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Mary Baker Eddy
"Whatever may be the prevailing opinion as to the tenets of her faith and its lasting benefit to the great cause of religion, none can deny that Mrs. Eddy was a remarkable personality, one of the great characters which stand out in bold relief in the history of the nineteenth century in spiritual affairs. Long after many who have won renown in literature, in art, in social and political advancement shall be forgotten with the passing years, her name will live as the Founder of a great religious cult which has taken firm hold of the souls and consciences of millions of the human race and has extended to the farthest limits of civilization. To her genius, her inspiration, her mental and spiritual powers alone the world owes the great religious movement of Christian Science. From humble origin it has risen in the short space of thirty years to include in its devotees some of the most intellectual and wealthiest among the English-speaking people. Her leadership was accepted without qualification or rivalry, and most graciously she has exercised the control and spiritual direction so freely accorded to her. She has brought to herself the power of concentration and a devotion which alone would have marked her as a character of eminence.
"The record of Christian Science has been phenomenal. What a rise and progress it has had! No other faith in the world's history, as far as human annals go, has risen and extended so rapidly, so quietly, so persistently. The cause projected by her, nourished patiently and almost despondingly amid the misgivings of friends and reproaches of enemies, triumphed in the moment of despair. It was an individual triumph. It showed the implicit confidence in the germs of truth at the base of her belief, and the stability of her faith. The fact that the cause has extended so far that it has drawn so many adherents, that her precepts and sayings are regarded as an inspiration to her followers, is an acknowledgment of her great individuality."
Boston
Courier, quoted in the ______________________________
Within a generation Mrs. Eddy founded and established a sect and lived to see her teachings accepted by many peoples scattered throughout the entire world. The ethical part of her faith, pointing to rules for every-day conduct, has found general favor, and it is chiefly the therapeutic side of her teachings that has aroused criticism. Whatever one's view on religion may be, few will care to deny that Mrs. Eddy's influence has been directed toward the betterment of those she intimately touched. It must have been singularly gratifying in the closing days of her life to realize how widely her belief has been adopted, for few men and still fewer women live, as did Mrs. Eddy, to see their fullest hopes realized. This is not an appropriate time to set an estimate upon her right to enduring fame, which can better be judged by posterity, but the present-day testimony must be one of respect for a woman of remarkable mind and of unusual ability, who, after a long and active life, spent her closing years at peace with the world. She has passed on, leaving behind her an institution that she created.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
Christian Science is a solace, a support, and an inspiration to hundreds of thousands of human creatures. To them it is more precious than their daily bread. In its comforting power to its followers it is entitled to the world's reverence; and therefore the name of its Founder must claim the world's respect. Happily Mary Baker Eddy lived long enough to see the sneer give place to admiration. The new religion, or philosophy, or "Science," was compelled to make its stand in a nation much given to scoffing and in an age of free debate. That it has survived and flourished, that its Founder overcame all evil report, must be attributed to the deep spiritual effectiveness of the personality and the absolute answer of the faith to the needs of its devotees. No one now doubts that Mrs. Eddy sincerely believed in her mission to mankind. The fair-minded world acknowledges that she possessed a rare endowment of inward vision and external influence, and that she sought to bless her fellow-beings with her "Science" of absolute health. In that bestowal, her labor was a "marvelous work and a wonder." And through unnumbered generations and by countless millions of devotees she will be revered as the most inspired woman of all time. There is always a possibility of schism in a church when it comes to its first loss of leadership. But in the case of the Christian Science cult such division is not now probable. The creed and practice have been settled within well-defined lines; the membership is an intelligent democracy; and not even ambitious or avaricious rivalries would be able to disintegrate the fabric. From the days of popular "exposure" and ridicule, Christian Science has moved quietly and efficiently onward to its present high station. It has brought peace to many tempest-worn lives; it has given health to many pain-racked bodies; it has conferred content upon many tortured minds; it has established faith and cheerfulness, where formerly was despair of this world and doubt of the hereafter. For all the beauty and usefulness which it has given to a million lives, the faith is to be revered and the name of its Founder is to be held in grateful remembrance.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
Wisely anticipating the time when she could be with her followers only in spirit, she recently had withdrawn herself as far as possible from the details of church management. Consequently, the organization that she has perfected will continue to perform its functions. Her life-work was well completed and will endure.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
Mrs. Eddy's mission is fulfilled. The work she began will go steadily forward. The passing of the loved Christian Science Leader will only serve to unify the faithful followers, and they will strive the more earnestly to carry forward the work of the great church that she founded. . . . And she will ever live in the hearts of her loving students as their revered Leader.
Christian Science Sentinel, January 7, 1911
It is not necessary to believe in Mind-healing as Mrs. Eddy believed in it, to accord her this distinction. It is not necessary to give intellectual acceptance to the creed of her church, to concede that Mrs. Eddy nobly lived and worked and aspired and that she deserves to be ranked among the most striking, the most interesting, and the strongest figures that ever graced and distinguished the annals of her sex.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
Mrs. Eddy's disinterestedness stands out prominently. She is free from the accusation of promoting her own worldly affairs at the expense of her zealots. The fruits of her years of labor revert to the organization she planned and perfected. Mrs. Eddy was the most striking example the century has had of the power of repose; hers was not a church militant and her church was the antithesis of that of the evangelical whirling dervish whose creed is as transient as it is tempestuous. From all walks of life, high and low, Mrs. Eddy recruited her army of followers; hers was no appeal to any particular class, nor to any particular nationality, and in point of universality in America the sect was in a class by itself. Few will advance the theory that Mrs. Eddy has not left the world better than she found it.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
We are thinking of the astonishing influence she exerted in thousands of homes for the amelioration of life and manners in some of the details of family and social intercourse. She taught cheerfulness of spirit, and observation encourages the belief that the great majority of her followers either became more cheerful, both subjectively and as consistent examples to those around them, or with more or less success simulated a modification of temperament in that respect, which amounts in practice to nearly the same thing. She taught charity in judging the deeds and motives of another who does not know of more than one case in his own circle of acquaintance where apparently hopeless vinegar has become oil because of her? She went so far as to devise a vocabulary of euphemism, which proceeds in the right direction, no matter how you may regard some of its extreme manifestations; for there are many habitual and conventional asperities of expression which serve beyond doubt no better purpose than to intensify the sentiments they denote. It may be said that this is nothing more than an insistent application of principles common to all the forms of the Christian faith. Granting that, is it any the less the duty of candor to recognize the effort and results and to acknowledge the service?
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
Moreover, its teachings are accepted, not by cranks and faddists, not by those always seeking something new, but by the educated, the cultured, the thoughtful, and the student. Whatever its secret may be, it has produced a wonderful faith, a marvelous spirit that shows in a power of self-command, of self-denial, of sympathy, and helpfulness that is truly Christian. It has brought a new power into the world, which has gained its way against the fiercest and most stubborn prejudice, against ridicule, scorn, and almost ostracism, until it has compelled recognition and respect, with the acknowledgment of its permanency. Today, while millions profess open allegiance to Christian Science, many more express a sympathetic interest in it. From a mysterious, sort of uncanny, and somewhat dangerous cult, allied with the black art, to be approached only by those insulated in a dread and suspicion, it has taken its place as a faith and as a church. Mrs. Eddy's dominance has also been resented. She has been misinterpreted, maligned, and persecuted. Volumes have been written against her. Her power as an executive, her administrative ability, and her gift of organization were as wonderful as the faith she founded. Yet that she built her structure on broad, sound, permanent administrative principles, instead of founding a house of cards on shifting sands, has been the cause of most of the attacks personal to her. In this, however, her experience was no different from that of any other great and strong personality in the world's history, and few have left to the world a greater heritage.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
As to the right value of Mrs. Eddy's message, the permanence, importance, and extent of the church she founded, no contemporary estimate or prediction is worth much. A hundred years from now it will be easier and safer to evaluate her teachings, the worth of the work she did, and her own place among the men and women who have risen to lead and influence powerfully and extensively the lives, the thought, and the spirit of their fellowmen.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
Christian Science affords its believers just that. Its cardinal doctrines of the final supremacy of eternal good and the swift doom of imagined evil are doctrines which, put into practice, confer a calm serenity and unshakable confidence that is only good. Christian Science is a practical, inspiring religion. It was born of a woman, and it has been baptized in the tears of grateful millions. In its promulgation Mary Baker Eddy has answered the cry of thousands of tired hearts. In this, if in nothing else, she has been a great benefactor to the world. Her second great achievement has been the organization of a mighty church in a single lifetime. She accomplished in one generation that which followed only centuries after every other great religious leader. No other founder of a great church ever lived to see his work complete. Neither Confucius, Gautama, or St Augustine ever beheld the fruit of his teachings materialize as Mary Baker Eddy did. Few will mourn the death of Mary Baker Eddy as other deaths are mourned. Her own doctrines preclude that. Moreover, her personality was something apart, always above and apart, and but little known and understood. But, whatever the verdict of the ages shall be, Mary Baker Eddy today sits enthroned in the hearts of thousands and thousands of admiring followers, her remarkable accomplishments an epitome of one of the most extraordinary and potent personalities the world has ever known.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
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.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
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.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
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.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
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.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
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."
Christian Science Sentinel, February 11, 1911
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.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
Christian Science Sentinel, December 31, 1910
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.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
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."
The Christian Science Monitor Quoted in Editorial Comments on the Life and Work of Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 127-128
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.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910
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."
Christian Science Sentinel, December 31, 1910
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.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 24, 1910
In the beginning Mrs. Eddy said steadfastly, "God is my life:" her last earthly message was, "God is my life."
Christian Science Sentinel, December 31, 1910
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.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 31, 1910
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."
Christian Science Sentinel, December 31, 1910
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.
Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1910 |
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