myself, Am I the second Christ?

“Even the question shocks me. What I am is for God to declare in His infinite mercy. As it is, I claim nothing more than what I am, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, and the blessing it has been to mankind which eternity enfolds.

“My books and teachings maintain but one conclusion and statement of the Christ and the deification of mortals.

“Christ is individual, and one with God, in the sense of divine Principle and its compound divine idea.

“There never was, is not now, and never can be, but one God, one Christ, one Jesus of Nazareth. Whoever in any age expresses most of the spirit of Truth and Love, the Principle of God’s idea, has most of the spirit of Christ, of that Mind which was in Christ Jesus.

“If Christian Scientists find in my writings, teachings, and example a greater degree of this spirit than in others, they can justly declare it. But to think or speak of me in any manner as a Christ is sacrilegious. Such a statement would not only be false, but the absolute antipode of Christian Science, and would savor more of heathenism than of my doctrines.”

Mary Baker Eddy

Again, in her article in the Boston Journal, April 11, 1899, she writes, —

“All Christian Scientists deeply recognize the oneness of Jesus — that he stands alone in word and deed, the visible discoverer, founder, demonstrator, and great Teacher of Christianity, whose sandals none may unloose.

“The Board of Lectureship is absolutely inclined to be, and is instructed to be, charitable towards all, and hating none. The purpose of its members is to subserve the interest of mankind, and to cement the bonds of Christian brotherhood, whose every link leads upward in the chain of being. The cardinal points of Christian Science cannot be lost sight of, namely — One God, supreme infinite, and one Christ Jesus.”

The above definition of her relation to Christian Science and the world, and also of the oneness of Jesus, has never been changed in the slightest degree by Mrs. Eddy. If anything has been said to the contrary, either by her students or others, it has been mistakenly said. This statement is republished as a matter of simple justice to one who, so far from claiming to be a Christ, or the Christ, is constantly, in a spirit of meekness and humility, affirming and re-affirming the allness and absolute supremacy of the one and only God.

The height of Mrs. Eddy’s ambition is to serve God by bringing humanity into such a relationship with Him and His law, that all the prevailing discordant conditions of humanity may be wiped away, the promises of the prophets of old fulfilled, and the teachings and works of Jesus the Christ so understood that they may be practically applied to all human conditions. This is her motive, her desire, her constant prayer, as all know who are brought into such relations with her as to be able intelligently and truthfully to state her position and daily life.

Should I yield to the impulse, it would lead me to write almost volumes in Mrs. Eddy’s behalf. Knowing as I do her life-work and her disinterested desire to benefit and uplift humanity, and knowing that if there be on earth a person whose single purpose is to walk near to God, it is she, it is difficult to drop this subject where it now is, but time and space forbid me to pursue it further.

Boston, Mass., 1899.

Septimus J. Hanna




ADDENDA

Since writing the foregoing a magazine article has come to my notice, in which it is alleged that Mrs. Eddy has kept away from Boston, because she feared arrest on the ground that, as President of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, she had issued illegal certificates, and that the district attorney of Boston was in search of her for the purpose of prosecuting her on account thereof.

For the purpose of showing the utter untruthfulness of this charge we republish from page 271 of “Miscellaneous Writings,” by Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, the following, which is not only self-explanatory, but absolutely refutes this latest falsehood.

The Massachusetts Metaphysical College

Much is said at this date, 1889, about Mrs. Eddy’s Massachusetts Metaphysical College being the only chartered College of Metaphysics. To make this plain, the Publishing Committee of the Christian Scientist Association has published in the Boston Traveler the following: —

“To benefit the community, and more strongly mark the difference between true and false teachers of mental healing, the following history and statistics are officially submitted: —

“Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy obtained a college charter in January, 1881, with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereunto (including the right to grant degrees) under Act of 1874, Chapter 375, Section 4.

“This act was repealed from and after January 31, 1882. Mrs. Eddy’s grant for a college, for metaphysical purposes only, is the first on record in history, and no charters were granted for similar colleges, except hers, from January, 1881, till the repealing of said Act in January, 1882.

“The substance of this Act is at present incorporated in Public Statutes, Chapter 115, Section 2, with the following important restrictions: — In accordance with Statutes of 1883, Chapter 268, any officer, agent, or servant of any corporation or association, who confers, or authorizes to be conferred, any diploma or degree, shall be punished by a fine not less than $500, and not more than $1,000.

“All the mind-healing colleges (except Rev. Mrs. Eddy’s) have simply an incorporated grant, which may be called a charter, such as any stock company may obtain for any secular purposes; but these so-called charters bestow no rights to confer degrees. Hence to name these institutions, under such charters, colleges, is a fraudulent claim. There is but one legally chartered college of metaphysics, with powers to confer diplomas and degrees, and that is the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, of which Rev. Mrs. Eddy is founder and president.”

The above is of itself a complete refutation of the falsehood, but we will say in addition, that, as a matter of fact, Mrs. Eddy has been in Boston during week days within the time mentioned. Her visits have been in connection with the Mother Church, and have been limited for time, not for any such reason as that insinuated, but because of her busy life and the necessity of her early return to her duties at Concord. Nevertheless, as we have said, she has been here on week days.

We might also add as additional evidence of the folly of such an intimation, that even if it were true that Mrs. Eddy had issued illegal certificates, or had in any way violated the criminal laws of this commonwealth in such a way as to be subject to arrest, the district attorney or attorney-general could at any time have caused a requisition to have been sent by the governor of Massachusetts to the governor of New Hampshire for her arrest, under which she could have been brought to Boston.

As to Edward J. Arens

I deem it only fair, speaking of Mr. Edward J. Arens, to say in addition to what has already been said of him and his conduct, that Mrs. Eddy received him as a student at the “Christian Science Home,” in Lynn, Mass., for about a year, giving him his board, rent, and tuition gratuitously; but notwithstanding this liberality and the giving to him of these privileges without one cent of charge, after leaving the Home and its hospitality, Mr. Arens plagiarized her books, as shown in this booklet, and set himself up as a teacher of Christian Science.

Mrs. Eddy requested me to withhold Mr. Arens’ name, as he has passed away since the transactions herein related, but at my request she permitted the insertion of his name. I did this because I deemed it best in reciting the history of the lawsuit and copying from the records, to let the full name appear.

As to Indigent Students

Mrs. Eddy taught many indigent students gratuitously, and one in particular she thus taught, and issued to her a receipt in full for her tuition. This student is now, as a teacher and lecturer, making no small amount of money, has been so doing for some years, on the strength of the instruction, reputation, and standing resulting from Mrs. Eddy’s charity extended to her; but notwithstanding the unusual kindness shown her by Mrs. Eddy, this student has endeavored in every way possible to injure her benefactress. These additional items are mentioned for the purpose of showing the strange ingratitude on the part of some of those to whom Mrs. Eddy, in years past, has shown the greatest kindness.

Dr. Quimby’s Last Sickness

It may not have been to the discredit of Dr. Phineas P. Quimby, that, in his last sickness, he was under the care of a drug physician, but it does not speak in the highest terms for the efficacy of his healing system, nor can it be said to be a strong argument in favor of the claims to refute which this booklet is published. It is well known to every intelligent person in these days that Christian Scientists rely upon God, or divine Power, for their healing, in every and any emergency, rather than upon a human physician. It is well for disinterested people, who desire only to know the truth, to bear in mind this fact, and consider the probabilities and non-probabilities of the question in all its aspects.

Septimus J. Hanna

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