0.0 – Christian Science – 16 Books by Mary Baker Eddy – Bk 16 – The First Church of Christ Scientist and Miscellany – Chpt 4 – Messages to The Mother Church

  1	                  COMMUNION, JANUARY 2, 1898 

  	    My Beloved Brethren: — I have suggested a
 3	change in the time for holding our semi-annual
  	church meetings, in order to separate these sessions
  	from the excitement and commotion of the season's
 6	holidays. 
  	    In metaphysics we learn that the strength of peace
  	and of suffering is sublime, a true, tried mental convic-
 9	tion that is neither tremulous nor relapsing. This
  	strength is like the ocean, able to carry navies, yet
  	yielding to the touch of a finger. This peace is spiritual;
12	never selfish, stony, nor stormy, but generous, reliable,
  	helpful, and always at hand. 
  	    Peace, like plain dealing, is somewhat out of fashion. 
15	Yet peace is desirable, and plain dealing is a jewel as beau-
  	tiful as the gems that adorn the Christmas ring presented
  	to me by my students in 1897. Few blemishes can be
18	found in a true character, for it is always a diamond of the
  	first water;  but external gentility and good humor may
  	be used to disguise internal vulgarity and villainy. No
21	deformity exists in honesty, and no vulgarity in kindness. 
  	Christian Science, however, adds to these graces, and
  	reflects the divine likeness. 
24	    Self-denial is practical, and is not only polite to all
  	but is pleasant to those who practise it. If one would
 
                                         Miscellany                                       122


 1	follow the advice that one gratuitously bestows on
  	others, this would create for one's self and for the world
 3	a destiny more grand than can issue from the brain of
  	a dreamer. 
  	    That glory only is imperishable which is fixed in one's
 6	own moral make-up. 
  	    Sin is like a dock root. To cut off the top of a plant
  	does no good; the roots must be eradicated or the plant
 9	will continue to grow. Now I am done with homilies
  	and, you may add, with tedious prosaics. 
  	    On the fifth of July last, my church tempted me ten-
12	derly to be proud! The deportment of its dear members
  	was such as to command respect everywhere. It called
  	forth flattering comment and created surprise in our good
15	city of Concord. 
  	    Beloved brethren, another Christmas has come and gone. 
  	Has it enabled us to know more of the healing Christ that
18	saves from sickness and sin? Are we still searching dili-
  	gently to find where the young child lies, and are we sat-
  	isfied to know that our sense of Truth is not demoralized,
21	finitized, cribbed, or cradled, but has risen to grasp the
  	spiritual idea unenvironed by materiality? Can we say
  	with the angels to-day: "He is risen; he is not here:
24	behold the place where they laid him"? Yes, the real
  	Christian Scientist can say his Christ is risen and is not
  	the material Christ of creeds, but is Truth, even as Jesus
27	declared; and the sense of Truth of the real Christian
  	Scientist is spiritualized to behold this Christ, Truth,
  	again healing the sick and saving sinners. The mission
30	of our Master was to all mankind, and included the very
  	hearts that rejected it — that refused to see the power
  	of Truth in healing. 
 
                     Communion, January 2, 1898                       123


 1	    Our unity and progress are proverbial, and this church's
  	gifts to me are beyond comparison — they have become
 3	a wonder! To me, however, love is the greater marvel,
  	so I must continue to prize love even more than the gifts
  	which would express it. The great guerdon of divine
 6	Love, which moves the hearts of men to goodness and
  	greatness, will reward these givers, and this encourages
  	me to continue to urge the perfect model for your accept-
 9	ance as the ultimate of Christian Science. 
  	    To-day in Concord, N. H., we have a modest hall in one
  	of the finest localities in the city, — a reading-room and
12	nine other rooms in the same building. "Tell it not in
  	Gath"! I had the property bought by the courtesy of
  	another person to be rid of the care and responsibility of
15	purchasing it, and furnished him the money to pay for it. 
  	The original cost of the estate was fourteen thousand
  	dollars. With the repairs and other necessary expenses
18	the amount is now about twenty thousand dollars. Ere
  	long I will see you in this hall, Deo volente; but my out-
  	door accommodations at Pleasant View are bigger than
21	the indoor. My little hall, which holds a trifle over two
  	hundred people, is less sufficient to receive a church of ten
  	thousand members than were the "five loaves and two
24	fishes" to feed the multitude; but the true Christian
  	Scientist is not frightened at miracles, and ofttimes small
  	beginnings have large endings. 
27	    Seeing that we have to attain to the ministry of right-
  	eousness in all things, we must not overlook small things
  	in goodness or in badness, for "trifles make perfection,"
30	and "the little foxes . . . spoil the vines." 
  	    As a peculiar people whose God is All-in-all, let us say
  	with St. Paul: "We faint not; but have renounced the
 
                                         Miscellany                                       124


 1	hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness,
  	nor handling the word of God deceitfully;  but by mani-
 3	festation of the truth commending ourselves to every
  	man's conscience." 


  	                           COMMUNION, JUNE 4, 1899 

 6	    My Beloved Brethren: — Looking on this annual assem-
  	blage of human consciousness, — health, harmony, growth,
  	grandeur, and achievement, garlanded with glad faces,
 9	willing hands, and warm hearts, — who would say to-day,
  	"What a fond fool is hope"? The fruition of friendship,
  	the world's arms outstretched to us, heart meeting heart
12	across continents and oceans, bloodless sieges and tear-
  	less triumphs, the "well done" already yours, and the
  	undone waiting only your swift hands, — these are
15	enough to make this hour glad. What more abounds
  	and abides in the hearts of these hearers and speakers,
  	pen may not tell. 
18	    Nature reflects man and art pencils him, but it remains
  	for Science to reveal man to man; and between these lines
  	of thought is written in luminous letters, O man, what
21	art thou? Where art thou? Whence and whither? And
  	what shall the answer be? Expressive silence, or with
  	finger pointing upward, — Thither! Then produce thy
24	records, time-table, log, traveller's companion, et cetera,
  	and prove fairly the facts relating to the thitherward, — 
  	the rate of speed, the means of travel, and the number
27	en route. Now what have you learned? The mystery
  	of godliness — God made "manifest in the flesh," seen
  	of men, and spiritually understood; and the mystery of
30	iniquity — how to separate the tares from the wheat,
  	that they consume in their own fires and no longer
 
                        Communion, June 4, 1899                          125


 1	kindle altars for human sacrifice. Have you learned to
  	conquer sin, false affections, motives, and aims, — to be
 3	not only sayers but doers of the law? 
  	    Brethren, our annual meeting is a grave guardian. It
  	requires you to report progress, to refresh memory, to
 6	rejuvenate the branches and to vivify the buds, to bend
  	upward the tendrils and to incline the vine towards the
  	parent trunk. You come from feeding your flocks, big
 9	with promise; and you come with the sling of Israel's
  	chosen one to meet the Goliaths. 
  	    I have only to dip my pen in my heart to say, All honor
12	to the members of our Board of Lectureship connected
  	with The Mother Church. Loyal to the divine Principle
  	they so ably vindicate, they earn their laurels. History
15	will record their words, and their works will follow
  	them. When reading their lectures, I have felt the touch
  	of the spirit of the Mars' Hill orator, which always
18	thrills the soul. 
  	    The members of the Board of Education, under the
  	auspices of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, have
21	acquitted themselves nobly. The students in my last
  	class in 1898 are stars in my crown of rejoicing. 
  	    We are deeply grateful that the church militant is
24	looking into the subject of Christian Science, for Zion
  	must put on her beautiful garments — her bridal robes. 
  	The hour is come; the bride (Word) is adorned, and lo,
27	the bridegroom cometh! Are our lamps trimmed and
  	burning? 
  	    The doom of the Babylonish woman, referred to in Reve-
30	lation, is being fulfilled. This woman, "drunken with the
  	blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs
  	of Jesus," "drunk with the wine of her fornication,"
 
                                         Miscellany                                       126


 1	would enter even the church, — the body of Christ, Truth;
  	and, retaining the heart of the harlot and the purpose
 3	of the destroying angel, would pour wormwood into the
  	waters — the disturbed human mind — to drown the
  	strong swimmer struggling for the shore, — aiming for
 6	Truth, — and if possible, to poison such as drink of the
  	living water. But the recording angel, standing with
  	"right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,"
 9	has in his hand a book open (ready to be read), which un-
  	covers and kills this mystery of iniquity and interprets the
  	mystery of godliness, — how the first is finished and the
12	second is no longer a mystery or a miracle, but a marvel,
  	casting out evil and healing the sick. And a voice was
  	heard, saying, "Come out of her, my people" (hearken
15	not to her lies), "that ye receive not of her plagues.  For
  	her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remem-
  	bered her iniquities . . . double unto her double accord-
18	ing to her works:  in the cup which she hath filled fill
  	to her double . . . for she saith in her heart, I . . . am
  	no widow, . . . Therefore shall her plagues come in one
21	day, death, and mourning, and famine; . . . for strong is
  	the Lord God who judgeth her." That which the Rev-
  	elator saw in spiritual vision will be accomplished. The
24	Babylonish woman is fallen, and who should mourn
  	over the widowhood of lust, of her that "is become the
  	habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit,
27	and a cage of every unclean . . . bird"? 
  	    One thing is eternally here; it reigns supreme to-day,
  	to-morrow, forever. We need it in our homes, at our fire-
30	sides, on our altars, for with it win we the race of the
  	centuries. We have it only as we live it. This is that
  	needful one thing — divine Science, whereby thought is
 
                        Communion, June 4, 1899                          127


 1	spiritualized, reaching outward and upward to Science in
  	Christianity, Science in medicine, in physics, and in
 3	metaphysics. 
  	    Happy are the people whose God is All-in-all, who ask
  	only to be judged according to their works, who live to
 6	love. We thank the Giver of all good for the marvellous
  	speed of the chariot-wheels of Truth and for the steadfast,
  	calm coherence in the ranks of Christian Science. 
 9	    On comparison, it will be found that Christian Science
  	possesses more of Christ's teachings and example than
  	all other religions since the first century. Comparing
12	our scientific system of metaphysical therapeutics with
  	materia medica, we find that divine metaphysics com-
  	pletely overshadows and overwhelms materia medica, even
15	as Aaron's rod swallowed up the rods of the magicians
  	of Egypt. I deliberately declare that when I was in prac-
  	tice, out of one hundred cases I healed ninety-nine to
18	the ten of materia medica. 
  	    We should thank God for persecution and for prosecu-
  	tion, if from these ensue a purer Protestantism and mono-
21	theism for the latter days of the nineteenth century. A
  	siege of the combined centuries, culminating in fierce attack,
  	cannot demolish our strongholds. The forts of Christian
24	Science, garrisoned by God's chosen ones, can never sur-
  	render. Unlike Russia's armament, ours is not costly as
  	men count cost, but it is rich beyond price, staunch and
27	indestructible on land or sea; it is not curtailed in peace,
  	surrendered in conquest, nor laid down at the feet of
  	progress through the hands of omnipotence. And why? 
30	Because it is "on earth peace, good will toward men," — 
  	a cover and a defence adapted to all men, all nations,
  	all times, climes, and races. I cannot quench my
 
                                         Miscellany                                       128


 1	desire to say this; and words are not vain when the
  	depth of desire can find no other outlet to liberty. 
 3	"Therefore . . . let us go on unto perfection; not laying
  	again the foundation of repentance from dead works."
  	(Hebrews 6 : 1.) 
 6	    A coroner's inquest, a board of health, or class legisla-
  	tion is less than the Constitution of the United States, and
  	infinitely less than God's benign government, which is
 9	"no respecter of persons." Truth crushed to earth springs
  	spontaneously upward, and whispers to the breeze man's
  	inalienable birthright — Liberty. "Where the Spirit of
12	the Lord is, there is liberty." God is everywhere. No
  	crown nor sceptre nor rulers rampant can quench the vital
  	heritage of freedom — man's right to adopt a religion,
15	to employ a physician, to live or to die according to the
  	dictates of his own rational conscience and enlightened
  	understanding. Men cannot punish a man for suicide;
18	God does that. 
  	    Christian Scientists abide by the laws of God and the
  	laws of the land; and, following the command of the
21	Master, they go into all the world, preaching the gospel
  	and healing the sick. Therefore be wise and harmless, for
  	without the former the latter were impracticable. A lack
24	of wisdom betrays Truth into the hands of evil as effec-
  	tually as does a subtle conspirator; the motive is not as
  	wicked, but the result is as injurious. Return not evil for
27	evil, but "overcome evil with good." Then, whatever
  	the shaft aimed at you or your practice may be, it will
  	fall powerless, and God will reward your enemies accord-
30	ing to their works. Watch, and pray daily that evil
  	suggestions, in whatever guise, take no root in your
  	thought nor bear fruit. Ofttimes examine yourselves, and
 
                        Communion, June 4, 1899                          129


 1	see if there be found anywhere a deterrent of Truth and
  	Love, and "hold fast that which is good." 
 3	    I reluctantly foresee great danger threatening our na-
  	tion, — imperialism, monopoly, and a lax system of relig-
  	ion. But the spirit of humanity, ethics, and Christianity
 6	sown broadcast — all concomitants of Christian Science
  	 — is taking strong hold of the public thought through-
  	out our beloved country and in foreign lands, and is
 9	tending to counteract the trend of mad ambition. 
  	    There is no night but in God's frown; there is no day
  	but in His smile. The oracular skies, the verdant earth
12	 — bird, brook, blossom, breeze, and balm — are richly
  	fraught with divine reflection. They come at Love's call. 
  	The nod of Spirit is nature's natal. 
15	    And how is man, seen through the lens of Spirit,
  	enlarged, and how counterpoised his origin from dust,
  	and how he presses to his original, never severed
18	from Spirit! O ye who leap disdainfully from this rock
  	of ages, return and plant thy steps in Christ, Truth,
  	"the stone which the builders rejected"! Then will
21	angels administer grace, do thy errands, and be thy
  	dearest allies. The divine law gives to man health
  	and life everlasting — gives a soul to Soul, a present
24	harmony wherein the good man's heart takes hold on
  	heaven, and whose feet can never be moved. These
  	are His green pastures beside still waters, where faith
27	mounts upward, expatiates, strengthens, and exults. 
  	    Lean not too much on your Leader. Trust God to
  	direct your steps. Accept my counsel and teachings only
30	as they include the spirit and the letter of the Ten Com-
  	mandments, the Beatitudes, and the teachings and
  	example of Christ Jesus. Refrain from public contro-
 
                                         Miscellany                                       130


1	versy; correct the false with the true — then leave the
  	latter to propagate. Watch and guard your own thoughts
 3	against evil suggestions and against malicious mental
  	malpractice, wholly disloyal to the teachings of Christian
  	Science. This hidden method of committing crime — 
 6	socially, physically, and morally — will ere long be un-
  	earthed and punished as it deserves. The effort of
  	disloyal students to blacken me and to keep my works
 9	from public recognition — students seeking only public
  	notoriety, whom I have assisted pecuniarily and striven to
  	uplift morally — has been made too many times and has
12	failed too often for me to fear it. The spirit of Truth is
  	the lever which elevates mankind. I have neither the
  	time nor the inclination to be continually pursuing a lie
15	 — the one evil or the evil one. Therefore I ask the help
  	of others in this matter, and I ask that according to
  	the Scriptures my students reprove, rebuke, and exhort. 
18	A lie left to itself is not so soon destroyed as it is with
  	the help of truth-telling. Truth never falters nor fails;
  	it is our faith that fails. 
21	    All published quotations from my works must have
  	the author's name added to them. Quotation-marks are
  	not sufficient. Borrowing from my copyrighted works,
24	without credit, is inadmissible. But I need not say this
  	to the loyal Christian Scientist — to him who keeps
  	the commandments. "Science and Health with Key to
27	the Scriptures" has an enormous strain put upon it,
  	being used as a companion to the Bible in all your
  	public ministrations, as teacher and as the embodiment
30	and substance of the truth that is taught; hence
  	my request, that you borrow little else from it, should
  	seem reasonable. 
 
                        Communion, June 4, 1899                          131


 1	    Beloved, that which purifies the affections also strength-
  	ens them, removes fear, subdues sin, and endues with
 3	divine power; that which refines character at the same
  	time humbles, exalts, and commands a man, and obedience
  	gives him courage, devotion, and attainment. For this
 6	hour, for this period, for spiritual sacrament, sacrifice,
  	and ascension, we unite in giving thanks. For the body
  	of Christ, for the life that we commemorate and would
 9	emulate, for the bread of heaven whereof if a man eat
  	"he shall live forever," for the cup red with loving resti-
  	tution, redemption, and inspiration, we give thanks. The
12	signet of the great heart, given to me in a little symbol,
  	seals the covenant of everlasting love. May apostate
  	praise return to its first love, above the symbol seize the
15	spirit, speak the "new tongue" — and may thought soar
  	and Soul be. 


  	  ADDRESS AT ANNUAL MEETING, JUNE 6, 1899 

18	    My Beloved Brethren: — I hope I shall not be found
  	disorderly, but I wish to say briefly that this meeting is
  	very joyous to me. Where God is we can meet, and where
21	God is we can never part. There is something suggestive
  	to me in this hour of the latter days of the nineteenth
  	century, fulfilling much of the divine law and the gospel. 
24	The divine law has said to us: "Bring ye all the tithes into
  	the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house,
  	and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I
27	will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you
  	out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to
  	receive it." 
30	    There is with us at this hour this great, great blessing;
  	and may I say with the consciousness of Mind that the
 
                                         Miscellany                                       132


 1	fulfilment of divine Love in our lives is the demand of
  	this hour — the special demand. We begin with the law
 3	as just announced, "Prove me now herewith, . . . if I will
  	not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a
  	blessing," and we go to the Gospels, and there we hear:
 6	"In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good
  	cheer; I have overcome the world." 
  	    The Christian Scientist knows that spiritual faith and
 9	understanding pass through the waters of Meribah here — 
  	bitter waters; but he also knows they embark for infinity
  	and anchor in omnipotence. 
12	    Oh, may this hour be prolific, and at this time and in
  	every heart may there come this benediction:  Thou hast
  	no longer to appeal to human strength, to strive with
15	agony; I am thy deliverer. "Of His own will begat He us
  	with the word of truth." Divine Love has strengthened
  	the hand and encouraged the heart of every member of this
18	large church. Oh, may these rich blessings continue and
  	be increased! Divine Love hath opened the gate Beau-
  	tiful to us, where we may see God and live, see good in
21	good, — God all, one, — one Mind and that divine; where
  	we may love our neighbor as ourselves, and bless our
  	enemies. 
24	    Divine Love will also rebuke and destroy disease, and
  	destroy the belief of life in matter. It will waken the
  	dreamer — the sinner, dreaming of pleasure in sin; the sick,
27	dreaming of suffering matter; the slothful, satisfied to
  	sleep and dream. Divine Love is our only physician,
  	and never loses a case. It binds up the broken-hearted;
30	heals the poor body, whose whole head is sick and whose
  	whole heart is faint; comforts such as mourn, wipes away
  	the unavailing, tired tear, brings back the wanderer to
 
                    Letter of the Pastor Emeritus                          133


 1	the Father's house in which are many mansions, many
  	welcomes, many pardons for the penitent. 
 3	    Ofttimes I think of this in the great light of the present,
  	the might and light of the present fulfilment. So shall
  	all earth's children at last come to acknowledge God, and
 6	be one; inhabit His holy hill, the God-crowned summit
  	of divine Science; the church militant rise to the church
  	triumphant, and Zion be glorified. 


 9	                          A QUESTION ANSWERED 

  	    My beloved church will not receive a Message from
  	me this summer, for my annual Message is swallowed
12	up in sundries already given out. These crumbs and
  	monads will feed the hungry, and the fragments gathered
  	therefrom should waken the sleeper, — "dead in tres-
15	passes and sins," — set the captive sense free from self's
  	sordid sequela; and one more round of old Sol give birth
  	to the sowing of Solomon. 
18	                                                     MARY BAKER EDDY 
  	PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
  	                 May 11, 1903 


21  	 LETTER OF THE PASTOR EMERITUS, JUNE, 1903 

  	    My Beloved Brethren: — I have a secret to tell you and
  	a question to ask. Do you know how much I love you
24	and the nature of this love? No:  then my sacred secret
  	is incommunicable, and we live apart. But, yes:  and
  	this inmost something becomes articulate, and my book
27	is not all you know of me. But your knowledge with
  	its magnitude of meaning uncovers my life, even as
  	your heart has discovered it. The spiritual bespeaks
 
                                         Miscellany                                       134


 1	our temporal history. Difficulty, abnegation, constant
  	battle against the world, the flesh, and evil, tell my long-
 3	kept secret — evidence a heart wholly in protest and
  	unutterable in love. 
  	    The unprecedented progress of Christian Science is pro-
 6	verbial, and we cannot be too grateful nor too humble for
  	this, inasmuch as our daily lives serve to enhance or to
  	stay its glory. To triumph in truth, to keep the faith
 9	individually and collectively, conflicting elements must
  	be mastered. Defeat need not follow victory. Joy over
  	good achievements and work well done should not
12	be eclipsed by some lost opportunity, some imperative
  	demand not yet met. 
  	    Truth, Life, and Love will never lose their claim on us. 
15	And here let me add: — 

  	            Truth happifies life in the hamlet or town;
  	           Life lessens all pride — its pomp and its frown — 
18	            Love comes to our tears like a soft summer shower,
  	           To beautify, bless, and inspire man's power. 



  	                    A  LETTER  FROM  MRS.  EDDY 

21	    At the Wednesday evening meeting of April 3, 1907,
  	in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, the
  	First Reader, Mr. William D. McCrackan, read the fol-
24	lowing letter from Mrs. Eddy. In announcing this letter,
  	he said: —  
  	    "Permission has been secured from our beloved Leader
27	to read you a letter from her to me.  This letter is in
  	Mrs. Eddy's own handwriting, with which I have been
  	familiar for several years, and it shows her usual mental
30	and physical vigor." 
 
                             Letter to The Mother Church               135


 1	                                 Mrs. Eddy's Letter

  	    Beloved Student: — The wise man has said, "When I
 3	was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child,
  	I thought as a child:  but when I became a man, I put
  	away childish things." That this passage of Scripture
 6	and its concluding declaration may be applied to old age,
  	is a solace. 
  	    Perhaps you already know that I have heretofore per-
 9	sonally attended to my secular affairs, — to my income,
  	investments, deposits, expenditures, and to my employ-
  	ees. But the increasing demands upon my time and
12	labor, and my yearning for more peace in my advancing
  	years, have caused me to select a Board of Trustees to
  	take the charge of my property; namely, the Hon. Henry
15	M. Baker, Mr. Archibald McLellan, and Mr. Josiah E. 
  	Fernald. 
  	    As you are the First Reader of my church in Boston,
18	of about forty thousand members, I inform you of this,
  	the aforesaid transaction. 
  	                                Lovingly yours in Christ, 

21	                                                   MARY BAKER EDDY
  	PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
  	March 22, 1907 


24	             LETTER TO THE MOTHER CHURCH 

  	THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, BOSTON, MASS. 

  	    My Beloved Church: — Your love and fidelity cheer my
27	advancing years. As Christian Scientists you under-
  	stand the Scripture, "Fret not thyself because of evil-
  	doers;" also you spiritually and scientifically understand
30	that God is divine Love, omnipotent, omnipresent, in-
 
                                         Miscellany                                       136


 1	finite; hence it is enough for you and me to know that
  	our "Redeemer liveth" and intercedeth for us. 
 3	    At this period my demonstration of Christian Science
  	cannot be fully understood, theoretically; therefore
  	it is best explained by its fruits, and by the life of
 6	our Lord as depicted in the chapter Atonement and
  	Eucharist, in "Science and Health with Key to the
  	Scriptures." 
 9	                                                    MARY BAKER EDDY 
  	PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
  	                     April 2, 1907 


12	                                                CARD 

  	    I am pleased to say that the following members con-
  	stitute the Board of Trustees who own my property: —  

15	    1. The Hon. Henry M. Baker, who won a suit at
  	law in Washington, D. C., for which it is alleged he
  	was paid the highest fee ever received by a native of
18	New Hampshire. 
  	    2. Archibald McLellan, editor-in-chief of the Christian
  	Science periodicals, circulating in the five grand divisions
21	of our globe; also in Canada, Australia, etc. 
  	    3. Josiah E. Fernald, justice of the peace and president
  	of the National State Capital Bank, Concord, N. H. 

24	    To my aforesaid Trustees I have committed the hard
  	earnings of my pen, — the fruits of honest toil, the labor
  	that is known by its fruits, — benefiting the human race;
27	and I have so done that I may have more peace, and time
  	for spiritual thought and the higher criticism. 
  	                                                  MARY BAKER EDDY
30	PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
  	                     April 3, 1907 
 
                                 Mrs. Eddy’s Affidavit                        137


 1	                          MRS. EDDY'S AFFIDAVIT 

  	    The following affidavit, in the form of a letter from
 3	Mrs. Eddy to Judge Robert N. Chamberlin of the Superior
  	Court, was filed in the office of the Clerk of the Court,
  	Saturday, May 18. The Boston Globe, referring to this
 6	document, speaks of it as, "in the main, an example of
  	crisp, clear, plain-speaking English." The entire letter is
  	in Mrs. Eddy's own handwriting and is characteristic in
 9	both substance and penmanship: —  


  	HON. JUDGE CHAMBERLIN, CONCORD, N.H. 

  	    Respected Sir: — It is over forty years that I have
12	attended personally to my secular affairs, to my in-
  	come, investments, deposits, expenditures, and to my
  	employees. I have personally selected all my invest-
15	ments, except in one or two instances, and have paid for
  	the same. 
  	    The increasing demands upon my time, labors, and
18	thought, and yearning for more peace and to have my
  	property and affairs carefully taken care of for the
  	persons and purposes I have designated by my last will,
21	influenced me to select a Board of Trustees to take charge
  	of my property; namely, the Hon. Henry M. Baker,
  	Mr. Archibald McLellan, Mr. Josiah E. Fernald. I
24	had contemplated doing this before the present proceed-
  	ings were brought or I knew aught about them, and I
  	had consulted Lawyer Streeter about the method. 
27	    I selected said Trustees because I had implicit con-
  	fidence in each one of them as to honesty and business
  	capacity. No person influenced me to make this selec-
30	tion. I find myself able to select the Trustees I need
 
                                         Miscellany                                      138


 1	without the help of others. I gave them my property to
  	take care of because I wanted it protected and myself
 3	relieved of the burden of doing this. They have agreed
  	with me to take care of my property and I consider this
  	agreement a great benefit to me already. 
 6	    This suit was brought without my knowledge and is
  	being carried on contrary to my wishes. I feel that it
  	is not for my benefit in any way, but for my injury,
 9	and I know it was not needed to protect my person or
  	property. The present proceedings test my trust in
  	divine Love. My personal reputation is assailed and
12	some of my students and trusted personal friends are
  	cruelly, unjustly, and wrongfully accused. 
  	    Mr. Calvin A. Frye and other students often ask me
15	to receive persons whom I desire to see but decline to
  	receive solely because I find that I cannot "serve two
  	masters." I cannot be a Christian Scientist except I
18	leave all for Christ. 
  	    Trusting that I have not exceeded the bounds of pro-
  	priety in the statements herein made by me,
21	                            I remain most respectfully yours, 
  	                                                 MARY BAKER EDDY

  	PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
24	                    May 16, 1907 


  	STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, Merrimack, ss. 

  	    On this sixteenth day of May, 1907, personally appeared
27	Mary Baker Eddy and made oath that the statements
  	contained in the annexed letter directed to Honorable
  	Judge Chamberlin and dated May 16, 1907, are true. 
30	    Before me:                         ALLEN HOLLIS,
  	                                                        Justice of the Peace 
 
                                   A Word to the Wise                        139


 1	                                              NOTA BENE 

  	    Beloved Students: — Rest assured that your Leader is
 3	living, loving, acting, enjoying. She is neither dead nor
  	plucked up by the roots, but she is keenly alive to the
  	reality of living, and safely, soulfully founded upon
 6	the rock, Christ Jesus, even the spiritual idea of Life,
  	with its abounding, increasing, advancing footsteps of
  	progress, primeval faith, hope, love. 
 9	    Like the verdure and evergreen that flourish when
  	trampled upon, the Christian Scientist thrives in adver-
  	sity; his is a life-lease of hope, home, heaven; his idea
12	is nearing the Way, the Truth, and the Life, when mis-
  	represented, belied, and trodden upon. Justice, honesty,
  	cannot be abjured; their vitality involves Life, — calm,
15	irresistible, eternal. 


  	                                A WORD TO THE WISE 

  	    My Beloved Brethren: — When I asked you to dispense
18	with the Executive Members' meeting, the purpose of my
  	request was sacred. It was to turn your sense of worship
  	from the material to the spiritual, the personal to the
21	impersonal, the denominational to the doctrinal, yea,
  	from the human to the divine. 
  	    Already you have advanced from the audible to the
24	inaudible prayer; from the material to the spiritual
  	communion; from drugs to Deity; and you have been
  	greatly recompensed. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad,
27	for so doth the divine Love redeem your body from dis-
  	ease; your being from sensuality; your soul from sense;
  	your life from death. 
 
                                         Miscellany                                      140


 1	    Of this abounding and abiding spiritual understand-
  	ing the prophet Isaiah said, "And I will bring the blind
 3	by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in
  	paths that they have not known:  I will make dark-
  	ness light before them, and crooked things straight.  
 6	These things will I do unto them, and not forsake
  	them." 
  	                                            MARY BAKER EDDY
 9	CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. 


  	                                     [Boston Globe] 
  	                   ABOLISHING THE COMMUNION 

12	    In a letter addressed to Christian Scientists the Rev. 
  	Mary Baker Eddy explains that dropping the annual com-
  	munion service of The First Church of Christ, Scientist,
15	in Boston, need not debar distant members from attend-
  	ing occasionally The Mother Church. The following is
  	Mrs. Eddy's letter: —  

18	    Beloved Christian Scientists: — Take courage. God is
  	leading you onward and upward. Relinquishing a ma-
  	terial form of communion advances it spiritually. 
21	The material form is a "Suffer it to be so now," and
  	is abandoned so soon as God's Way-shower, Christ,
  	points the advanced step. This instructs us how to
24	be abased and how to abound. 
  	    Dropping the communion of The Mother Church
  	does not prevent its distant members from occasionally
27	attending this church. 
  	                                                MARY BAKER EDDY 	
       CHESTNUT HILL, MASS.,
30	          June 21, 1908 
 
                  Communion Season  is Abolished                141


 1	                                         [Boston Globe]
  	           COMMUNION SEASON IS ABOLISHED 

 3	    The general communion service of the Christian Science
  	denomination, held annually in The First Church of
  	Christ, Scientist, in this city, has been abolished by
 6	order of Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy. The services attended
  	last Sunday [June 14] by ten thousand persons were thus
  	the last to be held. Of late years members of the church
 9	outside of Boston have not been encouraged to attend the
  	communion seasons except on the triennial gatherings,
  	the next of which would have been held next year. 
12	    The announcement in regard to the services was made
  	last night [June 21] by Alfred Farlow of the publication
  	committee as follows: —  

15	    The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, has
  	taken steps to abolish its famous communion seasons. 
  	In former years, the annual communion season of the
18	Boston church has offered an occasion for the gathering
  	of vast multitudes of Christian Scientists from all parts
  	of the world. According to the following statement, which
21	Mrs. Eddy has just given out to the press, these gather-
  	ings will be discontinued: —  

  	    "The house of The Mother Church seats only five thou-
24	sand people, and its membership includes forty-eight
  	thousand communicants, hence the following: —  
  	    "The branch churches continue their communion sea-
27	sons, but there shall be no more communion season in
  	The Mother Church that has blossomed into spiritual
  	beauty, communion universal and divine. 'For who
 
                                         Miscellany                                      142


 1	hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct
  	him? But we have the mind of Christ.' (1 Corinthians,
 3	2 : 16.)"

  	    [Mrs. Eddy has only abolished the disappointment of
  	communicants who come long distances and then find no
 6	seats in The Mother Church. — EDITOR Sentinel.] 


  	                               MRS. EDDY'S REPLY 

  	JUDGE CLIFFORD P. SMITH, LL.B., C.S.B.,
 9	First Reader, The Mother Church, Boston, Mass.   

  	    Beloved Christian Scientist: — Accept my thanks for
  	your approval of abolishing the communion season of
12	The Mother Church.  I sought God's guidance in doing
  	it, but the most important events are criticized. 
  	    The Mother Church communion season was liter-
15	ally a communion of branch church communicants
  	which might in time lose its sacredness and merge into
  	a meeting for greetings.  My beloved brethren may
18	some time learn this and rejoice with me, as they so
  	often have done, over a step higher in their passage
  	from sense to Soul.  
21	                                          Most truly yours, 
  	                                              MARY BAKER EDDY
  	BOX G, BROOKLINE, MASS.,
24	           June 24, 1908 


  	THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

  	    Beloved Students: — I thank you for your kind invi-
27	tation to be present at the annual meeting of The
  	Mother Church on June 7, 1909.  I will attend the
 
                          Mrs. Eddy’s Statements                         143


 1	meeting, but not in propria persona.  Watch and pray
  	that God directs your meetings and your lives, and your
 3	Leader will then be sure that they are blessed in their
  	results.  
  	                                            Lovingly yours, 
 6	BROOKLINE, MASS.,                     MARY BAKER EDDY
  	June 5, 1909 


  	                         MRS. EDDY'S STATEMENTS 

 9	    To Whom It May Concern: — I have the pleasure to
  	report to one and all of my beloved friends and followers
  	that I exist in the flesh, and am seen daily by the mem-
12	bers of my household and by those with whom I have
  	appointments.   
  	    Above all this fustian of either denying or asserting the
15	personality and presence of Mary Baker Eddy, stands
  	the eternal fact of Christian Science and the honest history
  	of its Discoverer and Founder.  It is self-evident that
18	the discoverer of an eternal truth cannot be a temporal
  	fraud.   
  	    The Cause of Christian Science is prospering through-
21	out the world and stands forever as an eternal and de-
  	monstrable Science, and I do not regard this attack upon
  	me as a trial, for when these things cease to bless they
24	will cease to occur.   
  	    "And we know that all things work together for good
  	to them that love God, to them who are the called
27	according to His purpose. . . . What shall we then say
  	to these things? If God be for us, who can be against
  	us?"   
30	                                              MARY BAKER EDDY
  	CHESTNUT HILL, MASS.,
  	            June 7, 1909 
 
                                         Miscellany                                      144


 1	    Mrs. Eddy also sent the following letter to the mem-
  	bers of her church in Concord, N. H.: —  


 3	FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, CONCORD, N.H.   

  	    My Beloved Brethren: — Give yourselves no fear and
  	spare not a moment's thought to lies afloat that I am sick,
 6	helpless, or an invalid.  The public report that I am in
  	either of the aforesaid conditions is utterly false.  
  	                                           With love, ever yours, 
 9	                                                   MARY BAKER EDDY
  	BOX G, BROOKLINE, MASS.,
  	          June 7, 1909SHOW ALL