Mary Baker Eddy - Pulpit and Press
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Mary Baker Eddy >> Pulpit and Press
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[_N.Y. Commercial Advertiser_, January 9, 1895]
The idea that Christian Science has declined in popularity is not borne out
by the voluntary contribution of a quarter of a million dollars for a
memorial church for Mrs. Eddy, the inventor of this cure. The money comes
from Christian Science believers exclusively.
* * * * *
[_The Post_, Syracuse, New York, February 1, 1895]
DO NOT BELIEVE SHE WAS DEIFIED
CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS OF SYRACUSE SURPRISED AT THE NEWS ABOUT MRS. MARY
BAKER EDDY, FOUNDER OF THE FAITH
Christian Scientists in this city, and in fact all over the country, have
been startled and greatly discomfited over the announcements in New York
papers that Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, the acknowledged Christian Science
Leader, has been exalted by various dignitaries of the faith....
It is well known that Mrs. Eddy has resigned herself completely to the
study and foundation of the faith to which many thousands throughout the
United States are now so entirely devoted. By her followers and cobelievers
she is unquestionably looked upon as having a divine mission to fulfil,
and as though inspired in her great task by supernatural power.
For the purpose of learning the feeling of Scientists in this city toward
the reported deification of Mrs. Eddy, a _Post_ reporter called upon a few
of the leading members of the faith yesterday and had a number of very
interesting conversations upon the subject.
Mrs. D.W. Copeland of University Avenue was one of the first to be seen.
Mrs. Copeland is a very pleasant and agreeable lady, ready to converse, and
evidently very much absorbed in the work to which she has given so much of
her attention. Mrs. Copeland claims to have been healed a number of years
ago by Christian Scientists, after she had practically been given up by a
number of well-known physicians.
"And for the past eleven years," said Mrs. Copeland, "I have not taken any
medicine or drugs of any kind, and yet have been perfectly well."
In regard to Mrs. Eddy, Mrs. Copeland said that she was the Founder of the
faith, but that she had never claimed, nor did she believe that Mrs.
Lathrop had, that Mrs. Eddy had any power other than that which came from
God and through faith in Him and His teachings.
"The power of Christ has been dormant in mankind for ages," added the
speaker, "and it was Mrs. Eddy's mission to revive it. In our labors we
take Christ as an example, going about doing good and healing the sick.
Christ has told us to do his work, naming as one great essential that we
have faith in him.
"Did you ever hear of Jesus' taking medicine himself, or giving it to
others?" inquired the speaker. "Then why should we worry ourselves about
sickness and disease? If we become sick, God will care for us, and will
send to us those who have faith, who believe in His unlimited and divine
power. Mrs. Eddy was strictly an ardent follower after God. She had faith
in Him, and she cured herself of a deathly disease through the mediation of
her God. Then she secluded herself from the world for three years and
studied and meditated over His divine Word. She delved deep into the
Biblical passages, and at the end of the period came from her seclusion one
of the greatest Biblical scholars of the age. Her mission was then the
mission of a Christian, to do good and heal the sick, and this duty she
faithfully performed. She of herself had no power. But God has fulfilled
His promises to her and to the world. If you have faith, you can move
mountains."
Mrs. Henrietta N. Cole is also a very prominent member of the church. When
seen yesterday she emphasized herself as being of the same theory as Mrs.
Copeland. Mrs. Cole has made a careful and searching study in the beliefs
of Scientists, and is perfectly versed in all their beliefs and doctrines.
She stated that man of himself has no power, but that all comes from God.
She placed no credit whatever in the reports from New York that Mrs. Eddy
has been accredited as having been deified. She referred the reporter to
the large volume which Mrs. Eddy had herself written, and said that no more
complete and yet concise idea of her belief could be obtained than by a
perusal of it.
* * * * *
[_New York Herald_, February 6, 1895]
MRS. EDDY SHOCKED
[By Telegraph to the _Herald_]
Concord, N.H., February 4, 1895.--The article published in the _Herald_ on
January 29, regarding a statement made by Mrs. Laura Lathrop, pastor of the
Christian Science congregation that meets every Sunday in Hodgson Hall, New
York, was shown to Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, the Christian Science
"Discoverer," to-day.
Mrs. Eddy preferred to prepare a written answer to the interrogatory, which
she did in this letter, addressed to the editor of the _Herald_:--
"A despatch is given 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.
"I think Mrs. Lathrop was not understood. If she said aught with
intention to be thus understood, it is not what I have taught her,
and not at all as I have heard her talk.
"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
Love and its compound divine ideal.
"There was, is, 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."
* * * * *
[_The Globe_, Toronto, Canada, January 12, 1895]
[Extract]
CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS
DEDICATION TO THE FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF A BEAUTIFUL CHURCH AT
BOSTON--MANY TORONTO SCIENTISTS PRESENT
The Christian Scientists of Toronto, to the number of thirty, took part in
the ceremonies at Boston last Sunday and for the day or two following, by
which the members of that faith all over North America celebrated the
dedication of the church constructed in the great New England capital as a
testimonial to the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Rev. Mary
Baker Eddy.
The temple is believed to be the most nearly fire-proof church structure on
the continent, the only combustible material used in its construction
being that used in the doors and pews. A striking feature of the church is
a beautiful apartment known as the "Mother's Room," which is approached
through a superb archway of Italian marble set in the wall. The furnishing
of the "Mother's Room" is described as "particularly beautiful, and blends
harmoniously with the pale green and gold decoration of the walls. The
floor is of mosaic in elegant designs, and two alcoves are separated from
the apartment by rich hangings of deep green plush, which in certain lights
has a shimmer of silver. The furniture frames are of white mahogany in
special designs, elaborately carved, and the upholstery is in white and
gold tapestry. A superb mantel of Mexican onyx with gold decoration adorns
the south wall, and before the hearth is a large rug composed entirely of
skins of the eider-down duck, brought from the Arctic regions. Pictures and
bric-a-brac everywhere suggest the tribute of loving friends. One of the
two alcoves is a retiring-room and the other a lavatory in which the
plumbing is all heavily plated with gold."
* * * * *
[_Evening Monitor_, Concord, N.H., February 27, 1895]
AN ELEGANT SOUVENIR
REV. MARY BAKER EDDY MEMORIALIZED BY A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH
Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, Discoverer of Christian Science, has received from
the members of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, an invitation
formally to accept the magnificent new edifice of worship which the church
has just erected.
The invitation itself is one of the most chastely elegant memorials ever
prepared, and is a scroll of solid gold, suitably engraved, and encased in
a handsome plush casket with white silk linings. Attached to the scroll is
a golden key of the church structure.
The inscription reads thus:--
_Dear Mother_:--During the year eighteen hundred and ninety-four a
church edifice was erected at the intersection of Falmouth and
Norway Streets, in the city of Boston, by the loving hands of four
thousand members. This edifice is built as a testimonial to Truth,
as revealed by divine Love through you to this age. You are hereby
most lovingly invited to visit and formally accept this
testimonial on the twentieth day of February, eighteen hundred and
ninety-five, at high noon.
"The First Church of Christ, Scientist, at Boston, Mass.
"By EDWARD P. BATES,
"CAROLINE S. BATES.
"To the Reverend Mary Baker Eddy,
"Boston, January 6th, 1895."
* * * * *
[_People and Patriot_, Concord, N.H., February 27, 1895]
MAGNIFICENT TESTIMONIAL
Members of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, at Boston, have forwarded
to Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy of this city, the Founder of Christian Science, a
testimonial which is probably one of the most magnificent examples of the
goldsmith's art ever wrought in this country. It is in the form of a gold
scroll, twenty-six inches long, nine inches wide, and an eighth of an inch
thick.
It bears upon its face the following inscription, cut in script letters:--
"_Dear Mother_:--During the year 1894 a church edifice was erected
at the intersection of Falmouth and Norway Streets, in the city of
Boston, by the loving hands of four thousand members. This edifice
is built as a testimonial to Truth, as revealed by divine Love
through you to this age. You are hereby most lovingly invited to
visit and formally accept this testimonial on the 20th day of
February, 1895, at high noon.
"The First Church of Christ, Scientist, at Boston, Mass.
"By EDWARD P. BATES,
"CAROLINE S. BATES.
"To the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy,
"Boston, January 6, 1895."
Attached by a white ribbon to the scroll is a gold key to the church door.
The testimonial is encased in a white satin-lined box of rich green velvet.
The scroll is on exhibition in the window of J.C. Derby's jewelry store.
* * * * *
[_The Union Signal_, Chicago]
[Extract]
THE NEW WOMAN AND THE NEW CHURCH
The dedication, in Boston, of a Christian Science temple costing over two
hundred thousand dollars, and for which the money was all paid in so that
no debt had to be taken care of on dedication day, is a notable event.
While we are not, and never have been, devotees of Christian Science, it
becomes us as students of public questions not to ignore a movement which,
starting fifteen years ago, has already gained to itself adherents in every
part of the civilized world, for it is a significant fact that one cannot
take up a daily paper in town or village--to say nothing of cities--without
seeing notices of Christian Science meetings, and in most instances they
are held at "headquarters."
We believe there are two reasons for this remarkable development, which has
shown a vitality so unexpected. The first is that a revolt was inevitable
from the crass materialism of the cruder science that had taken possession
of men's minds, for as a wicked but witty writer has said, "If there were
no God, we should be obliged to invent one." There is something in the
constitution of man that requires the religious sentiment as much as his
lungs call for breath; indeed, the breath of his soul is a belief in God.
But when Christian Science arose, the thought of the world's scientific
leaders had become materialistically "lopsided," and this condition can
never long continue. There must be a righting-up of the mind as surely as
of a ship when under stress of storm it is ready to capsize. The pendulum
that has swung to one extreme will surely find the other. The religious
sentiment in women is so strong that the revolt was headed by them; this
was inevitable in the nature of the case. It began in the most intellectual
city of the freest country in the world--that is to say, it sought the line
of least resistance. Boston is emphatically the women's
paradise,--numerically, socially, indeed every way. Here they have the
largest individuality, the most recognition, the widest outlook. Mrs. Eddy
we have never seen; her book has many a time been sent us by interested
friends, and out of respect to them we have fairly broken our mental teeth
over its granitic pebbles. That we could not understand it might be rather
to the credit of the book than otherwise. On this subject we have no
opinion to pronounce, but simply state the fact.
We do not, therefore, speak of the system it sets forth, either to praise
or blame, but this much is true: the spirit of Christian Science ideas has
caused an army of well-meaning people to believe in God and the power of
faith, who did not believe in them before. It has made a myriad of women
more thoughtful and devout; it has brought a hopeful spirit into the homes
of unnumbered invalids. The belief that "thoughts are things," that the
invisible is the only real world, that we are here to be trained into
harmony with the laws of God, and that what we are here determines where we
shall be hereafter--all these ideas are Christian.
The chimes on the Christian Science temple in Boston played "All hail the
power of Jesus' name," on the morning of the dedication. We did not attend,
but we learn that the name of Christ is nowhere spoken with more reverence
than it was during those services, and that he is set forth as the power of
God for righteousness and the express image of God for love.
* * * * *
[_The New Century_, Boston, February, 1895]
ONE POINT OF VIEW--THE NEW WOMAN
We all know her--she is simply the woman of the past with an added grace--a
newer charm. Some of her dearest ones call her "selfish" because she thinks
so much of herself she spends her whole time helping others. She represents
the composite beauty, sweetness, and nobility of all those who scorn self
for the sake of love and her handmaiden duty--of all those who seek the
brightness of truth not as the moth to be destroyed thereby, but as the
lark who soars and sings to the great sun. She is of those who have so much
to give they want no time to take, and their name is legion. She is as full
of beautiful possibilities as a perfect harp, and she realizes that all the
harmonies of the universe are in herself, while her own soul plays upon
magic strings the unwritten anthems of love. She is the apostle of the
true, the beautiful, the good, commissioned to complete all that the twelve
have left undone. Hers is the mission of missions--the highest of all--to
make the body not the prison, but the palace of the soul, with the brain
for its great white throne.
When she comes like the south wind into the cold haunts of sin and sorrow,
her words are smiles and her smiles are the sunlight which heals the
stricken soul. Her hand is tender--but steel tempered with holy resolve,
and as one whom her love had glorified once said--she is soft and gentle,
but you could no more turn her from her course than winter could stop the
coming of spring. She has long learned with patience, and to-day she knows
many things dear to the soul far better than her teachers. In olden times
the Jews claimed to be the conservators of the world's morals--they treated
woman as a chattel, and said that because she was created after man, she
was created solely for man. Too many still are Jews who never called
Abraham "Father," while the Jews themselves have long acknowledged woman as
man's proper helpmeet. In those days women had few lawful claims and no one
to urge them. True, there were Miriam and Esther, but they sang and
sacrificed for their people, not for their sex.
To-day there are ten thousand Esthers, and Miriams by the million, who sing
best by singing most for their own sex. They are demanding the right to
help make the laws, or at least to help enforce the laws upon which depends
the welfare of their husbands, their children, and themselves. Why should
our selfish self longer remain deaf to their cry? The date is no longer
B.C. Might no longer makes right, and in this fair land at least fear has
ceased to kiss the iron heel of wrong. Why then should we continue to
demand woman's love and woman's help while we recklessly promise as lover
and candidate what we never fulfil as husband and office-holder? In our
secret heart our better self is shamed and dishonored, and appeals from
Philip drunk to Philip sober, but has not yet the moral strength and
courage to prosecute the appeal. But the east is rosy, and the sunlight
cannot long be delayed. Woman must not and will not be disheartened by a
thousand denials or a million of broken pledges. With the assurance of
faith she prays, with the certainty of inspiration she works, and with the
patience of genius she waits. At last she is becoming "as fair as the morn,
as bright as the sun, and as terrible as an army with banners" to those who
march under the black flag of oppression and wield the ruthless sword of
injustice.
In olden times it was the Amazons who conquered the invincibles, and we
must look now to their daughters to overcome our own allied armies of evil
and to save us from ourselves. She must and will succeed, for as David
sang--"God shall help her, and that right early." When we try to praise her
later works it is as if we would pour incense upon the rose. It is the
proudest boast of many of us that we are "bound to her by bonds dearer than
freedom," and that we live in the reflected royalty which shines from her
brow. We rejoice with her that at last we begin to know what John on Patmos
meant--"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with
the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve
stars." She brought to warring men the Prince of Peace, and he, departing,
left his scepter not in her hand, but in her soul. "The time of times" is
near when "the new woman" shall subdue the whole earth with the weapons of
peace. Then shall wrong be robbed of her bitterness and ingratitude of her
sting, revenge shall clasp hands with pity, and love shall dwell in the
tents of hate; while side by side, equal partners in all that is worth
living for, shall stand the new man with the new woman.
* * * * *
[_Christian Science Journal_, January, 1895]
[Extract]
THE MOTHER CHURCH
The Mother Church edifice--The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in
Boston, is erected. The close of the year, Anno Domini 1894, witnessed the
completion of "our prayer in stone," all predictions and prognostications
to the contrary notwithstanding.
Of the significance of this achievement we shall not undertake to speak in
this article. It can be better felt than expressed. All who are awake
thereto have some measure of understanding of what it means. But only the
future will tell the story of its mighty meaning or unfold it to the
comprehension of mankind. It is enough for us now to know that all
obstacles to its completion have been met and overcome, and that our temple
is completed as God intended it should be.
This achievement is the result of long years of untiring, unselfish, and
zealous effort on the part of our beloved teacher and Leader, the Reverend
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, who
nearly thirty years ago began to lay the foundation of this temple, and
whose devotion and consecration to God and humanity during the intervening
years have made its erection possible.
Those who now, in part, understand her mission, turn their hearts in
gratitude to her for her great work, and those who do not understand it
will, in the fulness of time, see and acknowledge it. In the measure in
which she has unfolded and demonstrated divine Love, and built up in human
consciousness a better and higher conception of God as Life, Truth, and
Love,--as the divine Principle of all things which really exist,--and in
the degree in which she has demonstrated the system of healing of Jesus and
the apostles, surely she, as the one chosen of God to this end, is entitled
to the gratitude and love of all who desire a better and grander humanity,
and who believe it to be possible to establish the kingdom of heaven upon
earth in accordance with the prayer and teachings of Jesus Christ.
* * * * *
[_Concord Evening Monitor_, March 23, 1895]
TESTIMONIAL AND GIFT
TO REV. MARY BAKER EDDY, FROM THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, IN
BOSTON
Rev. Mary Baker Eddy received Friday, from the Christian Science Board of
Directors, Boston, a beautiful and unique testimonial of the appreciation
of her labors and loving generosity in the Cause of their common faith. It
was a facsimile of the corner-stone of the new church of the Christian
Scientists, just completed, being of granite, about six inches in each
dimension, and contains a solid gold box, upon the cover of which is this
inscription:--
"To our Beloved Teacher, the Reverend Mary Baker Eddy, Discoverer and
Founder of Christian Science, from her affectionate Students, the Christian
Science Board of Directors."
On the under side of the cover are the facsimile signatures of the
Directors,--Ira O. Knapp, William B. Johnson, Joseph Armstrong, and Stephen
A. Chase, with the date, "1895." The beautiful souvenir is encased in an
elegant plush box.
Accompanying the stone testimonial was the following address from the Board
of Directors:--
Boston, March 20, 1895.
_To the Reverend Mary Baker Eddy, our Beloved Teacher and
Leader_:--We are happy to announce to you the completion of The
First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston.
In behalf of your loving students and all contributors wherever
they may be, we hereby present this church to you as a testimonial
of love and gratitude for your labors and loving sacrifice, as the
Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, and the author of its
textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."
We therefore respectfully extend to you the invitation to become
the permanent pastor of this church, in connection with the Bible
and the book alluded to above, which you have already ordained as
our pastor. And we most cordially invite you to be present and
take charge of any services that may be held therein. We
especially desire you to be present on the twenty-fourth day of
March, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, to accept this offering,
with our humble benediction.
Lovingly yours,
IRA O. KNAPP,
JOSEPH ARMSTRONG,
WILLIAM B. JOHNSON,
STEPHEN A. CHASE,
_The Christian Science Board of Directors_.
REV. MRS. EDDY'S REPLY
_Beloved Directors and Brethren_:--For your costly offering, and kind call
to the pastorate of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist," in
Boston--accept my profound thanks. But permit me, respectfully, to decline
their acceptance, while I fully appreciate your kind intentions. If it will
comfort you in the least, make me your _Pastor Emeritus_, nominally.
Through my book, your textbook, I already speak to you each Sunday. You ask
too much when asking me to accept your grand church edifice. I have more of
earth now, than I desire, and less of heaven; so pardon my refusal of that
as a material offering. More effectual than the forum are our states of
mind, to bless mankind. This wish stops not with my pen--God give you
grace. As our church's tall tower detains the sun, so may luminous lines
from your lives linger, a legacy to our race.
MARY BAKER EDDY.
March 25, 1895.
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LIST OF LEADING NEWSPAPERS WHOSE ARTICLES ARE OMITTED
From Canada to New Orleans, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, the
author has received leading newspapers with uniformly kind and interesting
articles on the dedication of The Mother Church. They were, however, too
voluminous for these pages. To those which are copied she can append only a
few of the names of other prominent newspapers whose articles are
reluctantly omitted.
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