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Concerning the Implications of the Woodbury Trial January, 1958 (Transcript: Phonograph Record, Side 1)
When the case came to trial Mrs. Eddy's lawyers took the position that the charge made by Mrs. Woodbury concerning the woman of the Apocalypse and that Science and Health was inspired was not germane to the case. Accordingly, Mrs. Eddy's lawyers brought a demurrer suit for the purpose of eliminating those two items from the case. Now a demurrer virtually admits the truth of the charge, but holds that it is not germane to the problem itself. Mrs. Eddy's lawyers were able to convince the judge that their stand on that problem was correct, and the judge accordingly ordered those two items removed from the bill of complaint. There was a second demurrer suit which again narrowed the case down and also there was a third item which involved a certain article which Mrs. Woodbury had published in the Arena magazine trying her case out of court. That was regarded as contempt of court and Mrs. Woodbury was fined fifty dollars for that item. Finally the case came to trial in the Spring of 1901, when Mrs. Woodbury's lawyer, Mr. Peabody, placed certain witnesses on the stand, among them Judge Hanna, William B. Johnson, and Ira O. Knapp. At the conclusion of their testimony Mr. Peabody rested his case, but Mrs. Eddy's lawyers insisted that he had not proved his case, and they made the motion for a directed verdict, whereupon the judge directed the jury to bring in a verdict in favor of Mrs. Eddy. When the case was concluded the newspapermen were clamoring for some statement by Mrs. Eddy, but she refused to talk, and turned the newspapermen over to Edward A. Kimball for a statement. Now those newspapermen seemed to be more curious about what was said concerning the woman of the Apocalypse than they were about the case of slander. So they pressed Mr. Kimball for some statement about the woman of the Apocalypse. It was reported in the Boston press that Mr. Kimball said that Mrs. Eddy never taught that she was the woman of the Apocalypse and did not wish her students to teach that. What the press declared was reprinted in the July Journal of 1901, but we must remember it was what the newspapermen reported Mr. Kimball as having said. Naturally, Mr. Kimball did not know that at that time there existed an unpublished editorial by Judge Septimus J. Hanna, bearing upon that very problem. In that editorial Judge Hanna had identified Mrs. Eddy with the woman of the Apocalypse and with the 54th chapter of Isaiah. The editorial had been set up in galley proof and brought to Mrs. Eddy's attention. Whereupon she approved that editorial in three separate letters. As I have already stated, Mr. Kimball apparently did not know about that editorial, but the publication of it would have put the lie upon what Mr. Kimball said. However, it must be remembered that Mr. Kimball's motive was to protect his Leader, Mary Baker Eddy. This affair resulted finally in causing the Board of Directors of The Mother Church to appoint a committee of six editors and ex-editors to investigate the problem of Mrs. Eddy's place in Bible prophecy. After having access to all the material Mrs. Eddy ever wrote, either publicly or privately, upon that topic this committee prepared fifty-seven pages of typewritten evidence that Mrs. Eddy regarded herself definitely as having a place in Bible prophecy. Those fifty-seven pages of evidence [were] summarized in six paragraphs which were later published in the Christian Science Sentinel for June 5, 1943, and in the July Journal for that year. [To read "Mrs. Eddy's Place," click here.] The Communion message prepared by Mrs. Eddy was published in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, beginning on page 124. Turning next to Science and Health we learn that Mrs. Eddy has presented a full page in that book on the little book referred to in the book of Revelation, tenth chapter, which is in the hand of the angel. And Mrs. Eddy makes it plain that the little book referred to is none other than Science and Health. Following that statement about Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy presents three full pages about the woman of the Apocalypse. Both of these items having been presented at the Woodbury trial. In the course of those three pages devoted to the woman of the Apocalypse Mrs. Eddy makes at least a half dozen direct statements about that woman. The statement most frequently quoted by Christian Scientists is that the woman of the Apocalypse symbolizes generic man. That is generally quoted with a sinister motive, intended to confuse rather than to clarify the issue. ...Mrs. Eddy makes it clear that the twelve tribes of Israel with all mortals are the stars in her crown of rejoicing. This identifies the woman with the twelve gates in the holy city. Whereas, Jesus through his disciples is identified with the twelve foundations of the holy city. Again this statement is made in this section about the woman of the Apocalypse that she typifies the Motherhood of God. Whereas Jesus manifested the Fatherhood of God. Another item in this section about the woman in the Apocalypse speaks about the visible idea which was to appear late in the nineteenth century and be identified with Christian Science. It is well known that the visible idea who appeared late in the nineteenth century is none other than the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, and the author of its textbook. We learn further about this woman of the Apocalypse that a misunderstanding of the visible idea implies also a misunderstanding of the Principle of the idea. Thus we know that Messenger and message are inseparable and so must be understood. Furthermore, all these items about the woman of the Apocalypse in this section about her must be in scientific agreement, and, taken together, constitute a complete whole. Then we might ask who is it that is opposing this statement about the woman of the Apocalypse? The record in the book of Revelation indicates it is the dragon who makes war against the woman, and we understand this dragon in Christian Science to be a type of animal magnetism. The purpose and motive of this type of animal magnetism is to drive a wedge between Mrs. Eddy and the Science which she discovered and founded. That wedge started definitely with the Woodbury trial when Mrs. Woodbury brought opprobrium against the contention that Mrs. Eddy is the woman of the Apocalypse. One effect of the Woodbury trial has been to repeat an obscure statement reputed to have been said by Mrs. Eddy to the effect that she was not the woman of the Apocalypse. Those who fall into that trap of repeating that obscure statement apparently are not aware of the fact that is has long been a rule in Christian Science that if we ever find a statement made by Mrs. Eddy which seems to be in conflict with something she has said in Science and Health, then the statement in Science and Health stands as the standard and the objection to it is ruled out. Furthermore, it should be understood that in any court of law a presiding judge would accept the fifty-seven pages of typewritten evidence produced by the committee of editors as overruling any single obscure statement such as we have referred to. One might begin to wonder how Mrs. Eddy selected the lawyers to try her case in the Woodbury trial. At about that time there was a factory for the manufacture of high grade lenses in operation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near the Boston University bridge. It was owned and operated by a Mr. Clark. He had two daughters. One married a Mr. Eastman, who was an instructor at Harvard University; and the other married a Mr. Grogan. When Mr. Clark passed on his daughters inherited the business, but the two sons-in-law carried it on. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Eastman shot and killed Mr. Grogan, claiming that it was wholly accidental. Mr. Eastman secured two high grade lawyers to conduct his case: — Messrs. Bartlet and Elder. Mr. Bartlet excelled as a trial lawyer, and Mr. Elder excelled in his knowledge of the law. The two lawyers, being such high grade men, had a great deal of newspaper publicity during that trial, and they won the case. Mrs. Eddy read just enough in the newspapers about the way those lawyers conducted the case to realize that she wanted the same team of lawyers to conduct her case in the Woodbury trial. Those lawyers were not Christian Scientists, and so, when they had to deal about that problem in the Woodbury trial as to whether Mrs. Eddy was the woman of the Apocalypse, Mrs. Eddy saw the need of satisfying their thought somewhat, and accordingly it is said that she wrote a statement to this effect: That a white-haired old lady could not be the woman of the Apocalypse. Although that seemed to satisfy the lawyers who were not Christian Scientists, it in no way overruled the statement Mrs. Eddy had already made in her textbook, Science and Health, about the woman in the Apocalypse. What Mrs. Eddy states in Science and Health is the standard for all Christian Scientists. Accordingly, we have a By-Law in our Church Manual which requires a Christian Scientist to pray daily to defend himself against aggressive mental suggestions, so that he cannot be made to forget nor to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind. |
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