0.0 – Christian Science – 16 Books by Mary Baker Eddy – Bk 16 – The First Church of Christ Scientist and Miscellany – Chpt 17 – Answers to Criticisms

                 Chapter XVII 

  	            ANSWERS TO CRITICISMS 

1	       [Letter to the New York Commercial Advertiser] 
      
       CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CHURCH

	
3	    Over the signature "A Priest of the Church,"
  	somebody, kindly referring to my address to First
  	Church of Christ, Scientist, in Concord, N. H., writes:
 6	"If they [Christian Scientists] have any truth to reveal
  	which has not been revealed by the church or the Bible,
  	let them make it known to the world, before they claim
 9	the allegiance of mankind." 
  	    I submit that Christian Science has been widely made
  	known to the world, and that it contains the entire
12	truth of the Scriptures, as also whatever portions of truth
  	may be found in creeds. In addition to this, Christian
  	Science presents the demonstrable divine Principle and
15	rules of the Bible, hitherto undiscovered in the  trans-
  	lations of the Bible and lacking in the creeds. 
  	    Therefore I query:  Do Christians, who believe in sin,
18	and especially those who claim to pardon sin, believe
  	that God is good, and that God is All? Christian
  	Scientists firmly subscribe to this statement; yea, they
21	understand it and the law governing it, namely, that
  	God, the divine Principle of Christian Science, is
 
                                                                 Miscellany                              300


1	"of purer eyes than to behold evil." On this basis they
  	endeavor to cast out the belief in sin or in aught
 3	besides God, thus enabling the sinner to overcome
  	sin according to the Scripture, "Work out your own
  	salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God which
 6	worketh in you both to will and to do of His good
  	pleasure." 
  	    Does he who believes in sickness know or declare that
 9	there is no sickness or disease, and thus heal disease? 
  	Christian Scientists, who do not believe in the reality
  	of disease, heal disease, for the reason that the divine
12	Principle of Christian Science, demonstrated, heals the
  	most inveterate diseases. Does he who believes in
  	death understand or aver that there is no death, and
15	proceed to overcome "the last enemy" and raise the
  	dying to health? Christian Scientists raise the dying to
  	health in Christ's name, and are striving to reach the
18	summit of Jesus' words, "If a man keep my saying, he
  	shall never see death." 
  	    If, as this kind priest claims, these things, inseparable
21	from Christian Science, are common to his church, we
  	propose that he make known his doctrine to the world,
  	that he teach the Christianity which heals, and send out
24	students according to Christ's command, "Go ye into all
  	the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,"
  	"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast
27	out devils." 
  	    The tree is known by its fruit. If, as he implies,
  	Christian Science is not a departure from the first cen-
30	tury churches, — as surely it is not, — why persecute
  	it? Are the churches opening fire on their own religious
  	ranks, or are they attacking a peaceable party quite
 
                                              Faith in Metaphysics                          301


1	their antipode? Christian Science is a reflected glory;
  	it shines with borrowed rays — from Light emitting light. 
 3	Christian Science is the new-old Christianity, that which
  	was and is the revelation of divine Love. 
  	    The present flux in religious faith may be found to be
 6	a healthy fermentation, by which the lees of religion will
  	be lost, dogma and creed will pass off in scum, leaving a
  	solid Christianity at the bottom — a foundation for the
 9	builders. I would that all the churches on earth could
  	unite as brethren in one prayer:  Father, teach us the
  	life of Love. 

12	PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
  	                  March 22, 1899 


  	                           [Letter to the New York World] 
15	                   FAITH  IN  METAPHYSICS 

  	    Is faith in divine metaphysics insanity? 
  	    All sin is insanity, but healing the sick is not sin. 
18	There is a universal insanity which mistakes fable for
  	fact throughout the entire testimony of the material
  	senses. Those unfortunate people who are committed to
21	insane asylums are only so many well-defined instances
  	of the baneful effects of illusion on mortal minds and
  	bodies. The supposition that we can correct insanity
24	by the use of drugs is in itself a species of insanity. A
  	drug cannot of itself go to the brain or affect cerebral
  	conditions in any manner whatever. Drugs cannot
27	remove inflammation, restore disordered functions, or
  	destroy disease without the aid of mind. 
  	    If mind be absent from the body, drugs can produce
30	no curative effect upon the body. The mind must
 
                                                                 Miscellany                              302


 1	be, is, the vehicle of all modes of healing disease and of
  	producing disease. Through the mandate of mind or
 3	according to a man's belief, can he be helped or be killed
  	by a drug; but mind, not matter, produces the result in
  	either case. 
 6	    Neither life nor death, health nor disease, can be pro-
  	duced on a corpse, whence mind has departed. This
  	self-evident fact is proof that mind is the cause of all
 9	effect made manifest through so-called matter. The
  	general craze is that matter masters mind; the specific
  	insanity is that brain, matter, is insane. 


12	                            [Letter to the New York Herald] 
  	                          REPLY  TO  MARK  TWAIN 

  	    It is a fact well understood that I begged the students
15	who first gave me the endearing appellative "Mother,"
  	not to name me thus. But without my consent, the use
  	of the word spread like wildfire. I still must think the
18	name is not applicable to me. I stand in relation to
  	this century as a Christian Discoverer, Founder, and
  	Leader. I regard self-deification as blasphemous. I may
21	be more loved, but I am less lauded, pampered, provided
  	for, and cheered than others before me — and where-
  	fore? Because Christian Science is not yet popular, and
24	I refuse adulation. 
  	    My first visit to The Mother Church after it was built
  	and dedicated pleased me, and the situation was satisfac-
27	tory. The dear members wanted to greet me with escort
  	and the ringing of bells, but I declined and went alone in
  	my carriage to the church, entered it, and knelt in thanks
30	upon the steps of its altar. There the foresplendor of
 
                                            Reply to Mark Twain                           303


 1	the beginnings of truth fell mysteriously upon my spirit. 
  	I believe in one Christ, teach one Christ, know of but
 3	one Christ. I believe in but one incarnation, one Mother
  	Mary. I know that I am not that one, and I have never
  	claimed to be. It suffices me to learn the Science of the
 6	Scriptures relative to this subject. 
  	    Christian Scientists have no quarrel with Protestants,
  	Catholics, or any other sect. Christian Scientists need to
 9	be understood as following the divine Principle — God,
  	Love — and not imagined to be unscientific worshippers
  	of a human being. 
12	    In his article, of which I have seen only extracts, Mark
  	Twain's wit was not wasted in certain directions. Chris-
  	tian Science eschews divine rights in human beings. 
15	If the individual governed human consciousness, my
  	statement of Christian Science would be disproved;
  	but to demonstrate Science and its pure monotheism
18	 — one God, one Christ, no idolatry, no human propa-
  	ganda — it is essential to understand the spiritual idea. 
  	Jesus taught and proved that what feeds a few feeds
21	all. His life-work subordinated the material to the
  	spiritual, and he left his legacy of truth to man-
  	kind. His metaphysics is not the sport of philosophy,
24	religion, or science; rather is it the pith and finale of
  	them all. 
  	    I have not the inspiration nor the aspiration to be
27	a first or second Virgin-mother — her duplicate, ante-
  	cedent, or subsequent. What I am remains to be proved
  	by the good I do. We need much humility, wisdom,
30	and love to perform the functions of foreshadowing and
  	foretasting heaven within us. This glory is molten in
  	the furnace of affliction. 
 
                                                                 Miscellany                              304


 1	                          [Boston Journal, June 8, 1903] 
  	               A  MISSTATEMENT  CORRECTED 

 3	    I was early a pupil of Miss Sarah J. Bodwell, the
  	principal of Sanbornton Academy, New Hampshire, and
  	finished my course of studies under Professor Dyer
 6	H. Sanborn, author of Sanborn's Grammar. Among
  	my early studies were Comstock's Natural Philosophy,
  	Chemistry, Blair's Rhetoric, Whateley's Logic, Watt's
 9	"On the Mind and Moral Science." At sixteen years
  	of age, I began writing for the leading newspapers, and
  	for many years I wrote for the best magazines in the
12	South and North. I have lectured in large and crowded
  	halls in New York City, Chicago, Boston, Portland,
  	and at Waterville College, and have been invited to
15	lecture in London, England, and Edinburgh, Scotland. 
  	In 1883, I started The Christian Science Journal, and
  	for several years was the proprietor and sole editor of
18	that periodical. In 1893, Judge S. J. Hanna became
  	editor of The Christian Science Journal, and for ten
  	subsequent years he knew my ability as an editor. In
21	a lecture in Chicago, he said: "Mrs. Eddy is from
  	every point of view a woman of sound education and
  	liberal culture." 
24	    Agassiz, the celebrated naturalist and author, wisely
  	said: "Every great scientific truth goes through three
  	stages.  First, people say it conflicts with the Bible.  
27	Next, they say it has been discovered before.  Lastly,
  	they say they have always believed it." 
  	    The first attack upon me was:  Mrs. Eddy misinterprets
30	the Scriptures; second, she has stolen the contents of her
  	book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,"
 
                                                A Plea for Justice                             305


 1	from one P. P. Quimby (an obscure, uneducated man),
  	and that he is the founder of Christian Science. Failing
 3	in these attempts, the calumniator has resorted to Ralph
  	Waldo Emerson's philosophy as the authority for Christian
  	Science! Lastly, the defamer will declare as honestly (?),
 6	"I have always known it." 
  	    In Science and Health, page 68, third paragraph, I
  	briefly express myself unmistakably on the subject of
 9	"vulgar metaphysics," and the manuscripts and letters
  	in my possession, which "vulgar" defamers have circu-
  	lated, stand in evidence. People do not know who is
12	referred to as "an ignorant woman in New Hampshire." 
  	Many of the nation's best and most distinguished men
  	and women were natives of the Granite State. 
15	    I am the author of the Christian Science textbook,
  	"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures;" and
  	the demand for this book constantly increases. I am
18	rated in the National Magazine (1903) as "standing
  	eighth in a list of twenty-two of the foremost living
  	authors." 
21	    I claim no special merit of any kind. All that I am
  	in reality, God has made me. I still wait at the cross to
  	learn definitely more from my great Master, but not
24	of the Greek nor of the Roman schools — simply how to
  	do his works. 


  	                           A PLEA FOR JUSTICE 

27	    My recent reply to the reprint of a scandal in the
  	Literary Digest was not a question of "Who shall be
  	greatest?" but of "Who shall be just?" Who is or is
30	not the founder of Christian Science was not the trend
  	of thought, but my purpose was to lift the curtain on
 
                                                                 Miscellany                              306


 1	wrong, on falsehood which persistently misrepresents
  	my character, education, and authorship, and attempts
 3	to narrow my life into a conflict for fame. 
  	    Far be it from me to tread on the ashes of the dead or
  	to dissever any unity that may exist between Christian
 6	Science and the philosophy of a great and good man, for
  	such was Ralph Waldo Emerson; and I deem it unwise to
  	enter into a newspaper controversy over a question that
 9	is no longer a question. The false should be antagonized
  	only for the purpose of making the true apparent. I have
  	quite another purpose in life than to be thought great. 
12	Time and goodness determine greatness. The greatest
  	reform, with almost unutterable truths to translate,
  	must wait to be transfused into the practical and
15	to be understood in the "new tongue." Age, with
  	experience-acquired patience and unselfed love, waits
  	on God. Human merit or demerit will find its proper
18	level. Divinity alone solves the problem of human-
  	ity, and that in God's own time. "By their fruits ye
  	shall know them." 


21	                                  REMINISCENCES 

  	    In 1862, when I first visited Dr. Quimby of Portland,
  	Me., his scribblings were descriptions of his patients, and
24	these comprised the manuscripts which in 1887 I adver-
  	tised that I would pay for having published. Before his
  	decease, in January, 1866, Dr. Quimby had tried to get
27	them published and had failed. 
  	    Quotations have been published, purporting to be Dr.
  	Quimby's own words, which were written while I was his
30	patient in Portland and holding long conversations with
  	him on my views of mental therapeutics. Some words in
 
                                                         Reminiscences                            307


 1	these quotations certainly read like words that I said to
  	him, and which I, at his request, had added to his
 3	copy when I corrected it. In his conversations with
  	me and in his scribblings, the word science was not
  	used at all, till one day I declared to him that back
 6	of his magnetic treatment and manipulation of patients,
  	there was a science, and it was the science of mind,
  	which had nothing to do with matter, electricity, or
 9	physics. 
  	    After this I noticed he used that word, as well as other
  	terms which I employed that seemed at first new to him. 
12	He even acknowledged this himself, and startled me by
  	saying what I cannot forget — it was this: "I see now
  	what you mean, and I see that I am John, and that you
15	are Jesus." 
  	    At that date I was a staunch orthodox, and my theologi-
  	cal belief was offended by his saying and I entered a de-
18	murrer which rebuked him. But afterwards I concluded
  	that he only referred to the coming anew of Truth, which
  	we both desired; for in some respects he was quite a seer
21	and understood what I said better than some others did. 
  	For one so unlearned, he was a remarkable man. Had
  	his remark related to my personality, I should still think
24	that it was profane. 
  	    At first my case improved wonderfully under his
  	treatment, but it relapsed. I was gradually emerging
27	from materia medica, dogma, and creeds, and drifting
  	whither I knew not. This mental struggle might have
  	caused my illness. The fallacy of materia medica, its
30	lack of science, and the want of divinity in scholas-
  	tic theology, had already dawned on me. My ideal-
  	ism, however, limped, for then it lacked Science. But
  
                                                                 Miscellany                              308


1	the divine Love will accomplish what all the powers
  	of earth combined can never prevent being accom-
 3	plished — the advent of divine healing and its divine
  	Science. 


  	              REPLY  TO  McCLURE'S  MAGAZINE 

 6	    It is calumny on Christian Science to say that man is
  	aroused to thought or action only by ease, pleasure, or
  	recompense. Something higher, nobler, more imperative
 9	impels the impulse of Soul. 
  	    It becomes my duty to be just to the departed and to
  	tread not ruthlessly on their ashes. The attack on me
12	and my late father and his family in McClure's Magazine,
  	January, 1907, compels me as a dutiful child and the
  	Leader of Christian Science to speak. 
15	    McClure's Magazine refers to my father's "tall, gaunt
  	frame" and pictures "the old man tramping doggedly
  	along the highway, regularly beating the ground with a
18	huge walking-stick." My father's person was erect and
  	robust. He never used a walking-stick. To illustrate:
  	One time when my father was visiting Governor Pierce,
21	President Franklin Pierce's father, the Governor handed
  	him a gold-headed walking-stick as they were about to
  	start for church. My father thanked the Governor,
24	but declined to accept the stick, saying, "I never use
  	a cane." 
  	    Although McClure's Magazine attributes to my father
27	language unseemly, his household law, constantly en-
  	forced, was no profanity and no slang phrases. McClure's
  	Magazine also declares that the Bible was the only book
30	in his house. On the contrary, my father was a great
  	reader. The man whom McClure's Magazine characterizes
 
                               Reply to McClure’s Magazine                    309


 1	as "ignorant, dominating, passionate, fearless," was
  	uniformly dignified — a well-informed, intellectual man,
 3	cultivated in mind and manners. He was called upon
  	to do much business for his town, making out deeds,
  	settling quarrels, and even acting as counsel in a lawsuit
 6	involving a question of pauperism between the towns of
  	Loudon and Bow, N. H. Franklin Pierce, afterwards
  	President of the United States, was the counsel for
 9	Loudon and Mark Baker for Bow. Both entered their
  	pleas, and my father won the suit. After it was decided,
  	Mr. Pierce bowed to my father and congratulated him. 
12	For several years father was chaplain of the New
  	Hampshire State Militia, and as I recollect it, he was
  	justice of the peace at one time. My father was a
15	strong believer in States' rights, but slavery he regarded
  	as a great sin. 
  	    Mark Baker was the youngest of his father's family, and
18	inherited his father's real estate, an extensive farm situ-
  	ated in Bow and Concord, N. H. It is on record that
  	Mark Baker's father paid the largest tax in the colony. 
21	McClure's Magazine says, describing the Baker home-
  	stead at Bow: "The house itself was a small, square box
  	building of rudimentary architecture." My father's
24	house had a sloping roof, after the prevailing style of
  	architecture at that date. 
  	    McClure's Magazine states: "Alone of the Bakers, he
27	[Albert] received a liberal education. . . . Mary Baker
  	passed her first fifteen years at the ancestral home at Bow.  
  	It was a lonely and unstimulating existence.  The church
30	supplied the only social diversions, the district school
  	practically all the intellectual life." 
  	    Let us see what were the fruits of this "lonely and
 
                                                                 Miscellany                              310


 1	unstimulating existence." All my father's daughters were
  	given an academic education, sufficiently advanced so that
 3	they all taught school acceptably at various times and
  	places. My brother Albert was a distinguished lawyer. 
  	In addition to my academic training, I was privately
 6	tutored by him. He was a member of the New Hamp-
  	shire Legislature, and was nominated for Congress, but
  	died before the election. McClure's Magazine calls my
 9	youngest brother, George Sullivan Baker, "a workman in
  	a Tilton woolen mill." As a matter of fact, he was joint
  	partner with Alexander Tilton, and together they owned a
12	large manufacturing establishment in Tilton, N. H. His
  	military title of Colonel came from appointment on the
  	staff of the Governor of New Hampshire. My oldest
15	brother, Samuel D. Baker, carried on a large business in
  	Boston, Mass. 
  	    Regarding the allegation by McClure's Magazine that all
18	the family, "excepting Albert, died of cancer," I will
  	say that there was never a death in my father's family
  	reported by physician or post-mortem examination as
21	caused by cancer. 
  	    McClure's Magazine says that "the quarrels between
  	Mary, a child ten years old, and her father, a gray-haired
24	man of fifty, frequently set the house in an uproar,"
  	and adds that these "fits" were diagnosed by Dr. Ladd
  	as "hysteria mingled with bad temper." My mother
27	often presented my disposition as exemplary for her other
  	children to imitate, saying, "When do you ever see
  	Mary angry?" When the first edition of Science and
30	Health was published, Dr. Ladd said to Alexander Tilton:
  	"Read it, for it will do you good.  It does not surprise
  	me, it so resembles the author." 
  
                               Reply to McClure’s Magazine                    311


1	    I will relate the following incident, which occurred later
  	in life, as illustrative of my disposition: — 
 3	While I was living with Dr. Patterson at his country
  	home in North Groton, N. H., a girl, totally blind, knocked
  	at the door and was admitted. She begged to be allowed
 6	to remain with me, and my tenderness and sympathy were
  	such that I could not refuse her. Shortly after, however,
  	my good housekeeper said to me: "If this blind girl stays
 9	with you, I shall have to leave; she troubles me so much." 
  	It was not in my heart to turn the blind girl out, and so
  	I lost my housekeeper. 
12	    My reply to the statement that the clerk's book shows
  	that I joined the Tilton Congregational Church at the age
  	of seventeen is that my religious experience seemed to
15	culminate at twelve years of age. Hence a mistake may
  	have occurred as to the exact date of my first church
  	membership. 
18	    The facts regarding the McNeil coat-of-arms are as
  	follows: — 
  	Fanny McNeil, President Pierce's niece, afterwards
21	Mrs. Judge Potter, presented me my coat-of-arms, say-
  	ing that it was taken in connection with her own family
  	coat-of-arms. I never doubted the veracity of her gift. 
24	I have another coat-of-arms, which is of my mother's
  	ancestry. When I was last in Washington, D. C., Mrs.
  	Judge Potter and myself knelt in silent prayer on the
27	mound of her late father, General John McNeil, the
  	hero of Lundy Lane. 
  	    Notwithstanding that McClure's Magazine says, "Mary
30	Baker completed her education when she finished Smith's
  	grammar and reached long division in arithmetic," I was
  	called by the Rev. R. S. Rust, D.D., Principal of the
 
                                                                 Miscellany                              312


 1	Methodist Conference Seminary at Sanbornton Bridge, to
  	supply the place of his leading teacher during her tempo-
 3	rary absence. 
  	    Regarding my first marriage and the tragic death of my
  	husband, McClure's Magazine says: "He [George Wash-
 6	ington Glover] took his bride to Wilmington, South Caro-
  	lina, and in June, 1844, six months after his marriage, he
  	died of yellow fever.  He left his young wife in a miser-
 9	able plight.  She was far from home and entirely without
  	money or friends.  Glover, however, was a Free Mason,
  	and thus received a decent burial.  The Masons also paid
12	Mrs. Glover's fare to New York City, where she was
  	met and taken to her father's home by her brother George.  
  	. . . Her position was an embarrassing one.  She was a
15	grown woman, with a child, but entirely without means
  	of support. . . . Mrs. Glover made only one effort at
  	self-support.  For a brief season she taught school." 
18	    My first husband, Major George W. Glover, resided in
  	Charleston, S. C. While on a business trip to Wilming-
  	ton, N. C., he was suddenly seized with yellow fever and
21	died in about nine days. I was with him on this trip. 
  	He took with him the usual amount of money he would
  	need on such an excursion. At his decease I was sur-
24	rounded by friends, and their provisions in my behalf were
  	most tender. The Governor of the State and his staff,
  	with a long procession, followed the remains of my be-
27	loved one to the cemetery. The Free Masons selected
  	my escort, who took me to my father's home in Tilton,
  	N. H. My salary for writing gave me ample support. 
30	I did open an infant school, but it was for the purpose of
  	starting that educational system in New Hampshire. 
  	    The rhyme attributed to me by McClure's Magazine is
  
                               Reply to McClure’s Magazine                    313


1	not mine, but is, I understand, a paraphrase of a silly
  	song of years ago. Correctly quoted, it is as follows, so
 3	I have been told: — 

  	                                Go to Jane Glover,
  	                                Tell her I love her;
 6	                                By the light of the moon
  	                                I will go to her. 


  	    The various stories told by McClure's Magazine about
 9	my father spreading the road in front of his house with
  	tan-bark and straw, and about persons being hired to rock
  	me, I am ignorant of. Nor do I remember any such stuff
12	as Dr. Patterson driving into Franklin, N. H., with a
  	couch or cradle for me in his wagon. I only know that
  	my father and mother did everything they could think of
15	to help me when I was ill. 
  	    I was never "given to long and lonely wanderings,
  	especially at night," as stated by McClure's Magazine. I
18	was always accompanied by some responsible individual
  	when I took an evening walk, but I seldom took one. I
  	have always consistently declared that I was not a medium
21	for spirits. I never was especially interested in the
  	Shakers, never "dabbled in mesmerism," never was "an
  	amateur clairvoyant," nor did "the superstitious coun-
24	try folk frequently" seek my advice. I never went
  	into a trance to describe scenes far away, as McClure's
  	Magazine says. 
27	    My oldest sister dearly loved me, but I wounded her
  	pride when I adopted Christian Science, and to a Baker
  	that was a sorry offence. I was obliged to be parted
30	from my son, because after my father's second marriage
  	my little boy was not welcome in my father's house. 
  
                                                                 Miscellany                              314


1	    McClure's Magazine calls Dr. Daniel Patterson, my
  	second husband, "an itinerant dentist." It says that
 3	after my marriage we "lived for a short time at Tilton,
  	then moved to Franklin. . . .  During the following nine
  	years the Pattersons led a roving existence.  The doctor
 6	practised in several towns, from Tilton to North Groton
  	and then to Rumney." When I was married to him, Dr.
  	Daniel Patterson was located in Franklin, N. H. He had
 9	the degree D.D.S., was a popular man, and considered a
  	rarely skilful dentist. He bought a place in North Groton,
  	which he fancied, for a summer home. At that time he
12	owned a house in Franklin, N. H. 
  	    Although, as McClure's Magazine claims, the court
  	record may state that my divorce from Dr. Patterson was
15	granted on the ground of desertion, the cause neverthe-
  	less was adultery. Individuals are here to-day who were
  	present in court when the decision was given by the judge
18	and who know the following facts:  After the evidence
  	had been submitted that a husband was about to have Dr.
  	Patterson arrested for eloping with his wife, the court
21	instructed the clerk to record the divorce in my favor. 
  	What prevented Dr. Patterson's arrest was a letter from
  	me to this self-same husband, imploring him not to do it. 
24	When this husband recovered his wife, he kept her a
  	prisoner in her home, and I was also the means of recon-
  	ciling the couple. A Christian Scientist has told me that
27	with tears of gratitude the wife of this husband related
  	these facts to her just as I have stated them. I lived
  	with Dr. Patterson peaceably, and he was kind to me up
30	to the time of the divorce. 
  	    The following affidavit by R. D. Rounsevel of Littleton,
  	N. H., proprietor of the White Mountain House, Fabyans,
 
                               Reply to McClure’s Magazine                    315


1 1	N. H., the original of which is in my possession, is of
  	interest in this connection: — 

 3	About the year 1874, Dr. Patterson, a dentist, boarded
  	with me in Littleton, New Hampshire. During his stay,
  	at different times, I had conversation with him about his
 6	wife, from whom he was separated. He spoke of her being
  	a pure and Christian woman, and the cause of the separa-
  	tion being wholly on his part; that if he had done as he
 9	ought, he might have had as pleasant and happy home as
  	one could wish for. 
  	    At that time I had no knowledge of who his wife was. 
12	Later on I learned that Mary Baker G. Eddy, the Dis-
  	coverer and Founder of Christian Science, was the above-
  	mentioned woman. 

15	                                       (Signed) R. D. ROUNSEVEL 


  	    Grafton S. S. Jan'y, 1902. Then personally appeared
  	R. D. Rounsevel and made oath that the within statement
18	by him signed is true. 

  	    Before me,                        (Signed) H. M. MORSE,
  	                                                              Justice of the Peace 


21	    Who or what is the McClure "history," so called, pre-
  	senting? Is it myself, the veritable Mrs. Eddy, whom
  	the New York World declared dying of cancer, or is it
24	her alleged double or dummy heretofore described? 
  	    If indeed it be I, allow me to thank the enterprising
  	historians for the testimony they have thereby given of the
27	divine power of Christian Science, which they admit has
  	snatched me from the cradle and the grave, and made
  	me the beloved Leader of millions of the good men and
30	women in our own and in other countries, — and all this
 
                                                                 Miscellany                              316


 1	because the truth I have promulgated has separated the
  	tares from the wheat, uniting in one body those who love
 3	Truth; because Truth divides between sect and Science
  	and renews the heavenward impulse; because I still hear
  	the harvest song of the Redeemer awakening the nations,
 6	causing man to love his enemies; because "blessed are ye,
  	when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall
  	say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." 


 9	               [Christian Science Sentinel, January 19, 1907] 

  	                                             A  CARD 

  	    The article in the January number of The Arena maga-
12	zine, entitled "The Recent Reckless and Irresponsible
  	Attacks on Christian Science and its Founder, with a
  	Survey of the Christian Science Movement," by the
15	scholarly editor, Mr. B. O. Flower, is a grand defence of
  	our Cause and its Leader. Such a dignified, eloquent
  	appeal to the press in behalf of common justice and truth
18	demands public attention. It defends human rights and
  	the freedom of Christian sentiments, and tends to turn
  	back the foaming torrents of ignorance, envy, and malice. 
21	I am pleased to find this "twentieth-century review of
  	opinion" once more under Mr. Flower's able guardianship
  	and manifesting its unbiased judgment by such sound
24	appreciation of the rights of Christian Scientists and of
  	all that is right. 

  	                                                  MARY BAKER EDDYSHOW ALL