Editorial
Comments About
Mary Baker Eddy
Whether one agrees or disagrees
with the Christian Science faith in its concept and
practice, few, we think, will deny to the Founder of that
church the laurels of greatness and the right to be called
"a wonderful woman."
Study the story of her life as
written by friend or foe, —
the
impartial pose toward her seems to have been a very
difficult one to maintain, —
and
every careful and thoughtful reader must be impressed with
what Mrs. Eddy accomplished in her old age, for the dawning
of her success was not much more than twenty-five years ago,
and she was eighty-nine when she died. The permanence or
brevity of the spiritual empire she created, the extent of
her influence upon modern thought and life, will be justly
valued soon by time, the great appraiser. Whatever that
verdict may be, the memory of Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy will long
be cherished in Concord, the city which by her and through
her has been so much beautified and benefited.
Concord
(New Hampshire) Monitor quoted in the
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17,
1910
The death of Mrs. Eddy is
mourned by a million of her followers. We are too near in
time to measure in full the meaning or the value of her
work, but the force of her personality and the influence of
her teachings have been established permanently beyond all
question. No more remarkable woman has been born in this
country and none whose work is more certain to live after
her. Christians and scientists may differ as to her
teachings, but in the minds and hearts of thousands they
have won and kept a place and power that have worked
mightily in the molding of religious thought.
Times
(Louisville, Kentucky) quoted in the
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17,
1910
The
death of Mrs. Eddy marks the passing of a most remarkable
figure in the religious world. Wielding a wonderful
influence over a great army, and it was undoubtedly an
influence for good, it being reflected in the lives of
thousands of her followers, she needed no brass bands to
make the world conscious of her presence. While many there
are who could not fathom the depths of Mrs. Eddy's
teachings, few have denied her sincerity. Her writings bear
the imprint of the close student of God and man. Her gospel
was largely one of sunshine and mental uplift. Of her home
life we know but little, but from all accounts it was an
exemplary one.
Mrs.
Eddy was also a woman of rare moral courage when we consider
that forty years ago she founded a creed at total variance
with all established beliefs. The doctrines she enunciated
at that time had no other adherent than herself. The scorn
and ridicule which greeted her first book has given place to
a widespread interest, and a great portion of humanity today
believes that the pill and potion are not essential to the
cure of disease.
The
Asheville (North Carolina) Citizen, quoted in
the
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17,
1910
The passing of Mrs. Mary
Baker Eddy brings to a close a life story that is one of the
most wonderful that this country of unlimited possibilities
has to show. Out of nothing that is physical, no great
fortune, no industrial invention, no inherited opportunity,
Mrs. Eddy built up a great career. It is the greater because
its greatness was not for herself but for the church which
she founded. She took from the Bible one of the fundamental
commands which modern Christianity had overlooked, the
solemn injunction to "heal the sick." This, with an
inspiration that burned steady and serene for long years,
she put into a faith and a creed that has brought happiness
and health and the active religious spirit to thousands upon
thousands of her fellow-beings.
This accomplishment cannot be
denied her, even by those to whom Christian Science is most
distasteful. Its proof lies first in the growth and solid
strength of the Church of Christ, Scientist, and secondly in
the character and bearing of the members of that church. The
stately church buildings in this city and its suburbs, and
the constant additions to their number, give concrete
evidence of this marvelous development. But more significant
than the church buildings, more meaningful than the numeral
strength of the church, is the character of its
congregations. Without humbug or sentimentalism, any
outsider can and must admit that Christian Science people
are good people. They not only believe in their church and
attend its meetings with a passionate faithfulness that
other churches envy, but they also carry their faith with
them into their daily lives. By its very nature they have
to. For if Christian Science means anything to any man or
woman, it must mean everything.
It is this inherent strength in
the fundamental idea of Mrs. Eddy's church that will hold it
together even after her hand has been removed from its
direction. The faith will still live. Only by a full
realization of this fact can the outside world gain any
comprehension of the calm exaltation of spirit with which
Christian Scientists will receive the tidings that the
earthly career of their Leader has closed. Only in this way
it can it understand dimly their fine and vivid belief that
"there is no death" in the old pagan sense of that solemn
word.
Chicago
Post, quoted in the
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17,
1910
The death of the Founder
of Christian Science removes from the world one of the most
remarkable women of all time. Her career commands
admiration, no matter what opinion may be held of her
teachings. Mrs. Eddy founded a religious sect that during
her lifetime multiplied its proselytes till it has become a
great force in American life. She retained her position as
sole Leader, and was looked up to by her followers as the
sole source of inspiration. Virile and vigorous, she was a
natural commander, a natural organizer, a woman who
displayed intellectual qualities of the highest order. The
work that Mrs. Eddy has done will remain as her monument.
Christian Science will not perish with the death of its
Founder. It has assumed proportions that assure
permanency.
Cleveland
Plain Dealer, quoted in the
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17,
1910
One need not be a
subscriber to or even a sympathizer with the creed of
Christian Science to recognize its Founder, Mrs. Mary Baker
Eddy, as a remarkable and achieving figure of history.
Founders of religions and creeds there have been in plenty,
but not in our day, at least, has there risen one to build
so staunch and so phenomenally an increasing following as
that which pays tribute to Mrs. Eddy as its originator and
Leader.
When all is said and done, it
remains that this woman taught and achieved in large measure
that conquest of the flesh by the Spirit that is all too
sadly needed in an age engrossed with the lure of substance.
She disseminated happiness and cheerfulness among men and
women, inspired hopefulness to those that were sick of heart
and gave many a battle-weary spirit courage to face once
more in the direction of the dawn.
By whatever term it be described,
the accomplishment stands for the furtherance of good and
the encouragement of uplift. And, on the personal side,
there are elements of greatness in a woman who could win and
so persistently hold the love and absolute confidence of a
following mounting into the many thousands.
Atlanta
(Georgia) Constitution, quoted in the
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17,
1910
To
the long list of women who have been leaders in religious
movements of the world, death has added the name of Mary
Baker Eddy, Founder of the Christian Science church in
America. Born in a farmhouse overlooking the beautiful
Merrimac valley, she is described as having been "a very
delicate and a very religious little girl." Yet that
delicate little girl was destined to become the Founder of a
sect which in her own country alone has well on to one
hundred thousand communicants, and that has spread all over
the world.
There
has been a tendency to joke about the teachings of this
woman, but a movement that has spread as has Christian
Science, including in its ranks men who are leaders in all
walks of life, must be viewed as of importance. Particularly
is this so when it is considered that it has all been
brought to pass in a period of thirty-five years, and that
during all of that period the teachings have been criticized
and in many quarters strongly denounced.
The
world has seen the rise and fall of many new religious
movements, but it does not seem as if a better test has ever
been devised by man than that which Gamaliel proposed nearly
nineteen hundred years ago, when Christianity was first on
trial: "If this counsel or this work be of men, it will come
to naught; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow
it."
London
(Ontario) Free Press, quoted in the
Christian Science Sentinel, February 11,
1911
Mrs.
Eddy has been one of the world's greatest benefactors. Her
followers will say more than that, perhaps, but there is no
reason why even her enemies should say less. Regardless of
differences of faith or philosophy, the world must
recognize, in her work, a vast contribution to human
happiness. Certain it is that Mrs. Eddy found the world full
of doubt and despondency, and gave it a larger measure of
brightness and hope. She taught the weak that they need not
be weak, the sick that they might be well, the suffering
that they had it within themselves to end their
wretchedness. Those who were ailing, physically or mentally
were enabled, as she herself had been, to become strong in
soul and body. Neurasthenia and melancholy yielded to the
gospel of optimism.
Call
it what you will, it is a fact that Christian Scientists, as
a class, are healthy, hopeful, happy, and prosperous. And
Christian Science modes of thought have permeated the
thinking of the world, outside the pale of the church. It is
a great thing to be a teacher when the teaching bears such
fruit. And as Mrs. Eddy, full of years, goes to her rest,
the world is full of gratitude for the good she has
done.
Boston
Traveler, quoted in the
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17,
1910
In
the death of Mary Baker Eddy the world has lost a wonderful
woman, one whose life's work will go down in church history
as the equal of the Wesleys, Calvin, Luther, and others of
like prominence in the promulgation and foundation of
theological teachings and ethics. As in the case with these
others, thousands of men and women the world over bless the
memory of Mrs. Eddy for the countless benefits brought into
their lives by her teachings. It makes little difference by
what name it is called, any creed or ethical doctrine which
makes the ordinary human being more content and happy in
this life, more worthy to live it, and inspired with a
confidence and hope of that which is beyond, is a precious
blessing to mankind, and one whose benefits cannot be
calculated by human measure. Such a blessing the deceased
head of the Christian Science church has conferred upon
innumerable human beings, and with a confidence and
gratefulness born of personal experience and benefits, these
will hold her and her teachings in reverential memory
forever and anon.
Rutherford
(New Jersey) Republican, quoted in the
Christian Science Sentinel, December 31,
1910
Mary
Baker Eddy, who died on Saturday night at a ripe old age,
was a woman who had made her mark upon the time in which she
lived. It is as idle as it is contemptible to refuse to
recognize facts, and the church which she founded is a
substantial fact indeed, in whatever light it may be viewed.
That a woman at middle life should have gathered about her a
little band of pupils and should have so impressed her
teachings upon them that they became her devoted disciples,
that she should have lived to see that little company
increase and expand until it became a religious organization
counting nearly a thousand churches and more than
eighty-five thousand members in this country alone, and with
branches in most of the countries of the world, is a fact
which may well attract the interest and hold the attention
of any one who desires to be well informed and who professes
to hold an open mind.
It
is a development which must be admitted to be the more
remarkable because it came in a period of the most notable
discoveries in medical science. At the same time that the
effect of certain germs upon the physical organization was
beginning to be understood, Mrs. Eddy and her followers
boldly and persistently maintained that disease is more of
the mind than of the body. Nor were those followers gathered
only from among the ignorant and the credulous. The
character of the members of Christian Science churches is
such that ridicule may be said to have become itself
ridiculous, and it has well-nigh ceased.
Manchester
(New Hampshire) Union, quoted in the
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17,
1910
It is the testimony of
Holy Writ that love is stronger than death, and at this hour
Christian Scientists are proving the truth of the inspired
saying. Their beloved and revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy,
has left the earthly scene of her untiring activity in the
service of God and humanity, and in the solemn hush which
follows their human sense of loss they realize as never
before the depths of their love for this noble and
true-hearted woman whose life of devotion to Truth has meant
so much to unnumbered thousands of lives that were in
deepest darkness until the light of Christian Science dawned
upon them. Poorly indeed would they prove their
understanding of her teachings did they at this hour yield
to any unreasoning sense of sorrow. Mrs. Eddy has ever
insisted that God, not man, is "the center and circumference
of being," the Principle and Life of all, and to this
eternal fact they will cling until the goal of spiritual
being is reached, and the deathless life proved by Christ
Jesus is attained. Mrs. Eddy's discovery of the healing and
saving power of divine Truth was brought to a densely
materialistic age, but in spite of this it has aroused
mankind to lay hold upon all that the Bible promises. Today,
after nearly half a century of arduous and unselfish toil on
her part, the Scriptures are a mighty, life-giving power to
multitudes who before the coming of Christian Science knew
them only as the letter that killeth.
With the temperament of a seer,
Mrs. Eddy has always chosen to be alone with God in
pondering the solution of the great problems of being, and
as a result of her communing with the Mind that governs the
universe she has shown the utmost wisdom in directing the
activities of the rapidly extending Christian Science
movement, its success being due to her wonderful ability so
to present the truth as to inspire those about her with
something of her own faith in God and her sublime courage in
working for the triumph of good over evil in every phase of
human experience. Her followers can now do no less than
defend the heritage of truth which she has left them, until
it sets all men free.
Mrs. Eddy has glorified the
teachings of Christ Jesus in making them a living power
today as truly as nineteen hundred years ago, and to her
belongs his words of commendation: "Well done, good and
faithful servant …. enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord."
"A
Tribute" by Annie M. Knott
The Christian Science Monitor
Quoted in Editorial Comments on the Life and Work
of Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 127-128
The
passing of Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy brings to a close a life
story that is one of the most wonderful that this country of
unlimited possibilities has to show. Out of nothing that is
physical, no great fortune, no industrial invention, no
inherited opportunity, Mrs. Eddy built up a great career. It
is the greater because its greatness was not for herself but
for the church which she founded. She took from the Bible
one of the fundamental commands which modern Christianity
had overlooked, the solemn injunction to "heal the sick."
This, with an inspiration that burned steady and serene for
long years, she put into a faith and a creed that has
brought happiness and health and the active religious spirit
to thousands upon thousands of her fellow-beings.
This
accomplishment cannot be denied her, even by those to whom
Christian Science is most distasteful. Its proof lies first
in the growth and solid strength of the Church of Christ,
Scientist, and secondly in the character and bearing of the
members of that church. The stately church buildings in this
city and its suburbs, and the constant additions to their
number, give concrete evidence of this marvelous
development. But more significant than the church buildings,
more meaningful than the numerical strength of the church,
is the character of its congregations. Without humbug or
sentimentalism, any outsider can and must admit that
Christian Science people are good people. They not only
believe in their church and attend its meetings with a
passionate faithfulness that other churches envy, but they
also carry their faith with them into their daily lives. By
its very nature they have to. For if Christian Science means
anything to any man or woman, it must mean
everything.
It
is this inherent strength in the fundamental idea of Mrs.
Eddy's church that will hold it together even after her hand
has been removed from its direction. The faith will still
live. Only by a full realization of this fact can the
outside world gain any comprehension of the calm exaltation
of spirit with which Christian Scientists will receive the
tidings that the earthly career of their Leader has closed.
Only in this way can it understand dimly their fine and
vivid belief that "there is no death" in the old pagan sense
of that solemn word.
Chicago
Post, quoted in the
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17,
1910
In
the passing of Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, Founder and Leader of
the Church of Christ, Scientist, this world has lost one of
the most wonderful women it has ever known. Over two score
years ago she discovered what she believed was the real
religion taught in the Bible. Her ideas were ridiculed and
attacked on every side. But she was not disheartened. She
met all attacks, all opposition, calmly, bravely, as one who
had the true courage of her convictions, and persevered.
Little by little others came to believe as she did, and
today the Christian Science movement has spread all over the
world and has millions of faithful adherents, who daily
thank God for His goodness, and give expression of their
gratitude to Mrs. Eddy for her work in opening the door of
this religion to them.
Although
there are millions who believe in Christian Science, there
are more millions who do not, but even the most bitter
enemies must admit that Christian Science has done much to
relieve suffering, and has brought health, happiness, and
peace to hundreds of thousands who were ill, physically,
morally, spiritually. Mrs. Eddy was a brilliant woman, a
brave woman, and the world has been made better by her
presence. Could she speak today, in the flesh, it seems as
if she might fittingly say, as did Paul: "I have fought a
good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the
faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall
give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them
also that love his appearing."
Los
Angeles Record, quoted in the
Christian Science Sentinel, December 31,
1910
The
death of Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy removes from the living one of
the most remarkable women of the centuries. However people
may differ about the doctrines she taught, however diverse
human opinion may be as to her claims and her writings,
whatever may be the final judgment of an intelligent
Christian world concerning Christian Science, all must admit
that she was a transcendent character. No other woman in
modern times has ever reached anything like Mrs. Eddy's
heights in leadership, in organization, and in enduring
fame.
The
church Mrs. Eddy founded but a few years ago already has a
membership in this country of probably one hundred thousand,
made up not of ignorant, credulous people, not of those who
are easily duped, who are moved by prejudice and passion,
but more largely than the average denominational church, of
thoughtful people, educated people, intelligent and cultured
people, drawn largely from the leading Protestant Christian
churches throughout the world, a unique religious body
unlike any other in history and yet holding to certain
fundamental truths which people of all religious beliefs
admit, a religious body having some of the finest edifices
erected in modern times. Mrs. Eddy did not live in vain. The
world has been made and will still be made the better for
her having lived, and she has left an impress world-wide
that will go down the centuries yet unborn.
Sandusky
(Ohio) Register, quoted in the
Christian Science Sentinel, December 24,
1910
In
the passing of Mary Baker Eddy there was removed from
earthly existence the most beloved woman in history. The
good citizenship will applaud the efforts of any one who
helps humanity to a more correct life, no matter through
what channel of religion. Therefore it would seem but the
insincere who would fail to say aught but good of this noble
woman. She faced the world, with its harsh criticism and
ridicule, alone, with only her God as a protection. For
years she stood with her faith unshaken by that which would
have quailed the stoutest heart. First dozens, then
hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands were
appealed to by her religion and found relief from many
worries of life, until today Christian Science reaches
around the world and to its farthest corners.
In
the beginning Mrs. Eddy said steadfastly, "God is my life:"
her last earthly message was, "God is my life."
Evening
Index, San Bernardino, quoted in the
Christian Science Sentinel, December 31,
1910
In
some respects, at least, Mrs. [Mary Baker] Eddy
seems, from the perspective of today, one of the world's
great women. It is possible that she will some day be
generally accepted as the world's greatest woman. She was
the "Discoverer" of a religion and the Founder of a church.
It is a religion that seems to make a universal appeal, in
that it is accepted by men and women of all races, creeds,
and conditions, and so it is a church that gives promise of
enduring permanence. Philosophically it rests on the
doctrine of pure idealism, morally on the gospel of love. A
religion resting on such foundations, and satisfying, as it
has from its inception, some of the purest souls and
clearest minds of the present civilization, should travel
far through the generations.
There
can be general agreement as to the rare qualities of heart
and mind and personality of Mrs. Eddy, the Founder if
Christian Science. Like Tolstoi, she is one of the unique
figures of universal history.
World
Herald, Omaha, Nebraska, quoted in the
Christian Science Sentinel, December 31,
1910
Mrs.
Eddy's death is the world event of a day because her life is
a world event of the age. The verdict as to her place in
literature, or philosophy, or theology, or medicine is
unimportant. The verdict as to her place in the life-story
of the world is stupendous; it "passeth all understanding."
Now that she has gone the world will speculate upon the
effect of her departure and will reconsider and gently
qualify many of the harsh, unfair sentences it passed upon
her. The profound scholarship, for illustration, that had
penetrated the depths of the labyrinth of human knowledge
may be accorded belated recognition. Men of letters may
apprehend it to be their duty to read the book which in the
artistry of its proportion, the felicity of its expression,
the puissance of its logic, its rare grammatical purity, the
splendor of its visions, and the sweetness of its message
is, in simple truth, a book of books.
And
as men of letters may do honor to her scholarship, so
philosophy may lay aside its pride and its intolerance and
pay homage to a service that retrieved contentment from the
world's lost arts. So, too, may theology, grim and
resentful, address in a spirit of fellowship, one other of
"the wondrous names of God." And who shall say but medicine,
grappling resolutely but hopelessly with its adversary, may
ultimately accept this school of healing as an
ally?
As
a Leader, a teacher, and evangel that sought strange,
independent channels for her energies, Mrs. Eddy is held in
reverence and affectionate esteem by the army of a million
recruited from all the ranks of life. And in the assurance
she has brought to doubt, the hope with which she has routed
despair, the strength that has been given to weakness, the
courage that has supplanted cowardice, the health that has
banished wretchedness, the glory of the everlasting day into
which she has marshaled the wanderers in night's terror
— thus, in the grandeur and the permanence and the
mercy of her works, she stands justified. And by these
tokens and imperishable signs the voice of a million
reiterates, "There is no death."
Joplin
(Missouri) Daily Globe quoted in the
Christian Science Sentinel, December 31,
1910
History
is full of the tales of women whose influence has been a
power in the affairs of men. But, strange as it may seem, by
far the greatest number of those who have risen on the
written pages of history attained their power through charms
of person and through their influence with men of power. But
the leading woman of her time, and among the greatest in
history, rose to her high place through the power of that
which is most eternal in mankind — thought.
Mrs.
Eddy was not born to power, nor did she seek the influence
of those who were so born. By the force of the thought that
she expressed and lived has she attained the high place she
holds today, and by its force will she live. No matter what
individuals may think of the system of thought that bears
her name, it is an acknowledged power for good among
mankind, and thousands have found comfort and relief through
its teachings.
Milwaukee Daily
News quoted in the
Christian Science
Sentinel, December 17, 1910
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