|
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.
Page 277
CHAPTER XV
- PEACE AND WAR
|
| 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.
Page 278
|
| 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" |
| 15 |
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.
Page 287
CHAPTER
XVI - TRIBUTES
|
| 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;
Page 288
|
| 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.
Page 289
|
| 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.
Page 290
|
| 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
Page 291
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.
Page 292
|
| 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.
Page 293
|
| 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
Page 294
|
| 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
Page 295
|
| 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
Page 296
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
Page 297
|
| 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,
Page 298
|
| 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
Page 299
CHAPTER
XVII - ANSWERS TO CRITICISMS
|
| 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
Page 301
|
| 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 a |