,,christian ,,science by ,mark ,twain ,,preface ,book ,i of this volume occupies a quarter or a third of the volume1 and consists of matter written about four years ago1 but not hitherto published in book form4 ,it contained errors of judgment and of fact4 ,i have now corrected these to the best of my ability and later knowledge4 ,book ,,ii was written at the beginning of #aijc1 and has not until now appeared in any form4 ,in it my purpose has been to present a character-portrait of ,mrs4 ,eddy1 drawn from her own acts and words solely1 not from hearsay and rumor2 and to explain the nature and scope of her ,monarchy1 as revealed in the ,laws by which she governs it1 and which she wrote herself4 ,,mark ,,twain ,,new ,,york4 ,january1 #aijg4 ,,book ,i ,,christian ,,science 8,it is the first time since the dawn-days of ,creation that a ,voice has gone crashing through space with such placid and complacent confidence and command40 ,,chapter ,i ,,vienna #ahii4 ,this last summer1 when ,i was on my way back to ,vienna from the ,appetite-,cure in the mountains1 ,i fell over a cliff in the twilight1 and broke some arms and legs and one thing or another1 and by good luck was found by some peasants who had lost an ass1 and they carried me to the nearest habitation1 which was one of those large1 low1 thatch-roofed farm-houses1 with apartments in the garret for the family1 and a cunning little porch under the deep gable decorated with boxes of bright colored flowers and cats2 on the ground floor a large and light sitting-room1 separated from the milch-cattle apartment by a partition2 and in the front yard rose stately and fine the wealth and pride of the house1 the manure-pile4 ,that sentence is ,germanic1 and shows that ,i am acquiring that sort of mastery of the art and spirit of the language which enables a man to travel all day in one sentence without changing cars4 ,there was a village a mile away1 and a horse doctor lived there1 but there was no surgeon4 ,it seemed a bad outlook2 mine was distinctly a surgery case4 ,then it was remembered that a lady from ,boston was summering in that village1 and she was a ,christian ,science doctor and could cure anything4 ,so she was sent for4 ,it was night by this time1 and she could not conveniently come1 but sent word that it was no matter1 there was no hurry1 she would give me 8absent treatment0 now1 and come in the morning2 meantime she begged me to make myself tranquil and comfortable and remember that there was nothing the matter with me4 ,i thought there must be some mistake4 8,did you tell her ,i walked off a cliff seventy-five feet high80 8,yes40 8,and struck a boulder at the bottom and bounced80 8,yes40 8,and struck another one and bounced again80 8,yes40 8,and struck another one and bounced yet again80 8,yes40 8,and broke the boulders80 8,yes40 8,that accounts for it2 she is thinking of the boulders4 ,why didn't you tell her ,i got hurt1 too80 8,i did4 ,i told her what you told me to tell her3 that you were now but an incoherent series of compound fractures extending from your scalp-lock to your heels1 and that the comminuted projections caused you to look like a hat-rack40 8,and it was after this that she wished me to remember that there was nothing the matter with me80 8,those were her words40 8,i do not understand it4 ,i believe she has not diagnosed the case with sufficient care4 ,did she look like a person who was theorizing1 or did she look like one who has fallen off precipices herself and brings to the aid of abstract science the confirmations of personal experience80 8,bitte80 ,it was too large a contract for the ,stubenmadchen's vocabulary2 she couldn't call the hand4 ,i allowed the subject to rest there1 and asked for something to eat and smoke1 and something hot to drink1 and a basket to pile my legs in2 but ,i could not have any of these things4 8,why80 8,she said you would need nothing at all40 8,but ,i am hungry and thirsty1 and in desperate pain40 8,she said you would have these delusions1 but must pay no attention to them4 ,she wants you to particularly remember that there are no such things as hunger and thirst and pain4'' 8,she does does she80 8,it is what she said40 8,does she seem to be in full and functionable possession of her intellectual plant1 such as it is80 8,bitte80 8,do they let her run at large1 or do they tie her up80 8,tie her up80 8,there1 good-night1 run along1 you are a good girl1 but your mental ,geschirr is not arranged for light and airy conversation4 ,leave me to my delusions40 ,,chapter ,,ii ,it was a night of anguish1 of course--at least1 ,i supposed it was1 for it had all the symptoms of it--but it passed at last1 and the ,christian ,scientist came1 and ,i was glad ,she was middle-aged1 and large and bony1 and erect1 and had an austere face and a resolute jaw and a ,roman beak and was a widow in the third degree1 and her name was ,fuller4 ,i was eager to get to business and find relief1 but she was distressingly deliberate4 ,she unpinned and unhooked and uncoupled her upholsteries one by one1 abolished the wrinkles with a flirt of her hand1 and hung the articles up2 peeled off her gloves and disposed of them1 got a book out of her hand-bag1 then drew a chair to the bedside1 descended into it without hurry1 and ,i hung out my tongue4 ,she said1 with pity but without passion3 8,return it to its receptacle4 ,we deal with the mind only1 not with its dumb servants40 ,i could not offer my pulse1 because the connection was broken2 but she detected the apology before ,i could word it1 and indicated by a negative tilt of her head that the pulse was another dumb servant that she had no use for4 ,then ,i thought ,i would tell her my symptoms and how ,i felt1 so that she would understand the case2 but that was another inconsequence1 she did not need to know those things2 moreover1 my remark about how ,i felt was an abuse of language1 a misapplication of terms4 8,one does not feel10 she explained2 8there is no such thing as feeling3 therefore1 to speak of a non-existent thing as existent is a contradiction4 ,matter has no existence2 nothing exists but mind2 the mind cannot feel pain1 it can only imagine it40 8,but if it hurts1 just the same--0 8,it doesn't4 ,a thing which is unreal cannot exercise the functions of reality4 ,pain is unreal2 hence1 pain cannot hurt40 ,in making a sweeping gesture to indicate the act of shooing the illusion of pain out of the mind1 she raked her hand on a pin in her dress1 said 8,ouch60 and went tranquilly on with her talk4 8,you should never allow yourself to speak of how you feel1 nor permit others to ask you how you are feeling2 you should never concede that you are ill1 nor permit others to talk about disease or pain or death or similar nonexistences in your presence4 ,such talk only encourages the mind to continue its empty imaginings40 ,just at that point the ,stuben-madchen trod on the cat's tail1 and the cat let fly a frenzy of cat-profanity4 ,i asked1 with caution3 8,is a cat's opinion about pain valuable80 8,a cat has no opinion2 opinions proceed from mind only2 the lower animals1 being eternally perishable1 have not been granted mind2 without mind1 opinion is impossible40 8,she merely imagined she felt a pain--the cat80 8,she cannot imagine a pain1 for imagining is an effect of mind2 without mind1 there is no imagination4 ,a cat has no imagination40 8,then she had a real pain80 8,i have already told you there is no such thing as real pain40 8,it is strange and interesting4 ,i do wonder what was the matter with the cat4 ,because1 there being no such thing as a real pain1 and she not being able to imagine an imaginary one1 it would seem that ,god in ,his pity has compensated the cat with some kind of a mysterious emotion usable when her tail is trodden on which1 for the moment1 joins cat and ,christian in one common brotherhood of--0 ,she broke in with an irritated-- 8,peace6 ,the cat feels nothing1 the ,christian feels nothing4 ,your empty and foolish imaginings are profanation and blasphemy1 and can do you an injury4 ,it is wiser and better and holier to recognize and confess that there is no such thing as disease or pain or death40 8,i am full of imaginary tortures10 ,i said1 8but ,i do not think ,i could be any more uncomfortable if they were real ones4 ,what must ,i do to get rid of them80 8,there is no occasion to get rid of them since they do not exist4 ,they are illusions propagated by matter1 and matter has no existence2 there is no such thing as matter40 8,it sounds right and clear1 but yet it seems in a degree elusive2 it seems to slip through1 just when you think you are getting a grip on it40 8,explain40 8,well1 for instance3 if there is no such thing as matter1 how can matter propagate things80 ,in her compassion she almost smiled4 ,she would have smiled if there were any such thing as a smile4 8,it is quite simple10 she said2 8the fundamental propositions of ,christian ,science explain it1 and they are summarized in the four following self-evident propositions3 #a4 ,god is ,all in all4 #b4 ,god is good4 ,good is ,mind #c4 ,god1 ,spirit1 being all1 nothing is matter #d4 ,life1 ,god1 omnipotent ,good1 deny death1 evil1 sin1 disease4 8,there--now you see40 ,it seemed nebulous2 it did not seem to say anything about the difficulty in hand--how non-existent matter can propagate illusions ,i said1 with some hesitancy3 8,does--does it explain80 8,doesn't it8 ,even if read backward it will do it40 ,with a budding hope1 ,i asked her to do it backwards4 8,very well4 ,disease sin evil death deny ,good omnipotent ,god life matter is nothing all being ,spirit ,god ,mind is ,good good is ,god all in ,all is ,god4 ,there do you understand now8 8,it--it--well1 it is plainer than it was before2 still--0 8,well80 8,could you try it some more ways80 8,as many as you like2 it always means the same4 ,interchanged in any way you please it cannot be made to mean anything different from what it means when put in any other way4 ,because it is perfect4 ,you can jumble it all up1 and it makes no difference3 it always comes out the way it was before4 ,it was a marvelous mind that produced it4 ,as a mental tour de force it is without a mate1 it defies alike the simple1 the concrete1 and the occult40 8,it seems to be a corker40 ,i blushed for the word1 but it was out before ,i could stop it4 8,a what80 8,a--wonderful structure--combination1 so to speak1 of profound thoughts--unthinkable ones--um--0 8,it is true4 ,read backward1 or forward1 or perpendicularly1 or at any given angle1 these four propositions will always be found to agree in statement and proof40 8,ah--proof4 ,now we are coming at it4 ,the statements agree2 they agree with--with--anyway1 they agree2 ,i noticed that2 but what is it they prove ,i mean1 in particular80 8,why1 nothing could be clearer4 ,they prove3 8#a4 ,,god--,principle1 ,life1 ,truth1 ,love1 ,soul1 ,spirit1 ,mind4 ,do you get that80 8,i--well1 ,i seem to4 ,go on1 please40 8#b4 ,,man--,god's universal idea1 individual1 perfect1 eternal4 ,is it clear80 8,it--,i think so4 ,continue40 8#c4 ,,idea--,an image in ,mind2 the immediate object of understanding4 ,there it is--the whole sublime ,arcana of ,christian ,science in a nutshell4 ,do you find a weak place in it anywhere80 8,well--no2 it seems strong40 8,very well ,there is more4 ,those three constitute the ,scientific ,definition of ,immortal ,mind4 ,next1 we have the ,scientific ,definition of ,mortal ,mind4 ,thus4 ,,first ,,degree3 ,depravity ,i4 ,physical-,passions and appetites1 fear1 depraved will1 pride1 envy1 deceit1 hatred1 revenge1 sin1 disease1 death40 8,phantasms1 madam--unrealities1 as ,i understand it40 8,every one4 ,,second ,,degree3 ,evil ,disappearing4 ,i4 ,moral-,honesty1 affection1 compassion1 hope1 faith1 meekness1 temperance4 ,is it clear80 8,crystal40 8,,third ,,degree3 ,spiritual ,salvation4 ,i4 ,spiritual-,faith1 wisdom1 power1 purity1 understanding1 health1 love4 ,you see how searchingly and co-ordinately interdependent and anthropomorphous it all is4 ,in this ,third ,degree1 as we know by the revelations of ,christian ,science1 mortal mind disappears40 8,not earlier80 8,no1 not until the teaching and preparation for the ,third ,degree are completed40 8,it is not until then that one is enabled to take hold of ,christian ,science effectively1 and with the right sense of sympathy and kinship1 as ,i understand you4 ,that is to say1 it could not succeed during the processes of the ,second ,degree1 because there would still be remains of mind left2 and therefore--but ,i interrupted you4 ,you were about to further explain the good results proceeding from the erosions and disintegrations effected by the ,third ,degree4 ,it is very interesting2 go on1 please40 8,yes1 as ,i was saying1 in this ,third ,degree mortal mind disappears4 ,science so reverses the evidence before the corporeal human senses as to make this scriptural testimony true in our hearts1 'the last shall be first and the first shall be last1' that ,god and ,his idea may be to us--what divinity really is1 and must of necessity be all-inclusive40 8,it is beautiful4 ,and with what exhaustive exactness your choice and arrangement of words confirm and establish what you have claimed for the powers and functions of the ,third ,degree4 ,the ,second could probably produce only temporary absence of mind2 it is reserved to the ,third to make it permanent4 ,a sentence framed under the auspices of the ,second could have a kind of meaning--a sort of deceptive semblance of it--whereas it is only under the magic of the ,third that that defect would disappear4 ,also1 without doubt1 it is the ,third ,degree that contributes another remarkable specialty to ,christian ,science--viz41 ease and flow and lavishness of words1 and rhythm and swing and smoothness4 ,there must be a special reason for this80 8,yes--,god--all1 all--,god1 good ,god1 non-,matter1 ,matteration1 ,spirit1 ,bones1 ,truth40 8,that explains it40 8,there is nothing in ,christian ,science that is not explicable2 for ,god is one1 ,time is one1 ,individuality is one1 and may be one of a series1 one of many1 as an individual man1 individual horse2 whereas ,god is one1 not one of a series1 but one alone and without an equal40 8,these are noble thoughts4 ,they make one burn to know more4 ,how does ,christian ,science explain the spiritual relation of systematic duality to incidental deflection80 8,christian ,science reverses the seeming relation of ,soul and body--as astronomy reverses the human perception of the movement of the solar system--and makes body tributary to the ,mind4 ,as it is the earth which is in motion1 ,while the sun is at rest1 though in viewing the sun rise one finds it impossible to believe the sun not to be really rising1 so the body is but the humble servant of the restful ,mind1 though it seems otherwise to finite sense2 but we shall never understand this while we admit that soul is in body1 or mind in matter1 and that man is included in non-intelligence4 ,soul is ,god1 unchangeable and eternal2 and man coexists with and reflects ,soul1 for the ,all-in-all is the ,altogether1 and the ,altogether embraces the ,all-one1 ,soul-,mind1 ,mind-,soul1 ,love1 ,spirit1 ,bones1 ,liver1 one of a series1 alone and without an equal40 8,what is the origin of ,christian ,science8 ,is it a gift of ,god1 or did it just happen80 8,in a sense1 it is a gift of ,god4 ,that is to say1 its powers are from ,him1 but the credit of the discovery of the powers and what they are for is due to an ,american lady40 8,indeed8 ,when did this occur80 8,in #ahff4 ,that is the immortal date when pain and disease and death disappeared from the earth to return no more forever4 ,that is1 the fancies for which those terms stand disappeared4 ,the things themselves had never existed2 therefore1 as soon as it was perceived that there were no such things1 they were easily banished4 ,the history and nature of the great discovery are set down in the book here1 and--0 8,did the lady write the book80 8,yes1 she wrote it all1 herself4 ,the title is ,science and ,health1 with ,key to the ,scriptures--for she explains the ,scriptures2 they were not understood before4 ,not even by the twelve ,disciples4 ,she begins thus--,i will read it to you40 ,but she had forgotten to bring her glasses4 8,well1 it is no matter10 she said4 8,i remember the words--indeed1 all ,christian ,scientists know the book by heart2 it is necessary in our practice4 ,we should otherwise make mistakes and do harm4 ,she begins thus3 ',in the year #ahff ,i discovered the ,science of ,metaphysical ,healing1 and named it ,christian ,science4' ,and ,she says quite beautifully1 ,i think--',through ,christian ,science1 religion and medicine are inspired with a diviner nature and essence1 fresh pinions are given to faith and understanding1 and thoughts acquaint themselves intelligently with ,god4' ,her very words40 8,it is elegant4 ,and it is a fine thought1 too--marrying religion to medicine1 instead of medicine to the undertaker in the old way2 for religion and medicine properly belong together1 they being the basis of all spiritual and physical health4 ,what kind of medicine do you give for the ordinary diseases1 such as--0 8,we never give medicine in any circumstances whatever6 ,we--0 8,but1 madam1 it says--0 8,i don't care what it says1 and ,i don't wish to talk about it40 8,i am sorry if ,i have offended1 but you see the mention seemed in some way inconsistent1 and--0 8,there are no inconsistencies in ,christian ,science4 ,the thing is impossible1 for the ,science is absolute4 ,it cannot be otherwise1 since it proceeds directly from the ,all-in-all and the ,everything-in-,which1 also ,soul1 ,bones1 ,truth1 one of a series1 alone and without equal4 ,it is ,mathematics purified from material dross and made spiritual40 8,i can see that1 but--0 8,it rests upon the immovable basis of an ,apodictical ,principle40 ,the word flattened itself against my mind in trying to get in1 and disordered me a little1 and before ,i could inquire into its pertinency1 she was already throwing the needed light3 8,this ,apodictical ,principle is the absolute ,principle of ,scientific ,mind-healing1 the sovereign ,omnipotence which delivers the children of men from pain1 disease1 decay1 and every ill that flesh is heir to40 8,surely not every ill1 every decay80 8,every one2 there are no exceptions2 there is no such thing as decay--it is an unreality1 it has no existence40 8,but without your glasses your failing eyesight does not permit you to--0 8,my eyesight cannot fail2 nothing can fail2 the ,mind is master1 and the ,mind permits no retrogression40 ,she was under the inspiration of the ,third ,degree1 therefore there could be no profit in continuing this part of the subject4 ,i shifted to other ground and inquired further concerning the ,discoverer of the ,science4 8,did the discovery come suddenly1 like ,klondike1 or after long study and calculation1 like ,america80 8,the comparisons are not respectful1 since they refer to trivialities--but let it pass4 ,i will answer in the ,discoverer's own words3 ',god had been graciously fitting me1 during many years1 for the reception of a final revelation of the absolute ,principle of ,scientific ,mind-healing4'0 8,many years4 ,how many80 8,eighteen centuries60 8,all--,god1 ,god--good1 good--,god1 ,truth1 ,bones1 ,liver1 one of a series1 alone and without equal--it is amazing60 8,you may well say it1 sir4 ,yet it is but the truth ,this ,american lady1 our revered and sacred ,founder1 is distinctly referred to1 and her coming prophesied1 in the twelfth chapter of the ,apocalypse2 she could not have been more plainly indicated by ,st4 ,john without actually mentioning her name40 8,how strange1 how wonderful60 8,i will quote her own words1 from her ,key to the ,scriptures3 ',the twelfth chapter of the ,apocalypse has a special suggestiveness in connection with this nineteenth century4' ,there--do you note that8 ,think--note it well40 8,but--what does it mean80 8,listen1 and you will know4 ,i quote her inspired words again3 ',in the opening of the ,sixth ,seal1 typical of six thousand years since ,adam1 there is one distinctive feature which has special reference to the present age4 ,thus3 8',revelation xii4 ,i4 ,and there appeared a great wonder in heaven--a woman clothed with the sun1 and the moon under her feet1 and upon her head a crown of twelve stars4' 8,that is our ,head1 our ,chief1 our ,discoverer of ,christian ,science--nothing can be plainer1 nothing surer4 ,and note this3 8',revelation xii4 #f4 ,and the woman fled into the wilderness1 where she had a place prepared of ,god4' 8,that is ,boston4 ,i recognize it1 madam4 ,these are sublime things1 and impressive2 ,i never understood these passages before2 please go on with the--with the--proofs40 8,very well4 ,listen3 8',and ,i saw another mighty angel come down from heaven1 clothed with a cloud2 and a rainbow was upon his head1 and his face was as it were the sun1 and his feet as pillars of fire4 ,and he held in his hand a little book4' 8,a little book1 merely a little book--could words be modester8 ,yet how stupendous its importance6 ,do you know what book that was80 8,was it--0 8,i hold it in my hand--,christian ,science60 8,love1 ,livers1 ,lights1 ,bones1 ,truth1 ,kidneys1 one of a series1 alone and without equal--it is beyond imagination for wonder60 8,hear our ,founder's eloquent words3 ',then will a voice from harmony cry1 8,go and take the little book3 take it and eat it up1 and it shall make thy belly bitter2 but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey40 ,mortal1 obey the heavenly evangel4 ,take up ,divine ,science4 ,read it from beginning to end4 ,study it1 ponder it4 ,it will be1 indeed1 sweet at its first taste1 when it heals you2 but murmur not over ,truth1 if you find its digestion bitter4' ,you now know the history of our dear and holy ,science1 sir1 and that its origin is not of this earth1 but only its discovery4 ,i will leave the book with you and will go1 now2 but give yourself no uneasiness--,i will give you absent treatment from now till ,i go to bed40 ,,chapter ,,iii ,under the powerful influence of the near treatment and the absent treatment together1 my bones were gradually retreating inward and disappearing from view4 ,the good work took a brisk start1 now1 and went on swiftly4 ,my body was diligently straining and stretching1 this way and that1 to accommodate the processes of restoration1 and every minute or two ,i heard a dull click inside and knew that the two ends of a fracture had been successfully joined4 ,this muffled clicking and gritting and grinding and rasping continued during the next three hours1 and then stopped--the connections had all been made4 ,all except dislocations2 there were only seven of these3 hips1 shoulders1 knees1 neck2 so that was soon over2 one after another they slipped into their sockets with a sound like pulling a distant cork1 and ,i jumped up as good as new1 as to framework1 and sent for the horse-doctor4 ,i was obliged to do this because ,i had a stomach-ache and a cold in the head1 and ,i was not willing to trust these things any longer in the hands of a woman whom ,i did not know1 and whose ability to successfully treat mere disease ,i had lost all confidence4 ,my position was justified by the fact that the cold and the ache had been in her charge from the first1 along with the fractures1 but had experienced not a shade of relief2 and1 indeed1 the ache was even growing worse and worse1 and more and more bitter1 now1 probably on account of the protracted abstention from food and drink4 ,the horse-doctor came1 a pleasant man and full of hope and professional interest in the case4 ,in the matter of smell he was pretty aromatic--in fact1 quite horsy--and ,i tried to arrange with him for absent treatment1 but it was not in his line1 so1 out of delicacy1 ,i did not press it4 ,he looked at my teeth and examined my hock1 and said my age and general condition were favorable to energetic measures2 therefore he would give me something to turn the stomach-ache into the botts and the cold in the head into the blind staggers2 then he should be on his own beat and would know what to do4 ,he made up a bucket of bran-mash1 and said a dipperful of it every two hours1 alternated with a drench with turpentine and axle-grease in it1 would either knock my ailments out of me in twenty-four hours1 or so interest me in other ways as to make me forget they were on the premises4 ,he administered my first dose himself1 then took his leave1 saying ,i was free to eat and drink anything ,i pleased and in any quantity ,i liked4 ,but ,i was not hungry any more1 and did not care for food4 ,i took up the ,christian ,science book and read half of it1 then took a dipperful of drench and read the other half4 ,the resulting experiences were full of interest and adventure4 ,all through the rumblings and grindings and quakings and effervescings accompanying the evolution of the ache into the botts and the cold into the blind staggers ,i could note the generous struggle for mastery going on between the mash and the drench and the literature2 and often ,i could tell which was ahead1 and could easily distinguish the literature from the others when the others were separate1 though not when they were mixed2 for when a bran-mash and an eclectic drench are mixed together they look just like the ,apodictical ,principle out on a lark1 and no one can tell it from that4 ,the finish was reached at last1 the evolutions were complete1 and a fine success1 but ,i think that this result could have been achieved with fewer materials4 ,i believe the mash was necessary to the conversion of the stomach-ache into the botts1 but ,i think one could develop the blind staggers out of the literature by itself2 also1 that blind staggers produced in this way would be of a better quality and more lasting than any produced by the artificial processes of the horse-doctor4 ,for of all the strange and frantic and incomprehensible and uninterpretable books which the imagination of man has created1 surely this one is the prize sample4 ,it is written with a limitless confidence and complacency1 and with a dash and stir and earnestness which often compel the effects of eloquence1 even when the words do not seem to have any traceable meaning4 ,there are plenty of people who imagine they understand the book2 ,i know this1 for ,i have talked with them2 but in all cases they were people who also imagined that there were no such things as pain1 sickness1 and death1 and no realities in the world2 nothing actually existent but ,mind4 ,it seems to me to modify the value of their testimony4 ,when these people talk about ,christian ,science they do as ,mrs4 ,fuller did3 they do not use their own language1 but the book's2 they pour out the book's showy incoherences1 and leave you to find out later that they were not originating1 but merely quoting2 they seem to know the volume by heart1 and to revere it as they would a ,bible--another ,bible1 perhaps ,i ought to say4 ,plainly the book was written under the mental desolations of the ,third ,degree1 and ,i feel sure that none but the membership of that ,degree can discover meanings in it4 ,when you read it you seem to be listening to a lively and aggressive and oracular speech delivered in an unknown tongue1 a speech whose spirit you get but not the particulars2 or1 to change the figure1 you seem to be listening to a vigorous instrument which is making a noise which it thinks is a tune1 but which1 to persons not members of the band1 is only the martial tooting of a trombone1 and merrily stirs the soul through the noise1 but does not convey a meaning4 ,the book's serenities of self-satisfaction do almost seem to smack of a heavenly origin--they have no blood-kin in the earth4 ,it is more than human to be so placidly certain about things1 and so finely superior1 and so airily content with one's performance4 ,without ever presenting anything which may rightfully be called by the strong name of ,evidence1 and sometimes without even mentioning a reason for a deduction at all1 it thunders out the startling words1 8,i have ,proved0 so and so4 ,it takes the ,pope and all the great guns of his ,church in battery assembled to authoritatively settle and establish the meaning of a sole and single unclarified passage of ,scripture1 and this at vast cost of time and study and reflection1 but the author of this work is superior to all that3 she finds the whole ,bible in an unclarified audition1 and at small expense of time and no expense of mental effort she clarifies it from lid to lid1 reorganizes and improves the meanings1 then authoritatively settles and establishes them with formulas which you cannot tell from 8,let there be light60 and 8,here you have it60 ,it is the first time since the dawn-days of ,creation that a ,voice has gone crashing through space with such placid and complacent confidence and command4 ,january1 #aijc4 ,the first reading of any book whose terminology is new and strange is nearly sure to leave the reader in a bewildered and sarcastic state of mind4 ,but now that1 during the past two months1 ,i have1 by diligence gained a fair acquaintanceship with ,science and ,health technicalities1 ,i no longer find the bulk of that work hard to understand4--,m4 ,t4 ,p4,s4 ,the wisdom harvested from the foregoing thoughts has already done me a service and saved me a sorrow4 ,nearly a month ago there came to me from one of the universities a tract by ,dr4 ,edward ,anthony ,spitzka on the 8,encephalic ,anatomy of the ,races40 ,i judged that my opinion was desired by the university1 and ,i was greatly pleased with this attention and wrote and said ,i would furnish it as soon as ,i could4 ,that night ,i put my plodding and disheartening ,christian ,science mining aside and took hold of the matter4 ,i wrote an eager chapter1 and was expecting to finish my opinion the next day1 but was called away for a week1 and my mind was soon charged with other interests4 ,it was not until to-day1 after the lapse of nearly a month1 that ,i happened upon my ,encephalic chapter again4 ,meantime1 the new wisdom had come to me1 and ,i read it with shame4 ,i recognized that ,i had entered upon that work in far from the right temper--far from the respectful and judicial spirit which was its due of reverence4 ,i had begun upon it with the following paragraph for fuel3 8,,fissures ,,of ,,the ,,parietal ,,and ,,occipital ,,lobes 7,,lateral ,,surface74--,the ,postcentral ,fissural ,complex--,in this hemicerebrum1 the postcentral and subcentral are combined to form a continuous fissure1 attaining a length of #h4e cm4 ,dorsally1 the fissure bifurcates1 embracing the gyre indented by the caudal limb of the paracentral4 ,the caudal limb of the postcentral is joined by a transparietal piece4 ,in all1 five additional rami spring from the combined fissure4 ,a vadum separates it from the parietal2 another from the central40 ,it humiliates me1 now1 to see how angry ,i got over that2 and how scornful4 ,i said that the style was disgraceful2 that it was labored and tumultuous1 and in places violent1 that the treatment was involved and erratic1 and almost1 as a rule1 bewildering2 that to lack of simplicity was added a lack of vocabulary2 that there was quite too much feeling shown2 that if ,i had a dog that would get so excited and incoherent over a tranquil subject like ,encephalic ,anatomy ,i would not pay his tax2 and at that point ,i got excited myself and spoke bitterly of these mongrel insanities1 and said a person might as well try to understand ,science and ,health4 ,i know1 now1 where the trouble was1 and am glad of the interruption that saved me from sending my verdict to the university4 ,it makes me cold to think what those people might have thought of me4--,m4 ,t4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,no one doubts--certainly not ,i--that the mind exercises a powerful influence over the body4 ,from the beginning of time1 the sorcerer1 the interpreter of dreams1 the fortune-teller1 the charlatan1 the quack1 the wild medicine-man1 the educated physician1 the mesmerist1 and the hypnotist have made use of the client's imagination to help them in their work4 ,they have all recognized the potency and availability of that force4 ,physicians cure many patients with a bread pill2 they know that where the disease is only a fancy1 the patient's confidence in the doctor will make the bread pill effective4 ,faith in the doctor4 ,perhaps that is the entire thing4 ,it seems to look like it4 ,in old times the ,king cured the king's evil by the touch of the royal hand4 ,he frequently made extraordinary cures4 ,could his footman have done it8 ,no--not in his own clothes4 ,disguised as the ,king1 could he have done it8 ,i think we may not doubt it4 ,i think we may feel sure that it was not the ,king's touch that made the cure in any instance1 but the patient's faith in the efficacy of a ,king's touch4 ,genuine and remarkable cures have been achieved through contact with the relics of a saint4 ,is it not likely that any other bones would have done as well if the substitution had been concealed from the patient8 ,when ,i was a boy a farmer's wife who lived five miles from our village had great fame as a faith-doctor--that was what she called herself4 ,sufferers came to her from all around1 and she laid her hand upon them and said1 8,have faith--it is all that is necessary10 and they went away well of their ailments4 ,she was not a religious woman1 and pretended to no occult powers4 ,she said that the patient's faith in her did the work4 ,several times ,i saw her make immediate cures of severe toothaches4 ,my mother was the patient4 ,in ,austria there is a peasant who drives a great trade in this sort of industry1 and has both the high and the low for patients4 ,he gets into prison every now and then for practising without a diploma1 but his business is as brisk as ever when he gets out1 for his work is unquestionably successful and keeps his reputation high4 ,in ,bavaria there is a man who performed so many great cures that he had to retire from his profession of stage-carpentering in order to meet the demand of his constantly increasing body of customers4 ,he goes on from year to year doing his miracles1 and has become very rich4 ,he pretends to no religious helps1 no supernatural aids1 but thinks there is something in his make-up which inspires the confidence of his patients1 and that it is this confidence which does the work1 and not some mysterious power issuing from himself4 ,within the last quarter of a century1 in ,america1 several sects of curers have appeared under various names and have done notable things in the way of healing ailments without the use of medicines4 ,there are the ,mind ,cure the ,faith ,cure1 the ,prayer ,cure1 the ,mental ,science ,cure1 and the ,christian-,science ,cure2 and apparently they all do their miracles with the same old1 powerful instrument--the patient's imagination4 ,differing names1 but no difference in the process4 ,but they do not give that instrument the credit2 each sect claims that its way differs from the ways of the others4 ,they all achieve some cures1 there is no question about it2 and the ,faith ,cure and the ,prayer ,cure probably do no harm when they do no good1 since they do not forbid the patient to help out the cure with medicines if he wants to2 but the others bar medicines1 and claim ability to cure every conceivable human ailment through the application of their mental forces alone4 ,there would seem to be an element of danger here4 ,it has the look of claiming too much1 ,i think4 ,public confidence would probably be increased if less were claimed4 ,the ,christian ,scientist was not able to cure my stomach-ache and my cold2 but the horse-doctor did it4 ,this convinces me that ,christian ,science claims too much4 ,in my opinion it ought to let diseases alone and confine itself to surgery4 ,there it would have everything its own way4 ,the horse-doctor charged me thirty kreutzers1 and ,i paid him2 in fact1 ,i doubled it and gave him a shilling4 ,mrs4 ,fuller brought in an itemized bill for a crate of broken bones mended in two hundred and thirty-four places--one dollar per fracture4 8,nothing exists but ,mind80 8,nothing10 she answered4 8,all else is substanceless1 all else is imaginary40 ,i gave her an imaginary check1 and now she is suing me for substantial dollars4 ,it looks inconsistent4 ,,chapter ,v ,let us consider that we are all partially insane4 ,it will explain us to each other2 it will unriddle many riddles2 it will make clear and simple many things which are involved in haunting and harassing difficulties and obscurities now4 ,those of us who are not in the asylum1 and not demonstrably due there1 are nevertheless1 no doubt1 insane in one or two particulars4 ,i think we must admit this2 but ,i think that we are otherwise healthy-minded4 ,i think that when we all see one thing alike1 it is evidence that1 as regards that one thing1 our minds are perfectly sound4 ,now there are really several things which we do all see alike2 things which we all accept1 and about which we do not dispute4 ,for instance1 we who are outside of the asylum all agree that water seeks its level2 that the sun gives light and heat2 that fire consumes2 that fog is damp2 that six times six are thirty-six1 that two from ten leaves eight2 that eight and seven are fifteen4 ,these are1 perhaps1 the only things we are agreed about2 but1 although they are so few1 they are of inestimable value1 because they make an infallible standard of sanity4 ,whosoever accepts them him we know to be substantially sane2 sufficiently sane2 in the working essentials1 sane4 ,whoever disputes a single one of them him we know to be wholly insane1 and qualified for the asylum4 ,very well1 the man who disputes none of them we concede to be entitled to go at large4 ,but that is concession enough4 ,we cannot go any further than that2 for we know that in all matters of mere opinion that same man is insane--just as insane as we are2 just as insane as ,shakespeare was4 ,we know exactly where to put our finger upon his insanity3 it is where his opinion differs from ours4 ,that is a simple rule1 and easy to remember4 ,when ,i1 a thoughtful and unblessed ,presbyterian1 examine the ,koran1 ,i know that beyond any question every ,mohammedan is insane2 not in all things1 but in religious matters4 ,when a thoughtful and unblessed ,mohammedan examines the ,westminster ,catechism1 he knows that beyond any question ,i am spiritually insane4 ,i cannot prove to him that he is insane1 because you never can prove anything to a lunatic--for that is a part of his insanity and the evidence of it4 ,he cannot prove to me that ,i am insane1 for my mind has the same defect that afflicts his4 ,all ,democrats are insane1 but not one of them knows it2 none but the ,republicans and ,mugwumps know it4 ,all the ,republicans are insane1 but only the ,democrats and ,mugwumps can perceive it4 ,the rule is perfect3 in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane4 ,when ,i look around me1 ,i am often troubled to see how many people are mad4 ,to mention only a few3 ,the ,atheist1 ,the ,theosophists1 ,the ,infidel1 ,the ,swedenborgians1 ,the ,agnostic1 ,the ,shakers1 ,the ,baptist1 ,the ,millerites1 ,the ,methodist1 ,the ,mormons1 ,the ,christian ,scientist1 ,the ,laurence ,oliphant ,harrisites1 ,the ,catholic1 and the #aae ,christian sects1 the ,presbyterian excepted1 ,the ,grand ,lama's people1 ,the ,monarchists1 ,the ,imperialists1 ,the #gb ,mohammedan sects1 ,the ,democrats1 ,the ,republicans 7but not the ,mugwumps71 ,the ,buddhist1 ,the ,blavatsky-,buddhist1 ,the ,mind-,curists1 ,the ,faith-,curists1 ,the ,nationalist1 ,the ,mental ,scientists1 ,the ,confucian1 ,the ,spiritualist1 ,the ,allopaths1 ,the #bjjj ,east ,indian sects1 ,the ,homeopaths1 ,the ,electropaths1 ,the ,peculiar ,people1 ,the-- ,but there's no end to the list2 there are millions of them6 ,and all insane2 each in his own way2 insane as to his pet fad or opinion1 but otherwise sane and rational4 ,this should move us to be charitable towards one another's lunacies4 ,i recognize that in his special belief the ,christian ,scientist is insane1 because he does not believe as ,i do2 but ,i hail him as my mate and fellow1 because ,i am as insane as he insane from his point of view1 and his point of view is as authoritative as mine and worth as much4 ,that is to say1 worth a brass farthing4 ,upon a great religious or political question1 the opinion of the dullest head in the world is worth the same as the opinion of the brightest head in the world--a brass farthing4 ,how do we arrive at this8 ,it is simple4 ,the affirmative opinion of a stupid man is neutralized by the negative opinion of his stupid neighbor no decision is reached2 the affirmative opinion of the intellectual giant ,gladstone is neutralized by the negative opinion of the intellectual giant ,newman--no decision is reached4 ,opinions that prove nothing are1 of course1 without value any but a dead person knows that much4 ,this obliges us to admit the truth of the unpalatable proposition just mentioned above--that1 in disputed matters political and religious1 one man's opinion is worth no more than his peer's1 and hence it followers that no man's opinion possesses any real value4 ,it is a humbling thought1 but there is no way to get around it3 all opinions upon these great subjects are brass-farthing opinions4 ,it is a mere plain1 simple fact--as clear and as certain as that eight and seven make fifteen4 ,and by it we recognize that we are all insane1 as concerns those matters4 ,if we were sane1 we should all see a political or religious doctrine alike2 there would be no dispute3 it would be a case of eight and seven--just as it is in heaven1 where all are sane and none insane4 ,there there is but one religion1 one belief2 the harmony is perfect2 there is never a discordant note4 ,under protection of these preliminaries1 ,i suppose ,i may now repeat without offence that the ,christian ,scientist is insane4 ,i mean him no discourtesy1 and ,i am not charging--nor even imagining--that he is insaner than the rest of the human race4 ,i think he is more picturesquely insane than some of us4 ,at the same time1 ,i am quite sure that in one important and splendid particular he is much saner than is the vast bulk of the race4 ,why is he insane8 ,i told you before3 it is because his opinions are not ours4 ,i know of no other reason1 and ,i do not need any other2 it is the only way we have of discovering insanity when it is not violent4 ,it is merely the picturesqueness of his insanity that makes it more interesting than my kind or yours4 ,for instance1 consider his 8little book02 the 8little book0 exposed in the sky eighteen centuries ago by the flaming angel of the ,apocalypse1 and handed down in our day to ,mrs4 ,mary ,baker ,g4 ,eddy1 of ,new ,hampshire1 and translated by her1 word for word1 into ,english 7with help of a polisher71 and now published and distributed in hundreds of editions by her at a clear profit per volume1 above cost1 of seven hundred per cent46--a profit which distinctly belongs to the angel of the ,apocalypse1 and let him collect it if he can2 a 8little book0 which the ,c4,s4 very frequently calls by just that name1 and always enclosed in quotation-marks to keep its high origin exultantly in mind2 a 8little book0 which 8explains0 and reconstructs and new-paints and decorates the ,bible1 and puts a mansard roof on it and a lightning-rod and all the other modern improvements2 a 8little book0 which for the present affects to travel in yoke with the ,bible and be friendly to it1 and within half a century will hitch the ,bible in the rear and thenceforth travel tandem1 itself in the lead1 in the coming great march of ,christian ,scientism through the ,protestant dominions of the planet4 ,,chapter ,,vi 8,hungry ones throng to hear the ,bible read in connection with the text-book of ,christian ,science1 ,science and ,health1 with ,key to the ,scriptures1 by ,mary ,baker ,g4 ,eddy4 ,these are our only preachers4 ,they are the word of ,god40 8,christian ,science ,journal01 ,october1 #ahih4 ,is that picturesque8 ,a lady has told me that in a chapel of the ,mosque in ,boston there is a picture or image of ,mrs4 ,eddy1 and that before it burns a never-extinguished light4 ,is that picturesque8 ,how long do you think it will be before the ,christian ,scientist will be worshipping that picture or image and praying to it8 ,how long do you think it will be before it is claimed that ,mrs4 ,eddy is a ,redeemer1 a ,christ1 and ,christ's equal8 ,already her army of disciples speak of her reverently as 8,our ,mother40 ,how long will it be before they place her on the steps of the ,throne beside the ,virgin--and1 later1 a step higher8 ,first1 ,mary the ,virgin and ,mary the ,matron2 later1 with a change of precedence1 ,mary the ,matron and ,mary the ,virgin4 ,let the artist get ready with his canvas and his brushes2 the new ,renaissance is on its way1 and there will be money in altar-canvases--a thousand times as much as the ,popes and their ,church ever spent on the ,old ,masters2 for their riches were poverty as compared with what is going to pour into the treasure-chest of the ,christian-,scientist ,papacy by-and-by1 let us not doubt it4 ,we will examine the financial outlook presently and see what it promises4 ,a favorite subject of the new ,old ,master will be the first verse of the twelfth chapter of ,revelation--a verse which ,mrs4 ,eddy says 7in her ,annex to the ,scriptures7 has 8one distinctive feature which has special reference to the present age0--and to her1 as is rather pointedly indicated3 8,and there appeared a great wonder in heaven2 a woman clothed with the sun1 and the moon under her feet10 etc4 ,the woman clothed with the sun will be a portrait of ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,is it insanity to believe that ,christian-,scientism is destined to make the most formidable show that any new religion has made in the world since the birth and spread of ,mohammedanism1 and that within a century from now it may stand second to ,rome only1 in numbers and power in ,christendom8 ,if this is a wild dream it will not be easy to prove it so just yet1 ,i think4 ,there seems argument that it may come true4 ,the ,christian-,science 8boom10 proper1 is not yet five years old2 yet already it has two hundred and fifty churches4 ,it has its start1 you see1 and it is a phenomenally good one4 ,moreover1 it is latterly spreading with a constantly accelerating swiftness4 ,it has a better chance to grow and prosper and achieve permanency than any other existing 8ism02 for it has more to offer than any other4 ,the past teaches us that in order to succeed1 a movement like this must not be a mere philosophy1 it must be a religion2 also1 that it must not claim entire originality1 but content itself with passing for an improvement on an existing religion1 and show its hand later1 when strong and prosperous--like ,mohammedanism4 ,next1 there must be money--and plenty of it4 ,next1 the power and authority and capital must be concentrated in the grip of a small and irresponsible clique1 with nobody outside privileged to ask questions or find fault4 ,next1 as before remarked1 it must bait its hook with some new and attractive advantages over the baits offered by its competitors4 ,a new movement equipped with some of these endowments--like spiritualism1 for instance may count upon a considerable success2 a new movement equipped with the bulk of them--like ,mohammedanism1 for instance--may count upon a widely extended conquest4 ,mormonism had all the requisites but one it had nothing new and nothing valuable to bait with4 ,spiritualism lacked the important detail of concentration of money and authority in the hands of an irresponsible clique4 ,the above equipment is excellent1 admirable1 powerful1 but not perfect4 ,there is yet another detail which is worth the whole of it put together and more2 a detail which has never been joined 7in the beginning of a religious movement7 to a supremely good working equipment since the world began1 until now3 a new personage to worship4 ,christianity had the ,saviour1 but at first and for generations it lacked money and concentrated power4 ,in ,mrs4 ,eddy1 ,christian ,science possesses the new personage for worship1 and in addition--here in the very beginning--a working equipment that has not a flaw in it4 ,in the beginning1 ,mohammedanism had no money2 and it has never had anything to offer its client but heaven--nothing here below that was valuable4 ,in addition to heaven hereafter1 ,christian ,science has present health and a cheerful spirit to offer2 and in comparison with this bribe all other this-world bribes are poor and cheap4 ,you recognize that this estimate is admissible1 do you not8 ,to whom does ,bellamy's 8,nationalism0 appeal8 ,necessarily to the few3 people who read and dream1 and are compassionate1 and troubled for the poor and the hard-driven4 ,to whom does ,spiritualism appeal8 ,necessarily to the few2 its 8boom0 has lasted for half a century1 and ,i believe it claims short of four millions of adherents in ,america4 ,who are attracted by ,swedenborgianism and some of the other fine and delicate 8isms08 ,the few again3 educated people1 sensitively organized1 with superior mental endowments1 who seek lofty planes of thought and find their contentment there4 ,and who are attracted by ,christian ,science8 ,there is no limit2 its field is horizonless2 its appeal is as universal as is the appeal of ,christianity itself4 ,it appeals to the rich1 the poor1 the high1 the low1 the cultured1 the ignorant1 the gifted1 the stupid1 the modest1 the vain1 the wise1 the silly1 the soldier1 the civilian1 the hero1 the coward1 the idler1 the worker1 the godly1 the godless1 the freeman1 the slave1 the adult1 the child2 they who are ailing in body or mind1 they who have friends that are ailing in body or mind4 ,to mass it in a phrase1 its clientage is the ,human ,race4 ,will it march8 ,i think so4 ,remember its principal great offer3 to rid the ,race of pain and disease4 ,can it do so8 ,in large measure1 yes4 ,how much of the pain and disease in the world is created by the imaginations of the sufferers1 and then kept alive by those same imaginations8 ,four-fifths8 ,not anything short of that1 ,i should think4 ,can ,christian ,science banish that four-fifths8 ,i think so4 ,can any other 7organized7 force do it8 ,none that ,i know of4 ,would this be a new world when that was accomplished8 ,and a pleasanter one--for us well people1 as well as for those fussy and fretting sick ones8 ,would it seem as if there was not as much gloomy weather as there used to be8 ,i think so4 ,in the mean time1 would the ,scientist kill off a good many patients8 ,i think so4 ,more than get killed off now by the legalized methods8 ,i will take up that question presently4 ,at present1 ,i wish to ask you to examine some of the ,scientist's performances1 as registered in his magazine1 ,the ,christian ,science ,journal--,october number1 #ahih4 ,first1 a ,baptist clergyman gives us this true picture of 8the average orthodox ,christian0--and he could have added that it is a true picture of the average 7civilized7 human being3 8,he is a worried and fretted and fearful man2 afraid of himself and his propensities1 afraid of colds and fevers1 afraid of treading on serpents or drinking deadly things40 ,then he gives us this contrast3 8,the average ,christian ,scientist has put all anxiety and fretting under his feet4 ,he does have a victory over fear and care that is not achieved by the average orthodox ,christian40 ,he has put all anxiety and fretting under his feet4 ,what proportion of your earnings or income would you be willing to pay for that frame of mind1 year in1 year out8 ,it really outvalues any price that can be put upon it4 ,where can you purchase it1 at any outlay of any sort1 in any ,church or out of it1 except the ,scientist's8 ,well1 it is the anxiety and fretting about colds1 and fevers1 and draughts1 and getting our feet wet1 and about forbidden food eaten in terror of indigestion1 that brings on the cold and the fever and the indigestion and the most of our other ailments2 and so1 if the ,science can banish that anxiety from the world ,i think it can reduce the world's disease and pain about four-fifths4 ,in this ,october number many of the redeemed testify and give thanks2 and not coldly1 but with passionate gratitude4 ,as a rule they seem drunk with health1 and with the surprise of it1 the wonder of it1 the unspeakable glory and splendor of it1 after a long1 sober spell spent in inventing imaginary diseases and concreting them with doctor-stuff4 ,the first witness testifies that when 8this most beautiful ,truth first dawned on him0 he had 8nearly all the ills that flesh is heir to02 that those he did not have he thought he had--and this made the tale about complete4 ,what was the natural result8 ,why1 he was a dump-pit 8for all the doctors1 druggists1 and patent medicines of the country40 ,christian ,science came to his help1 and 8the old sick conditions passed away10 and along with them the 8dismal forebodings0 which he had been accustomed to employ in conjuring up ailments4 ,and so he was a healthy and cheerful man1 now1 and astonished4 ,but ,i am not astonished1 for from other sources ,i know what must have been his method of applying ,christian ,science4 ,if ,i am in the right1 he watchfully and diligently diverted his mind from unhealthy channels and compelled it to travel in healthy ones4 ,nothing contrivable by human invention could be more formidably effective than that1 in banishing imaginary ailments and in closing the entrances against sub-sequent applicants of their breed4 ,i think his method was to keep saying1 8,i am well6 ,i am sound6--sound and well6 well and sound6 ,perfectly sound1 perfectly well6 ,i have no pain2 there's no such thing as pain6 ,i have no disease2 there's no such thing as disease6 ,nothing is real but ,mind2 all is ,mind1 ,all-,good ,good-,good1 ,life1 ,soul1 ,liver1 ,bones1 one of a series1 ante and pass the buck60 ,i do not mean that that was exactly the formula used1 but that it doubtless contains the spirit of it4 ,the ,scientist would attach value to the exact formula1 no doubt1 and to the religious spirit in which it was used4 ,i should think that any formula that would divert the mind from unwholesome channels and force it into healthy ones would answer every purpose with some people1 though not with all4 ,i think it most likely that a very religious man would find the addition of the religious spirit a powerful reinforcement in his case4 ,the second witness testifies that the ,science banished 8an old organic trouble10 which the doctor and the surgeon had been nursing with drugs and the knife for seven years4 ,he calls it his 8claim40 ,a surface-miner would think it was not his claim at all1 but the property of the doctor and his pal the surgeon--for he would be misled by that word1 which is ,christian-,science slang for 8ailment40 ,the ,christian ,scientist has no ailment2 to him there is no such thing1 and he will not use the hateful word4 ,all that happens to him is that upon his attention an imaginary disturbance sometimes obtrudes itself which claims to be an ailment but isn't4 ,this witness offers testimony for a clergyman seventy years old who had preached forty years in a ,christian church1 and has now gone over to the new sect4 ,he was 8almost blind and deaf40 ,he was treated by the ,c4 ,s4 method1 and 8when he heard the voice of ,truth he saw spiritually40 ,saw spiritually8 ,it is a little indefinite2 they had better treat him again4 ,indefinite testimonies might properly be waste-basketed1 since there is evidently no lack of definite ones procurable2 but this ,c4 ,s4 magazine is poorly edited1 and so mistakes of this kind must be expected4 ,the next witness is a soldier of the ,civil ,war4 ,when ,christian ,science found him1 he had in stock the following claims3 ,indigestion1 ,rheumatism1 ,catarrh1 ,chalky deposits in ,shoulder-joints1 ,arm-joints1 ,hand-joints1 ,insomnia1 ,atrophy of the muscles of ,arms4 ,shoulders1 ,stiffness of all those joints1 ,excruciating pains most of the time4 ,these claims have a very substantial sound4 ,they came of exposure in the campaigns4 ,the doctors did all they could1 but it was little4 ,prayers were tried1 but 8,i never realized any physical relief from that source40 ,after thirty years of torture1 he went to a ,christian ,scientist and took an hour's treatment and went home painless4 ,two days later1 he 8began to eat like a well man40 ,then 8the claims vanished--some at once1 others more gradually02 finally1 8they have almost entirely disappeared40 ,and--a thing which is of still greater value--he is now 8contented and happy40 ,that is a detail which1 as earlier remarked1 is a ,scientist ,church specialty4 ,and1 indeed1 one may go further and assert with little or no exaggeration that it is a ,christian-,science monopoly4 ,with thirty-one years' effort1 the ,methodist ,church had not succeeded in furnishing it to this harassed soldier4 ,and so the tale goes on4 ,witness after witness bulletins his claims1 declares their prompt abolishment1 and gives ,mrs4 ,eddy's ,discovery the praise4 ,milk-leg is cured2 nervous prostration is cured2 consumption is cured2 and ,st4 ,vitus's dance is made a pastime4 ,even without a fiddle4 ,and now and then an interesting new addition to the ,science slang appears on the page4 ,we have 8demonstrations over chilblains0 and such things4 ,it seems to be a curtailed way of saying 8demonstrations of the power of ,christian-,science ,truth over the fiction which masquerades under the name of ,chilblains40 ,the children1 as well as the adults1 share in the blessings of the ,science4 8,through the study of the 'little book' they are learning how to be healthful1 peaceful1 and wise40 ,sometimes they are cured of their little claims by the professional healer1 and sometimes more advanced children say over the formula and cure themselves4 ,a little ,far-,western girl of nine1 equipped with an adult vocabulary1 states her age and says1 8,i thought ,i would write a demonstration to you40 ,she had a claim1 derived from getting flung over a pony's head and landed on a rockpile4 ,she saved herself from disaster by remembering to say 8,god is ,all0 while she was in the air4 ,i couldn't have done it4 ,i shouldn't even have thought of it4 ,i should have been too excited4 ,nothing but ,christian ,science could have enabled that child to do that calm and thoughtful and judicious thing in those circumstances4 ,she came down on her head1 and by all the rules she should have broken it2 but the intervention of the formula prevented that1 so the only claim resulting was a blackened eye4 ,monday morning it was still swollen and shut4 ,at school 8it hurt pretty badly--that is1 it seemed to40 ,so 8,i was excused1 and went down to the basement and said1 ',now ,i am depending on mamma instead of ,god1 and ,i will depend on ,god instead of mamma4'0 ,no doubt this would have answered2 but1 to make sure1 she added ,mrs4 ,eddy to the team and recited 8the ,scientific ,statement of ,being10 which is one of the principal incantations1 ,i judge4 ,then 8,i felt my eye opening40 ,why1 dear1 it would have opened an oyster4 ,i think it is one of the touchingest things in child-history1 that pious little rat down cellar pumping away at the ,scientific ,statement of ,being4 ,there is a page about another good child--little ,gordon4 ,little ,gordon 8came into the world without the assistance of surgery or anaesthetics40 ,he was a 8demonstration40 ,a painless one2 therefore1 his coming evoked 8joy and thankfulness to ,god and the ,discoverer of ,christian ,science40 ,it is a noticeable feature of this literature--the so frequent linking together of the ,two ,beings in an equal bond2 also of ,their ,two ,bibles4 ,when little ,gordon was two years old1 8he was playing horse on the bed1 where ,i had left my 'little book4' ,i noticed him stop in his play1 take the book carefully in his little hands1 kiss it softly1 then look about for the highest place of safety his arms could reach1 and put it there40 ,this pious act filled the mother 8with such a train of thought as ,i had never experienced before4 ,i thought of the sweet mother of long ago who kept things in her heart10 etc4 ,it is a bold comparison2 however1 unconscious profanations are about as common in the mouths of the lay member ship of the new ,church as are frank and open ones in the mouths of its consecrated chiefs4 ,some days later1 the family library--,christian-,science books--was lying in a deep-seated window4 ,this was another chance for the holy child to show off4 ,he left his play and went there and pushed all the books to one side1 except the ,annex 8,it he took in both hands1 slowly raised it to his lips1 then removed it carefully1 and seated himself in the window40 ,it had seemed to the mother too wonderful to be true1 that first time2 but now she was convinced that 8neither imagination nor accident had anything to do with it40 ,later1 little ,gordon let the author of his being see him do it4 ,after that he did it frequently2 probably every time anybody was looking4 ,i would rather have that child than a chromo4 ,if this tale has any object1 it is to intimate that the inspired book was supernaturally able to convey a sense of its sacred and awful character to this innocent little creature1 without the intervention of outside aids4 ,the magazine is not edited with high-priced discretion4 ,the editor has a 8claim10 and he ought to get it treated4 ,among other witnesses there is one who had a 8jumping toothache10 which several times tempted her to 8believe that there was sensation in matter1 but each time it was overcome by the power of ,truth40 ,she would not allow the dentist to use cocaine1 but sat there and let him punch and drill and split and crush the tooth1 and tear and slash its ulcerations1 and pull out the nerve1 and dig out fragments of bone2 and she wouldn't once confess that it hurt4 ,and to this day she thinks it didn't1 and ,i have not a doubt that she is nine-tenths right1 and that her ,christian ,science faith did her better service than she could have gotten out of cocaine4 ,there is an account of a boy who got broken all up into small bits by an accident1 but said over the ,scientific ,statement of ,being1 or some of the other incantations1 and got well and sound without having suffered any real pain and without the intrusion of a surgeon4 ,also1 there is an account of the restoration to perfect health1 in a single night1 of a fatally injured horse1 by the application of ,christian ,science4 ,i can stand a good deal1 but ,i recognize that the ice is getting thin1 here4 ,that horse had as many as fifty claims2 how could he demonstrate over them8 ,could he do the ,all-,good1 ,good-,good1 ,good-,gracious1 ,liver1 ,bones1 ,truth1 ,all down but ,nine1 ,set them up on the ,other ,alley8 ,could he intone the ,scientific ,statement of ,being8 ,now1 could he8 ,wouldn't it give him a relapse8 ,let us draw the line at horses4 ,horses and furniture4 ,there is plenty of other testimonies in the magazine1 but these quoted samples will answer4 ,they show the kind of trade the ,science is driving4 ,now we come back to the question1 ,does the ,science kill a patient here and there and now and then8 ,we must concede it4 ,does it compensate for this8 ,i am persuaded that it can make a plausible showing in that direction4 ,for instance3 when it lays its hand upon a soldier who has suffered thirty years of helpless torture and makes him whole in body and mind1 what is the actual sum of that achievement8 ,this1 ,i think3 that it has restored to life a subject who had essentially died ten deaths a year for thirty years1 and each of them a long and painful one4 ,but for its interference that man in the three years which have since elapsed1 would have essentially died thirty times more4 ,there are thousands of young people in the land who are now ready to enter upon a life-long death similar to that man's4 ,every time the ,science captures one of these and secures to him life-long immunity from imagination-manufactured disease1 it may plausibly claim that in his person it has saved three hundred lives4 ,meantime1 it will kill a man every now and then4 ,but no matter1 it will still be ahead on the credit side4 ,,note4--,i have received several letters 7two from educated and ostensibly intelligent persons71 which contained1 in substance1 this protest3 8,i don't object to men and women chancing their lives with these people1 but it is a burning shame that the law should allow them to trust their helpless little children in their deadly hands40 ,isn't it touching8 ,isn't it deep8 ,isn't it modest8 ,it is as if the person said3 8,i know that to a parent his child is the core of his heart1 the apple of his eye1 a possession so dear1 so precious that he will trust its life in no hands but those which he believes1 with all his soul1 to be the very best and the very safest1 but it is a burning shame that the law does not require him to come to me to ask what kind of healer ,i will allow him to call40 ,the public is merely a multiplied 8me40--,m4,t4 ,,chapter ,,vii 8,we consciously declare that ,science and ,health1 with ,key to the ,scriptures1 was foretold1 as well as its author1 ,mary ,baker ,eddy1 in ,revelation x4 ,she is the 'mighty angel1' or ,god's highest thought to this age 7verse #a71 giving us the spiritual interpretation of the ,bible in the 'little book open' 7verse #b74 ,thus we prove that ,christian ,science is the second coming of ,christ-,truth-,spirit40--,lecture by ,dr4 ,george ,tomkins1 ,d4,d4 ,c4,s4 ,there you have it in plain speech4 ,she is the mighty angel2 she is the divinely and officially sent bearer of ,god's highest thought4 ,for the present1 she brings the ,second ,advent4 ,we must expect that before she has been in her grave fifty years she will be regarded by her following as having been herself the ,second ,advent4 ,she is already worshiped1 and we must expect this feeling to spread1 territorially1 and also to deepen in intensity4 ,particularly after her death2 for then1 as any one can foresee1 ,eddy-,worship will be taught in the ,sunday-schools and pulpits of the cult4 ,already whatever she puts her trade-mark on1 though it be only a memorial-spoon1 is holy and is eagerly and gratefully bought by the disciple1 and becomes a fetish in his house4 ,i say bought1 for the ,boston ,christian-,science ,trust gives nothing away2 everything it has is for sale4 ,and the terms are cash2 and not only cash1 but cash in advance4 ,its god is ,mrs4 ,eddy first1 then the ,dollar4 ,not a spiritual ,dollar1 but a real one4 ,from end to end of the ,christian ,science literature not a single 7material7 thing in the world is conceded to be real1 except the ,dollar4 ,but all through and through its advertisements that reality is eagerly and persistently recognized4 ,the ,dollar is hunted down in all sorts of ways2 the ,christian-,science ,mother-,church and ,bargain-,counter in ,boston peddles all kinds of spiritual wares to the faithful1 and always on the one condition--cash1 cash in advance4 ,the ,angel of the ,apocalypse could not go there and get a copy of his own pirated book on credit4 ,many1 many precious ,christian ,science things are to be had there for cash3 ,bible ,lessons2 ,church ,manual2 ,c4 ,s4 ,hymnal2 ,history of the building of the ,mother-,church2 lot of ,sermons2 ,communion ,hymn1 8,saw ,ye ,my ,saviour10 by ,mrs4 ,eddy1 half a dollar a copy1 8words used by special permission of ,mrs4 ,eddy40 ,also we have ,mrs4 ,eddy's and the ,angel's little ,blue-,annex in eight styles of binding at eight kinds of war-prices2 among these a sweet thing in 8levant1 divinity circuit1 leather lined to edge1 round corners1 gold edge1 silk sewed1 each1 prepaid1 #f10 and if you take a million you get them a shilling cheaper--that is to say1 8prepaid1 #e4ge40 ,also we have ,mrs4 ,eddy's ,miscellaneous ,writings1 at 'andsome big prices1 the divinity-circuit style heading the exertions1 shilling discount where you take an edition ,next comes ,christ and ,christmas1 by the fertile ,mrs4 ,eddy--a poem--would ,god ,i could see it6--price #c1 cash in advance4 ,then follow five more books by ,mrs4 ,eddy1 at highwayman's rates1 some of them in 8leatherette covers10 some of them in 8pebble cloth10 with divinity-circuit1 compensation-balance1 twin-screw1 and the other modern improvements2 and at the same bargain-counter can be had ,the ,christian ,science ,journal4 ,christian-,science literary discharges are a monopoly of the ,mother-,church ,headquarters ,factory in ,boston2 none genuine without the trade-mark of the ,trust4 ,you must apply there and not elsewhere4 ,one hundred dollars for it4 ,and ,i have a case among my statistics where the student had a three weeks' course and paid three hundred for it4 ,the ,trust does love the ,dollar1 when it isn't a spiritual one4 ,in order to force the sale of ,mrs ,eddy's ,bible-,annex1 no healer1 ,metaphysical-,college-bred or other1 is allowed to practice the game unless he possesses a copy of that book4 ,that means a large and constantly augmenting income for the ,trust4 ,no ,c4,s4 family would consider itself loyal or pious or pain-proof without an ,annex or two in the house4 ,that means an income for the ,trust1 in the near future1 of millions2 not thousands-millions a year4 ,no member1 young or old1 of a branch ,christian-,scientist church can acquire and retain membership in the ,mother-,church unless he pay 8capitation tax0 7of 8not less than a dollar10 say the ,by-,laws7 to the ,boston ,trust every year4 ,that means an income for the ,trust1 in the near future1 of--let us venture to say--millions more per year4 ,it is a reasonably safe guess that in ,america in #aibj there will be ten million ,christian ,scientists1 and three millions in ,great ,britain2 that these figures will be trebled in #aicj2 that in ,america in #aibj the ,christian ,scientists will be a political force1 in #aicj politically formidable1 and in #aidj the governing power in the ,republic--to remain that1 permanently4 ,and ,i think it a reasonable guess that the ,trust 7which is already in our day pretty brusque in its ways7 will then be the most insolent and unscrupulous and tyrannical politico-religious master that has dominated a people since the palmy days of the ,inquisition4 ,and a stronger master than the strongest of bygone times1 because this one will have a financial strength not dreamed of by any predecessor2 as effective a concentration of irresponsible power as any predecessor has had2 in the railway1 the telegraph1 and the subsidized newspaper1 better facilities for watching and managing his empire than any predecessor has had2 and1 after a generation or two1 he will probably divide ,christendom with the ,catholic ,church4 ,the ,roman ,church has a perfect organization1 and it has an effective centralization of power--but not of its cash4 ,its multitude of ,bishops are rich1 but their riches remain in large measure in their own hands4 ,they collect from two hundred millions of people1 but they keep the bulk of the result at home4 ,the ,boston ,pope of by-and-by will draw his dollar-a-head capitation-tax from three hundred millions of the human race1 and the ,annex and the rest of his book-shop stock will fetch in as much more2 and his ,metaphysical ,colleges1 the annual ,pilgrimage to ,mrs4 ,eddy's tomb1 from all over the world-admission1 the ,christian-,science ,dollar 7payable in advance7--purchases of consecrated glass beads1 candles1 memorial spoons1 aureoled chrome-portraits and bogus autographs of ,mrs4 ,eddy2 cash offerings at her shrine no crutches of cured cripples received1 and no imitations of miraculously restored broken legs and necks allowed to be hung up except when made out of the ,holy ,metal and proved by fire-assay2 cash for miracles worked at the tomb3 these money-sources1 with a thousand to be yet invented and ambushed upon the devotee1 will bring the annual increment well up above a billion4 ,and nobody but the ,trust will have the handling of it4 ,in that day1 the ,trust will monopolize the manufacture and sale of the ,old and ,new ,testaments as well as the ,annex1 and raise their price to ,annex rates1 and compel the devotee to buy 7for even to-day a healer has to have the ,annex and the ,scriptures or he is not allowed to work the game71 and that will bring several hundred million dollars more4 ,in those days1 the ,trust will have an income approaching five million dollars a day1 and no expenses to be taken out of it2 no taxes to pay1 and no charities to support4 ,that last detail should not be lightly passed over by the reader2 it is well entitled to attention4 ,no charities to support4 ,no1 nor even to contribute to4 ,one searches in vain the ,trust's advertisements and the utterances of its organs for any suggestion that it spends a penny on orphans1 widows1 discharged prisoners1 hospitals1 ragged schools1 night missions1 city missions1 libraries1 old people's homes1 or any other object that appeals to a human being's purse through his heart4 ,i have hunted1 hunted1 and hunted1 by correspondence and otherwise1 and have not yet got upon the track of a farthing that the ,trust has spent upon any worthy object4 ,nothing makes a ,scientist so uncomfortable as to ask him if he knows of a case where ,christian ,science has spent money on a benevolence1 either among its own adherents or elsewhere4 ,he is obliged to say 8,no0 ,and then one discovers that the person questioned has been asked the question many times before1 and that it is getting to be a sore subject with him4 ,why a sore subject8 ,because he has written his chiefs and asked with high confidence for an answer that will confound these questioners--and the chiefs did not reply4 ,he has written again1 and then again--not with confidence1 but humbly1 now--and has begged for defensive ammunition in the voice of supplication4 ,a reply does at last come to this effect3 8,we must have faith in ,our ,mother1 and rest content in the conviction that whatever ,she does with the money it is in accordance with orders from ,heaven1 for ,she does no act of any kind without first 'demonstrating over' it40 ,that settles it--as far as the disciple is concerned4 ,his mind is satisfied with that answer2 he gets down his ,annex and does an incantation or two1 and that mesmerizes his spirit and puts that to sleep--brings it peace4 ,peace and comfort and joy1 until some inquirer punctures the old sore again4 ,through friends in ,america ,i asked some questions1 and in some cases got definite and informing answers2 in other cases the answers were not definite and not valuable4 ,to the question1 8,does any of the money go to charities80 the answer from an authoritative source was3 8,no1 not in the sense usually conveyed by this word40 7,the italics are mine47 ,that answer is cautious4 ,but definite1 ,i think--utterly and unassailably definite--although quite ,christian-,scientifically foggy in its phrasing4 ,christian-,science testimony is generally foggy1 generally diffuse1 generally garrulous4 ,the writer was aware that the first word in his phrase answered the question which ,i was asking1 but he could not help adding nine dark words4 ,meaningless ones1 unless explained by him4 ,it is quite likely1 as intimated by him1 that ,christian ,science has invented a new class of objects to apply the word 8charity0 to1 but without an explanation we cannot know what they are4 ,we quite easily and naturally and confidently guess that they are in all cases objects which will return five hundred per cent4 on the ,trust's investment in them1 but guessing is not knowledge2 it is merely1 in this case1 a sort of nine-tenths certainty deducible from what we think we know of the ,trust's trade principles and its sly and furtive and shifty ways4 ,sly8 ,deep8 ,judicious8 ,the ,trust understands its business4 ,the ,trust does not give itself away4 ,it defeats all the attempts of us impertinents to get at its trade secrets4 ,to this day1 after all our diligence1 we have not been able to get it to confess what it does with the money4 ,it does not even let its own disciples find out4 ,all it says is1 that the matter has been 8demonstrated over40 ,now and then a lay ,scientist says1 with a grateful exultation1 that ,mrs4 ,eddy is enormously rich1 but he stops there2 as to whether any of the money goes to other charities or not1 he is obliged to admit that he does not know4 ,however1 the ,trust is composed of human beings2 and this justifies the conjecture that if it had a charity on its list which it was proud of1 we should soon hear of it4 8,without money and without price40 ,those used to be the terms4 ,mrs4 ,eddy's ,annex cancels them4 ,the motto of ,christian ,science is1 8,the laborer is worthy of his hire40 ,and now that it has been 8demonstrated over10 we find its spiritual meaning to be1 8,do anything and everything your hand may find to do2 and charge cash for it1 and collect the money in advance40 ,the ,scientist has on his tongue's end a cut-and-dried1 ,boston-supplied set of rather lean arguments1 whose function is to show that it is a ,heaven-commanded duty to do this1 and that the croupiers of the game have no choice but to obey4 ,the ,trust seems to be a reincarnation4 ,exodus xxxii4 #d4 ,i have no reverence for the ,trust1 but ,i am not lacking in reverence for the sincerities of the lay membership of the new ,church4 ,there is every evidence that the lay members are entirely sincere in their faith1 and ,i think sincerity is always entitled to honor and respect1 let the inspiration of the sincerity be what it may4 ,zeal and sincerity can carry a new religion further than any other missionary except fire and sword1 and ,i believe that the new religion will conquer the half of ,christendom in a hundred years4 ,i am not intending this as a compliment to the human race2 ,i am merely stating an opinion4 ,and yet ,i think that perhaps it is a compliment to the race4 ,i keep in mind that saying of an orthodox preacher--quoted further back4 ,he conceded that this new ,christianity frees its possessor's life from frets1 fears1 vexations1 bitterness1 and all sorts of imagination-propagated maladies and pains1 and fills his world with sunshine and his heart with gladness4 ,if ,christian ,science1 with this stupendous equipment--and final salvation added--cannot win half the ,christian globe1 ,i must be badly mistaken in the make-up of the human race4 ,i think the ,trust will be handed down like the other ,papacy1 and will always know how to handle its limitless cash4 ,it will press the button2 the zeal1 the energy1 the sincerity1 the enthusiasm of its countless vassals will do the rest4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,the power which a man's imagination has over his body to heal it or make it sick is a force which none of us is born without4 ,the first man had it1 the last one will possess it4 ,if left to himself1 a man is most likely to use only the mischievous half of the force--the half which invents imaginary ailments for him and cultivates them2 and if he is one of these--very wise people1 he is quite likely to scoff at the beneficent half of the force and deny its existence4 ,and so1 to heal or help that man1 two imaginations are required3 his own and some outsider's4 ,the outsider1 ,b1 must imagine that his incantations are the healing-power that is curing ,a1 and ,a must imagine that this is so4 ,i think it is not so1 at all2 but no matter1 the cure is effected1 and that is the main thing4 ,the outsider's work is unquestionably valuable2 so valuable that it may fairly be likened to the essential work performed by the engineer when he handles the throttle and turns on the steam2 the actual power is lodged exclusively in the engine1 but if the engine were left alone it would never start of itself4 ,whether the engineer be named ,jim1 or ,bob1 or ,tom1 it is all one--his services are necessary1 and he is entitled to such wage as he can get you to pay4 ,whether he be named ,christian ,scientist1 or ,mental ,scientist1 or ,mind ,curist1 or ,king's-,evil ,expert1 or ,hypnotist1 it is all one2 he is merely the ,engineer2 he simply turns on the same old steam and the engine does the whole work4 ,the ,christian-,scientist engineer drives exactly the same trade as the other engineers1 yet he out-prospers the whole of them put together4 ,is it because he has captured the takingest name8 ,i think that that is only a small part of it4 ,i think that the secret of his high prosperity lies elsewhere4 ,the ,christian ,scientist has organized the business4 ,now that was certainly a gigantic idea4 ,electricity1 in limitless volume1 has existed in the air and the rocks and the earth and everywhere since time began--and was going to waste all the while4 ,in our time we have organized that scattered and wandering force and set it to work1 and backed the business with capital1 and concentrated it in few and competent hands1 and the results are as we see4 ,the ,christian ,scientist has taken a force which has been lying idle in every member of the human race since time began1 and has organized it1 and backed the business with capital1 and concentrated it at ,boston headquarters in the hands of a small and very competent ,trust1 and there are results4 ,therein lies the promise that this monopoly is going to extend its commerce wide in the earth4 ,i think that if the business were conducted in the loose and disconnected fashion customary with such things1 it would achieve but little more than the modest prosperity usually secured by unorganized great moral and commercial ventures2 but ,i believe that so long as this one remains compactly organized and closely concentrated in a ,trust1 the spread of its dominion will continue4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,four years ago ,i wrote the preceding chapters4 ,i was assured by the wise that ,christian ,science was a fleeting craze and would soon perish4 ,this prompt and all-competent stripe of prophet is always to be had in the market at ground-floor rates4 ,he does not stop to load1 or consider1 or take aim1 but lets fly just as he stands4 ,facts are nothing to him1 he has no use for such things2 he works wholly by inspiration4 ,and so1 when he is asked why he considers a new movement a passing fad and quickly perishable1 he finds himself unprepared with a reason and is more or less embarrassed4 ,for a moment4 ,only for a moment4 ,then he waylays the first spectre of a reason that goes flitting through the desert places of his mind1 and is at once serene again and ready for conflict4 ,serene and confident4 ,yet he should not be so1 since he has had no chance to examine his catch1 and cannot know whether it is going to help his contention or damage it4 ,the impromptu reason furnished by the early prophets of whom ,i have spoken was this3 8,there is nothing to ,christian ,science2 there is nothing about it that appeals to the intellect2 its market will be restricted to the unintelligent1 the mentally inferior1 the people who do not think40 ,they called that a reason why the cult would not flourish and endure4 ,it seems the equivalent of saying3 8,there is no money in tinware2 there is nothing about it that appeals to the rich2 its market will be restricted to the poor40 ,it is like bringing forward the best reason in the world why ,christian ,science should flourish and live1 and then blandly offering it as a reason why it should sicken and die4 ,that reason was furnished me by the complacent and unfrightened prophets four years ago1 and it has been furnished me again to-day4 ,if conversions to new religions or to old ones were in any considerable degree achieved through the intellect1 the aforesaid reason would be sound and sufficient1 no doubt2 the inquirer into ,christian ,science might go away unconvinced and unconverted4 ,but we all know that conversions are seldom made in that way2 that such a thing as a serious and painstaking and fairly competent inquiry into the claims of a religion or of a political dogma is a rare occurrence2 and that the vast mass of men and women are far from being capable of making such an examination4 ,they are not capable1 for the reason that their minds1 howsoever good they may be1 are not trained for such examinations4 ,the mind not trained for that work is no more competent to do it than are lawyers and farmers competent to make successful clothes without learning the tailor's trade4 ,there are seventy-five million men and women among us who do not know how to cut out and make a dress-suit1 and they would not think of trying2 yet they all think they can competently think out a political or religious scheme without any apprenticeship to the business1 and many of them believe they have actually worked that miracle4 ,but1 indeed1 the truth is1 almost all the men and women of our nation or of any other get their religion and their politics where they get their astronomy--entirely at second hand4 ,being untrained1 they are no more able to intelligently examine a dogma or a policy than they are to calculate an eclipse4 ,men are usually competent thinkers along the lines of their specialized training only4 ,within these limits alone are their opinions and judgments valuable2 outside of these limits they grope and are lost--usually without knowing it4 ,in a church assemblage of five hundred persons1 there will be a man or two whose trained minds can seize upon each detail of a great manufacturing scheme and recognize its value or its lack of value promptly2 and can pass the details in intelligent review1 section by section1 and finally as a whole1 and then deliver a verdict upon the scheme which cannot be flippantly set aside nor easily answered4 ,and there will be one or two other men there who can do the same thing with a great and complicated educational project2 and one or two others who can do the like with a large scheme for applying electricity in a new and unheard-of way2 and one or two others who can do it with a showy scheme for revolutionizing the scientific world's accepted notions regarding geology4 ,and so on1 and so on4 ,but the manufacturing experts will not be competent to examine the educational scheme intelligently1 and their opinion about it would not be valuable2 neither of these two groups will be able to understand and pass upon the electrical scheme2 none of these three batches of experts will be able to understand and pass upon the geological revolution2 and probably not one man in the entire lot will be competent to examine1 capably1 the intricacies of a political or religious scheme1 new or old1 and deliver a judgment upon it which any one need regard as precious4 ,there you have the top crust4 ,there will be four hundred and seventy-five men and women present who can draw upon their training and deliver incontrovertible judgments concerning cheese1 and leather1 and cattle1 and hardware1 and soap1 and tar1 and candles1 and patent medicines1 and dreams1 and apparitions1 and garden trucks1 and cats1 and baby food1 and warts1 and hymns1 and time-tables1 and freight-rates1 and summer resorts1 and whiskey1 and law1 and surgery1 and dentistry1 and blacksmithing1 and shoemaking1 and dancing1 and ,huyler's candy1 and mathematics1 and dog fights1 and obstetrics1 and music1 and sausages1 and dry goods1 and molasses1 and railroad stocks1 and horses1 and literature1 and labor unions1 and vegetables1 and morals1 and lamb's fries1 and etiquette1 and agriculture4 ,and not ten among the five hundred--let their minds be ever so good and bright--will be competent1 by grace of the requisite specialized mental training1 to take hold of a complex abstraction of any kind and make head or tail of it4 ,the whole five hundred are thinkers1 and they are all capable thinkers--but only within the narrow limits of their specialized trainings4 ,four hundred and ninety of them cannot competently examine either a religious plan or a political one4 ,a scattering few of them do examine both--that is1 they think they do4 ,with results as precious as when ,i examine the nebular theory and explain it to myself4 ,if the four hundred and ninety got their religion through their minds1 and by weighed and measured detail1 ,christian ,science would not be a scary apparition4 ,but they don't2 they get a little of it through their minds1 more of it through their feelings1 and the overwhelming bulk of it through their environment4 ,environment is the chief thing to be considered when one is proposing to predict the future of ,christian ,science4 ,it is not the ability to reason that makes the ,presbyterian1 or the ,baptist1 or the ,methodist1 or the ,catholic1 or the ,mohammedan1 or the ,buddhist1 or the ,mormon2 it is environment4 ,if religions were got by reasoning1 we should have the extraordinary spectacle of an ,american family with a ,presbyterian in it1 and a ,baptist1 a ,methodist1 a ,catholic1 a ,mohammedan1 a ,buddhist1 and a ,mormon4 ,a ,presbyterian family does not produce ,catholic families or other religious brands1 it produces its own kind2 and not by intellectual processes1 but by association4 ,and so also with ,mohammedanism1 the cult which in our day is spreading with the sweep of a world-conflagration through the ,orient1 that native home of profound thought and of subtle intellectual fence1 that fertile womb whence has sprung every great religion that exists4 ,including our own2 for with all our brains we cannot invent a religion and market it4 ,the language of my quoted prophets recurs to us now1 and we wonder to think how small a space in the world the mighty ,mohammedan ,church would be occupying now1 if a successful trade in its line of goods had been conditioned upon an exhibit that would 8appeal to the intellect0 instead of to 8the unintelligent1 the mentally inferior1 the people who do not think40 ,the ,christian ,science ,church1 like the ,mohammedan ,church1 makes no embarrassing appeal to the intellect1 has no occasion to do it1 and can get along quite well without it4 ,provided4 ,provided what8 ,that it can secure that thing which is worth two or three hundred thousand times more than an 8appeal to the intellect0--an environment4 ,can it get that8 ,will it be a menace to regular ,christianity if it gets that8 ,is it time for regular ,christianity to get alarmed8 ,or shall regular ,christianity smile a smile and turn over and take another nap8 ,won't it be wise and proper for regular ,christianity to do the old way1 ,me customary way1 the historical way--lock the stable-door after the horse is gone8 ,just as ,protestantism has smiled and nodded this long time 7while the alert and diligent ,catholic was slipping in and capturing the public schools71 and is now beginning to hunt around for the key when it is too late8 ,will ,christian ,science get a chance to show its wares8 ,it has already secured that chance4 ,will it flourish and spread and prosper if it shall create for itself the one thing essential to those conditions--an environment8 ,it has already created an environment4 ,there are families of ,christian ,scientists in every community in ,america1 and each family is a factory2 each family turns out a ,christian ,science product at the customary intervals1 and contributes it to the ,cause in the only way in which contributions of recruits to ,churches are ever made on a large scale--by the puissant forces of personal contact and association4 ,each family is an agency for the ,cause1 and makes converts among the neighbors1 and starts some more factories4 ,four years ago there were six ,christian ,scientists in a certain town that ,i am acquainted with2 a year ago there were two hundred and fifty there2 they have built a church1 and its membership now numbers four hundred4 ,this has all been quietly done2 done without frenzied revivals1 without uniforms1 brass bands1 street parades1 corner oratory1 or any of the other customary persuasions to a godly life4 ,christian ,science1 like ,mohammedanism1 is 8restricted0 to the 8unintelligent1 the people who do not think40 ,there lies the danger4 ,it makes ,christian ,science formidable4 ,it is 8restricted0 to ninety-nine one-hundredths of the human race1 and must be reckoned with by regular ,christianity4 ,and will be1 as soon as it is too late4 ,,book ,,ii 8,there were remarkable things about the stranger called the ,man--,mystery-things so very extraordinary that they monopolized attention and made all of him seem extraordinary2 but this was not so1 the most of his qualities being of the common1 every-day size and like anybody else's4 ,it was curious4 ,he was of the ordinary stature1 and had the ordinary aspects2 yet in him were hidden such strange contradictions and disproportions6 ,he was majestically fearless and heroic2 he had the strength of thirty men and the daring of thirty thousand2 handling armies1 organizing states1 administering governments--these were pastimes to him2 he publicly and ostentatiously accepted the human race at its own valuation--as demigods--and privately and successfully dealt with it at quite another and juster valuation--as children and slaves2 his ambitions were stupendous1 and his dreams had no commerce with the humble plain1 but moved with the cloud-rack among the snow-summits4 ,these features of him were1 indeed1 extraordinary1 but the rest of him was ordinary and usual4 ,he was so mean-minded1 in the matter of jealousy1 that it was thought he was descended from a god2 he was vain in little ways1 and had a pride in trivialities2 he doted on ballads about moonshine and bruised hearts2 in education he was deficient1 he was indifferent to literature1 and knew nothing of art2 he was dumb upon all subjects but one1 indifferent to all except that one--the ,nebular ,theory4 ,upon that one his flow of words was full and free1 he was a geyser4 ,the official astronomers disputed his facts and deeded his views1 and said that he had invented both1 they not being findable in any of the books4 ,but many of the laity1 who wanted their nebulosities fresh1 admired his doctrine and adopted it1 and it attained to great prosperity in spite of the hostility of the experts40--,the ,legend of the ,man-,mystery1 ch4 i4 ,,chapter ,i ,,january1 #aijc4 ,when we do not know a public man personally1 we guess him out by the facts of his career4 ,when it is ,washington1 we all arrive at about one and the same result4 ,we agree that his words and his acts clearly interpret his character to us1 and that they never leave us in doubt as to the motives whence the words and acts proceeded4 ,it is the same with ,joan of ,arc1 it is the same with two or three or five or six others among the immortals4 ,but in the matter of motives and of a few details of character we agree to disagree upon ,napoleon1 ,cromwell1 and all the rest2 and to this list we must add ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,i think we can peacefully agree as to two or three extraordinary features of her make-up1 but not upon the other features of it4 ,we cannot peacefully agree as to her motives1 therefore her character must remain crooked to some of us and straight to the others4 ,no matter1 she is interesting enough without an amicable agreement4 ,in several ways she is the most interesting woman that ever lived1 and the most extraordinary4 ,the same may be said of her career1 and the same may be said of its chief result4 ,she started from nothing4 ,her enemies charge that she surreptitiously took from ,quimby a peculiar system of healing which was mind-cure with a ,biblical basis4 ,she and her friends deny that she took anything from him4 ,this is a matter which we can discuss by-and-by4 ,whether she took it or invented it1 it was--materially--a sawdust mine when she got it1 and she has turned it into a ,klondike2 its spiritual dock had next to no custom1 if any at all3 from it she has launched a world-religion which has now six hundred and sixty-three churches1 and she charters a new one every four days4 ,when we do not know a person--and also when we do--we have to judge his size by the size and nature of his achievements1 as compared with the achievements of others in his special line of business--there is no other way4 ,measured by this standard1 it is thirteen hundred years since the world has produced any one who could reach up to ,mrs4 ,eddy's waistbelt4 ,figuratively speaking1 ,mrs4 ,eddy is already as tall as the ,eiffel tower4 ,she is adding surprisingly to her stature every day4 ,it is quite within the probabilities that a century hence she will be the most imposing figure that has cast its shadow across the globe since the inauguration of our era4 ,i grant that after saying these strong things1 it is necessary that ,i offer some details calculated to satisfactorily demonstrate the proportions which ,i have claimed for her4 ,i will do that presently2 but before exhibiting the matured sequoia gigantea1 ,i believe it will be best to exhibit the sprout from which it sprang4 ,it may save the reader from making miscalculations4 ,the person who imagines that a ,big ,tree sprout is bigger than other kinds of sprouts is quite mistaken4 ,it is the ordinary thing2 it makes no show1 it compels no notice1 it hasn't a detectible quality in it that entitles it to attention1 or suggests the future giant its sap is suckling4 ,that is the kind of sprout ,mrs4 ,eddy was4 ,from her childhood days up to where she was running a half-century a close race and gaining on it1 she was most humanly commonplace4 ,she is the witness ,i am drawing this from4 ,she has revealed it in her autobiography not intentionally1 of course--,i am not claiming that4 ,an autobiography is the most treacherous thing there is4 ,it lets out every secret its author is trying to keep2 it lets the truth shine unobstructed through every harmless little deception he tries to play2 it pitilessly exposes him as a tin hero worshipping himself as ,big ,metal every time he tries to do the modest-unconsciousness act before the reader4 ,this is not guessing2 ,i am speaking from autobiographical personal experience2 ,i was never able to refrain from mentioning1 with a studied casualness that could deceive none but the most incautious reader1 that an ancestor of mine was sent ambassador to ,spain by ,charles ,i41 nor that in a remote branch of my family there exists a claimant to an earldom1 nor that an uncle of mine used to own a dog that was descended from the dog that was in the ,ark2 and at the same time ,i was never able to persuade myself to call a gibbet by its right name when accounting for other ancestors of mine1 but always spoke of it as the 8platform0--puerilely intimating that they were out lecturing when it happened4 ,it is ,mrs4 ,eddy over again4 ,as regards her minor half1 she is as commonplace as the rest of us4 ,vain of trivial things all the first half of her life1 and still vain of them at seventy and recording them with naive satisfaction--even rescuing some early rhymes of hers of the sort that we all scribble in the innocent days of our youth--rescuing them and printing them without pity or apology1 just as the weakest and commonest of us do in our gray age4 ,more--she still frankly admires them2 and in her introduction of them profanely confers upon them the holy name of 8poetry40 ,sample3 8,and laud the land whose talents rock ,the cradle of her power1 ,and wreaths are twined round ,plymouth ,rock ,from erudition's bower40 8,minerva's silver sandals still ,are loosed and not effete40 ,you note it is not a shade above the thing which all human beings churn out in their youth4 ,you would not think that in a little wee primer--for that is what the ,autobiography is--a person with a tumultuous career of seventy years behind her could find room for two or three pages of padding of this kind1 but such is the case4 ,she evidently puts narrative together with difficulty and is not at home in it1 and is glad to have something ready-made to fill in with4 ,another sample3 8,here fame-honored ,hickory rears his bold form1 ,and bears a brave breast to the lightning and storm1 ,while ,palm1 ,bay1 and ,laurel in classical glee1 ,chase ,tulip1 ,magnolia1 and fragrant ,fringe-tree40 ,vivid8 ,you can fairly see those trees galloping around4 ,that she could still treasure up1 and print1 and manifestly admire those ,poems1 indicates that the most daring and masculine and masterful woman that has appeared in the earth in centuries has the same soft1 girly-girly places in her that the rest of us have4 ,when it comes to selecting her ancestors she is still human1 natural1 vain1 commonplace--as commonplace as ,i am myself when ,i am sorting ancestors for my autobiography4 ,she combs out some creditable ,scots1 and labels them and sets them aside for use1 not overlooking the one to whom ,sir ,william ,wallace gave 8a heavy sword encased in a brass scabbard10 and naively explaining which ,sir ,william ,wallace it was1 lest we get the wrong one by the hassock2 this is the one 8from whose patriotism and bravery comes that heart-stirring air1 ',scots wha hae wi' ,wallace bled4'0 ,hannah ,more was related to her ancestors4 ,she explains who ,hannah ,more was4 ,whenever a person informs us who ,sir ,william ,wallace was1 or who wrote 8,hamlet10 or where the ,declaration of ,independence was fought1 it fills us with a suspicion wellnigh amounting to conviction1 that that person would not suspect us of being so empty of knowledge if he wasn't suffering from the same 8claim0 himself4 ,then we turn to page #bj of the ,autobiography and happen upon this passage1 and that hasty suspicion stands rebuked3 8,i gained book-knowledge with far less labor than is usually requisite4 ,at ten years of age ,i was as familiar with ,lindley ,murray's ,grammar as with the ,westminster ,catechism2 and the latter ,i had to repeat every ,sunday4 ,my favorite studies were ,natural ,philosophy1 ,logic1 and ,moral ,science4 ,from my brother ,albert ,i received lessons in the ancient tongues1 ,hebrew1 ,greek1 and ,latin40 ,you catch your breath in astonishment1 and feel again and still again the pang of that rebuke4 ,but then your eye falls upon the next sentence but one1 and the pain passes away and you set up the suspicion again with evil satisfaction3 8,after my discovery of ,christian ,science1 most of the knowledge ,i had gleaned from school-books vanished like a dream40 ,that disappearance accounts for much in her miscellaneous writings4 ,as ,i was saying1 she handles her 8ancestral shadows10 as she calls them1 just as ,i do mine4 ,it is remarkable4 ,when she runs across 8a relative of my ,grandfather ,baker1 ,general ,henry ,knox1 of ,revolutionary fame10 she sets him down2 when she finds another good one1 8the late ,sir ,john ,macneill1 in the line of my ,grandfather ,baker's family10 she sets him down1 and remembers that he 8was prominent in ,british politics1 and at one time held the position of ambassador to ,persia02 when she discovers that her grandparents 8were likewise connected with ,captain ,john ,lovewell1 whose gallant leadership and death in the ,indian troubles of #agbb-be caused that prolonged contest to be known historically as ,lovewell's ,war10 she sets the ,captain down2 when it turns out that a cousin of her grandmother 8was ,john ,macneill1 the ,new ,hampshire general1 who fought at ,lundy's ,lane and won distinction in #ahad at the battle of ,chippewa10 she catalogues the ,general4 7,and tells where ,chippewa was47 ,and then she skips all her platform people2 never mentions one of them4 ,it shows that she is just as human as any of us4 ,yet1 after all1 there is something very touching in her pride in these worthy small-fry1 and something large and fine in her modesty in not caring to remember that their kinship to her can confer no distinction upon her1 whereas her mere mention of their names has conferred upon them a faceless earthly immortality4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,when she wrote this little biography her great life-work had already been achieved1 she was become renowned2 to multitudes of reverent disciples she was a sacred personage1 a familiar of ,god1 and ,his inspired channel of communication with the human race4 ,also1 to them these following things were facts1 and not doubted3 ,she had written a ,bible in middle age1 and had published it2 she had recast it1 enlarged it1 and published it again2 she had not stopped there1 but had enlarged it further1 polished its phrasing1 improved its form1 and published it yet again4 ,it was at last become a compact1 grammatical1 dignified1 and workman-like body of literature4 ,this was good training1 persistent training2 and in all arts it is training that brings the art to perfection4 ,we are now confronted with one of the most teasing and baffling riddles of ,mrs4 ,eddy's history--a riddle which may be formulated thus3 ,how is it that a primitive literary gun which began as a hundred-yard flint-lock smooth-bore muzzle-loader1 and in the course of forty years has acquired one notable improvement after another--percussion cap2 fixed cartridge2 rifled barrel2 efficiency at half a mile how is it that such a gun1 sufficiently good on an elephant hunt 7,christian ,science7 from the beginning1 and growing better and better all the time during forty years1 has always collapsed back to its original flint-lock estate the moment the huntress trained it on any other creature than an elephant8 ,something more than a generation ago ,mrs4 ,eddy went out with her flint-lock on the rabbit range2 and this was a part of the result3 8,after his decease1 and a severe casualty deemed fatal by skilful physicians1 we discovered that the ,principle of all healing and the law that governs it is ,god1 a divine ,principle1 and a spiritual not material law1 and regained health40--,preface to ,science and ,health1 first revision1 #ahhc4 ,n4,b4 ,not from the book itself2 from the ,preface4 ,you will notice the awkwardness of that ,english4 ,if you should carry that paragraph up to the ,supreme ,court of the ,united ,states in order to find out for good and all whether the fatal casualty happened to the dead man--as the paragraph almost asserts--or to some person or persons not even hinted at in the paragraph1 the ,supreme ,court would be obliged to say that the evidence established nothing with certainty except that there had been a casualty--victim not known4 ,the context thinks it explains who the victim was1 but it does nothing of the kind4 ,it furnishes some guessing-material of a sort which enables you to infer that it was 8we0 that suffered the mentioned injury1 but if you should carry the language to a court you would not be able to prove that it necessarily meant that4 8,we0 are ,mrs4 ,eddy2 a funny little affectation4 ,she replaced it later with the more dignified third person4 ,the quoted paragraph is from ,mrs4 ,eddy's preface to the first revision of ,science and ,health 7#ahhc74 ,sixty-four pages further along--in the body of the book 7the elephant-range71 she went out with that same flint-lock and got this following result4 ,its ,english is very nearly as straight and clean and competent as is the ,english of the latest revision of ,science and ,health after the gun has been improved from smooth-bore musket up to globe-sighted1 long distance rifle3 8,man controlled by his ,maker has no physical suffering4 ,his body is harmonious1 his days are multiplying instead of diminishing1 he is journeying towards ,life instead of death1 and bringing out the new man and crucifying the old affections1 cutting them off in every material direction until he learns the utter supremacy of ,spirit and yields obedience thereto40 ,in the latest revision of ,science and ,health 7#aijb71 the perfected gun furnishes the following4 ,the ,english is clean1 compact1 dignified1 almost perfect4 ,but it is observable that it is not prominently better than it is in the above paragraph1 which was a product of the primitive flint-lock3 8,how unreasonable is the belief that we are wearing out life and hastening to death1 and at the same time we are communing with immortality8 ,if the departed are in rapport with mortality1 or matter1 they are not spiritual1 but must still be mortal1 sinful1 suffering1 and dying4 ,then wherefore look to them--even were communication possible--for proofs of immortality and accept them as oracles80 --,edition of #aijb1 page #gh4 ,with the above paragraphs compare these that follow4 ,it is ,mrs4 ,eddy writing--after a good long twenty years of pen-practice4 ,compare also with the alleged ,poems already quoted4 ,the prominent characteristic of the ,poems is affectation1 artificiality2 their makeup is a complacent and pretentious outpour of false figures and fine writing1 in the sophomoric style4 ,the same qualities and the same style will be found1 unchanged1 unbettered1 in these following paragraphs--after a lapse of more than fifty years1 and after--as aforesaid--long literary training4 ,the italics are mine3 #a4 8,what plague spot or bacilli were sic gnawing sic at the heart of this metropolis444 and bringing it the heart on bended knee8 ,why1 it was an institute that had entered its vitals--that1 among other things1 taught games10 et cetera4--,c4,s4 ,journal1 p4 #fgj1 article entitled 8,a ,narrative--by ,mary ,baker ,g4 ,eddy40 #b4 8,parks sprang up sic444 electric-cars run sic merrily through several streets1 concrete sidewalks and macadamized roads dotted sic the place10 et cetera4--,ibid4 #c4 8,shorn sic of its suburbs it had indeed little left to admire1 save to sic such as fancy a skeleton above ground breathing sic slowly through a barren sic breast40--,ibid4 ,this is not ,english--,i mean1 grown-up ,english4 ,but it is fifteen-year-old ,english1 and has not grown a month since the same mind produced the ,poems4 ,the standard of the ,poems and of the plague-spot-and-bacilli effort is exactly the same4 ,it is most strange that the same intellect that worded the simple and self-contained and clean-cut paragraph beginning with 8,how unreasonable is the belief10 should in the very same lustrum discharge upon the world such a verbal chaos as the utterance concerning that plague-spot or bacilli which were gnawing at the insides of the metropolis and bringing its heart on bended knee1 thus exposing to the eye the rest of the skeleton breathing slowly through a barren breast4 ,the immense contrast between the legitimate ,english of ,science and ,health and the bastard ,english of ,mrs4 ,eddy's miscellaneous work1 and between the maturity of the one diction and the juvenility of the other1 suggests--compels--the question1 ,are there two guns8 ,it would seem so4 ,is there a poor1 foolish1 old1 scattering flint-lock for rabbit1 and a long-range1 centre-driving1 up-to-date ,mauser-magazine for elephant8 ,it looks like it4 ,for it is observable that in ,science and ,health 7the elephant-ground7 the practice was good at the start and has remained so1 and that the practice in the miscellaneous1 outside1 small-game field was very bad at the start and was never less bad at any later time4 ,i wish to say that of ,mrs4 ,eddy ,i am not requiring perfect ,english1 but only good ,english4 ,no one can write perfect ,english and keep it up through a stretch of ten chapters4 ,it has never been done4 ,it was approached in the 8well of ,english undefiled02 it has been approached in ,mrs4 ,eddy's ,annex to that ,book2 it has been approached in several ,english grammars2 ,i have even approached it myself2 but none of us has made port4 ,now1 the ,english of ,science and ,health is good4 ,in passages to be found in ,mrs4 ,eddy's ,autobiography 7on pages #ec1 #eg1 #aja1 and #aac71 and on page #f of her squalid preface to ,science and ,health1 first revision1 she seems to me to claim the whole and sole authorship of the book4 ,that she wrote the ,autobiography1 and that preface1 and the ,poems1 and the ,plague-spot-,bacilli1 we are not permitted to doubt4 ,indeed1 we know she wrote them4 ,but the very certainty that she wrote these things compels a doubt that she wrote ,science and ,health4 ,she is guilty of little awkwardnesses of expression in the ,autobiography which a practiced pen would hardly allow to go uncorrected in even a hasty private letter1 and could not dream of passing by uncorrected in passages intended for print4 ,but she passes them placidly by2 as placidly as if she did not suspect that they were offenses against third-class ,english4 ,i think that that placidity was born of that very unawareness1 so to speak4 ,i will cite a few instances from the ,autobiography4 ,the italics are mine3 8,i remember reading in my childhood certain manuscripts containing ,scriptural ,sonnets1 besides other verses and enigmas10 etc4 ,page #g4 ,on page #bg4 8,many pale cripples went into the ,church leaning on crutches who came out carrying them on their shoulders40 ,it is awkward1 because at the first glance it seems to say that the cripples went in leaning on crutches which went out carrying the cripples on their shoulders4 ,it would have cost her no trouble to put her 8who0 after her 8cripples40 ,i blame her a little2 ,i think her proof-reader should have been shot4 ,we may let her capital ,c pass1 but it is another awkwardness1 for she is talking about a building1 not about a religious society4 8,marriage and ,parentage0 ,chapter-heading4 ,page #cj4 ,you imagine that she is going to begin a talk about her marriage and finish with some account of her father and mother4 ,and so you will be deceived4 8,marriage0 was right1 but 8,parentage0 was not the best word for the rest of the record4 ,it refers to the birth of her own child4 ,after a certain period of time 8my babe was born40 ,marriage and ,motherhood--,marriage and ,maternity--,marriage and ,product--,marriage and ,dividend--either of these would have fitted the facts and made the matter clear4 8,without my knowledge he was appointed a guardian40 ,page #cb4 ,she is speaking of her child4 ,she means that a guardian for her child was appointed1 but that isn't what she says4 8,if spiritual conclusions are separated from their premises1 the nexus is lost1 and the argument with its rightful conclusions1 becomes correspondingly obscure40 ,page #cd4 ,we shall never know why she put the word 8correspondingly0 in there4 ,any fine1 large word would have answered just as well3 psychosuperintangibly--electroincandesce ntly--oligarcheologically-- sanchrosynchro-stereoptically--any of these would have answered1 any of these would have filled the void4 8,his spiritual noumenon and phenomenon silenced portraiture40 ,page #cd4 ,yet she says she forgot everything she knew1 when she discovered ,christian ,science4 ,i realize that noumenon is a daisy2 and ,i will not deny that ,i shall use it whenever ,i am in a company which ,i think ,i can embarrass with it2 but1 at the same time1 ,i think it is out of place among friends in an autobiography4 ,there1 ,i think a person ought not to have anything up his sleeve4 ,it undermines confidence4 ,but my dissatisfaction with the quoted passage is not on account of noumenon2 it is on account of the misuse of the word 8silenced40 ,you cannot silence portraiture with a noumenon2 if portraiture should make a noise1 a way could be found to silence it1 but even then it could not be done with a noumenon4 ,not even with a brick1 some authorities think4 8,it may be that the mortal life-battle still wages10 etc4 ,page #ce4 ,that is clumsy4 ,battles do not wage1 battles are waged4 ,mrs4 ,eddy has one very curious and interesting peculiarity3 whenever she notices that she is chortling along without saying anything1 she pulls up with a sudden 8,god is over us all10 or some other sounding irrelevancy1 and for the moment it seems to light up the whole district2 then1 before you can recover from the shock1 she goes flitting pleasantly and meaninglessly along again1 and you hurry hopefully after her1 thinking you are going to get something this time2 but as soon as she has led you far enough away from her turkey lot she takes to a tree4 ,whenever she discovers that she is getting pretty disconnected1 she couples-up with an ostentatious 8,but0 which has nothing to do with anything that went before or is to come after1 then she hitches some empties to the train-unrelated verses from the ,bible1 usually--and steams out of sight and leaves you wondering how she did that clever thing4 ,for striking instances1 see bottom paragraph on page #cd and the paragraph on page #ce of her ,autobiography4 ,she has a purpose--a deep and dark and artful purpose--in what she is saying in the first paragraph1 and you guess what it is1 but that is due to your own talent1 not hers2 she has made it as obscure as language could do it4 ,the other paragraph has no meaning and no discoverable intention4 ,it is merely one of her ,god-over-alls4 ,i cannot spare room for it in this place4 8,i beheld with ineffable awe our great ,master's marvelous skill in demanding neither obedience to hygienic laws nor10 etc4 ,page #da4 ,the word is loosely chosen-skill4 ,she probably meant judgment1 intuition1 penetration1 or wisdom4 8,naturally1 my first jottings were but efforts to express in feeble diction ,truth's ultimate40 ,page #db4 ,one understands what she means1 but she should have been able to say what she meant--at any time before she discovered ,christian ,science and forgot everything she knew--and after it1 too4 ,if she had put 8feeble0 in front of 8efforts0 and then left out 8in0 and 8diction10 she would have scored4 8444 its written expression increases in perfection under the guidance of the great ,master40 ,page #dc4 ,it is an error4 ,not even in those advantageous circumstances can increase be added to perfection4 8,evil is not mastered by evil2 it can only be overcome with ,good4 ,this brings out the nothingness of evil1 and the eternal ,somethingness vindicates the ,divine ,principle and improves the race of ,adam40 ,page #gf4 ,this is too extraneous for me4 ,that is the trouble with ,mrs4 ,eddy when she sets out to explain an over-large exhibit3 the minute you think the light is bursting upon you the candle goes out and your mind begins to wander4 8,no one else can drain the cup which ,i have drunk to the dregs1 as the discoverer and teacher of ,christian ,science0 ,page #dg4 ,that is saying we cannot empty an empty cup4 ,we knew it before2 and we know she meant to tell us that that particular cup is going to remain empty4 ,that is1 we think that that was the idea1 but we cannot be sure4 ,she has a perfectly astonishing talent for putting words together in such a way as to make successful inquiry into their intention impossible4 ,she generally makes us uneasy when she begins to tune up on her fine-writing timbrel4 ,it carries me back to her ,plague-,spot and ,poetry days1 and ,i just dread those3 8,into mortal mind's material obliquity ,i gazed and stood abashed4 ,blanched was the cheek of pride4 ,my heart bent low before the omnipotence of ,spirit1 and a tint of humility soft as the heart of a moonbeam mantled the earth4 ,bethlehem and ,bethany1 ,gethsemane and ,calvary1 spoke to my chastened sense as by the tearful lips of a babe40 ,page #dh4 ,the heart of a moonbeam is a pretty enough ,friendship's-,album expression--let it pass1 though ,i do think the figure a little strained2 but humility has no tint1 humility has no complexion1 and if it had it could not mantle the earth4 ,a moonbeam might--,i do not know--but she did not say it was the moonbeam4 ,but let it go1 ,i cannot decide it1 she mixes me up so4 ,a babe hasn't 8tearful lips10 it's its eyes4 ,you find none of ,mrs4 ,eddy's kind of ,english in ,science and ,health--not a line of it4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,setting aside title-page1 index1 etc41 the little ,autobiography begins on page #g and ends on page #acj4 ,my quotations are from the first forty pages4 ,they seem to me to prove the presence of the 'prentice hand4 ,the style of the forty pages is loose and feeble and 'prentice-like4 ,the movement of the narrative is not orderly and sequential1 but rambles around1 and skips forward and back and here and there and yonder1 'prentice-fashion4 ,many a journeyman has broken up his narrative and skipped about and rambled around1 but he did it for a purpose1 for an advantage2 there was art in it1 and points to be scored by it2 the observant reader perceived the game1 and enjoyed it and respected it1 if it was well played4 ,but ,mrs4 ,eddy's performance was without intention1 and destitute of art4 ,she could score no points by it on those terms1 and almost any reader can see that her work was the uncalculated puttering of a novice4 ,in the above paragraph ,i have described the first third of the booklet4 ,that third being completed1 ,mrs4 ,eddy leaves the rabbit-range1 crosses the frontier1 and steps out upon her far-spreading big-game territory--,christian ,science and there is an instant change6 ,the style smartly improves2 and the clumsy little technical offenses disappear4 ,in these two-thirds of the booklet ,i find only one such offence1 and it has the look of being a printer's error4 ,i leave the riddle with the reader4 ,perhaps he can explain how it is that a person-trained or untrained--who on the one day can write nothing better than ,plague-,spot-,bacilli and feeble and stumbling and wandering personal history littered with false figures and obscurities and technical blunders1 can on the next day sit down and write fluently1 smoothly1 compactly1 capably1 and confidently on a great big thundering subject1 and do it as easily and comfortably as a whale paddles around the globe4 ,as for me1 ,i have scribbled so much in fifty years that ,i have become saturated with convictions of one sort and another concerning a scribbler's limitations2 and these are so strong that when ,i am familiar with a literary person's work ,i feel perfectly sure that ,i know enough about his limitations to know what he can not do4 ,if ,mr4 ,howells should pretend to me that he wrote the ,plague-,spot ,bacilli rhapsody1 ,i should receive the statement courteously2 but ,i should know it for a--well1 for a perversion4 ,if the late ,josh ,billings should rise up and tell me that he wrote ,herbert ,spencer's philosophies2 ,i should answer and say that the spelling casts a doubt upon his claim4 ,if the late ,jonathan ,edwards should rise up and tell me he wrote ,mr4 ,dooley's books1 ,i should answer and say that the marked difference between his style and ,dooley's is argument against the soundness of his statement4 ,you see how much ,i think of circumstantial evidence4 ,in literary matters--in my belief--it is often better than any person's word1 better than any shady character's oath4 ,it is difficult for me to believe that the same hand that wrote the ,plague-,spot-,bacilli and the first third of the little ,eddy biography wrote also ,science and ,health4 ,indeed1 it is more than difficult1 it is impossible4 ,largely speaking1 ,i have read acres of what purported to be ,mrs4 ,eddy's writings1 in the past two months4 ,i cannot know1 but ,i am convinced1 that the circumstantial evidence shows that her actual share in the work of composing and phrasing these things was so slight as to be inconsequential4 ,where she puts her literary foot down1 her trail across her paid polisher's page is as plain as the elephant's in a ,sunday-school procession4 ,her verbal output1 when left undoctored by her clerks1 is quite unmistakable ,it always exhibits the strongly distinctive features observable in the virgin passages from her pen already quoted by me3 ,desert vacancy1 as regards thought4 ,self-complacency4 ,puerility4 ,sentimentality4 ,affectations of scholarly learning4 ,lust after eloquent and flowery expression4 ,repetition of pet poetic picturesquenesses4 ,confused and wandering statement4 ,metaphor gone insane4 ,meaningless words1 used because they are pretty1 or showy1 or unusual4 ,sorrowful attempts at the epigrammatic4 ,destitution of originality4 ,the fat volume called ,miscellaneous ,writings of ,mrs4 ,eddy contains several hundred pages4 ,of the five hundred and fifty-four pages of prose in it ,i find ten lines1 on page #cai1 to be ,mrs4 ,eddy's2 also about a page of the preface or 8,prospectus02 also about fifteen pages scattered along through the book4 ,if she wrote any of the rest of the prose1 it was rewritten after her by another hand4 ,here ,i will insert two-thirds of her page of the prospectus4 ,it is evident that whenever1 under the inspiration of the ,deity1 she turns out a book1 she is always allowed to do some of the preface4 ,i wonder why that is8 ,it always mars the work4 ,i think it is done in humorous malice ,i think the clerks like to see her give herself away4 ,they know she will1 her stock of usable materials being limited and her procedure in employing them always the same1 substantially4 ,they know that when the initiated come upon her first erudite allusion1 or upon any one of her other stage-properties1 they can shut their eyes and tell what will follow4 ,she usually throws off an easy remark all sodden with ,greek or ,hebrew or ,latin learning2 she usually has a person watching for a star--she can seldom get away from that poetic idea--sometimes it is a ,chaldee1 sometimes a ,walking ,delegate1 sometimes an entire stranger1 but be he what he may1 he is generally there when the train is ready to move1 and has his pass in his hat-band2 she generally has a ,being with a ,dome on him1 or some other cover that is unusual and out of the fashion2 she likes to fire off a ,scripture-verse where it will make the handsomest noise and come nearest to breaking the connection2 she often throws out a ,forefelt1 or a ,foresplendor1 or a ,foreslander where it will have a fine nautical foreto'gallant sound and make the sentence sing2 after which she is nearly sure to throw discretion away and take to her deadly passion1 ,intoxicated ,metaphor4 ,at such a time the ,mrs4 ,eddy that does not hesitate is lost3 8,the ancient ,greek looked longingly for the ,olympiad4 ,the ,chaldee watched the appearing of a star2 to him no higher destiny dawned on the dome of being than that foreshadowed by signs in the heavens4 ,the meek ,nazarene1 the scoffed of all scoffers1 said1 ',ye can discern the face of the sky2 but can ye not discern the signs of the times8'--for ,he forefelt and foresaw the ordeal of a perfect ,christianity1 hated by sinners4 8,to kindle all minds with a gleam of gratitude1 the new idea that comes welling up from infinite ,truth needs to be understood4 ,the seer of this age should be a sage4 8,humility is the stepping-stone to a higher recognition of ,deity4 ,the mounting sense gathers fresh forms and strange fire from the ashes of dissolving self1 and drops the world4 ,meekness heightens immortal attributes1 only by removing the dust that dims them4 ,goodness reveals another scene and another self seemingly rolled up in shades1 but brought to light by the evolutions of advancing thought1 whereby we discern the power of ,truth and ,love to heal the sick4 8,pride is ignorance2 those assume most who have the least wisdom or experience2 and they steal from their neighbor1 because they have so little of their own40--,miscellaneous ,writings1 page #a1 and six lines at top of page #b4 ,it is not believable that the hand that wrote those clumsy and affected sentences wrote the smooth ,english of ,science and ,health4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,it is often said in print that ,mrs4 ,eddy claims that ,god was the ,author of ,science and ,health4 ,mr4 ,peabody states in his pamphlet that 8she says not she but ,god was the ,author40 ,i cannot find that in her autobiography she makes this transference of the authorship1 but ,i think that in it she definitely claims that she did her work under ,his inspiration--definitely for her2 for as a rule she is not a very definite person1 even when she seems to be trying her best to be clear and positive4 ,speaking of the early days when her ,science was beginning to unfold itself and gather form in her mind1 she says 7,autobiography1 page #dc73 8,the divine hand led me into a new world of light and ,life1 a fresh universe--old to ,god1 but new to ,his 'little one4'0 ,she being ,his little one1 as ,i understand it4 ,the divine hand led her4 ,it seems to mean 8,god inspired me02 but when a person uses metaphors instead of statistics--and that is ,mrs4 ,eddy's common fashion--one cannot always feel sure about the intention4 ,page #ef4 8,even the ,scripture gave no direct interpretation of the ,scientific basis for demonstrating the spiritual ,principle of healing1 until our ,heavenly ,father saw fit1 through the ,key to the ,scriptures1 in ,science and ,health1 to unlock this 'mystery of godliness4'0 ,another baffling metaphor4 ,if she had used plain forecastle ,english1 and said 8,god wrote the ,key and ,i put it in my book02 or if she had said 8,god furnished me the solution of the mystery and ,i put it on paper02 or if she had said 8,god did it all10 then we should understand2 but her phrase is open to any and all of those translations1 and is a ,key which unlocks nothing--for us4 ,however1 it seems to at least mean 8,god inspired me10 if nothing more4 ,there was personal and intimate communion1 at any rate we get that much out of the riddles4 ,the connection extended to business1 after the establishment of the teaching and healing industry4 ,page #ga4 8,when ,god impelled me to set a price on my instruction10 etc4 ,further down3 8,god has since shown me1 in multitudinous ways1 the wisdom of this decision40 ,she was not able to think of a 8financial equivalent0--meaning a pecuniary equivalent--for her 8instruction in ,christian ,science ,mind-healing40 ,in this emergency she was 8led0 to charge three hundred dollars for a term of 8twelve half-days40 ,she does not say who led her1 she only says that the amount greatly troubled her4 ,i think it means that the price was suggested from above1 8led0 being a theological term identical with our commercial phrase 8personally conducted40 ,she 8shrank from asking it1 but was finally led1 by a strange providence1 to accept this fee40 8,providence0 is another theological term4 ,two leds and a providence1 taken together1 make a pretty strong argument for inspiration4 ,i think that these statistics make it clear that the price was arranged above4 ,this view is constructively supported by the fact1 already quoted1 that ,god afterwards approved1 8in multitudinous ways10 her wisdom in accepting the mentioned fee4 8,multitudinous ways0--multitudinous encoring--suggests enthusiasm4 ,business enthusiasm4 ,and it suggests nearness4 ,god's nearness to his 8little one40 ,nearness1 and a watchful personal interest4 ,a warm1 palpitating1 ,standard-,oil interest1 so to speak4 ,all this indicates inspiration4 ,we may assume1 then1 two inspirations3 one for the book1 the other for the business4 ,the evidence for inspiration is further augmented by the testimony of ,rev4 ,george ,tomkins1 ,d4,d41 already quoted1 that ,mrs4 ,eddy and her book were foretold in ,revelation1 and that ,mrs4 ,eddy 8is ,god's brightest thought to this age1 giving us the spiritual interpretation of the ,bible in the 'little book'0 of the ,angel4 ,i am aware that it is not ,mr4 ,tomkins that is speaking1 but ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,the commissioned lecturers of the ,christian ,science ,church have to be members of the ,board of ,lectureship4 7,by-laws ,sec4 #b1 p4 #gj47 ,the ,board of ,lectureship is selected by the ,board of ,directors of the ,church4 7,by-laws1 ,sec4 #c1 p4 #gj47 ,the ,board of ,directors of the ,church is the property of ,mrs4 ,eddy4 7,by-laws1 p4 #bb47 ,mr4 ,tomkins did not make that statement without authorization from headquarters4 ,he necessarily got it from the ,board of ,directors1 the ,board of ,directors from ,mrs4 ,eddy1 ,mrs4 ,eddy from the ,deity4 ,mr4 ,tomkins would have been turned down by that procession if his remarks had been unsatisfactory to it4 ,it may be that there is evidence somewhere--as has been claimed--that ,mrs4 ,eddy has charged upon the ,deity the verbal authorship of ,science and ,health4 ,but if she ever made the charge1 she has withdrawn it 7as it seems to me71 and in the most formal and unqualified2 of all ways4 ,see ,autobiography1 page #eg3 8,when the demand for this book increased444 the copyright was infringed4 ,i entered a suit at ,law1 and my copyright was protected40 ,thus it is plain that she did not plead that the ,deity was the 7verbal7 ,author2 for if she had done that1 she would have lost her case--and with rude promptness4 ,it was in the old days before the ,berne ,convention and before the passage of our amended law of #ahia1 and the court would have quoted the following stern clause from the existing statute and frowned her out of the place3 8,no ,foreigner can acquire copyright in the ,united ,states40 ,to sum up4 ,the evidence before me indicates three things3 #a4 ,that ,mrs4 ,eddy claims the verbal author ship for herself4 #b4 ,that she denies it to the ,deity4 #c4 ,that--in her belief--she wrote the book under the inspiration of the ,deity1 but furnished the language herself4 ,in one place in the ,autobiography she claims both the language and the ideas2 but when this witness is testifying1 one must draw the line somewhere1 or she will prove both sides of her case-nine sides1 if desired4 ,it is too true4 ,much too true4 ,many1 many times too true4 ,she is a most trying witness--the most trying witness that ever kissed the ,book1 ,i am sure4 ,there is no keeping up with her erratic testimony4 ,as soon as you have got her share of the authorship nailed where you half hope and half believe it will stay and cannot be joggled loose any more1 she joggles it loose again--or seems to2 you cannot be sure1 for her habit of dealing in meaningless metaphors instead of in plain1 straightforward statistics1 makes it nearly always impossible to tell just what it is she is trying to say4 ,she was definite when she claimed both the language and the ideas of the book4 ,that seemed to settle the matter4 ,it seemed to distribute the percentages of credit with precision between the collaborators3 ninety-two per cent4 to ,mrs4 ,eddy1 who did all the work1 and eight per cent4 to the ,deity1 who furnished the inspiration not enough of it to damage the copyright in a country closed against ,foreigners1 and yet plenty to advertise the book and market it at famine rates4 ,then ,mrs4 ,eddy does not keep still1 but fetches around and comes forward and testifies again4 ,it is most injudicious4 ,for she resorts to metaphor this time1 and it makes trouble1 for she seems to reverse the percentages and claim only the eight per cent4 for her self4 ,i quote from ,mr4 ,peabody's book 7,eddyism1 or ,christian ,science4 ,boston3 #ae ,court ,square1 price twenty-five cents73 8,speaking of this book1 ,mrs4 ,eddy1 in ,january last 7#aija7 said3 ',i should blush to write of ,science and ,health1 with ,key to the ,scriptures1 as ,i have1 were it of human origin1 and ,i1 apart from ,god1 its author2 but as ,i was only a scribe echoing the harmonies of ,heaven in divine metaphysics1 ,i cannot be supermodest of the ,christian ,science text-book40' ,mr4 ,peabody's comment3 8,nothing could be plainer than that4 ,here is a distinct avowal that the book entitled ,science and ,health was the work of ,almighty ,god40 ,it does seem to amount to that4 ,she was only a 8scribe40 ,confound the word1 it is just a confusion1 it has no determinable meaning there1 it leaves us in the air4 ,a scribe is merely a person who writes4 ,he may be a copyist1 he may be an amanuensis1 he may be a writer of originals1 and furnish both the language and the ideas4 ,as usual with ,mrs4 ,eddy1 the connection affords no help--8echoing0 throws no light upon 8scribe40 ,a rock can reflect an echo1 a wall can do it1 a mountain can do it1 many things can do it1 but a scribe can't4 ,a scribe that could reflect an echo could get over thirty dollars a week in a side-show4 ,many impresarios would rather have him than a cow with four tails4 ,if we allow that this present scribe was setting down the 8harmonies of ,heaven0--and certainly that seems to have been the case then there was only one way to do it that ,i can think of3 listen to the music and put down the notes one after another as they fell4 ,in that case ,mrs4 ,eddy did not invent the tune1 she only entered it on paper4 ,therefore dropping the metaphor--she was merely an amanuensis1 and furnished neither the language of ,science and ,health nor the ideas4 ,it reduces her to eight per cent4 7and the dividends on that and the rest74 ,is that it8 ,we shall never know4 ,for ,mrs4 ,eddy is liable to testify again at any time4 ,but until she does it1 ,i think we must conclude that the ,deity was ,author of the whole book1 and ,mrs4 ,eddy merely ,his telephone and stenographer4 ,granting this1 her claim as the ,voice of ,god stands-for the present--justified and established4 ,,postscript ,i overlooked something4 ,it appears that there was more of that utterance than ,mr4 ,peabody has quoted in the above paragraph4 ,it will be found in ,mrs4 ,eddy's organ1 the ,christian ,science ,journal 7,january1 #aija7 and reads as follows3 8,it was not myself444 which dictated ,science and ,health1 with ,key to the ,scriptures40 ,that is certainly clear enough4 ,the words which ,i have removed from that important sentence explain ,who it was that did the dictating4 ,it was done by 8the divine power of ,truth and ,love1 infinitely above me40 ,certainly that is definite4 ,at last1 through her personal testimony1 we have a sure grip upon the following vital facts1 and they settle the authorship of ,science and ,health beyond peradventure3 #a4 ,mrs4 ,eddy furnished 8the ideas and the language40 #b4 ,god furnished the ideas and the language4 ,it is a great comfort to have the matter authoritatively settled4 ,,chapter ,v ,it is hard to locate her1 she shifts about so much4 ,she is a shining drop of quicksilver which you put your finger on and it isn't there4 ,there is a paragraph in the ,autobiography 7page #if7 which places in seemingly darkly significant procession three ,personages3 #a4 ,the ,virgin ,mary #b4 ,jesus of ,nazareth4 #c4 ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,this is the paragraph referred to3 8,no person can take the individual place of the ,virgin ,mary4 ,no person can compass or fulfil the individual mission of ,jesus of ,nazareth4 ,no person can take the place of the author of ,science and ,health1 the discoverer and founder of ,christian ,science4 ,each individual must fill his own niche in time and eternity40 ,i have read it many times1 but ,i still cannot be sure that ,i rightly understand it4 ,if the ,saviour's name had been placed first and the ,virgin ,mary's second and ,mrs4 ,eddy's third1 ,i should draw the inference that a descending scale from ,first ,importance to ,second ,importance and then to ,small ,importance was indicated2 but to place the ,virgin first1 the ,saviour second1 and ,mrs4 ,eddy third1 seems to turn the scale the other way and make it an ascending scale of ,importances1 with ,mrs4 ,eddy ranking the other two and holding first place4 ,i think that that was perhaps the intention1 but none but a seasoned ,christian ,scientist can examine a literary animal of ,mrs4 ,eddy's creation and tell which end of it the tail is on4 ,she is easily the most baffling and bewildering writer in the literary trade4 ,eddy is a commonplace name1 and would have an unimpressive aspect in the list of the reformed ,holy ,family4 ,she has thought of that4 ,in the book of ,by-laws written by her--8impelled by a power not one's own0--there is a paragraph which explains how and when her disciples came to confer a title upon her2 and this explanation is followed by a warning as to what will happen to any female ,scientist who shall desecrate it3 8,the title of ,mother4 ,therefore if a student of ,christian ,science shall apply this title1 either to herself or to others1 except as the term for kinship according to the flesh1 it shall be regarded by the ,church as an indication of disrespect for their ,pastor ,emeritus1 and unfitness to be a member of the ,mother-,church40 ,she is the ,pastor ,emeritus4 ,while the quoted paragraph about the ,procession seems to indicate that ,mrs4 ,eddy is expecting to occupy the ,first ,place in it1 that expectation is not definitely avowed4 ,in an earlier utterance of hers she is clearer--clearer1 and does not claim the first place all to herself1 but only the half of it4 ,i quote from ,mr4 ,peabody's book again3 8,in the ,christian ,science ,journal for ,april1 #ahhi1 when it was her property1 and published by her1 it was claimed for her1 and with her sanction1 that she was equal with ,jesus1 and elaborate effort was made to establish the claim4 8,mrs4 ,eddy has distinctly authorized the claim in her behalf that she herself was the chosen successor to and equal of ,jesus40 ,in her ,miscellaneous ,writings 7using her once favorite 8,we0 for 8,i07 she says that 8,while we entertain decided views444 and shall express them as duty demands1 we shall claim no especial gift from our divine origin10 etc4 ,our divine origin4 ,it suggests ,equal again4 ,it is inferable1 then1 that in the near by-and-by the new ,church will officially rank the ,holy ,family in the following order3 #a4 ,jesus of ,nazareth4--#a4 ,our ,mother4 #b4 ,the ,virgin ,mary4 ,,summary ,i am not playing with ,christian ,science and its founder1 ,i am examining them2 and ,i am doing it because of the interest ,i feel in the inquiry4 ,my results may seem inadequate to the reader1 but they have for me clarified a muddle and brought a sort of order out of a chaos1 and so ,i value them4 ,my readings of ,mrs4 ,eddy's uninspired miscellaneous literary efforts have convinced me of several things3 #a4 ,that she did not write ,science and ,health4 #b4 ,that the ,deity did 7or did not7 write it4 #c4 ,that ,she thinks ,she wrote it4 #d4 ,that ,she believes ,she wrote it under the ,deity's inspiration4 #e4 ,that ,she believes ,she is a ,member of the ,holy ,family4 #f4 ,that ,she believes ,she is the equal of the ,head of it4 ,finally1 ,i think ,she is now entitled to the capital ,s--on her own evidence4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,thus far we have a part of ,mrs4 ,eddy's portrait4 ,not made of fictions1 surmises1 reports1 rumors1 innuendoes1 dropped by her enemies2 no1 she has furnished all of the materials herself1 and laid them on the canvas1 under my general superintendence and direction4 ,as far as she has gone with it1 it is the presentation of a complacent1 commonplace1 illiterate ,new ,england woman who 8forgot everything she knew0 when she discovered her discovery1 then wrote a ,bible in good ,english under the inspiration of ,god1 and climbed up it to the supremest summit of earthly grandeur attainable by man--where she sits serene to-day1 beloved and worshiped by a multitude of human beings of as good average intelligence as is possessed by those that march under the banner of any competing cult4 ,this is not intended to flatter the competing cults1 it is merely a statement of cold fact4 ,that a commonplace person should go climbing aloft and become a god or a half-god or a quarter-god and be worshiped by men and women of average intelligence1 is nothing4 ,it has happened a million times1 it will happen a hundred million more4 ,it has been millions of years since the first of these supernaturals appeared1 and by the time the last one in that inconceivably remote future shall have performed his solemn little high-jinks on the stage and closed the business1 there will be enough of them accumulated in the museum on the ,other ,side to start a heaven of their own-and jam it4 ,each in his turn those little supernaturals of our by-gone ages and aeons joined the monster procession of his predecessors and marched horizonward1 disappeared1 and was forgotten4 ,they changed nothing1 they built nothing1 they left nothing behind them to remember them by1 nothing to hold their disciples together1 nothing to solidify their work and enable it to defy the assaults of time and the weather4 ,they passed1 and left a vacancy4 ,they made one fatal mistake2 they all made it1 each in his turn3 they failed to organize their forces1 they failed to centralize their strength1 they failed to provide a fresh ,bible and a sure and perpetual cash income for business1 and often they failed to provide a new and accepted ,divine ,personage to worship4 ,mrs4 ,eddy is not of that small fry4 ,the materials that go to the making of the rest of her portrait will prove it4 ,she will furnish them herself3 ,she published her book4 ,she copyrighted it4 ,she copyrights everything4 ,if she should say1 8,good-morning2 how do you do80 she would copyright it2 for she is a careful person1 and knows the value of small things4 ,she began to teach her ,science1 she began to heal1 she began to gather converts to her new religion--fervent1 sincere1 devoted1 grateful people4 ,a year or two later she organized her first ,christian ,science 8,association10 with six of her disciples on the roster4 ,she continued to teach and heal4 ,she was charging nothing1 she says1 although she was very poor4 ,she taught and healed gratis four years altogether1 she says4 ,then1 in #ahgi-ha she was become strong enough1 and well enough established1 to venture a couple of impressively important moves4 ,the first of these moves was to aggrandize the 8,association0 to a 8,church40 ,brave8 ,it is the right name for it1 ,i think4 ,the former name suggests nothing1 invited no remark1 no criticism1 no inquiry1 no hostility2 the new name invited them all4 ,she must have made this intrepid venture on her own motion4 ,she could have had no important advisers at that early day4 ,if we accept it as her own idea and her own act--and ,i think we must--we have one key to her character4 ,and it will explain subsequent acts of hers that would merely stun us and stupefy us without it4 ,shall we call it courage8 ,or shall we call it recklessness8 ,courage observes2 reflects2 calculates2 surveys the whole situation2 counts the cost1 estimates the odds1 makes up its mind2 then goes at the enterprise resolute to win or perish4 ,recklessness does not reflect1 it plunges fearlessly in with a hurrah1 and takes the risks1 whatever they may be1 regardless of expense4 ,recklessness often fails1 ,mrs4 ,eddy has never failed--from the point of view of her followers4 ,the point of view of other people is naturally not a matter of weighty importance to her4 ,the new ,church was not born loose-jointed and featureless1 but had a defined plan1 a definite character1 definite aims1 and a name which was a challenge1 and defied all comers4 ,it was 8a ,mind-healing ,church40 ,it was 8without a creed40 ,its name1 8,the ,church of ,christ1 ,scientist40 ,mrs4 ,eddy could not copyright her ,church1 but she chartered it1 which was the same thing and relieved the pain4 ,it had twenty-six charter members4 ,mrs4 ,eddy was at once installed as its pastor4 ,the other venture1 above referred to1 was ,mrs4 ,eddy's ,massachusetts ,metaphysical ,college1 in which was taught 8the pathology of spiritual power40 ,she could not copyright it1 but she got it chartered4 ,for faculty it had herself1 her husband of the period 7,dr4 ,eddy71 and her adopted son1 ,dr4 ,foster-,eddy4 ,the college term was 8barely three weeks10 she says4 ,again she was bold1 brave1 rash1 reckless--choose for yourself--for she not only began to charge the student1 but charged him a hundred dollars a week for the enlightenments4 ,and got it8 some may ask4 ,easily4 ,pupils flocked from far and near4 ,they came by the hundred4 ,presently the term was cut down nearly half1 but the price remained as before4 ,to be exact1 the term-cut was to seven lessons--price1 three hundred dollars4 ,the college 8yielded a large income40 ,this is believable4 ,in seven years ,mrs4 ,eddy taught1 as she avers1 over four thousand students in it4 7,preface to #aijb edition of ,science and ,health47 ,three hundred times four thousand is--but perhaps you can cipher it yourself4 ,i could do it ordinarily1 but ,i fell down yesterday and hurt my leg4 ,cipher it2 you will see that it is a grand sum for a woman to earn in seven years4 ,yet that was not all she got out of her college in the seven4 ,at the time that she was charging the primary student three hundred dollars for twelve lessons she was not content with this tidy assessment1 but had other ways of plundering him4 ,by advertisement she offered him privileges whereby he could add eighteen lessons to his store for five hundred dollars more4 ,that is to say1 he could get a total of thirty lessons in her college for eight hundred dollars4 ,four thousand times eight hundred is--but it is a difficult sum for a cripple who has not been 8demonstrated over0 to cipher2 let it go4 ,she taught 8over0 four thousand students in seven years4 8,over0 is not definite1 but it probably represents a non-paying surplus of learners over and above the paying four thousand4 ,charity students1 doubtless4 ,i think that as interesting an advertisement as has been printed since the romantic old days of the other buccaneers is this one from the ,christian ,science ,journal for ,september1 #ahhf3 8,,massachusetts ,,metaphysical ,,college 8,rev4 ,,mary ,,baker ,g4 ,,eddy1 ,,president 8#ega ,columbus ,avenue1 ,boston 8,the collegiate course in ,christian ,science metaphysical healing includes twelve lessons4 ,tuition1 three hundred dollars4 8,course in metaphysical obstetrics includes six daily lectures1 and is open only to students from this college4 ,tuition1 one hundred dollars4 8,class in theology1 open 7like the above7 to graduates1 receives six additional lectures on the ,scriptures1 and summary of the principle and practice of ,christian ,science1 two hundred dollars4 8,normal class is open to those who have taken the first course at this college2 six daily lectures complete the ,normal course4 ,tuition1 two hundred dollars4 8,no invalids1 and only persons of good moral character1 are accepted as students4 ,all students are subject to examination and rejection2 and they are liable to leave the class if found unfit to remain in it4 8,a limited number of clergymen received free of charge4 8,largest discount to indigent students1 one hundred dollars on the first course4 8,no deduction on the others4 8,husband and wife1 entered together1 three hundred dollars4 8,tuition for all strictly in advance40 ,there it is--the horse-leech's daughter alive again1 after a three-century vacation4 ,fifty or sixty hours' lecturing for eight hundred dollars4 ,i was in error as to one matter3 there are no charity students4 ,gratis-taught clergymen must not be placed under that head2 they are merely an advertisement4 ,pauper students can get into the infant class on a two-third rate 7cash in advance71 but not even an archangel can get into the rest of the game at anything short of par1 cash down4 ,for it is 8in the spirit of ,christ's charity1 as one who is joyful to hear healing to the sick0 that ,mrs4 ,eddy is working the game4 ,she sends the healing to them outside4 ,she cannot bear it to them inside the college1 for the reason that she does not allow a sick candidate to get in4 ,it is true that this smells of inconsistency1 but that is nothing2 ,mrs4 ,eddy would not be ,mrs4 ,eddy if she should ever chance to be consistent about anything two days running4 ,except in the matter of the ,dollar4 ,the ,dollar1 and appetite for power and notoriety4 ,english must also be added2 she is always consistent1 she is always ,mrs4 ,eddy1 in her ,english3 it is always and consistently confused and crippled and poor4 ,she wrote the ,advertisement2 her literary trade-marks are there4 ,when she says all 8students0 are subject to examination1 she does not mean students1 she means candidates for that lofty place ,when she says students are 8liable0 to leave the class if found unfit to remain in it1 she does not mean that if they find themselves unfit1 or be found unfit by others1 they will be likely to ask permission to leave the class2 she means that if she finds them unfit she will be 8liable0 to fire them out4 ,when she nobly offers 8tuition for all strictly in advance10 she does not mean 8instruction for all in advance-payment for it later40 ,no1 that is only what she says1 it is not what she means4 ,if she had written ,science and ,health1 the oldest man in the world would not be able to tell with certainty what any passage in it was intended to mean4 ,her ,church was on its legs4 ,she was its pastor4 ,it was prospering4 ,she was appointed one of a committee to draught ,by-laws for its government4 ,it may be observed1 without overplus of irreverence1 that this was larks for her4 ,she did all of the draughting herself4 ,from the very beginning she was always in the front seat when there was business to be done2 in the front seat1 with both eyes open1 and looking sharply out for ,number ,one2 in the front seat1 working ,mortal ,mind with fine effectiveness and giving ,immortal ,mind a rest for ,sunday4 ,when her ,church was reorganized1 by-and-by1 the ,by-laws were retained4 ,she saw to that4 ,in these ,laws for the government of her ,church1 her empire1 her despotism1 ,mrs4 ,eddy's character is embalmed for good and all4 ,i think a particularized examination of these ,church-laws will be found interesting4 ,and not the less so if we keep in mind that they were 8impelled by a power not one's own10 as she says--,anglice--the inspiration of ,god4 ,it is a ,church 8without a creed40 ,still1 it has one4 ,mrs4 ,eddy draughted it--and copyrighted it4 ,in her own name4 ,you cannot become a member of the ,mother-,church 7nor of any ,christian ,science ,church7 without signing it4 ,it forms the first chapter of the ,by-laws1 and is called 8,tenets40 8,tenets of ,the ,mother ,church1 ,the ,first ,church of ,christ1 ,scientist40 ,it has no hell in it--it throws it overboard4 ,,the ,,pastor ,,emeritus ,about the time of the reorganization1 ,mrs4 ,eddy retired from her position of pastor of her ,church1 abolished the office of pastor in all branch ,churches1 and appointed her book1 ,science and ,health1 to be pastor-universal4 ,mrs4 ,eddy did not disconnect herself from the office entirely1 when she retired1 but appointed herself ,pastor ,emeritus4 ,it is a misleading title1 and belongs to the family of that phrase 8without a creed40 ,it advertises her as being a merely honorary official1 with nothing to do1 and no authority4 ,the ,czar of ,russia is ,emperor ,emeritus on the same terms4 ,mrs4 ,eddy was ,autocrat of the ,church before1 with limitless authority1 and she kept her grip on that limitless authority when she took that fictitious title4 ,it is curious and interesting to note with what an unerring instinct the ,pastor ,emeritus has thought out and forecast all possible encroachments upon her planned autocracy1 and barred the way against them1 in the ,by-laws which she framed and copyrighted--under the guidance of the ,supreme ,being4 ,,the ,,board ,,of ,,directors ,for instance1 when ,article ,i4 speaks of a ,president and ,board of ,directors1 you think you have discovered a formidable check upon the powers and ambitions of the honorary pastor1 the ornamental pastor1 the functionless pastor1 the ,pastor ,emeritus1 but it is a mistake4 ,these great officials are of the phrase--family of the ,church-,without-a-,creed and the ,pastor-,with-,nothing-to-,do2 that is to say1 of the family of ,large-,names-,which-,mean-,nothing4 ,the ,board is of so little consequence that the ,by-laws do not state how it is chosen1 nor who does it2 but they do state1 most definitely1 that the ,board cannot fill a vacancy in its number 8except the candidate is approved by the ,pastor ,emeritus40 ,the 8candidate40 ,the ,board cannot even proceed to an election until the ,pastor ,emeritus has examined the list and squelched such candidates as are not satisfactory to her4 ,whether the original first ,board began as the personal property of ,mrs4 ,eddy or not1 it is foreseeable that in time1 under this ,by-law1 she would own it4 ,such a first ,board might chafe under such a rule as that1 and try to legislate it out of existence some day4 ,but ,mrs4 ,eddy was awake4 ,she foresaw that danger1 and added this ingenious and effective clause3 8,this ,by-law can neither be amended nor annulled1 except by consent of ,mrs4 ,eddy1 the ,pastor ,emeritus40 ,,the ,,president ,the ,board of ,directors1 or ,serfs1 or ,ciphers1 elects the ,president4 ,on these clearly worded terms3 8,subject to the approval of the ,pastor ,emeritus40 ,therefore ,she elects him4 ,a long term can invest a high official with influence and power1 and make him dangerous4 ,mrs4 ,eddy reflected upon that2 so she limits the ,president's term to a year4 ,she has a capable commercial head1 an organizing head1 a head for government4 ,,treasurer ,,and ,,clerk ,there are a ,treasurer and a ,clerk4 ,they are elected by the ,board of ,directors4 ,that is to say1 by ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,their terms of office expire on the first ,tuesday in ,june of each year1 8or upon the election of their successors40 ,they must be watchfully obedient and satisfactory to her1 or she will elect and install their successors with a suddenness that can be unpleasant to them4 ,it goes without saying that the ,treasurer manages the ,treasury to suit ,mrs4 ,eddy1 and is in fact merely ,temporary ,deputy ,treasurer4 ,apparently the ,clerk has but two duties to perform3 to read messages from ,mrs4 ,eddy to ,first ,members assembled in solemn ,council1 and provide lists of candidates for ,church membership4 ,the select body entitled ,first ,members are the aristocracy of the ,mother-,church1 the ,charter ,members1 the ,aborigines1 a sort of stylish but unsalaried little ,college of ,cardinals1 good for show1 but not indispensable4 ,nobody is indispensable in ,mrs4 ,eddy's empire2 she sees to that4 ,when the ,pastor ,emeritus sends a letter or message to that little ,sanhedrin1 it is the ,clerk's 8imperative duty0 to read it 8at the place and time specified40 ,otherwise1 the world might come to an end4 ,these are fine1 large frills1 and remind us of the ways of emperors and such4 ,such do not use the penny-post1 they send a gilded and painted special messenger1 and he strides into the ,parliament1 and business comes to a sudden and solemn and awful stop2 and in the impressive hush that follows1 the ,chief ,clerk reads the document4 ,it is his 8imperative duty40 ,if he should neglect it1 his official life would end4 ,it is the same with this ,mother-,church ,clerk2 8if he fail to perform this important function of his office10 certain majestic and unshirkable solemnities must follow3 a special meeting 8shall0 be called2 a member of the ,church 8shall0 make formal complaint2 then the ,clerk 8shall0 be 8removed from office40 ,complaint is sufficient1 no trial is necessary4 ,there is something very sweet and juvenile and innocent and pretty about these little tinsel vanities1 these grave apings of monarchical fuss and feathers and ceremony1 here on our ostentatiously democratic soil4 ,she is the same lady that we found in the ,autobiography1 who was so naively vain of all that little ancestral military riffraff that she had dug up and annexed4 ,a person's nature never changes4 ,what it is in childhood1 it remains4 ,under pressure1 or a change of interest1 it can partially or wholly disappear from sight1 and for considerable stretches of time1 but nothing can ever permanently modify it1 nothing can ever remove it4 ,,board ,,of ,,trustees ,there isn't any--now4 ,but with power and money piling up higher and higher every day and the ,church's dominion spreading daily wider and farther1 a time could come when the envious and ambitious could start the idea that it would be wise and well to put a watch upon these assets--a watch equipped with properly large authority4 ,by custom1 a ,board of ,trustees4 ,mrs4 ,eddy has foreseen that probability--for she is a woman with a long1 long look ahead1 the longest look ahead that ever a woman had--and she has provided for that emergency4 ,in ,art4 ,i41 ,sec4 #e1 she has decreed that no ,board of ,trustees shall ever exist in the ,mother-,church 8except it be constituted by the ,pastor ,emeritus40 ,the magnificence of it1 the daring of it6 ,thus far1 she is3 ,the ,massachusetts ,metaphysical ,college2 ,pastor ,emeritus2 ,president2 ,board of ,directors2 ,treasurer2 ,clerk2 and future ,board of ,trustees2 and is still moving onward1 ever onward4 ,when ,i contemplate her from a commercial point of view1 there are no words that can convey my admiration of her4 ,,readers ,these are a feature of first importance in the church-machinery of ,christian ,science4 ,for they occupy the pulpit4 ,they hold the place that the preacher holds in the other ,christian ,churches4 ,they hold that place1 but they do not preach4 ,two of them are on duty at a time--a man and a woman4 ,one reads a passage from the ,bible1 the other reads the explanation of it from ,science and ,health--and so they go on alternating4 ,this constitutes the service--this1 with choir-music4 ,they utter no word of their own4 ,art4 ,,iv41 ,sec4 #f1 closes their mouths with this uncompromising gag3 8,they shall make no remarks explanatory of the ,lesson-,sermon at any time during the service40 ,it seems a simple little thing4 ,one is not startled by it at a first reading of it2 nor at the second1 nor the third4 ,one may have to read it a dozen times before the whole magnitude of it rises before the mind4 ,it far and away oversizes and outclasses the best business-idea yet invented for the safe-guarding and perpetuating of a religion4 ,if it had been thought of and put in force eighteen hundred and seventy years ago1 there would be but one ,christian sect in the world now1 instead of ten dozens of them4 ,there are many varieties of men in the world1 consequently there are many varieties of minds in its pulpits4 ,this insures many differing interpretations of important ,scripture texts1 and this in turn insures the splitting up of a religion into many sects4 ,it is what has happened2 it was sure to happen4 ,mrs4 ,eddy has noted this disastrous result of preaching1 and has put up the bars4 ,she will have no preaching in her ,church4 ,she has explained all essential ,scriptures1 and set the explanations down in her book4 ,in her belief her underlings cannot improve upon those explanations1 and in that stern sentence 8they shall make no explanatory remarks0 she has barred them for all time from trying4 ,she will be obeyed2 there is no question about that4 ,in arranging her government she has borrowed ideas from various sources--not poor ones1 but the best in the governmental market--but this one is new1 this one came out of no ordinary business-head1 this one must have come out of her own1 there has been no other commercial skull in a thousand centuries that was equal to it4 ,she has borrowed freely and wisely1 but ,i am sure that this idea is many times larger than all her borrowings bulked together4 ,one must respect the business-brain that produced it--the splendid pluck and impudence that ventured to promulgate it1 anyway4 ,,election ,,of ,,readers ,readers are not taken at hap-hazard1 any more than preachers are taken at hap-hazard for the pulpits of other sects4 ,no1 ,readers are elected by the ,board of ,directors4 ,but-- 8,section #c4 ,the ,board shall inform the ,pas4 for ,emeritus of the names of candidates for ,readers before they are elected1 and if she objects to the nomination1 said candidates shall not be chosen40 ,is that an election--by the ,board8 ,thus far ,i have not been able to find out what that ,board of ,spectres is for4 ,it certainly has no real function1 no duty which the hired girl could not perform1 no office beyond the mere recording of the autocrat's decrees4 ,there are no dangerously long office-terms in ,mrs4 ,eddy's government4 ,the ,readers are elected for but one year4 ,this insures their subserviency to their proprietor4 ,readers are not allowed to copy out passages and read them from the manuscript in the pulpit2 they must read from ,mrs4 ,eddy's book itself4 ,she is right4 ,slight changes could be slyly made1 repeated1 and in time get acceptance with congregations4 ,branch sects could grow out of these practices4 ,mrs4 ,eddy knows the human race1 and how far to trust it4 ,her limit is not over a quarter of an inch4 ,it is all that a wise person will risk4 ,mrs4 ,eddy's inborn disposition to copyright everything1 charter everything1 secure the rightful and proper credit to herself for everything she does1 and everything she thinks she does1 and everything she thinks1 and everything she thinks she thinks or has thought or intends to think1 is illustrated in ,sec4 #e of ,art4 ,,iv41 defining the duties of official ,readers--in church3 8,naming ,book and ,author4 ,the ,reader of ,science and ,health1 with ,key to the ,scriptures1 before commencing to read from this book1 shall distinctly announce its full title and give the author's name40 ,otherwise the congregation might get the habit of forgetting who 7ostensibly7 wrote the book4 ,,the ,,aristocracy ,this consists of ,first ,members and their apostolic succession4 ,it is a close corporation1 and its membership limit is one hundred4 ,forty will answer1 but if the number fall below that1 there must be an election1 to fill the grand quorum4 ,this ,sanhedrin can't do anything of the slightest importance1 but it can talk4 ,it can 8discuss40 ,that is1 it can discuss 8important questions relative to ,church members01 evidently persons who are already ,church members4 ,this affords it amusement1 and does no harm4 ,it can 8fix the salaries of the ,readers40 ,twice a year it 8votes on0 admitting candidates4 ,that is1 for ,church membership4 ,but its work is cut out for it beforehand1 by ,art4 ,,ix43 8,every recommendation for membership ,in the ,church 'shall be countersigned by a loyal student of ,mrs4 ,eddy's1 by a ,director of this ,church1 or by a ,first ,member4'0 ,all these three classes of beings are the personal property of ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,she has absolute control of the elections4 ,also it must 8transact any ,church business that may properly come before it40 8,properly0 is a thoughtful word4 ,no important business can come before it4 ,the ,by laws have attended to that4 ,no important business goes before any one for the final word except ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,she has looked to that4 ,the ,sanhedrin 8votes on0 candidates for admission to its own body4 ,but is its vote worth any more than mine would be8 ,no1 it isn't4 ,sec4 #d1 of ,art4 ,v4--,election of ,first ,members--makes this quite plain3 8,before being elected1 the candidates for ,first ,members shall be approved by the ,pastor ,emeritus over her own signature40 ,thus the ,sanhedrin is the personal property of ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,she owns it4 ,it has no functions1 no authority1 no real existence4 ,it is another ,board of ,shadows4 ,mrs4 ,eddy is the ,sanhedrin herself4 ,but it is time to foot up again and 8see where we are at40 ,thus far1 ,mrs4 ,eddy is3 ,the ,massachusetts ,metaphysical ,college2 ,pastor ,emeritus1 ,president2 ,board of ,directors2 ,treasurer2 ,clerk2 ,future ,board of ,trustees2 ,proprietor of the ,priesthood3 ,dictator of the ,services2 ,proprietor of the ,sanhedrin4 ,she has come far1 and is still on her way4 ,,church ,,membership ,in this ,article there is another exhibition of a couple of the large features of ,mrs4 ,eddy's remarkable make-up3 her business-talent and her knowledge of human nature4 ,she does not beseech and implore people to join her ,church4 ,she knows the human race better than that4 ,she gravely goes through the motions of reluctantly granting admission to the applicant as a favor to him4 ,the idea is worth untold shekels4 ,she does not stand at the gate of the fold with welcoming arms spread1 and receive the lost sheep with glad emotion and set up the fatted calf and invite the neighbor and have a time4 ,no1 she looks upon him coldly1 she snubs him1 she says3 8,who are you8 ,who is your sponsor8 ,who asked you to come here8 ,go away1 and don't come again until you are invited40 ,it is calculated to strikingly impress a person accustomed to ,moody and ,sankey and ,sam ,jones revivals2 accustomed to brain-turning appeals to the unknown and unendorsed sinner to come forward and enter into the joy1 etc4--8just as he is02 accustomed to seeing him do it2 accustomed to seeing him pass up the aisle through sobbing seas of welcome1 and love1 and congratulation1 and arrive at the mourner's bench and be received like a long-lost government bond4 ,no1 there is nothing of that kind in ,mrs4 ,eddy's system4 ,she knows that if you wish to confer upon a human being something which he is not sure he wants1 the best way is to make it apparently difficult for him to get it--then he is no son of ,adam if that apple does not assume an interest in his eyes which it lacked before4 ,in time this interest can grow into desire4 ,mrs4 ,eddy knows that when you cannot get a man to try--free of cost--a new and effective remedy for a disease he is afflicted with1 you can generally sell it to him if you will put a price upon it which he cannot afford4 ,when1 in the beginning1 she taught ,christian ,science gratis 7for good reasons71 pupils were few and reluctant1 and required persuasion2 it was when she raised the limit to three hundred dollars for a dollar's worth that she could not find standing room for the invasion of pupils that followed4 ,with fine astuteness she goes through the motions of making it difficult to get membership in her ,church4 ,there is a twofold value in this system3 it gives membership a high value in the eyes of the applicant2 and at the same time the requirements exacted enable ,mrs4 ,eddy to keep him out if she has doubts about his value to her4 ,a word further as to applications for membership3 8,applications of students of the ,metaphysical ,college must be signed by the ,board of ,directors40 ,that is safe4 ,mrs4 ,eddy is proprietor of that ,board4 ,children of twelve may be admitted if invited by 8one of ,mrs4 ,eddy's loyal students1 or by a ,first ,member1 or by a ,director40 ,these sponsors are the property of ,mrs4 ,eddy1 therefore her ,church is safeguarded from the intrusion of undesirable children4 ,other ,students4 ,applicants who have not studied with ,mrs4 ,eddy can get in only 8by invitation and recommendation from students of ,mrs4 ,eddy4444 or from members of the ,mother-,church40 ,other paragraphs explain how two or three other varieties of applicants are to be challenged and obstructed1 and tell us who is authorized to invite them1 recommend them endorse them1 and all that4 ,the safeguards are definite1 and would seem to be sufficiently strenuous--to ,mr4 ,sam ,jones1 at any rate4 ,not for ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,she adds this clincher3 8,the candidates be elected by a majority vote of the ,first ,members present40 ,that is the aristocracy1 the aborigines1 the ,sanhedrin4 ,it is ,mrs4 ,eddy's property4 ,she herself is the ,sanhedrin4 ,no one can get into the ,church if she wishes to keep him out4 ,this veto power could some time or other have a large value for her1 therefore she was wise to reserve it4 ,it is likely that it is not frequently used4 ,it is also probable that the difficulties attendant upon getting admission to membership have been instituted more to invite than to deter1 more to enhance the value of membership and make people long for it than to make it really difficult to get4 ,i think so1 because the ,mother4 ,church has many thousands of members more than its building can accommodate4 ,,and ,,some ,,english ,,required ,mrs4 ,eddy is very particular as regards one detail curiously so1 for her1 all things considered4 ,the ,church ,readers must be 8good ,english scholars02 they must be 8thorough ,english scholars40 ,she is thus sensitive about the ,english of her subordinates for cause1 possibly4 ,in her chapter defining the duties of the ,clerk there is an indication that she harbors resentful memories of an occasion when the hazy quality of her own ,english made unforeseen and mortifying trouble3 8,understanding ,communications4 ,sec4 #b4 ,if the ,clerk of this ,church shall receive a communication from the ,pastor ,emeritus which he does not fully understand1 he shall inform her of this fact before presenting it to the ,church1 and obtain a clear understanding of the matter--then act in accordance therewith40 ,she should have waited to calm down1 then1 but instead she added this1 which lacks sugar3 8,failing to adhere to this ,by-law1 the ,clerk must resign40 ,i wish ,i could see that communication that broke the camel's back4 ,it was probably the one beginning3 8,what plague spot or bacilli were gnawing at the heart of this metropolis and bringing it on bended knee80 and ,i think it likely that the kindly disposed ,clerk tried to translate it into ,english and lost his mind and had to go to the hospital4 ,that ,bylaw was not the offspring of a forecast1 an intuition1 it was certainly born of a sorrowful experience4 ,its temper gives the fact away4 ,the little book of ,by-laws has manifestly been tinkered by one of ,mrs4 ,eddy's 8thorough ,english scholars10 for in the majority of cases its meanings are clear4 ,the book is not even marred by ,mrs4 ,eddy's peculiar specialty--lumbering clumsinesses of speech4 ,i believe the salaried polisher has weeded them all out but one4 ,in one place1 after referring to ,science and ,health1 ,mrs4 ,eddy goes on to say 8the ,bible and the above-named book1 with other works by the same author10 etc4 ,it is an unfortunate sentence1 for it could mislead a hasty or careless reader for a moment4 ,mrs4 ,eddy framed it--it is her very own--it bears her trade-mark4 8,the ,bible and ,science and ,health1 with other works by the same author10 could have come from no literary vacuum but the one which produced the remark 7in the ,autobiography73 8,i remember reading1 in my childhood1 certain manuscripts containing ,scriptural ,sonnets1 besides other verses and enigmas40 ,we know what she means1 in both instances1 but a low-priced ,clerk would not necessarily know1 and on a salary like his he could quite excusably aver that the ,pastor ,emeritus had commanded him to come and make proclamation that she was author of the ,bible1 and that she was thinking of discharging some ,scriptural sonnets and other enigmas upon the congregation4 ,it could lose him his place1 but it would not be fair1 if it happened before the edict about 8,understanding ,communications0 was promulgated4 8,,readers0 ,,again ,the ,by-law book makes a showy pretence of orderliness and system1 but it is only a pretence4 ,i will not go so far as to say it is a harum-scarum jumble1 for it is not that1 but ,i think it fair to say it is at least jumbulacious in places4 ,for instance1 ,articles ,,iii4 and ,,iv4 set forth in much detail the qualifications and duties of ,readers1 she then skips some thirty pages and takes up the subject again4 ,it looks like slovenliness1 but it may be only art4 ,the belated ,by-law has a sufficiently quiet look1 but it has a ton of dynamite in it4 ,it makes all the ,christian ,science ,church ,readers on the globe the personal chattels of ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,whenever she chooses1 she can stretch her long arm around the world's fat belly and flirt a ,reader out of his pulpit1 though he be tucked away in seeming safety and obscurity in a lost village in the middle of ,china3 8,in any ,church4 ,sec4 #b4 ,the ,pastor ,emeritus of the ,mother-,church shall have the right 7through a letter addressed to the individual and ,church of which he is the ,reader7 to remove a ,reader from this office in any ,church of ,christ1 ,scientist1 both in ,america and in foreign nations2 or to appoint the ,reader to fill any office belonging to the ,christian ,science denomination40 ,she does not have to prefer charges against him1 she does not have to find him lazy1 careless1 incompetent1 untidy1 ill-mannered1 unholy1 dishonest1 she does not have to discover a fault of any kind in him1 she does not have to tell him nor his congregation why she dismisses and disgraces him and insults his meek flock1 she does not have to explain to his family why she takes the bread out of their mouths and turns them out-of-doors homeless and ashamed in a strange land2 she does not have to do anything but send a letter and say3 8,pack6--and ask no questions60 ,has the ,pope this power8--the other ,pope--the one in ,rome4 ,has he anything approaching it8 ,can he turn a priest out of his pulpit and strip him of his office and his livelihood just upon a whim1 a caprice1 and meanwhile furnishing no reasons to the parish8 ,not in ,america4 ,and not elsewhere1 we may believe4 ,it is odd and strange1 to see intelligent and educated people among us worshipping this self-seeking and remorseless tyrant as a ,god4 ,this worship is denied--by persons who are themselves worshippers of ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,i feel quite sure that it is a worship which will continue during ages4 ,that ,mrs4 ,eddy wrote that amazing ,by-law with her own hand we have much better evidence than her word4 ,we have her ,english4 ,it is there4 ,it cannot be imitated4 ,she ought never to go to the expense of copyrighting her verbal discharges4 ,when any one tries to claim them she should call me2 ,i can always tell them from any other literary apprentice's at a glance4 ,it was like her to call ,america a 8nation02 she would call a sand-bar a nation if it should fall into a sentence in which she was speaking of peoples1 for she would not know how to untangle it and get it out and classify it by itself4 ,and the closing arrangement of that ,by-law is in true ,eddysonian form1 too4 ,in it she reserves authority to make a ,reader fill any office connected with a ,science church-sexton1 grave-digger1 advertising-agent1 ,annex-polisher1 leader of the choir1 ,president1 ,director1 ,treasurer1 ,clerk1 etc4 ,she did not mean that4 ,she already possessed that authority4 ,she meant to clothe herself with power1 despotic and unchallengeable1 to appoint all ,science ,readers to their offices1 both at home and abroad4 ,the phrase 8or to appoint0 is another miscarriage of intention2 she did not mean 8or10 she meant 8and40 ,that ,by-law puts into ,mrs4 ,eddy's hands absolute command over the most formidable force and influence existent in the ,christian ,science kingdom outside of herself1 and it does this unconditionally and 7by auxiliary force of ,laws already quoted7 irrevocably4 ,still1 she is not quite satisfied4 ,something might happen1 she doesn't know what4 ,therefore she drives in one more nail1 to make sure1 and drives it deep3 8,this ,by-law can neither be amended nor annulled1 except by consent of the ,pastor ,emeritus40 ,let some one with a wild and delirious fancy try and see if he can imagine her furnishing that consent4 ,,monopoly ,,of ,,spiritual ,,bread ,very properly1 the first qualification for membership in the ,mother-,church is belief in the doctrines of ,christian ,science4 ,but these doctrines must not be gathered from secondary sources4 ,there is but one recognized source4 ,the candidate must be a believer in the doctrines of ,christian ,science 8according to the platform and teaching contained in the ,christian ,science text-book1 ',science and ,health1 with ,key to the ,scriptures1' by ,rev4 ,mary ,baker ,g4 ,eddy40 ,that is definite1 and is final4 ,there are to be no commentaries1 no labored volumes of exposition and explanation by anybody except ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,because such things could sow error1 create warring opinions1 split the religion into sects1 and disastrously cripple its power4 ,mrs4 ,eddy will do the whole of the explaining1 ,herself--has done it1 in fact4 ,she has written several books4 ,they are to be had 7for cash in advance71 they are all sacred2 additions to them can never be needed and will never be permitted4 ,they tell the candidate how to instruct himself1 how to teach others1 how to do all things comprised in the business--and they close the door against all would-be competitors1 and monopolize the trade3 8,the ,bible and the above--named book ,science and ,health1 with other works by the same author10 must be his only text-books for the commerce--he cannot forage outside4 ,mrs4 ,eddy's words are to be the sole elucidators of the ,bible and ,science and ,health--forever4 ,throughout the ages1 whenever there is doubt as to the meaning of a passage in either of these books the inquirer will not dream of trying to explain it to himself2 he would shudder at the thought of such temerity1 such profanity1 he would be haled to the ,inquisition and thence to the public square and the stake if he should be caught studying into text-meanings on his own hook2 he will be prudent and seek the meanings at the only permitted source1 ,mrs4 ,eddy's commentaries4 ,value of this ,strait-jacket4 ,one must not underrate the magnificence of this long-headed idea1 one must not underestimate its giant possibilities in the matter of trooping the ,church solidly together and keeping it so4 ,it squelches independent inquiry1 and makes such a thing impossible1 profane1 criminal1 it authoritatively settles every dispute that can arise4 ,it starts with finality--a point which the ,roman ,church has travelled towards fifteen or sixteen centuries1 stage by stage1 and has not yet reached4 ,the matter of the ,immaculate ,conception of the ,virgin ,mary was not authoritatively settled until the days of ,pius ,,ix4--yesterday1 so to speak4 ,as already noticed1 the ,protestants are broken up into a long array of sects1 a result of disputes about the meanings of texts1 disputes made unavoidable by the absence of an infallible authority to submit doubtful passages to4 ,a week or two ago 7,i am writing in the middle of ,january1 #aijc71 the clergy and others hereabouts had a warm dispute in the papers over this question3 ,did ,jesus anywhere claim to be ,god8 ,it seemed an easy question1 but it turned out to be a hard one4 ,it was ably and elaborately discussed1 by learned men of several denominations1 but in the end it remained unsettled4 ,a week ago1 another discussion broke out4 ,it was over this text3 8,sell all that thou hast and distribute unto the poor40 ,one verdict was worded as follows3 8,when ,christ answered the rich young man and said for him to give to the poor all he possessed or he could not gain everlasting life1 ,he did not mean it in the literal sense4 ,my interpretation of ,his words is that we should part with what comes between us and ,christ4 8,there is no doubt that ,jesus believed that the rich young man thought more of his wealth than he did of his soul1 and1 such being the case1 it was his duty to give up the wealth4 8,every one of us knows that there is something we should give up for ,christ4 ,those who are true believers and followers know what they have given up1 and those who are not yet followers know down in their hearts what they must give up40 ,ten clergymen of various denominations were interviewed1 and nine of them agreed with that verdict4 ,that did not settle the matter1 because the tenth said the language of ,jesus was so strait and definite that it explained itself3 8,sell all10 not a percentage4 ,there is a most unusual feature about that dispute3 the nine persons who decided alike1 quoted not a single authority in support of their position4 ,i do not know when ,i have seen trained disputants do the like of that before4 ,the nine merely furnished their own opinions1 founded upon--nothing at all4 ,in the other dispute 78,did ,jesus anywhere claim to be ,god807 the same kind of men--trained and learned clergymen--backed up their arguments with chapter and verse4 ,on both sides4 ,plenty of verses4 ,were no reinforcing verses to be found in the present case8 ,it looks that way4 ,the opinion of the nine seems strange to me1 for it is unsupported by authority1 while there was at least constructive authority for the opposite view4 ,it is hair-splitting differences of opinion over disputed text-meanings that have divided into many sects a once united ,church4 ,one may infer from some of the names in the following list that some of the differences are very slight--so slight as to be not distinctly important1 perhaps--yet they have moved groups to withdraw from communions to which they belonged and set up a sect of their own4 ,the list--accompanied by various ,church statistics for #aijb1 compiled by ,rev4 ,dr4 ,h4 ,k4 ,carroll--was published1 ,january #h1 #aijc1 in the ,new ,york ,christian ,advocate3 ,adventists 7#f bodies71 ,baptists 7#ac bodies71 ,brethren 7,plymouth7 7#d bodies71 ,brethren 7,river7 7#c bodies71 ,catholics 7#h bodies71 ,catholic ,apostolic1 ,christadelphians1 ,christian ,connection1 ,christian ,catholics1 ,christian ,missionary ,association1 ,christian ,scientists1 ,church of ,god 7,wine-brennarian71 ,church of the ,new ,jerusalem1 ,congregationalists1 ,disciples of ,christ1 ,dunkards 7#d bodies71 ,evangelical 7#b bodies71 ,friends 7#d bodies71 ,friends of the ,temple1 ,german ,evangelical ,protestant1 ,german ,evangelical ,synod1 ,independent congregations1 ,jews 7#b bodies71 ,latter-day ,saints 7#b bodies71 ,lutherans 7#bb bodies71 ,mennonites 7#ab bodies71 ,methodists 7#ag bodies71 ,moravians1 ,presbyterians 7#ab bodies71 ,protestant ,episcopal 7#b bodies71 ,reformed 7#c bodies71 ,schwenkfeldians1 ,social ,brethren1 ,spiritualists1 ,swedish ,evangelical ,miss4 ,covenant 7,waldenstromians71 ,unitarians1 ,united ,brethren 7#b bodies71 ,universalists4 ,total of sects and splits--#aci4 ,in the present month 7,february71 ,mr4 ,e4 ,i4 ,lindh1 ,a4,m41 has communicated to the ,boston ,transcript a hopeful article on the solution of the problem of the 8divided church40 ,divided is not too violent a term4 ,subdivided could have been permitted if he had thought of it4 ,he came near thinking of it1 for he mentions some of the subdivisions himself3 8the #ab kinds of ,presbyterians1 the #ag kinds of ,methodists1 the #ac kinds of ,baptists1 etc40 ,he overlooked the #ab kinds of ,mennonites and the #bb kinds of ,lutherans1 but they are in ,rev4 ,mr4 ,carroll's list4 ,altogether1 #gf splits under #e flags4 ,the ,literary ,digest 7,february #adth7 is pleased with ,mr4 ,lindh's optimistic article1 and also with the signs of the times1 and perceives that 8the idea of ,church unity is in the air40 ,now1 then1 is not ,mrs4 ,eddy profoundly wise in forbidding1 for all time1 all explanations of her religion except such as she shall let on to be her own8 ,i think so4 ,i think there can be no doubt of it4 ,in a way1 they will be her own2 for1 no matter which member of her clerical staff shall furnish the explanations1 not a line of them will she ever allow to be printed until she shall have approved it1 accepted it1 copyrighted it1 cabbaged it4 ,we may depend on that with a four-ace confidence4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,the ,,new ,,infallibility ,all in proper time ,mrs4 ,eddy's factory will take hold of that ,commandment1 and explain it for good and all4 ,it may be that one member of the shift will vote that the word 8all0 means all2 it may be that ten members of the shift will vote that 8all0 means only a percentage2 but it is ,mrs4 ,eddy1 not the eleven1 who will do the deciding4 ,and if she says it is percentage1 then percentage it is1 forevermore--and that is what ,i am expecting1 for she doesn't sell all herself1 nor any considerable part of it1 and as regards the poor1 she doesn't declare any dividend2 but if she says 8all0 means all1 then all it is1 to the end of time1 and no follower of hers will ever be allowed to reconstruct that text1 or shrink it1 or inflate it1 or meddle with it in any way at all4 ,even to-day--right here in the beginning--she is the sole person who1 in the matter of ,christian ,science exegesis1 is privileged to exploit the ,spiral ,twist4 ,the ,christian world has two ,infallibles now4 ,of equal power8 ,for the present only4 ,when ,leo ,,xiii4 passes to his rest another ,infallible will ascend his throne2 others1 and yet others1 and still others will follow him1 and be as infallible as he1 and decide questions of doctrine as long as they may come up1 all down the far future2 but ,mary ,baker ,g4 ,eddy is the only ,infallible that will ever occupy the ,science throne4 ,many a ,science ,pope will succeed her1 but she has closed their mouths2 they will repeat and reverently praise and adore her infallibilities1 but venture none themselves4 ,in her grave she will still outrank all other ,popes1 be they of what ,church they may4 ,she will hold the supremest of earthly titles1 ,the ,infallible--with a capital ,t4 ,many in the world's history have had a hunger for such nuggets and slices of power as they might reasonably hope to grab out of an empire's or a religion's assets1 but ,mrs4 ,eddy is the only person alive or dead who has ever struck for the whole of them4 ,for small things she has the eye of a microscope1 for large ones the eye of a telescope1 and whatever she sees1 she wants4 ,wants it all4 ,,the ,,sacred ,,poems ,when ,mrs4 ,eddy's 8sacred revelations0 7that is the language of the ,by-laws7 are read in public1 their authorship must be named4 ,the ,by-laws twice command this1 therefore we mention it twice1 to be fair4 ,but it is also commanded that when a member publicly quotes 8from the poems of our ,pastor ,emeritus0 the authorship shall be named4 ,for these are sacred1 too4 ,there are kindly people who may suspect a hidden generosity in that ,by-law2 they may think it is there to protect the ,official ,reader from the suspicion of having written the poems himself4 ,such do not know ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,she does an inordinate deal of protecting1 but in no distinctly named and specified case in her history has ,number ,two been the object of it4 ,instances have been claimed1 but they have failed of proof1 and even of plausibility4 8,members shall also instruct their students0 to look out and advertise the authorship when they read those poems and things4 ,not on ,mrs4 ,eddy's account1 but 8for the good of our ,cause40 ,,the ,,church ,,edifice #a4 ,mrs4 ,eddy gave the land4 ,it was not of much value at the time1 but it is very valuable now4 #b4 ,her people built the ,mother-,church edifice on it1 at a cost of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars4 #c4 ,then they gave the whole property to her4 #d4 ,then she gave it to the ,board of ,directors4 ,she is the ,board of ,directors4 ,she took it out of one pocket and put it in the other4 #e4 ,sec4 #aj 7of the deed74 8,whenever said ,directors shall determine that it is inexpedient to maintain preaching1 reading1 or speaking in said church in accordance with the terms of this deed1 they are authorized and required to reconvey forthwith said lot of land with the building thereon to ,mary ,baker ,g4 ,eddy1 her heirs and assigns forever1 by a proper deed of conveyance40 ,she is never careless1 never slipshod1 about a matter of business4 ,owning the property through her ,board of ,waxworks was safe enough1 still it was sound business to set another grip on it to cover accidents1 and she did it4 ,her barkers 7what a curious name2 ,i wonder if it is copyrighted72 her barkers persistently advertise to the public her generosity in giving away a piece of land which cost her a trifle1 and a two--hundred--and--fifty--thousand--doll ar church which cost her nothing2 and they can hardly speak of the unselfishness of it without breaking down and crying2 yet they know she gave nothing away1 and never intended to4 ,however1 such is the human race4 ,often it does seem such a pity that ,noah and his party did not miss the boat4 ,some of the hostiles think that ,mrs4 ,eddy's idea in protecting this property in the interest of her heirs1 and in accumulating a great money fortune1 is1 that she may leave her natural heirs well provided for when she goes4 ,i think it is a mistake4 ,i think she is of late years giving herself large concern about only one interest-her power and glory1 and the perpetuation and worship of her ,name--with a capital ,n4 ,her ,church is her pet heir1 and ,i think it will get her wealth4 ,it is the torch which is to light the world and the ages with her glory4 ,i think she once prized money for the ease and comfort it could bring1 the showy vanities it could furnish1 and the social promotion it could command2 for we have seen that she was born into the world with little ways and instincts and aspirations and affectations that are duplicates of our own4 ,i do not think her money-passion has ever diminished in ferocity1 ,i do not think that she has ever allowed a dollar that had no friends to get by her alive1 but ,i think her reason for wanting it has changed4 ,i think she wants it now to increase and establish and perpetuate her power and glory with1 not to add to her comforts and luxuries1 not to furnish paint and fuss and feathers for vain display4 ,i think her ambitions have soared away above the fuss-and-feather stage4 ,she still likes the little shows and vanities--a fact which she exposed in a public utterance two or three days ago when she was not noticing--but ,i think she does not place a large value upon them now4 ,she could build a mighty and far-shining brass-mounted palace if she wanted to1 but she does not do it4 ,she would have had that kind of an ambition in the early scrabbling times4 ,she could go to ,england to-day and be worshiped by earls1 and get a comet's attention from the million1 if she cared for such things4 ,she would have gone in the early scrabbling days for much less than an earl1 and been vain of it1 and glad to show off before the remains of the ,scotch kin4 ,but those things are very small to her now--next to invisible1 observed through the cloud-rack from the dizzy summit where she perches in these great days4 ,she does not want that church property for herself4 ,it is worth but a quarter of a million--a sum she could call in from her far-spread flocks to-morrow with a lift of her hand4 ,not a squeeze of it1 just a lift4 ,it would come without a murmur2 come gratefully1 come gladly4 ,and if her glory stood in more need of the money in ,boston than it does where her flocks are propagating it1 she would lift the hand1 ,i think4 ,she is still reaching for the ,dollar1 she will continue to reach for it2 but not that she may spend it upon herself2 not that she may spend it upon charities2 not that she may indemnify an early deprivation and clothe herself in a blaze of ,north ,adams gauds2 not that she may have nine breeds of pie for breakfast1 as only the rich ,new-,englander can2 not that she may indulge any petty material vanity or appetite that once was hers and prized and nursed1 but that she may apply that ,dollar to statelier uses1 and place it where it may cast the metallic sheen of her glory farthest across the receding expanses of the globe4 ,,prayer ,a brief and good one is furnished in the book of ,by-laws4 ,the ,scientist is required to pray it every day4 ,,the ,,lord',s ,,prayer-,,amended ,this is not in the ,by-laws1 it is in the first chapter of ,science and ,health1 edition of #aijb4 ,i do not find it in the edition of #ahhd4 ,it is probable that it had not at that time been handed down4 ,science and ,health's 7latest7 rendering of its 8spiritual sense0 is as follows3 8,our ,father-,mother ,god' all-harmonious1 adorable ,one4 ,thy kingdom is within us1 ,thou art ever-present4 ,enable us to know--as in heaven1 so on earth--,god is supreme4 ,give us grace for to-day2 feed the famished affections4 ,and infinite ,love is reflected in love4 ,and ,love leadeth us not into temptation1 but delivereth from sin1 disease1 and death4 ,for ,god is now and forever all ,life1 ,truth1 and ,love40 ,if ,i thought my opinion was desired and would be properly revered1 ,i should say that in my judgment that is as good a piece of carpentering as any of those eleven ,commandment--experts could do with the material after all their practice4 ,i notice only one doubtful place4 8,lead us not into temptation0 seems to me to be a very definite request1 and that the new rendering turns the definite request into a definite assertion4 ,i shall be glad to have that turned back to the old way and the marks of the ,spiral ,twist removed1 or varnished over2 then ,i shall be satisfied1 and will do the best ,i can with what is left4 ,at the same time1 ,i do feel that the shrinkage in our spiritual assets is getting serious4 ,first the ,commandments1 now the ,prayer4 ,i never expected to see these steady old reliable securities watered down to this4 ,and this is not the whole of it4 ,last summer the ,presbyterians extended the ,calling and ,election suffrage to nearly everybody entitled to salvation4 ,they did not even stop there1 but let out all the unbaptized ,american infants we had been accumulating for two hundred years and more4 ,there are some that believe they would have let the ,scotch ones out1 too1 if they could have done it4 ,everything is going to ruin2 in no long time we shall have nothing left but the love of ,god4 ,,the ,,new ,,unpardonable ,,sin 8,working ,against the ,cause4 ,sec4 #b4 ,if a member of this ,church shall work against the accomplishment of what the ,discoverer and ,founder of ,christian ,science understands is advantageous to the individual1 to this ,church1 and to the ,cause of ,christian ,science0--out he goes4 ,forever4 ,the member may think that what he is doing will advance the ,cause1 but he is not invited to do any thinking4 ,more than that1 he is not permitted to do any--as he will clearly gather from this ,by-law4 ,when a person joins ,mrs4 ,eddy's ,church he must leave his thinker at home4 ,leave it permanently4 ,to make sure that it will not go off some time or other when he is not watching1 it will be safest for him to spike it4 ,if he should forget himself and think just once1 the ,by-law provides that he shall be fired out-instantly-forever-no return4 8,it shall be the duty of this ,church immediately to call a meeting1 and drop forever the name of this member from its records40 ,my1 but it breathes a towering indignation6 ,there are forgivable offenses1 but this is not one of them2 there are admonitions1 probations1 suspensions1 in several minor cases2 mercy is shown the derelict1 in those cases he is gently used1 and in time he can get back into the fold--even when he has repeated his offence4 ,but let him think1 just once1 without getting his thinker set to ,eddy time1 and that is enough2 his head comes off4 ,there is no second offence1 and there is no gate open to that lost sheep1 ever again4 8,this rule cannot be changed1 amended1 or annulled1 except by unanimous vote of all the ,first ,members40 ,the same being ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,it is naively sly and pretty to see her keep putting forward ,first ,members1 and ,boards of ,this and ,that1 and other broideries and ruffles of her raiment1 as if they were independent entities1 instead of a part of her clothes1 and could do things all by themselves when she was outside of them4 ,mrs4 ,eddy did not need to copyright the sentence just quoted1 its ,english would protect it4 ,none but she would have shovelled that comically superfluous 8all0 in there4 ,the former ,unpardonable ,sin has gone out of service4 ,we may frame the new ,christian ,science one thus3 8,whatsoever ,member shall think1 and without ,our ,mother's permission act upon his think1 the same shall be cut off from the ,church forever40 ,it has been said that ,i make many mistakes about ,christian ,science through being ignorant of the spiritual meanings of its terminology4 ,i believe it is true4 ,i have been misled all this time by that word ,member1 because there was no one to tell me that its spiritual meaning was ,slave4 ,,axe ,,and ,,block ,there is a ,by-law which forbids ,members to practice hypnotism2 the penalty is excommunication4 #a4 ,if a member is found to be a mental practitioner--#b4 ,complaint is to be entered against him--#c4 ,by the ,pastor ,emeritus1 and by none else2 #d4 ,no member is allowed to make complaint to her in the matter2 #e4 ,upon ,mrs4 ,eddy's mere 8complaint0--unbacked by evidence or proof1 and without giving the accused a chance to be heard--his name shall be dropped from this ,church4 ,mrs4 ,eddy has only to say a member is guilty--that is all4 ,that ends it4 ,it is not a case of he 8may0 be cut off from ,christian ,science salvation1 it is a case of he 8shall0 be4 ,her serfs must see to it1 and not say a word4 ,does the other ,pope possess this prodigious and irresponsible power8 ,certainly not in our day4 ,some may be curious to know how ,mrs4 ,eddy finds out that a member is practicing hypnotism1 since no one is allowed to come before her throne and accuse him4 ,she has explained this in ,christian ,science ,history1 first and second editions1 page #af3 8,i possess a spiritual sense of what the malicious mental practitioner is mentally arguing which cannot be deceived2 ,i can discern in the human mind thoughts1 motives1 and purposes1 and neither mental arguments nor psychic power can affect this spiritual insight40 ,a marvelous woman2 with a hunger for power such as has never been seen in the world before4 ,no thing1 little or big1 that contains any seed or suggestion of power escapes her avaricious eye2 and when once she gets that eye on it1 her remorseless grip follows4 ,there isn't a ,christian ,scientist who isn't ecclesiastically as much her property as if she had bought him and paid for him1 and copyrighted him and got a charter4 ,she cannot be satisfied when she has handcuffed a member1 and put a leg-chain and ball on him and plugged his ears and removed his thinker1 she goes on wrapping needless chains round and round him1 just as a spider would4 ,for she trusts no one1 believes in no one's honesty1 judges every one by herself4 ,although we have seen that she has absolute and irresponsible command over her spectral ,boards and over every official and servant of her ,church1 at home and abroad1 over every minute detail of her ,church's government1 present and future1 and can purge her membership of guilty or suspected persons by various plausible formalities and whenever she will1 she is still not content1 but must set her queer mind to work and invent a way by which she can take a member--any member--by neck and crop and fling him out without anything resembling a formality at all4 ,she is sole accuser and sole witness1 and her testimony is final and carries uncompromising and irremediable doom with it4 ,the ,sole-,witness ,court6 ,it should make the ,council of ,ten and the ,council of ,three turn in their graves for shame1 to see how little they knew about satanic concentrations of irresponsible power4 ,here we have one ,accuser1 one ,witness1 one ,judge1 one ,headsman--and all four bunched together in ,mrs4 ,eddy1 the ,inspired of ,god1 ,his ,latest ,thought to ,his ,people1 ,new ,member of the ,holy ,family1 the ,equal of ,jesus4 ,when a ,member is not satisfactory to ,mrs4 ,eddy1 and yet is blameless in his life and faultless in his membership and in his ,christian ,science walk and conversation1 shall he hold up his head and tilt his hat over one ear and imagine himself safe because of these perfections8 ,why1 in that very moment ,mrs4 ,eddy will cast that spiritual ,x-ray of hers through his dungarees and say3 8,i see his hypnotism working1 among his insides--remove him to the block60 ,what shall it profit him to know it isn't so8 ,nothing4 ,his testimony is of no value4 ,no one wants it1 no one will ask for it4 ,he is not present to offer it 7he does not know he has been accused71 and if he were there to offer it1 it would not be listened to4 ,it was out of powers approaching ,mrs4 ,eddy's--though not equalling them--that the ,inquisition and the devastations of the ,interdict grew4 ,she will transmit hers4 ,the man born two centuries from now will think he has arrived in hell2 and all in good time he will think he knows it4 ,vast concentrations of irresponsible power have never in any age been used mercifully1 and there is nothing to suggest that the ,christian ,science ,papacy is going to spend money on novelties4 ,several ,christian ,scientists have asked me to refrain from prophecy4 ,there is no prophecy in our day but history4 ,but history is a trustworthy prophet4 ,history is always repeating itself1 because conditions are always repeating themselves4 ,out of duplicated conditions history always gets a duplicate product4 ,,reading ,,letters ,,at ,,meetings ,i wonder if there is anything a ,member can do that will not raise ,mrs4 ,eddy's jealousy8 ,the ,by-laws seem to hunt him from pillar to post all the time1 and turn all his thoughts and acts and words into sins against the meek and lowly new deity of his worship4 ,apparently her jealousy never sleeps4 ,apparently any trifle can offend it1 and but one penalty appease it--excommunication4 ,the ,by-laws might properly and reasonably be entitled ,laws for the ,coddling and ,comforting of ,our ,mother's ,petty ,jealousies4 ,the ,by-law named at the head of this paragraph reads its transgressor out of the ,church if he shall carry a letter from ,mrs4 ,eddy to the congregation and forget to read it or fail to read the whole of it4 ,,honesty ,,requisite ,dishonest members are to be admonished2 if they continue in dishonest practices1 excommunication follows4 ,considering who it is that draughted this law1 there is a certain amount of humor in it4 ,,further ,,applications ,,of ,,the ,,axe ,here follow the titles of some more ,by-laws whose infringement is punishable by excommunication3 ,silence ,enjoined4 ,misteaching4 ,departure from ,tenets4 ,violation of ,christian ,fellowship4 ,moral ,offences4 ,illegal ,adoption4 ,broken ,by-laws4 ,violation of ,by-laws4 7,what is the difference87 ,formulas ,forbidden4 ,official ,advice4 7,forbids ,tom1 ,dick1 and ,harry's clack47 ,unworthy of ,membership4 ,final ,excommunication4 ,organizing ,churches4 ,this looks as if ,mrs4 ,eddy had devoted a large share of her time and talent to inventing ways to get rid of her ,church members4 ,yet in another place she seems to invite membership4 ,not in any urgent way1 it is true1 still she throws out a bait to such as like notice and distinction 7in other words1 the ,human ,race74 ,page #hb3 8,it is important that these seemingly strict conditions be complied with1 as the names of the ,members of the ,mother-,church will be recorded in the history of the ,church and become a part thereof40 ,we all want to be historical4 ,,more ,,self-,,protections ,the ,hymnal4 ,there is a ,christian ,science ,hymnal4 ,entrance to it was closed in #ahih4 ,christian ,science students who make hymns nowadays may possibly get them sung in the ,mother-,church1 8but not unless approved by the ,pastor ,emeritus40 ,art4 ,,xxvii1 ,sec4 #b4 ,solo ,singers4 ,mrs4 ,eddy has contributed the words of three of the hymns in the ,hymnal4 ,two of them appear in it six times altogether1 each of them being set to three original forms of musical anguish4 ,mrs4 ,eddy1 always thoughtful1 has promulgated a ,by-law requiring the singing of one of her three hymns in the ,mother ,church 8as often as once each month40 ,it is a good idea4 ,a congregation could get tired of even ,mrs4 ,eddy's muse in the course of time1 without the cordializing incentive of compulsion4 ,we all know how wearisome the sweetest and touchingest things can become1 through rep-rep-repetition1 and still rep-rep-repetition1 and more rep-rep-repetition-like 8the sweet by-and-by1 in the sweet by-and-by10 for instance1 and 8,tah-rah-rah boom-de-aye02 and surely it is not likely that ,mrs4 ,eddy's machine has turned out goods that could outwear those great heart-stirrers1 without the assistance of the lash4 8,o'er ,waiting ,harpstrings of the ,mind0 is pretty good1 quite fair to middling--the whole seven of the stanzas--but repetition would be certain to take the excitement out of it in the course of time1 even if there were fourteen1 and then it would sound like the multiplication table1 and would cease to save4 ,the congregation would be perfectly sure to get tired2 in fact1 did get tired--hence the compulsory ,by-law4 ,it is a measure born of experience1 not foresight4 ,the ,by-laws say that 8if a solo singer shall neglect or refuse to sing alone0 one of those three hymns as often as once a month1 and oftener if so directed by the ,board of ,directors--which is ,mrs4 ,eddy--the singer's salary shall be stopped4 ,it is circumstantial evidence that some soloists neglected this sacrament and others refused it4 ,at least that is the charitable view to take of it4 ,there is only one other view to take3 that ,mrs4 ,eddy did really foresee that there would be singers who would some day get tired of doing her hymns and proclaiming the authorship1 unless persuaded by a ,bylaw1 with a penalty attached4 ,the idea could of course occur to her wise head1 for she would know that a seven-stanza break might well be a calamitous strain upon a soloist1 and that he might therefore avoid it if unwatched4 ,he could not curtail it1 for the whole of anything that ,mrs4 ,eddy does is sacred1 and cannot be cut4 ,,board ,,of ,,education ,it consists of four members1 one of whom is ,president of it4 ,its members are elected annually4 ,subject to ,mrs4 ,eddy's approval4 ,art4 ,,xxx41 ,sec4 #b4 ,she owns the ,board--is the ,board4 ,mrs4 ,eddy is ,president of the ,metaphysical ,college4 ,if at any time she shall vacate that office1 the ,directors of the ,college 7that is to say1 ,mrs4 ,eddy7 8shall0 elect to the vacancy the ,president of the ,board of ,education 7which is merely re-electing herself74 ,it is another case of 8,pastor ,emeritus40 ,she gives up the shadow of authority1 but keeps a good firm hold on the substance4 ,,public ,,teachers ,applicants for admission to this industry must pass a thorough three days' examination before the ,board of ,education 8in ,science and ,health1 chapter on ',recapitulation'2 the ,platform of ,christian ,science2 page #djc of ,christian ,science ,practice1 from line second to the second paragraph of page #dje2 and page #dhh1 second and third paragraphs40 ,,board ,,of ,,lectureship ,the lecturers are exceedingly important servants of ,mrs4 ,eddy1 and she chooses them with great care4 ,each of them has an appointed territory in which to perform his duties--in the ,north1 the ,south1 the ,east1 the ,west1 in ,canada1 in ,great ,britain1 and so on--and each must stick to his own territory and not forage beyond its boundaries4 ,i think it goes without saying--from what we have seen of ,mrs4 ,eddy--that no lecture is delivered until she has examined and approved it1 and that the lecturer is not allowed to change it afterwards4 ,the members of the ,board of ,lectureship are elected annually-- 8,subject to the approval of ,rev4 ,mary ,baker ,g4 ,eddy40 ,,missionaries ,there are but four4 ,they are elected--like the rest of the domestics--annually4 ,so far as ,i can discover1 not a single servant of the ,sacred ,household has a steady job except ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,it is plain that she trusts no human being but herself4 ,,the ,,by-,,laws ,the branch ,churches are strictly forbidden to use them4 ,so far as ,i can see1 they could not do it if they wanted to4 ,the ,by-laws are merely the voice of the master issuing commands to the servants4 ,there is nothing and nobody for the servants to re-utter them to4 ,that useless edict is repeated in the little book1 a few pages farther on4 ,there are several other repetitions of prohibitions in the book that could be spared-they only take up room for nothing4 ,,the ,,creed ,it is copyrighted4 ,i do not know why1 but ,i suppose it is to keep adventurers from some day claiming that they invented it1 and not ,mrs4 ,eddy and that 8strange ,providence0 that has suggested so many clever things to her4 ,no ,change4 ,it is forbidden to change the ,creed4 ,that is important1 at any rate4 ,,copyright ,i can understand why ,mrs4 ,eddy copyrighted the early editions and revisions of ,science and ,health1 and why she had a mania for copyrighting every scrap of every sort that came from her pen in those jejune days when to be in print probably seemed a wonderful distinction to her in her provincial obscurity1 but why she should continue this delirium in these days of her godship and her far-spread fame1 ,i cannot explain to myself4 ,and particularly as regards ,science and ,health4 ,she knows1 now1 that that ,annex is going to live for many centuries2 and so1 what good is a fleeting forty-two-year copyright going to do it8 ,now a perpetual copyright would be quite another matter4 ,i would like to give her a hint4 ,let her strike for a perpetual copyright on that book4 ,there is precedent for it4 ,there is one book in the world which bears the charmed life of perpetual copyright 7a fact not known to twenty people in the world74 ,by a hardy perversion of privilege on the part of the lawmaking power the ,bible has perpetual copyright in ,great ,britain4 ,there is no justification for it in fairness1 and no explanation of it except that the ,church is strong enough there to have its way1 right or wrong4 ,the recent ,revised ,version enjoys perpetual copyright1 too--a stronger precedent1 even1 than the other one4 ,now1 then1 what is the ,annex but a ,revised ,version itself8 ,which of course it is--,lord's ,prayer and all4 ,with that pair of formidable ,british precedents to proceed upon1 what ,congress of ours-- ,but how short-sighted ,i am4 ,mrs4 ,eddy has thought of it long ago4 ,she thinks of everything4 ,she knows she has only to keep her copyright of #aijb alive through its first stage of twenty-eight years1 and perpetuity is assured4 ,a ,christian ,science ,congress will reign in the ,capitol then4 ,she probably attaches small value to the first edition 7#ahge74 ,although it was a ,revelation from on high1 it was slim1 lank1 incomplete1 padded with bales of refuse rags1 and puffs from lassoed celebrities to fill it out1 an uncreditable book1 a book easily sparable1 a book not to be mentioned in the same year with the sleek1 fat1 concise1 compact1 compressed1 and competent ,annex of to-day1 in its dainty flexible covers1 gilt--edges1 rounded corners1 twin screw1 spiral twist1 compensation balance1 ,testament-counterfeit1 and all that2 a book just born to curl up on the hymn-book-shelf in church and look just too sweet and holy for anything4 ,yes1 ,i see now what she was copyrighting that child for4 ,,christian ,,science ,,publishing ,,association ,it is true in matters of business ,mrs4 ,eddy thinks of everything4 ,she thought of an organ1 to disseminate the ,truth as it was in ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,straightway she started one--the ,christian ,science ,journal4 ,it is true--in matters of business ,mrs4 ,eddy thinks of everything4 ,as soon as she had got the ,christian ,science ,journal sufficiently in debt to make its presence on the premises disagreeable to her1 it occurred to her to make somebody a present of it4 ,which she did1 along with its debts4 ,it was in the summer of #ahhi4 ,the victim selected was her ,church--called1 in those days1 ,the ,national ,christian ,scientist ,association4 ,she delivered this sorrow to those lambs as a 8gift0 in consideration of their 8loyalty to our great cause40 ,also--still thinking of everything--she told them to retain ,mr4 ,bailey in the editorship and make ,mr4 ,nixon publisher4 ,we do not know what it was she had against those men2 neither do we know whether she scored on ,bailey or not1 we only know that ,god protected ,nixon1 and for that ,i am sincerely glad1 although ,i do not know ,nixon and have never even seen him4 ,nixon took the ,journal and the rest of the ,publishing ,society's liabilities1 and demonstrated over them during three years1 then brought in his report3 8,on assuming my duties as publisher1 there was not a dollar in the treasury2 but on the contrary the ,society owed unpaid printing and paper bills to the amount of several hundred dollars1 not to mention a contingent liability of many more hundreds0--represented by advance--subscriptions paid for the ,journal and the 8,series10 the which goods ,mrs4 ,eddy had not delivered4 ,and couldn't1 very well1 perhaps1 on a ,metaphysical ,college income of but a few thousand dollars a day1 or a week1 or whatever it was in those magnificently flourishing times4 ,the struggling ,journal had swallowed up those advance-payments1 but its 8claim0 was a severe one and they had failed to cure it4 ,but ,nixon cured it in his diligent three years1 and joyously reported the news that he had cleared off all the debts and now had a fat six thousand dollars in the bank4 ,it made ,mrs4 ,eddy's mouth water4 ,at the time that ,mrs4 ,eddy had unloaded that dismal gift on to her ,national ,association1 she had followed her inveterate custom3 she had tied a string to its hind leg1 and kept one end of it hitched to her belt4 ,we have seen her do that in the case of the ,boston ,mosque4 ,when she deeds property1 she puts in that string-clause4 ,it provides that under certain conditions she can pull the string and land the property in the cherished home of its happy youth4 ,in the present case she believed that she had made provision that if at any time the ,national ,christian ,science ,association should dissolve itself by a formal vote1 she could pull4 ,a year after ,nixon's handsome report1 she writes the ,association that she has a 8unique request to lay before it40 ,it has dissolved1 and she is not quite sure that the ,christian ,science ,journal has 8already fallen into her hands0 by that act1 though it 8seems0 to her to have met with that accident2 so she would like to have the matter decided by a formal vote4 ,but whether there is a doubt or not1 8,i see the wisdom10 she says1 8of again owning this ,christian ,science waif40 ,i think that that is unassailable evidence that the waif was making money1 hands down4 ,she pulled her gift in4 ,a few years later she donated the ,publishing ,society1 along with its real estate1 its buildings1 its plant1 its publications1 and its money--the whole worth twenty--two thousand dollars1 and free of debt--to--,well1 to the ,mother-,church6 ,that is to say1 to herself4 ,there is an account of it in the ,christian ,science ,journal1 and of how she had already made some other handsome gifts--to her ,church--and others to--to her ,cause besides 8an almost countless number of private charities0 of cloudy amount and otherwise indefinite4 ,this landslide of generosities overwhelmed one of her literary domestics4 ,while he was in that condition he tried to express what he felt3 8,let us endeavor to lift up our hearts in thankfulness to444 our ,mother in ,israel for these evidences of generosity and self-sacrifice that appeal to our deepest sense of gratitude1 even while surpassing our comprehension40 ,a year or two later1 ,mrs4 ,eddy promulgated some ,by-laws of a self-sacrificing sort which assuaged him1 perhaps1 and perhaps enabled his surpassed comprehension to make a sprint and catch up4 ,these are to be found in ,art4 ,,xii41 entitled4 ,,the ,,christian ,,science ,,publishing ,,society ,this ,article puts the whole publishing business into the hands of a publishing ,board--special4 ,mrs4 ,eddy appoints to its vacancies4 ,the profits go semi-annually to the ,treasurer of the ,mother-,church4 ,mrs4 ,eddy owns the ,treasurer4 ,editors and publishers of the ,christian ,science ,journal cannot be elected or removed without ,mrs4 ,eddy's knowledge and consent4 ,every candidate for employment in a high capacity or a low one1 on the other periodicals or in the publishing house1 must first be 8accepted by ,mrs4 ,eddy as suitable40 ,and 8by the ,board of ,directors0--which is surplusage1 since ,mrs4 ,eddy owns the ,board4 ,if at any time a weekly shall be started1 8it shall be owned by ,the ,first ,church of ,christ1 ,scientist0--which is ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,i think that any one who will carefully examine the ,by-laws 7,i have placed all of the important ones before the reader71 will arrive at the conclusion that of late years the master-passion in ,mrs4 ,eddy's heart is a hunger for power and glory2 and that while her hunger for money still remains1 she wants it now for the expansion and extension it can furnish to that power and glory1 rather than what it can do for her towards satisfying minor and meaner ambitions4 ,i wish to enlarge a little upon this matter4 ,i think it is quite clear that the reason why ,mrs4 ,eddy has concentrated in herself all powers1 all distinctions1 all revenues that are within the command of the ,christian ,science ,church ,universal is that she desires and intends to devote them to the purpose just suggested--the upbuilding of her personal glory--hers1 and no one else's2 that1 and the continuing of her name's glory after she shall have passed away4 ,if she has overlooked a single power1 howsoever minute1 ,i cannot discover it4 ,if she has found one1 large or small1 which she has not seized and made her own1 there is no record of it1 no trace of it4 ,in her foragings and depredations she usually puts forward the ,mother-,church--a lay figure--and hides behind it4 ,whereas1 she is in manifest reality the ,mother-,church herself4 ,it has an impressive array of officials1 and committees1 and ,boards of ,direction1 of ,education1 of ,lectureship1 and so on--geldings1 every one1 shadows1 spectres1 apparitions1 wax-figures3 she is supreme over them all1 she can abolish them when she will2 blow them out as she would a candle4 ,she is herself the ,mother-,church4 ,now there is one ,by-law which says that the ,mother-,church3 8shall be officially controlled by no other church40 ,that does not surprise us--we know by the rest of the ,by-laws that that is a quite irrelevant remark4 ,yet we do vaguely and hazily wonder why she takes the trouble to say it2 why she wastes the words2 what her object can be--seeing that that emergency has been in so many1 many ways1 and so effectively and drastically barred off and made impossible4 ,then presently the object begins to dawn upon us4 ,that is1 it does after we have read the rest of the ,by-law three or four times1 wondering and admiring to see ,mrs4 ,eddy--,mrs4 ,eddy--,mrs4 ,eddy1 of all persons--throwing away power6--making a fair exchange--doing a fair thing for once more1 an almost generous thing6 ,then we look it through yet once more unsatisfied1 a little suspicious--and find that it is nothing but a sly1 thin make-believe1 and that even the very title of it is a sarcasm and embodies a falsehood--8self0 government3 8,local ,self-,government4 ,the ,first ,church of ,christ1 ,scientist1 in ,boston1 ,massachusetts1 shall assume no official control of other churches of this denomination4 ,it shall be officially controlled by no other church40 ,it has a most pious and deceptive give-and-take air of perfect fairness1 unselfishness1 magnanimity--almost godliness1 indeed4 ,but it is all art4 ,in the ,by-laws1 ,mrs4 ,eddy1 speaking by the mouth of her other self1 the ,mother-,church1 proclaims that she will assume no official control of other churches-branch churches4 ,we examine the other ,by-laws1 and they answer some important questions for us3 #a4 ,what is a branch ,church8 ,it is a body of ,christian ,scientists1 organized in the one and only permissible way--by a member1 in good standing1 of the ,mother-,church1 and who is also a pupil of one of ,mrs4 ,eddy's accredited students4 ,that is to say1 one of her properties4 ,no other can do it4 ,there are other indispensable requisites2 what are they8 #b4 ,the new ,church cannot enter upon its functions until its members have individually signed1 and pledged allegiance to1 a ,creed furnished by ,mrs4 ,eddy4 #c4 ,they are obliged to study her books1 and order their lives by them4 ,and they must read no outside religious works4 #d4 ,they must sing the hymns and pray the prayers provided by her1 and use no others in the services1 except by her permission4 #e4 ,they cannot have preachers and pastors4 ,her law4 #f4 ,in their ,church they must have two ,readers--a man and a woman4 #g4 ,they must read the services framed and appointed by her4 #h4 ,she--not the branch ,church--appoints those ,readers4 #i4 ,she--not the branch ,church--dismisses them and fills the vacancies4 #aj4 ,she can do this without consulting the branch ,church1 and without explaining4 #aa4 ,the branch ,church can have a religious lecture from time to time4 ,by applying to ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,there is no other way4 #ab4 ,but the branch ,church cannot select the lecturer4 ,mrs4 ,eddy does it4 #ac4 ,the branch ,church pays his fee4 #ad4 ,the harnessing of all ,christian ,science wedding-teams1 members of the branch ,church1 must be done by duly authorized and consecrated ,christian ,science functionaries4 ,her factory is the only one that makes and licenses them4 #ae4 ,nothing is said about christenings4 ,it is inferable from this that a ,christian ,science child is born a ,christian ,scientist and requires no tinkering4 #af4 ,nothing is said about funerals4 ,it is inferable1 then1 that a branch ,church is privileged to do in that matter as it may choose4 ,to sum up4 ,are any important ,church-functions absent from the list8 ,i cannot call any to mind4 ,are there any lacking ones whose exercise could make the branch in any noticeable way independent of the ,mother4 ,church8--even in any trifling degree8 ,i think of none4 ,if the named functions were abolished would there still be a ,church left8 ,would there be even a shadow of a ,church left8 ,would there be anything at all left8 even the bare name8 ,manifestly not4 ,there isn't a single vital and essential ,church-function of any kind1 that is not named in the list4 ,and over every one of them the ,mother-,church has permanent and unchallengeable control1 upon every one of them ,mrs4 ,eddy has set her irremovable grip4 ,she holds1 in perpetuity1 autocratic and indisputable sovereignty and control over every branch ,church in the earth2 and yet says1 in that sugary1 naive1 angel-beguiling way of hers1 that the ,mother-,church3 8shall assume no official control of other churches of this denomination40 ,whereas in truth the unmeddled-with liberties of a branch ,christian ,science ,church are but very1 very few in number1 and are these3 #a4 ,it can appoint its own furnace-stoker1 winters4 #b4 ,it can appoint its own fan-distributors1 summers4 #c4 ,it can1 in accordance with its own choice in the matter1 burn1 bury1 or preserve members who are pretending to be dead--whereas there is no such thing as death4 #d4 ,it can take up a collection4 ,the branch ,churches have no important liberties1 none that give them an important voice in their own affairs4 ,those are all locked up1 and ,mrs4 ,eddy has the key4 8,local ,self-,government0 is a large name and sounds well2 but the branch ,churches have no more of it than have the privates in the ,king of ,dahomey's army4 8,,mother-,,church ,,unique0 ,mrs4 ,eddy1 with an envious and admiring eye upon the solitary and rivalless and world-shadowing majesty of ,st4 ,peter's1 reveals in her ,by-laws her purpose to set the ,mother-,church apart by itself in a stately seclusion and make it duplicate that lone sublimity under the ,western sky4 ,the ,by-law headed 8,mother-,church ,unique0 says-- 8,in its relation to other ,christian ,science churches1 the ,mother-,church stands alone4 8,it occupies a position that no other ,church can fill4 8,then for a branch ,church to assume such position would be disastrous to ,christian ,science1 8,therefore--0 ,therefore no branch ,church is allowed to have branches4 ,there shall be no ,christian ,science ,st4 ,peter's in the earth but just one--the ,mother-,church in ,boston4 8,,no ,,first ,,members0 ,but for the thoughtful ,by-law thus entitled1 every ,science branch in the earth would imitate the ,mother-,church and set up an aristocracy4 ,every little group of ground-floor ,smiths and ,furgusons and ,shadwells and ,simpsons that organized a branch would assume that great title1 of 8,first ,members10 along with its vast privileges of 8discussing0 the weather and casting blank ballots1 and soon there would be such a locust-plague of them burdening the globe that the title would lose its value and have to be abolished4 ,but where business and glory are concerned1 ,mrs4 ,eddy thinks of everything1 and so she did not fail to take care of her ,aborigines1 her stately and exclusive ,one ,hundred1 her college of functionless cardinals1 her ,sanhedrin of ,privileged ,talkers 7,limited74 ,after taking away all the liberties of the branch ,churches1 and in the same breath disclaiming all official control over their affairs1 she smites them on the mouth with this--the very mouth that was watering for those nobby ground-floor honors-- 8,no ,first ,members4 ,branch ,churches shall not organize with ,first ,members1 that special method of organization being adapted to the ,mother-,church alone40 ,and so1 first members being prohibited1 we pierce through the cloud of ,mrs4 ,eddy's ,english and perceive that they must then necessarily organize with ,subsequent ,members4 ,there is no other way4 ,it will occur to them by-and-by to found an aristocracy of ,early ,subsequent ,members4 ,there is no ,by-law against it4 8,,the0 ,i uncover to that imperial word4 ,and to the mind1 too1 that conceived the idea of seizing and monopolizing it as a title4 ,i believe it is ,mrs4 ,eddy's dazzlingest invention4 ,for show1 and style1 and grandeur1 and thunder and lightning and fireworks it outclasses all the previous inventions of man1 and raises the limit on the ,pope4 ,he can never put his avid hand on that word of words--it is pre-empted4 ,and copyrighted1 of course4 ,it lifts the ,mother-,church away up in the sky1 and fellowships it with the rare and select and exclusive little company of the ,,the's of deathless glory--persons and things whereof history and the ages could furnish only single examples1 not two3 the ,saviour1 the ,virgin1 the ,milky ,way1 the ,bible1 the ,earth1 the ,equator1 the ,devil1 the ,missing ,link--and now ,the ,first ,church1 ,scientist4 ,and by clamor of edict and ,by-law ,mrs4 ,eddy gives personal notice to all branch ,scientist ,churches on this planet to leave that ,,the alone4 ,she has demonstrated over it and made it sacred to the ,mother-,church3 8,the article ',the' must not be used before the titles of branch ,churches-- 8,nor written on applications for membership in naming such churches40 ,those are the terms4 ,there can and will be a million ,first ,churches of ,christ1 ,scientist1 scattered over the world1 in a million towns and villages and hamlets and cities1 and each may call itself 7suppressing the article71 8,first ,church of ,christ4 ,scientist0--it is permissible1 and no harm2 but there is only one ,the ,church of ,christ1 ,scientist1 and there will never be another4 ,and whether that great word fall in the middle of a sentence or at the beginning of it1 it must always have its capital ,t4 ,i do not suppose that a juvenile passion for fussy little worldly shows and vanities can furnish a match to this1 anywhere in the history of the nursery4 ,mrs4 ,eddy does seem to be a shade fonder of little special distinctions and pomps than is usual with human beings4 ,she instituted that immodest 8,the0 with her own hand2 she did not wait for somebody else to think of it4 ,a ,,life-,,term ,,monopoly ,there is but one human ,pastor in the whole ,christian ,science world2 she reserves that exalted place to herself4 ,a ,,perpetual ,,one ,there is but one other object in the whole ,christian ,science world honored with that title and holding that office3 it is her book1 the ,annex--permanent ,pastor of ,the ,first ,church1 and of all branch ,churches4 ,with her own hand she draughted the ,by-laws which make her the only really absolute sovereign that lives to-day in ,christendom4 ,she does not allow any objectionable pictures to be exhibited in the room where her book is sold1 nor any indulgence in idle gossip there2 and from the general look of that ,by-law ,i judge that a lightsome and improper person can be as uncomfortable in that place as he could be in heaven4 ,,the ,,sanctum ,,sanctorum ,,and ,,sacred ,,chair ,in a room in ,the ,first ,church of ,christ1 ,scientist1 there is a museum of objects which have attained to holiness through contact with ,mrs4 ,eddy--among them an electrically lighted oil-picture of a chair which she used to sit in--and disciples from all about the world go softly in there1 in restricted groups1 under proper guard1 and reverently gaze upon those relics4 ,it is worship4 ,mrs4 ,eddy could stop it if she was not fond of it1 for her sovereignty over that temple is supreme4 ,the fitting-up of that place as a shrine is not an accident1 nor a casual1 unweighed idea2 it is imitated from age--old religious custom4 ,in ,treves the pilgrim reverently gazes upon the ,seamless ,robe1 and humbly worships2 and does the same in that other continental church where they keep a duplicate2 and does likewise in the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 in ,jerusalem1 where memorials of the ,crucifixion are preserved2 and now1 by good fortune we have our ,holy ,chair and things1 and a market for our adorations nearer home4 ,but is there not a detail that is new1 fresh1 original8 ,yes1 whatever old thing ,mrs4 ,eddy touches gets something new by the contact--something not thought of before by any one--something original1 all her own1 and copyrightable4 ,the new feature is self worship--exhibited in permitting this shrine to be installed during her lifetime1 and winking her sacred eye at it4 ,a prominent ,christian ,scientist has assured me that the ,scientists do not worship ,mrs4 ,eddy1 and ,i think it likely that there may be five or six of the cult in the world who do not worship her1 but she herself is certainly not of that company4 ,any healthy-minded person who will examine ,mrs4 ,eddy's little ,autobiography and the ,manual of ,by-laws written by her will be convinced that she worships herself2 and that she brings to this service a fervor of devotion surpassing even that which she formerly laid at the feet of the ,dollar1 and equalling any which rises to the ,throne of ,grace from any quarter4 ,i think this is as good a place as any to salve a hurt which ,i was the means of inflicting upon a ,christian ,scientist lately4 ,the first third of this book was written in #ahii in ,vienna4 ,until last summer ,i had supposed that that third had been printed in a book which ,i published about a year later--a hap which had not happened4 ,i then sent the chapters composing it to the ,north ,american ,review1 but failed in one instance1 to date them4 ,and so1 in an undated chapter ,i said a lady told me 8last night0 so and so4 ,there was nothing to indicate to the reader that that 8last night0 was several years old1 therefore the phrase seemed to refer to a night of very recent date4 ,what the lady had told me was1 that in a part of the ,mother-,church in ,boston she had seen ,scientists worshipping a portrait of ,mrs4 ,eddy before which a light was kept constantly burning4 ,a ,scientist came to me and wished me to retract that 8untruth40 ,he said there was no such portrait1 and that if ,i wanted to be sure of it ,i could go to ,boston and see for myself4 ,i explained that my 8last night0 meant a good while ago2 that ,i did not doubt his assertion that there was no such portrait there now1 but that ,i should continue to believe it had been there at the time of the lady's visit until she should retract her statement herself4 ,i was at no time vouching for the truth of the remark1 nevertheless ,i considered it worth par4 ,and yet ,i am sorry the lady told me1 since a wound which brings me no happiness has resulted4 ,i am most willing to apply such salve as ,i can4 ,the best way to set the matter right and make everything pleasant and agreeable all around will be to print in this place a description of the shrine as it appeared to a recent visitor1 ,mr4 ,frederick ,w4 ,peabody1 of ,boston4 ,i will copy his newspaper account1 and the reader will see that ,mrs4 ,eddy's portrait is not there now3 8,we lately stood on the threshold of the ,holy of ,holies of the ,mother-,church1 and with a crowd of worshippers patiently waited for admittance to the hallowed precincts of the ',mother's ,room4' ,over the doorway was a sign informing us that but four persons at a time would be admitted2 that they would be permitted to remain but five minutes only1 and would please retire from the ',mother's ,room' at the ringing of the bell4 ,entering with three of the faithful1 we looked with profane eyes upon the consecrated furnishings4 ,a show-woman in attendance monotonously announced the character of the different appointments4 ,set in a recess of the wall and illumined with electric light was an oil-painting the show-woman seriously declared to be a lifelike and realistic picture of the ,chair in which the ,mother sat when she composed her 'inspired' work4 ,it was a picture of an old-fashioned8 country1 hair cloth rocking-chair1 and an exceedingly commonplace-looking table with a pile of manuscript1 an ink-bottle1 and pen conspicuously upon it4 ,on the floor were sheets of manuscript4 ',the mantel-piece is of pure onyx1' continued the show-woman1 'and the beehive upon the window-sill is made from one solid block of onyx2 the rug is made of a hundred breasts of eider-down ducks1 and the toilet-room you see in the corner is of the latest design1 with gold-plated drain-pipes2 the painted windows are from the ,mother's poem1 8,christ and ,christmas10 and that case contains complete copies of all the ,mother's books4' ,the chairs upon which the sacred person of the ,mother had reposed were protected from sacrilegious touch by a broad band of satin ribbon4 ,my companions expressed their admiration in subdued and reverent tones1 and at the tinkling of the bell we reverently tiptoed out of the room to admit another delegation of the patient waiters at the door40 ,now1 then1 ,i hope the wound is healed4 ,i am willing to relinquish the portrait1 and compromise on the ,chair4 ,at the same time1 if ,i were going to worship either1 ,i should not choose the ,chair4 ,as a picturesquely and persistently interesting personage1 there is no mate to ,mrs4 ,eddy1 the accepted ,equal of the ,saviour4 ,but some of her tastes are so different from ,his6 ,i find it quite impossible to imagine ,him1 in life1 standing sponsor for that museum there1 and taking pleasure in its sumptuous shows4 ,i believe ,he would put that ,chair in the fire1 and the bell along with it2 and ,i think ,he would make the show-woman go away4 ,i think ,he would break those electric bulbs1 and the 8mantel-piece of pure onyx10 and say reproachful things about the golden drain-pipes of the lavatory1 and give the costly rug of duck-breasts to the poor1 and sever the satin ribbon and invite the weary to rest and ease their aches in the consecrated chairs4 ,what ,he would do with the painted windows we can better conjecture when we come presently to examine their peculiarities4 ,,the ,,christian ,,science ,,pastor-,,universal ,when ,mrs4 ,eddy turned the pastors out of all the ,christian ,science churches and abolished the office for all time as far as human occupancy is concerned--she appointed the ,holy ,ghost to fill their place4 ,if this language be blasphemous1 ,i did not invent the blasphemy1 ,i am merely stating a fact4 ,i will quote from page #bbg of ,science and ,health 7edition #ahii71 as a first step towards an explanation of this startling matter--a passage which sets forth and classifies the ,christian ,science ,trinity3 8,life1 ,truth1 and ,love constitute the triune ,god1 or triply divine ,principle4 ,they represent a trinity in unity1 three in one--the same in essence1 though multiform in office3 ,god the ,father2 ,christ the type of ,sonship2 ,divine ,science1 or the ,holy ,comforter4444 8,the ,holy ,ghost1 or ,spirit1 reveals this triune ,principle1 and 7the ,holy ,ghost7 is expressed in ,divine ,science1 which is the ,comforter1 leading into all ,truth1 and revealing the divine ,principle of the universe--universal and perpetual harmony40 ,i will cite another passage4 ,speaking of ,jesus-- 8,his students then received the ,holy ,ghost4 ,by this is meant1 that by all they had witnessed and suffered they were roused to an enlarged understanding of ,divine ,science1 even to the spiritual interpretation44 444 of ,his teachings10 etc4 ,also1 page #egi1 in the chapter called the ,glossary3 8,,holy ,,ghost4 ,divine ,science2 the developments of ,life1 ,truth1 and ,love40 ,the ,holy ,ghost reveals the massed spirit of the fused trinity2 this massed spirit is expressed in ,divine ,science1 and is the ,comforter2 ,divine ,science conveys to men the 8spiritual interpretation0 of the ,saviour's teachings4 ,that seems to be the meaning of the quoted passages4 ,divine ,science is ,christian ,science2 the book 8,science and ,health0 is a 8revelation0 of the whole spirit of the ,trinity1 and is therefore 8,the ,holy ,ghost02 it conveys to men the 8spiritual interpretation0 of the ,bible's teachings and therefore is 8the ,comforter40 ,i do not find this analyzing work easy1 ,i would rather saw wood2 and a person can never tell whether he has added up a ,science and ,health sum right or not1 anyway1 after all his trouble4 ,neither can he easily find out whether the texts are still on the market or have been discarded from the ,book2 for two hundred and fifty-eight editions of it have been issued1 and no two editions seem to be alike4 ,the annual changes--in technical terminology2 in matter and wording2 in transpositions of chapters and verses2 in leaving out old chapters and verses and putting in new ones--seem to be next to innumerable1 and as there is no index1 there is no way to find a thing one wants without reading the book through4 ,if ever ,i inspire a ,bible-,annex ,i will not rush at it in a half-digested1 helter-skelter way and have to put in thirty-eight years trying to get some of it the way ,i want it1 ,i will sit down and think it out and know what it is ,i want to say before ,i begin4 ,an inspirer cannot inspire for ,mrs4 ,eddy and keep his reputation4 ,i have never seen such slipshod work1 bar the ten that interpreted for the home market the 8sell all thou hast40 ,i have quoted one 8spiritual0 rendering of the ,lord's ,prayer1 ,i have seen one other one1 and am told there are five more4 ,yet the inspirer of ,mrs4 ,eddy the new ,infallible casts a complacent critical stone at the other ,infallible for being unable to make up its mind about such things4 ,science and ,health1 edition #ahii1 page #cc3 8,the decisions1 by vote of ,church ,councils1 as to what should and should not be considered ,holy ,writ1 the manifest mistakes in the ancient versions3 the thirty thousand different readings in the ,old ,testament and the three hundred thousand in the ,new--these facts show how a mortal and material sense stole into the divine record1 darkening1 to some extent1 the inspired pages with its own hue40 ,to some extent1 yes--speaking cautiously4 ,but it is nothing1 really nothing2 ,mrs4 ,eddy is only a little way behind1 and if her inspirer lives to get her ,annex to suit him that ,catholic record will have to 8go 'way back and set down10 as the ballad says4 ,listen to the boastful song of ,mrs4 ,eddy's organ1 the ,christian ,science ,journal for ,march1 #aijb1 about that year's revamping and half-soling of ,science and ,health1 whose official name is the ,holy ,ghost1 the ,comforter1 and who is now the ,official ,pastor and ,infallible and ,unerring ,guide of every ,christian ,science church in the two hemispheres1 hear ,simple ,simon that met the pieman brag of the ,infallible's fallibility3 8,throughout the entire book the verbal changes are so numerous as to indicate the vast amount of time and labor ,mrs4 ,eddy has devoted to this revision4 ,the time and labor thus bestowed is relatively as great as that of--the committee who revised the ,bible4444 ,thus we have additional evidence of the herculean efforts our beloved ,leader has made and is constantly making for the promulgation of ,truth and the furtherance of her divinely bestowed mission10 etc4 ,it is a steady job4 ,i could help inspire if desired2 ,i am not doing much now1 and would work for half-price1 and should not object to the country4 ,,price ,,of ,,the ,,pastor-,,universal ,the price of the ,pastor-,universal1 ,science and ,health1 called in ,science literature the ,comforter--and by that other sacred ,name--is three dollars in cloth1 as heretofore1 six when it is finely bound1 and shaped to imitate the ,testament1 and is broken into verses4 ,margin of profit above cost of manufacture1 from five hundred to seven hundred per cent41 as already noted ,in the profane subscription-trade1 it costs the publisher heavily to canvass a three-dollar book2 he must pay the general agent sixty per cent4 commission--that is to say1 one dollar and eighty-cents4 ,mrs4 ,eddy escapes this blistering tax1 because she owns the ,christian ,science canvasser1 and can compel him to work for nothing4 ,read the following command--not request--fulminated by ,mrs4 ,eddy1 over her signature1 in the ,christian ,science ,journal for ,march1 #ahig1 and quoted by ,mr4 ,peabody in his book4 ,the book referred to is ,science and ,health3 8,it shall be the duty of all ,christian ,scientists to circulate and to sell as many of these books as they can40 ,that is flung at all the elect1 everywhere that the sun shines1 but no penalty is shaken over their heads to scare them4 ,the same command was issued to the members 7numbering to-day twenty-five thousand7 of ,the ,mother-,church1 also1 but with it went a threat1 of the infliction1 in case of disobedience1 of the most dreaded punishment that has a place in the ,church's list of penalties for transgressions of ,mrs4 ,eddy's edicts--excommunication3 8,if a member of ,the ,first ,church of ,christ1 ,scientist1 shall fail to obey this injunction1 it will render him liable to lose his membership in this ,church4 ,,mary ,,baker ,,eddy40 ,it is the spirit of the ,spanish ,inquisition4 ,none but accepted and well established gods can venture an affront like that and do it with confidence4 ,but the human race will take anything from that class4 ,mrs4 ,eddy knows the human race2 knows it better than any mere human being has known it in a thousand centuries4 ,my confidence in her human-beingship is getting shaken1 my confidence in her godship is stiffening4 ,,seven ,,hundred ,,per ,,cent4 ,a ,scientist out ,west has visited a bookseller--with intent to find fault with me--and has brought away the information that the price at which ,mrs4 ,eddy sells ,science and ,health is not an unusually high one for the size and make of the book4 ,that is true4 ,but in the book-trade--that profit-devourer unknown to ,mrs4 ,eddy's book--a three-dollar book that is made for thirty-five or forty cents in large editions is put at three dollars because the publisher has to pay author1 middleman1 and advertising1 and if the price were much below three the profit accruing would not pay him fairly for his time and labor4 ,at the same time1 if he could get ten dollars for the book he would take it1 and his morals would not fall under criticism4 ,but if he were an inspired person commissioned by the ,deity to receive and print and spread broadcast among sorrowing and suffering and poor men a precious message of healing and cheer and salvation1 he would have to do as ,bible ,societies do--sell the book at a pinched margin above cost to such as could pay1 and give it free to all that couldn't2 and his name would be praised4 ,but if he sold it at seven hundred per cent4 profit and put the money in his pocket1 his name would be mocked and derided4 ,just as ,mrs4 ,eddy's is4 ,and most justifiably1 as it seems to me4 ,the complete ,bible contains one million words4 ,the ,new ,testament by itself contains two hundred and forty thousand words4 ,my '#hd edition of ,science and ,health contains one hundred and twenty thousand words--just half as many as the ,new ,testament4 ,science and ,health has since been so inflated by later inspirations that the #aijb edition contains one hundred and eighty thousand words--not counting the thirty thousand at the back1 devoted by ,mrs4 ,eddy to advertising the book's healing abilities--and the inspiring continues right along4 ,if you have a book whose market is so sure and so great that you can give a printer an everlasting order for thirty or forty or fifty thousand copies a year he will furnish them at a cheap rate1 because whenever there is a slack time in his press-room and bindery he can fill the idle intervals on your book and be making something instead of losing4 ,that is the kind of contract that can be let on ,science and ,health every year4 ,i am obliged to doubt that the three-dollar ,science and ,health costs ,mrs4 ,eddy above fifteen cents1 or that the six dollar copy costs her above eighty cents4 ,i feel quite sure that the average profit to her on these books1 above cost of manufacture1 is all of seven hundred per cent4 ,every proper ,christian ,scientist has to buy and own 7and canvass for7 ,science and ,health 7one hundred and eighty thousand words71 and he must also own a ,bible 7one million words74 ,he can buy the one for from three to six dollars1 and the other for fifteen cents4 ,or1 if three dollars is all the money he has1 he can get his ,bible for nothing4 ,when the ,supreme ,being disseminates a saving ,message through uninspired agents--the ,new ,testament1 for instance--it can be done for five cents a copy1 but when ,he sends one containing only two-thirds as many words through the shop of a ,divine ,personage1 it costs sixty times as much4 ,i think that in matters of such importance it is bad economy to employ a wild-cat agency4 ,here are some figures which are perfectly authentic1 and which seem to justify my opinion4 8,these ,bible societies1 inspired only by a sense of religious duty1 are issuing the ,bible at a price so small that they have made it the cheapest book printed4 ,for example1 the ,american ,bible ,society offers an edition of the whole ,bible as low as fifteen cents and the ,new ,testament at five cents1 and the ,british ,society at sixpence and one penny1 respectively4 ,these low prices1 made possible by their policy of selling the books at cost or below cost10 etc4--,new ,york ,sun1 ,february #be1 #aijc4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,we may now make a final footing-up of ,mrs4 ,eddy1 and see what she is1 in the fulness of her powers4 ,she is3 ,the ,massachusetts ,metaphysical ,college ,pastor ,emeritus2 ,president2 ,board of ,directors2 ,board of ,education2 ,board of ,lectureships2 ,future ,board of ,trustees1 ,proprietor of the ,publishing-,house and ,periodicals2 ,treasurer2 ,clerk2 ,proprietor of the ,teachers2 ,proprietor of the ,lecturers2 ,proprietor of the ,missionaries2 ,proprietor of the ,readers2 ,dictator of the ,services2 sole ,voice of the ,pulpit2 ,proprietor of the ,sanhedrin2 ,sole ,proprietor of the ,creed4 7,copyrighted472 ,indisputable ,autocrat of the ,branch ,churches1 with their life and death in her hands2 ,sole ,thinker for ,the ,first ,church 7and the others72 ,sole and ,infallible ,expounder of ,doctrine1 in life and in death2 ,sole permissible ,discoverer1 ,denouncer1 ,judge1 and ,executioner of ,ostensible ,hypnotists2 ,fifty-handed ,god of ,excommunication--with a thunderbolt in every hand2 ,appointer and ,installer of the ,pastor of all the ,churches--the ,perpetual ,pastor-,universal1 ,science and ,health1 8the ,comforter40 ,,chapter ,x ,there she stands-painted by herself4 ,no witness but herself has been allowed to testify4 ,she stands there painted by her acts1 and decorated by her words4 ,when she talks1 she has only a decorative value as a witness1 either for or against herself1 for she deals mainly in unsupported assertion2 and in the rare cases where she puts forward a verifiable fact she gets out of it a meaning which it refuses to furnish to anybody else4 ,also1 when she talks1 she is unstable1 she wanders1 she is incurably inconsistent2 what she says to-day she contradicts tomorrow4 ,but her acts are consistent4 ,they are always faithful to her1 they never misinterpret her1 they are a mirror which always reflects her exactly1 precisely1 minutely1 unerringly1 and always the same1 to date1 with only those progressive little natural changes in stature1 dress1 complexion1 mood1 and carriage that mark--exteriorly--the march of the years and record the accumulations of experience1 while--interiorly--through all this steady drift of evolution the one essential detail1 the commanding detail1 the master detail of the make-up remains as it was in the beginning1 suffers no change and can suffer none2 the basis of the character2 the temperament1 the disposition1 that indestructible iron framework upon which the character is built1 and whose shape it must take1 and keep1 throughout life4 ,we call it a person's nature4 ,the man who is born stingy can be taught to give liberally--with his hands2 but not with his heart4 ,the man born kind and compassionate can have that disposition crushed down out of sight by embittering experience2 but if it were an organ the post-mortem would find it still in his corpse4 ,the man born ambitious of power and glory may live long without finding it out1 but when the opportunity comes he will know1 will strike for the largest thing within the limit of his chances at the time-constable1 perhaps--and will be glad and proud when he gets it1 and will write home about it4 ,but he will not stop with that start2 his appetite will come again2 and by-and-by again1 and yet again2 and when he has climbed to police commissioner it will at last begin to dawn upon him that what his ,napoleon soul wants and was born for is something away higher up--he does not quite know what1 but ,circumstance and ,opportunity will indicate the direction and he will cut a road through and find out4 ,i think ,mrs4 ,eddy was born with a far-seeing business-eye1 but did not know it2 and with a great organizing and executive talent1 and did not know it2 and with a large appetite for power and distinction1 and did not know it4 ,i think the reason that her make did not show up until middle life was that she had ,general ,grant's luck--,circumstance and ,opportunity did not come her way when she was younger4 ,the qualities that were born in her had to wait for circumstance and opportunity--but they were there3 they were there to stay1 whether they ever got a chance to fructify or not4 ,if they had come early1 they would have found her ready and competent4 ,and they--not she--would have determined what they would set her at and what they would make of her4 ,if they had elected to commission her as second-assistant cook in a bankrupt boarding-house1 ,i know the rest of it--,i know what would have happened4 ,she would have owned the boarding-house within six months2 she would have had the late proprietor on salary and humping himself1 as the worldly say2 she would have had that boarding-house spewing money like a mint2 she would have worked the servants and the late landlord up to the limit2 she would have squeezed the boarders till they wailed1 and by some mysterious quality born in her she would have kept the affections of certain of the lot whose love and esteem she valued1 and flung the others down the back area2 in two years she would own all the boarding-houses in the town1 in five all the boarding-houses in the ,state1 in twenty all the hotels in ,america1 in forty all the hotels on the planet1 and would sit at home with her finger on a button and govern the whole combination as easily as a bench-manager governs a dog-show4 ,it would be a grand thing to see1 and ,i feel a kind of disappointment--but never mind1 a religion is better and larger2 and there is more to it4 ,and ,i have not been steeping myself in ,christian ,science all these weeks without finding out that the one sensible thing to do with a disappointment is to put it out of your mind and think of something cheerfuler4 ,we outsiders cannot conceive of ,mrs4 ,eddy's ,christian ,science ,religion as being a sudden and miraculous birth1 but only as a growth from a seed planted by circumstances1 and developed stage by stage by command and compulsion of the same force4 ,what the stages were we cannot know1 but are privileged to guess4 ,she may have gotten the mental-healing idea from ,quimby--it had been experimented with for ages1 and was no one's special property4 ,for the present1 for convenience' sake1 let us proceed upon the hypothesis that that was all she got of him1 and that she put up the rest of the assets herself4 ,this will strain us1 but let us try it4 ,in each and all its forms and under all its many names1 mental healing had had limits1 always1 and they were rather narrow ones--,mrs4 ,eddy1 let us imagine1 removed the fence1 abolished the frontiers4 ,not by expanding mental-healing1 but by absorbing its small bulk into the vaster bulk of ,christian ,science--,divine ,science1 ,the ,holy ,ghost1 the ,comforter--which was a quite different and sublimer force1 and one which had long lain dormant and unemployed4 ,the ,christian ,scientist believes that the ,spirit of ,god 7life and love7 pervades the universe like an atmosphere2 that whoso will study ,science and ,health can get from it the secret of how to inhale that transforming air2 that to breathe it is to be made new2 that from the new man all sorrow1 all care1 all miseries of the mind vanish away1 for that only peace1 contentment and measureless joy can live in that divine fluid2 that it purifies the body from disease1 which is a vicious creation of the gross human mind1 and cannot continue to exist in the presence of the ,immortal ,mind1 the renewing ,spirit of ,god4 ,the ,scientist finds this reasonable1 natural1 and not harder to believe than that the disease germ1 a creature of darkness1 perishes when exposed to the light of the great sun--a new revelation of profane science which no one doubts4 ,he reminds us that the actinic ray1 shining upon lupus1 cures it--a horrible disease which was incurable fifteen years ago1 and had been incurable for ten million years before2 that this wonder1 unbelievable by the physicians at first1 is believed by them now2 and so he is tranquilly confident that the time is coming when the world will be educated up to a point where it will comprehend and grant that the light of the ,spirit of ,god1 shining unobstructed upon the soul1 is an actinic ray which can purge both mind and body from disease and set them free and make them whole4 ,it is apparent1 then1 that in ,christian ,science it is not one man's mind acting upon another man's mind that heals2 that it is solely the ,spirit of ,god that heals2 that the healer's mind performs no office but to convey that force to the patient2 that it is merely the wire which carries the electric fluid1 so to speak1 and delivers the message4 ,therefore1 if these things be true1 mental-healing and ,science-healing are separate and distinct processes1 and no kinship exists between them4 ,to heal the body of its ills and pains is a mighty benefaction1 but in our day our physicians and surgeons work a thousand miracles--prodigies which would have ranked as miracles fifty years ago--and they have so greatly extended their domination over disease that we feel so well protected that we are able to look with a good deal of composure and absence of hysterics upon the claims of new competitors in that field4 ,but there is a mightier benefaction than the healing of the body1 and that is the healing of the spirit--which is ,christian ,science's other claim4 ,so far as ,i know1 so far as ,i can find out1 it makes it good4 ,personally ,i have not known a ,scientist who did not seem serene1 contented1 unharassed4 ,i have not found an outsider whose observation of ,scientists furnished him a view that differed from my own4 ,buoyant spirits1 comfort of mind1 freedom from care these happinesses we all have1 at intervals2 but in the spaces between1 dear me1 the black hours6 ,they have put a curse upon the life of every human being ,i have ever known1 young or old4 ,i concede not a single exception4 ,unless it might be those ,scientists just referred to4 ,they may have been playing a part with me2 ,i hope they were not1 and ,i believe they were not4 ,time will test the ,science's claim4 ,if time shall make it good2 if time shall prove that the ,science can heal the persecuted spirit of man and banish its troubles and keep it serene and sunny and content--why1 then ,mrs4 ,eddy will have a monument that will reach above the clouds4 ,for if she did not hit upon that imperial idea and evolve it and deliver it1 its discoverer can never be identified with certainty1 now1 ,i think4 ,it is the giant feature1 it is the sun that rides in the zenith of ,christian ,science1 the auxiliary features are of minor consequence ,let us still leave the large 8if0 aside1 for the present1 and proceed as if it had no existence4 ,it is not supposable that ,mrs4 ,eddy realized1 at first1 the size of her plunder4 7,no1 find--that is the word2 she did not realize the size of her find1 at first47 ,it had to grow upon her1 by degrees1 in accordance with the inalterable custom of ,circumstance1 which works by stages1 and by stages only1 and never furnishes any mind with all the materials for a large idea at one time4 ,in the beginning1 ,mrs4 ,eddy was probably interested merely in the mental-healing detail1 and perhaps mainly interested in it pecuniary1 for she was poor4 ,she would succeed in anything she undertook4 ,she would attract pupils1 and her commerce would grow4 ,she would inspire in patient and pupil confidence in her earnestness1 her history is evidence that she would not fail of that4 ,there probably came a time1 in due course1 when her students began to think there was something deeper in her teachings than they had been suspecting--a mystery beyond mental-healing1 and higher4 ,it is conceivable that by consequence their manner towards her changed little by little1 and from respectful became reverent4 ,it is conceivable that this would have an influence upon her2 that it would incline her to wonder if their secret thought--that she was inspired--might not be a well-grounded guess4 ,it is conceivable that as time went on the thought in their minds and its reflection in hers might solidify into conviction4 ,she would remember1 then1 that as a child she had been called1 more than once1 by a mysterious voice--just as had happened to little ,samuel4 7,mentioned in her ,autobiography47 ,she would be impressed by that ancient reminiscence1 now1 and it could have a prophetic meaning for her4 ,it is conceivable that the persuasive influences around her and within her would give a new and powerful impulse to her philosophizings1 and that from this1 in time1 would result that great birth1 the healing of body and mind by the inpouring of the ,spirit of ,god--the central and dominant idea of ,christian ,science--and that when this idea came she would not doubt that it was an inspiration direct from ,heaven4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,i must rest a little1 now4 ,to sit here and painstakingly spin out a scheme which imagines ,mrs4 ,eddy1 of all people1 working her mind on a plane above commercialism2 imagines her thinking1 philosophizing1 discovering majestic things2 and even imagines her dealing in sincerities--to be frank1 ,i find it a large contract ,but ,i have begun it1 and ,i will go through with it4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,it is evident that she made disciples fast1 and that their belief in her and in the authenticity of her heavenly ambassadorship was not of the lukewarm and half-way sort1 but was profoundly earnest and sincere4 ,her book was issued from the press in #ahge1 it began its work of convert-making1 and within six years she had successfully launched a new ,religion and a new system of healing1 and was teaching them to crowds of eager students in a ,college of her own1 at prices so extraordinary that we are almost compelled to accept her statement 7no1 her guarded intimation7 that the rates were arranged on high1 since a mere human being unacquainted with commerce and accustomed to think in pennies could hardly put up such a hand as that without supernatural help4 ,from this stage onward--,mrs4 ,eddy being what she was--the rest of the development--stages would follow naturally and inevitably4 ,but if she had been anybody else1 there would have been a different arrangement of them1 with different results4 ,being the extraordinary person she was1 she realized her position and its possibilities2 realized the possibilities1 and had the daring to use them for all they were worth4 ,we have seen what her methods were after she passed the stage where her divine ambassadorship was granted its executer in the hearts and minds of her followers2 we have seen how steady and fearless and calculated and orderly was her march thenceforth from conquest to conquest2 we have seen her strike dead1 without hesitancy1 any hostile or questionable force that rose in her path3 first1 the horde of pretenders that sprang up and tried to take her ,science and its market away from her--she crushed them1 she obliterated them2 when her own ,national ,christian ,science ,association became great in numbers and influence1 and loosely and dangerously garrulous1 and began to expound the doctrines according to its own uninspired notions1 she took up her sponge without a tremor of fear and wiped that ,association out2 when she perceived that the preachers in her pulpits were becoming afflicted with doctrine-tinkering1 she recognized the danger of it1 and did not hesitate nor temporize1 but promptly dismissed the whole of them in a day1 and abolished their office permanently2 we have seen that1 as fast as her power grew1 she was competent to take the measure of it1 and that as fast as its expansion suggested to her gradually awakening native ambition a higher step she took it2 and so1 by this evolutionary process1 we have seen the gross money-lust relegated to second place1 and the lust of empire and glory rise above it4 ,a splendid dream2 and by force of the qualities born in her she is making it come true4 ,these qualities--and the capacities growing out of them by the nurturing influences of training1 observation1 and experience seem to be clearly indicated by the character of her career and its achievements4 ,they seem to be3 ,a clear head for business1 and a phenomenally long one2 ,clear understanding of business situations2 ,accuracy in estimating the opportunities they offer2 ,intelligence in planning a business move2 ,firmness in sticking to it after it has been decided upon2 ,extraordinary daring2 ,indestructible persistency2 ,devouring ambition2 ,limitless selfishness2 ,a knowledge of the weaknesses and poverties and docilities of human nature and how to turn them to account which has never been surpassed1 if ever equalled4 ,and--necessarily--the foundation-stone of ,mrs4 ,eddy's character is a never-wavering confidence in herself4 ,it is a granite character4 ,and--quite naturally--a measure of the talc of smallnesses common to human nature is mixed up in it and distributed through it4 ,when ,mrs4 ,eddy is not dictating servilities from her throne in the clouds to her official domestics in ,boston or to her far-spread subjects round about the planet1 but is down on the ground1 she is kin to us and one of us3 sentimental as a girl1 garrulous1 ungrammatical1 incomprehensible1 affected1 vain of her little human ancestry1 unstable1 inconsistent1 unreliable in statement1 and naively and everlastingly self-contradictory-oh1 trivial and common and commonplace as the commonest of us6 just a ,napoleon as ,madame de ,remusat saw him1 a brass god with clay legs4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,in drawing ,mrs4 ,eddy's portrait it has been my purpose to restrict myself to materials furnished by herself1 and ,i believe ,i have done that4 ,if ,i have misinterpreted any of her acts1 it was not done intentionally4 ,it will be noticed that in skeletonizing a list of the qualities which have carried her to the dizzy summit which she occupies1 ,i have not mentioned the power which was the commanding force employed in achieving that lofty flight4 ,it did not belong in that list2 it was a force that was not a detail of her character1 but was an outside one4 ,it was the power which proceeded from her people's recognition of her as a supernatural personage1 conveyer of the ,latest ,word1 and divinely commissioned to deliver it to the world4 ,the form which such a recognition takes1 consciously or unconsciously1 is worship2 and worship does not question nor criticize1 it obeys4 ,the object of it does not need to coddle it1 bribe it1 beguile it1 reason with it1 convince it--it commands it2 that is sufficient2 the obedience rendered is not reluctant1 but prompt and whole-hearted4 ,admiration for a ,napoleon1 confidence in him1 pride in him1 affection for him1 can lift him high and carry him far2 and these are forms of worship1 and are strong forces1 but they are worship of a mere human being1 after all1 and are infinitely feeble1 as compared with those that are generated by that other worship1 the worship of a divine personage4 ,mrs4 ,eddy has this efficient worship1 this massed and centralized force1 this force which is indifferent to opposition1 untroubled by fear1 and goes to battle singing1 like ,cromwell's soldiers2 and while she has it she can command and it will obey1 and maintain her on her throne1 and extend her empire4 ,she will have it until she dies2 and then we shall see a curious and interesting further development of her revolutionary work begin4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,the ,president and ,board of ,directors will succeed her1 and the government will go on without a hitch4 ,the ,by-laws will bear that interpretation4 ,all the ,mother-,church's vast powers are concentrated in that ,board4 ,mrs4 ,eddy's unlimited personal reservations make the ,board's ostensible supremacy1 during her life1 a sham1 and the ,board itself a shadow4 ,but ,mrs4 ,eddy has not made those reservations for any one but herself--they are distinctly personal1 they bear her name1 they are not usable by another individual4 ,when she dies her reservations die1 and the ,board's shadow-powers become real powers1 without the change of any important ,by-law1 and the ,board sits in her place as absolute and irresponsible a sovereign as she was4 ,it consists of but five persons1 a much more manageable ,cardinalate than the ,roman ,pope's4 ,i think it will elect its ,pope from its own body1 and that it will fill its own vacancies4 ,an elective ,papacy is a safe and wise system1 and a long-liver4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,we may take that up now4 ,it is not a single if1 but a several-jointed one2 not an oyster1 but a vertebrate4 #a4 ,did ,mrs4 ,eddy borrow from ,quimby the ,great ,idea1 or only the little one1 the old-timer1 the ordinary mental-healing-healing by 8mortal0 mind8 #b4 ,if she borrowed the ,great ,idea1 did she carry it away in her head1 or in manuscript8 #c4 ,did she hit upon the ,great ,idea herself8 ,by the ,great ,idea ,i mean1 of course1 the conviction that the ,force involved was still existent1 and could be applied now just as it was applied by ,christ's ,disciples and their converts1 and as successfully4 #d4 ,did she philosophize it1 systematize it1 and write it down in a book8 #e4 ,was it she1 and not another1 that built a new ,religion upon the book and organized it8 ,i think ,no4 #e can be answered with a ,yes1 and dismissed from the controversy4 ,and ,i think that the ,great ,idea1 great as it was1 would have enjoyed but a brief activity1 and would then have gone to sleep again for some more centuries1 but for the perpetuating impulse it got from that organized and tremendous force4 ,as for ,nos4 #a1 #b1 and #d1 the hostiles contend that ,mrs4 ,eddy got the ,great ,idea from ,quimby and carried it off in manuscript4 ,but their testimony1 while of consequence1 lacks the most important detail2 so far as my information goes1 the ,quimby manuscript has not been produced4 ,i think we cannot discuss ,no4 #a and ,no4 #b profitably4 ,let them go4 ,for me1 ,no4 #c has a mild interest1 and ,no4 #d a violent one4 ,as regards ,no4 #c1 ,mrs4 ,eddy was brought up1 from the cradle1 an old-time1 boiler-iron1 ,westminster-,catechism ,christian1 and knew her ,bible as well as ,captain ,kydd knew his1 8when he sailed1 when he sailed10 and perhaps as sympathetically4 ,the ,great ,idea had struck a million ,bible-readers before her as being possible of resurrection and application--it must have struck as many as that1 and been cogitated1 indolently1 doubtingly1 then dropped and forgotten--and it could have struck her1 in due course4 ,but how it could interest her1 how it could appeal to her--with her make this a thing that is difficult to understand4 ,for the thing back of it is wholly gracious and beautiful3 the power1 through loving mercifulness and compassion1 to heal fleshly ills and pains and grief--all--with a word1 with a touch of the hand6 ,this power was given by the ,saviour to the ,disciples1 and to all the converted4 ,all--every one4 ,it was exercised for generations afterwards4 ,any ,christian who was in earnest and not a make-believe1 not a policy--,christian1 not a ,christian for revenue only1 had that healing power1 and could cure with it any disease or any hurt or damage possible to human flesh and bone4 ,these things are true1 or they are not4 ,if they were true seventeen and eighteen and nineteen centuries ago it would be difficult to satisfactorily explain why or how or by what argument that power should be nonexistent in ,christians now4 ,to wish to exercise it could occur to ,mrs4 ,eddy--but would it8 ,grasping1 sordid1 penurious1 famishing for everything she sees--money1 power1 glory--vain1 untruthful1 jealous1 despotic1 arrogant1 insolent1 pitiless where thinkers and hypnotists are concerned1 illiterate1 shallow1 incapable of reasoning outside of commercial lines1 immeasurably selfish-- ,of course the ,great ,idea could strike her1 we have to grant that1 but why it should interest her is a question which can easily overstrain the imagination and bring on nervous prostration1 or something like that1 and is better left alone by the judicious1 it seems to me-- ,unless we call to our help the alleged other side of ,mrs4 ,eddy's make and character the side which her multitude of followers see1 and sincerely believe in4 ,fairness requires that their view be stated here4 ,it is the opposite of the one which ,i have drawn from ,mrs4 ,eddy's history and from her ,by-laws4 ,to her followers she is this3 ,patient1 gentle1 loving1 compassionate1 noble hearted1 unselfish1 sinless1 widely cultured1 splendidly equipped mentally1 a profound thinker1 an able writer1 a divine personage1 an inspired messenger whose acts are dictated from the ,throne1 and whose every utterance is the ,voice of ,god4 ,she has delivered to them a religion which has revolutionized their lives1 banished the glooms that shadowed them1 and filled them and flooded them with sunshine and gladness and peace2 a religion which has no hell2 a religion whose heaven is not put off to another time1 with a break and a gulf between1 but begins here and now1 and melts into eternity as fancies of the waking day melt into the dreams of sleep4 ,they believe it is a ,christianity that is in the ,new ,testament2 that it has always been there1 that in the drift of ages it was lost through disuse and neglect1 and that this benefactor has found it and given it back to men1 turning the night of life into day1 its terrors into myths1 its lamentations into songs of emancipation and rejoicing4 ,there we have ,mrs4 ,eddy as her followers see her4 ,she has lifted them out of grief and care and doubt and fear1 and made their lives beautiful2 she found them wandering forlorn in a wintry wilderness1 and has led them to a tropic paradise like that of which the poet sings3 8,o1 islands there are on the face of the deep ,where the leaves never fade and the skies never weep40 ,to ask them to examine with a microscope the character of such a benefactor2 to ask them to examine it at all2 to ask them to look at a blemish which another person believes he has found in it--well1 in their place could you do it8 ,would you do it8 ,wouldn't you be ashamed to do it8 ,if a tramp had rescued your child from fire and death1 and saved its mother's heart from breaking1 could you see his rags8 ,could you smell his breath8 ,mrs4 ,eddy has done more than that for these people4 ,they are prejudiced witnesses4 ,to the credit of human nature it is not possible that they should be otherwise4 ,they sincerely believe that ,mrs4 ,eddy's character is pure and perfect and beautiful1 and her history without stain or blot or blemish4 ,but that does not settle it4 ,they sincerely believe she did not borrow the ,great ,idea from ,quimby1 but hit upon it herself4 ,it may be so1 and it could be so4 ,let it go--there is no way to settle it4 ,they believe she carried away no ,quimby manuscripts4 ,let that go1 too--there is no way to settle it4 ,they believe that she1 and not another1 built the ,religion upon the book1 and organized it4 ,i believe it1 too4 ,finally1 they believe that she philosophized ,christian ,science1 explained it1 systematized it1 and wrote it all out with her own hand in the book ,science and ,health4 ,i am not able to believe that4 ,let us draw the line there4 ,the known and undisputed products of her pen are a formidable witness against her4 ,they do seem to me to prove1 quite clearly and conclusively1 that writing1 upon even simple subjects1 is a difficult labor for her3 that she has never been able to write anything above third-rate ,english2 that she is weak in the matter of grammar2 that she has but a rude and dull sense of the values of words2 that she so lacks in the matter of literary precision that she can seldom put a thought into words that express it lucidly to the reader and leave no doubts in his mind as to whether he has rightly understood or not2 that she cannot even draught a ,preface that a person can fully comprehend1 nor one which can by any art be translated into a fully understandable form2 that she can seldom inject into a ,preface even single sentences whose meaning is uncompromisingly clear--yet ,prefaces are her specialty1 if she has one4 ,mrs4 ,eddy's known and undisputed writings are very limited in bulk2 they exhibit no depth1 no analytical quality1 no thought above school composition size1 and but juvenile ability in handling thoughts of even that modest magnitude4 ,she has a fine commercial ability1 and could govern a vast railway system in great style2 she could draught a set of rules that ,satan himself would say could not be improved on--for devilish effectiveness--by his staff2 but we know1 by our excursions among the ,mother-,church's ,by-laws1 that their ,english would discredit the deputy baggage-smasher4 ,i am quite sure that ,mrs4 ,eddy cannot write well upon any subject1 even a commercial one4 ,in the very first revision of ,science and ,health 7#ahhc71 ,mrs4 ,eddy wrote a ,preface which is an unimpeachable witness that the rest of the book was written by somebody else4 ,i have put it in the ,appendix along with a page or two taken from the body of the book1 and will ask the reader to compare the labored and lumbering and confused gropings of this ,preface with the easy and flowing and direct ,english of the other exhibit1 and see if he can believe that the one hand and brain produced both4 ,and let him take the ,preface apart1 sentence by sentence1 and searchingly examine each sentence word by word1 and see if he can find half a dozen sentences whose meanings he is so sure of that he can rephrase them--in words of his own--and reproduce what he takes to be those meanings4 ,money can be lost on this game4 ,i know1 for ,i am the one that lost it4 ,now let the reader turn to the excerpt which ,i have made from the chapter on 8,prayer0 7last year's edition of ,science and ,health71 and compare that wise and sane and elevated and lucid and compact piece of work with the aforesaid ,preface1 and with ,mrs4 ,eddy's poetry concerning the gymnastic trees1 and ,minerva's not yet effete sandals1 and the wreaths imported from ,erudition's bower for the decoration of ,plymouth ,rock1 and the ,plague-spot and ,bacilli1 and my other exhibits 7turn back to my ,chapters ,i4 and ,,ii47 from the ,autobiography1 and finally with the late ,communication concerning me1 and see if he thinks anybody's affirmation1 or anybody's sworn testimony1 or any other testimony of any imaginable kind would ever be likely to convince him that ,mrs4 ,eddy wrote that chapter on ,prayer4 ,i do not wish to impose my opinion on any one who will not permit it1 but such as it is ,i offer it here for what it is worth4 ,i cannot believe1 and ,i do not believe1 that ,mrs4 ,eddy originated any of the thoughts and reasonings out of which the book ,science and ,health is constructed2 and ,i cannot believe1 and do not believe that she ever wrote any part of that book4 ,i think that if anything in the world stands proven1 and well and solidly proven1 by unimpeachable testimony--the treacherous testimony of her own pen in her known and undisputed literary productions--it is that ,mrs4 ,eddy is not capable of thinking upon high planes1 nor of reasoning clearly nor writing intelligently upon low ones4 ,inasmuch as--in my belief--the very first editions of the book ,science and ,health were far above the reach of ,mrs4 ,eddy's mental and literary abilities1 ,i think she has from the very beginning been claiming as her own another person's book1 and wearing as her own property laurels rightfully belonging to that person--the real author of ,science and ,health4 ,and ,i think the reason--and the only reason--that he has not protested is because his work was not exposed to print until after he was safely dead4 ,that with an eye to business1 and by grace of her business talent1 she has restored to the world neglected and abandoned features of the ,christian religion which her thousands of followers find gracious and blessed and contenting1 ,i recognize and confess2 but ,i am convinced that every single detail of the work except just that one--the delivery of the ,product to the world--was conceived and performed by another4 ,,appendix ,a ,,original ,,first ,,preface ,,to ,,science ,,and ,,health ,there seems a ,christian necessity of learning ,god's power and purpose to heal both mind and body4 ,this thought grew out of our early seeking ,him in all our ways1 and a hopeless as singular invalidism that drugs increased instead of diminished1 and hygiene benefited only for a season4 ,by degrees we have drifted into more spiritual latitudes of thought1 and experimented as we advanced until demonstrating fully the power of mind over the body4 ,about the year #ahfb1 having heard of a mesmerist in ,portland who was treating the sick by manipulation1 we visited him2 he helped us for a time1 then we relapsed somewhat4 ,after his decease1 and a severe casualty deemed fatal by skilful physicians1 we discovered that the ,principle of all healing and the law that governs it is ,god1 a divine ,principle1 and a spiritual not material law1 and regained health4 ,it was not an individual or mortal mind acting upon another so-called mind that healed us4 ,it was the glorious truths of ,christian ,science that we discovered as we neared that verge of so-called material life named death2 yea1 it was the great ,shekinah1 the spirit of ,life1 ,truth1 and ,love illuminating our understanding of the action and might of ,omnipotence6 ,the old gentleman to whom we have referred had some very advanced views on healing1 but he was not avowedly religious neither scholarly4 ,we interchanged thoughts on the subject of healing the sick4 ,i restored some patients of his that he failed to heal1 and left in his possession some manuscripts of mine containing corrections of his desultory pennings1 which ,i am informed at his decease passed into the hands of a patient of his1 now residing in ,scotland4 ,he died in #ahfe and left no published works4 ,the only manuscript that we ever held of his1 longer than to correct it1 was one of perhaps a dozen pages1 most of which we had composed4 ,he manipulated the sick2 hence his ostensible method of healing was physical instead of mental4 ,we helped him in the esteem of the public by our writings1 but never knew of his stating orally or in writing that he treated his patients mentally2 never heard him give any directions to that effect2 and have it from one of his patients1 who now asserts that he was the founder of mental healing1 that he never revealed to anyone his method4 ,we refer to these facts simply to refute the calumnies and false claims of our enemies1 that we are preferring dishonest claims to the discovery and founding at this period of ,metaphysical ,healing or ,christian ,science4 ,the ,science and laws of a purely mental healing and their method of application through spiritual power alone1 else a mental argument against disease1 are our own discovery at this date4 ,true1 the ,principle is divine and eternal1 but the application of it to heal the sick had been lost sight of1 and required to be again spiritually discerned and its science discovered1 that man might retain it through the understanding4 ,since our discovery in #ahff of the divine science of ,christian ,healing1 we have labored with tongue and pen to found this system4 ,in this endeavor every obstacle has been thrown in our path that the envy and revenge of a few disaffected students could devise4 ,the superstition and ignorance of even this period have not failed to contribute their mite towards misjudging us1 while its ,christian advancement and scientific research have helped sustain our feeble efforts4 ,since our first ,edition of ,science and ,health1 published in #ahge1 two of the aforesaid students have plagiarized and pirated our works4 ,in the issues of ,e4 ,j4 ,a41 almost exclusively ours1 were thirteen paragraphs1 without credit1 taken verbatim from our books4 ,not one of our printed works was ever copied or abstracted from the published or from the unpublished writings of anyone4 ,throughout our publications of ,metaphysical ,healing or ,christian ,science1 when writing or dictating them1 we have given ourselves to contemplation wholly apart from the observation of the material senses3 to look upon a copy would have distracted our thoughts from the subject before us4 ,we were seldom able to copy our own compositions1 and have employed an amanuensis for the last six years4 ,every work that we have had published has been extemporaneously written2 and out of fifty lectures and sermons that we have delivered the last year1 forty-four have been extemporaneous4 ,we have distributed many of our unpublished manuscripts2 loaned to one of our youngest students1 ,r4 ,k--------y1 between three and four hundred pages1 of which we were sole author--giving him liberty to copy but not to publish them4 ,leaning on the sustaining ,infinite with loving trust1 the trials of to-day grow brief1 and to-morrow is big with blessings4 ,the wakeful shepherd1 tending his flocks1 beholds from the mountain's top the first faint morning beam ere cometh the risen day4 ,so from ,soul's loftier summits shines the pale star to prophet-shepherd1 and it traverses night1 over to where the young child lies1 in cradled obscurity1 that shall waken a world4 ,over the night of error dawn the morning beams and guiding star of ,truth1 and 8the wise men0 are led by it to ,science1 which repeats the eternal harmony that it reproduced1 in proof of immortality4 ,the time for thinkers has come2 and the time for revolutions1 ecclesiastical and civil1 must come4 ,truth1 independent of doctrines or time-honored systems1 stands at the threshold of history4 ,contentment with the past1 or the cold conventionality of custom1 may no longer shut the door on science2 though empires fall1 8,he whose right it is shall reign40 ,ignorance of ,god should no longer be the stepping-stone to faith2 understanding ,him1 8whom to know aright is ,life eternal10 is the only guaranty of obedience4 ,this volume may not open a new thought1 and make it at once familiar4 ,it has the sturdy task of a pioneer1 to hack away at the tall oaks and cut the rough granite1 leaving future ages to declare what it has done4 ,we made our first discovery of the adaptation of metaphysics to the treatment of disease in the winter of #ahff2 since then we have tested the ,principle on ourselves and others1 and never found it to fail to prove the statements herein made of it4 ,we must learn the science of ,life1 to reach the perfection of man4 ,to understand ,god as the ,principle of all being1 and to live in accordance with this ,principle1 is the ,science of ,life4 ,but to reproduce this harmony of being1 the error of personal sense must yield to science1 even as the science of music corrects tones caught from the ear1 and gives the sweet concord of sound4 ,there are many theories of physic and theology1 and many calls in each of their directions for the right way2 but we propose to settle the question of 8,what is ,truth80 on the ground of proof1 and let that method of healing the sick and establishing ,christianity be adopted that is found to give the most health and to make the best ,christians2 science will then have a fair field1 in which case we are assured of its triumph over all opinions and beliefs4 ,sickness and sin have ever had their doctors2 but the question is1 ,have they become less because of them8 ,the longevity of our antediluvians would say1 ,no6 and the criminal records of today utter their voices little in favor of such a conclusion4 ,not that we would deny to ,caesar the things that are his1 but that we ask for the things that belong to ,truth2 and safely affirm1 from the demonstrations we have been able to make1 that the science of man understood would have eradicated sin1 sickness1 and death1 in a less period than six thousand years4 ,we find great difficulties in starting this work right4 ,some shockingly false claims are already made to a metaphysical practice2 mesmerism1 its very antipodes1 is one of them4 ,hitherto we have never1 in a single instance of our discovery1 found the slightest resemblance between mesmerism and metaphysics4 ,no especial idiosyncrasy is requisite to acquire a knowledge of metaphysical healing2 spiritual sense is more important to its discernment than the intellect2 and those who would learn this science without a high moral standard of thought and action1 will fail to understand it until they go up higher4 ,owing to our explanations constantly vibrating between the same points1 an irksome repetition of words must occur2 also the use of capital letters1 genders1 and technicalities peculiar to the science4 ,variety of language1 or beauty of diction1 must give place to close analysis and unembellished thought4 8,hoping all things1 enduring all things10 to do good to our enemies1 to bless them that curse us1 and to bear to the sorrowing and the sick consolation and healing1 we commit these pages to posterity4 ,,mary ,,baker ,g4 ,,eddy4 ,,appendix ,b ,the ,gospel narratives bear brief testimony even to the life of our great ,master4 ,his spiritual noumenon and phenomenon1 silenced portraiture4 ,writers1 less wise than the ,apostles1 essayed in the ,apocryphal ,new ,testament1 a legendary and traditional history of the early life of ,jesus4 ,but ,saint ,paul summarized the character of ,jesus as the model of ,christianity1 in these words3 8,consider ,him who endured such contradictions of sinners against ,himself4 ,who for the joy that was set before ,him1 endured the cross1 despising the shame1 and is set down at the right hand of the throne of ,god40 ,it may be that the mortal life battle still wages1 and must continue till its involved errors are vanquished by victory-bringing ,science2 but this triumph will come6 ,god is over all4 ,he alone is our origin1 aim1 and ,being4 ,the real man is not of the dust1 nor is he ever created through the flesh2 for his father and mother are the one ,spirit1 and his brethren are all the children of one parent1 the eternal ,good4 ,any kind of literary composition was excessively difficult for ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,she found it grinding hard work to dig out anything to say4 ,she realized1 at the above stage in her life1 that with all her trouble she had not been able to scratch together even material enough for a child's ,autobiography1 and also that what she had secured was in the main not valuable1 not important1 considering the age and the fame of the person she was writing about2 and so it occurred to her to attempt1 in that paragraph1 to excuse the meagreness and poor quality of the feast she was spreading1 by letting on that she could do ever so much better if she wanted to1 but was under constraint of ,divine etiquette4 ,to feed with more than a few indifferent crumbs a plebeian appetite for personal details about ,personages in her class was not the correct thing1 and she blandly points out that there is ,precedent for this reserve4 ,when ,mrs4 ,eddy tries to be artful--in literature--it is generally after the manner of the ostrich2 and with the ostrich's luck4 ,please try to find the connection between the two paragraphs4--,m4 ,t4 ,,appendix ,c ,the following is the spiritual signification of the ,lord's ,prayer3 ,principle1 eternal and harmonious1 ,nameless and adorable ,intelligence1 ,thou art ever present and supreme4 ,and when this supremacy of ,spirit shall appear1 the dream of matter will disappear4 ,give us the understanding of ,truth and ,love4 ,and loving we shall learn ,god1 and ,truth will destroy all error4 ,and lead us unto the ,life that is ,soul1 and deliver us from the errors of sense1 sin1 sickness1 and death1 ,for ,god is ,life1 ,truth1 and ,love for ever4--,science and ,health1 edition of #ahha4 ,it seems to me that this one is distinctly superior to the one that was inspired for last year's edition4 ,it is strange1 but to my mind plain1 that inspiring is an art which does not improve with practice4--,m4 ,t4 ,,appendix ,d 8,for verily ,i say unto you1 ,that whosoever shall say unto this mountain1 ,be thou removed1 and be thou cast into the sea2 and shall not doubt in his heart1 but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass2 he shall have whatsoever he saith4 ,therefore ,i say unto you1 ,what things soever ye desire when ye pray1 believe that ye receive them1 and ye shall have them4 8,your ,father knoweth what things ye have need of1 before ye ask ,him40--,,christ ,,jesus4 ,the prayer that reclaims the sinner and heals the sick1 is an absolute faith that all things are possible to ,god--a spiritual understanding of ,him--an unselfed love4 ,regardless of what another may say or think on this subject1 ,i speak from experience4 ,this prayer1 combined with self-sacrifice and toil1 is the means whereby ,god has enabled me to do what ,i have done for the religion and health of mankind4 ,thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine ,mind4 ,desire is prayer2 and no less can occur from trusting ,god with our desires1 that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in audible word1 and in deeds4 ,what are the motives for prayer8 ,do we pray to make ourselves better1 or to benefit those that hear us2 to enlighten the ,infinite1 or to be heard of men8 ,are we benefited by praying8 ,yes1 the desire which goes forth hungering after righteousness is blessed of our ,father1 and it does not return unto us void4 ,god is not moved by the breath of praise to do more than ,he has already done2 nor can the ,infinite do less than bestow all good1 since ,he is unchanging ,wisdom and ,love4 ,we can do more for ourselves by humble fervent petitions2 but the ,all-loving does not grant them simply on the ground of lip-service1 for ,he already knows all4 ,prayer cannot change the ,science of ,being1 but it does bring us into harmony with it4 ,goodness reaches the demonstration of ,truth4 ,a request that another may work for us never does our work4 ,the habit of pleading with the divine ,mind1 as one pleads with a human being1 perpetuates the belief in ,god as humanly circumscribed--an error which impedes spiritual growth4 ,god is ,love4 ,can we ask ,him to be more8 ,god is ,intelligence4 ,can we inform the infinite ,mind1 or tell ,him anything ,he does not already comprehend8 ,do we hope to change perfection8 ,shall we plead for more at the open fount1 which always pours forth more than we receive8 ,the unspoken prayer does bring us nearer the ,source of all existence and blessedness4 ,asking ,god to be ,god is a 8vain repetition40 ,god is 8the same yesterday1 and to-day1 and forever02 and ,he who is immutably right will do right1 without being reminded of ,his province4 ,the wisdom of man is not sufficient to warrant him in advising ,god4 ,who would stand before a blackboard1 and pray the principle of mathematics to work out the problem8 ,the rule is already established1 and it is our task to work out the solution4 ,shall we ask the divine ,principle of all goodness to do ,his own work8 ,his work is done2 and we have only to avail ourselves of ,god's rule1 in order to receive the blessing thereof4 ,the divine ,being must be reflected by man--else man is not the image and likeness of the patient1 tender1 and true1 the one 8altogether lovely02 but to understand ,god is the work of eternity1 and demands absolute concentration of thought and energy4 ,how empty are our conceptions of ,deity6 ,we admit theoretically that ,god is good1 omnipotent1 omnipresent1 infinite1 and then we try to give information to this infinite ,mind2 and plead for unmerited pardon1 and a liberal outpouring of benefactions4 ,are we really grateful for the good already received8 ,then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have1 and thus be fitted to receive more4 ,gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks4 ,action expresses more gratitude than speech4 ,if we are ungrateful for ,life1 ,truth1 and ,love1 and yet return thanks to ,god for all blessings1 we are insincere2 and incur the sharp censure our ,master pronounces on hypocrites4 ,in such a case the only acceptable prayer is to put the finger on the lips and remember our blessings4 ,while the heart is far from divine ,truth and ,love1 we cannot conceal the ingratitude of barren lives1 for ,god knoweth all things4 ,what we most need is the prayer of fervent desire for growth in grace1 expressed in patience1 meekness1 love1 and good deeds4 ,to keep the commandments of our ,master and follow his example1 is our proper debt to ,him1 and the only worthy evidence of our gratitude for all ,he has done4 ,outward worship is not of itself sufficient to express loyal and heartfelt gratitude1 since ,he has said3 8,if ye love ,me1 keep ,my ,commandments40 ,the habitual struggle to be always good1 is unceasing prayer4 ,its motives are made manifest in the blessings they bring--which1 if not acknowledged in audible words1 attest our worthiness to be made partakers of ,love4 ,simply asking that we may love ,god will never make us love ,him2 but the longing to be better and holier--expressed in daily watchfulness1 and in striving to assimilate more of the divine character--this will mould and fashion us anew1 until we awake in ,his likeness4 ,we reach the ,science of ,christianity through demonstration of the divine nature2 but in this wicked world goodness will 8be evil spoken of10 and patience must work experience4 ,audible prayer can never do the works of spiritual understanding1 which regenerates2 but silent prayer1 watchfulness1 and devout obedience1 enable us to follow ,jesus' example4 ,long prayers1 ecclesiasticism1 and creeds1 have clipped the divine pinions of ,love1 and clad religion in human robes4 ,they materialize worship1 hinder the ,spirit1 and keep man from demonstrating his power over error4 ,sorrow for wrong-doing is but one step towards reform1 and the very easiest step4 ,the next and great step required by ,wisdom is the test of our sincerity--namely1 reformation4 ,to this end we are placed under the stress of circumstances4 ,temptation bids us repeat the offence1 and woe comes in return for what is done4 ,so it will ever be1 till we learn that there is no discount in the law of justice1 and that we must pay 8the uttermost farthing40 ,the measure ye mete 8shall be measured to you again10 and it will be full 8and running over40 ,saints and sinners get their full award1 but not always in this world4 ,the followers of ,christ drank ,his cup4 ,ingratitude and persecution filled it to the brim2 but ,god pours the riches of ,his love into the understanding and affections1 giving us strength according to our day4 ,sinners flourish 8like a green bay-tree02 but1 looking farther1 the ,psalmist could see their end--namely1 the destruction of sin through suffering4 ,prayer is sometimes used1 as a confessional to cancel sin4 ,this error impedes true religion4 ,sin is forgiven1 only as it is destroyed by ,christ-,truth and ,life4 ,if prayer nourishes the belief that sin is cancelled1 and that man is made better by merely praying1 it is an evil4 ,he grows worse who continues in sin because he thinks himself forgiven4 ,an apostle says that the ,son of ,god 7,christ7 came to 8destroy the works of the devil40 ,we should follow our divine ,exemplar1 and seek the destruction of all evil works1 error and disease included4 ,we cannot escape the penalty due for sin4 ,the ,scriptures say1 that if we deny ,christ1 8,he also will deny us40 ,the divine ,love corrects and governs man4 ,men may pardon1 but this divine ,principle alone reforms the sinner4 ,god is not separate from the wisdom ,he bestows4 ,the talents ,he gives we must improve4 ,calling on ,him to forgive our work1 badly done or left undone1 implies the vain supposition that we have nothing to do but to ask pardon1 and that afterwards we shall be free to repeat the offence4 ,to cause suffering1 as the result of sin1 is the means of destroying sin4 ,every supposed pleasure in sin will furnish more than its equivalent of pain1 until belief in material life and sin is destroyed4 ,to reach heaven1 the harmony of ,being1 we must understand the divine ,principle of ,being4 8,god is ,love40 ,more than this we cannot ask2 higher we cannot look2 farther we cannot go4 ,to suppose that ,god forgives or punishes sin1 according as ,his mercy is sought or unsought1 is to misunderstand ,love and make prayer the safety-valve for wrong-doing4 ,jesus uncovered and rebuked sin before ,he cast it out4 ,of a sick woman ,he said that ,satan had bound her2 and to ,peter ,he said1 8,thou art an offense unto me40 ,he came teaching and showing men how to destroy sin1 sickness1 and death4 ,he said of the fruitless tree1 8,it is hewn down40 ,it is believed by many that a certain magistrate1 who lived in the time of ,jesus1 left this record3 8,his rebuke is fearful40 ,the strong language of our ,master confirms this description4 ,the only civil sentence which ,he had for error was1 8,get thee behind ,me1 ,satan40 ,still stronger evidence that ,jesus' reproof was pointed and pungent is in ,his own words--showing the necessity for such forcible utterance1 when ,he cast out devils and healed the sick and sinful4 ,the relinquishment of error deprives material sense of its false claims4 ,audible prayer is impressive2 it gives momentary solemnity and elevation to thought2 but does it produce any lasting benefit8 ,looking deeply into these things1 we find that 8a zeal444 not according to knowledge10 gives occasion for reaction unfavorable to spiritual growth1 sober resolve1 and wholesome perception of ,god's requirements4 ,the motives for verbal prayer may embrace too much love of applause to induce or encourage ,christian sentiment4 ,physical sensation1 not ,soul1 produces material ecstasy1 and emotions4 ,if spiritual sense always guided men at such times1 there would grow out of those ecstatic moments a higher experience and a better life1 with more devout self-abnegation1 and purity4 ,a self-satisfied ventilation of fervent sentiments never makes a ,christian4 ,god is not influenced by man4 ,the 8divine ear0 is not an auditorial nerve4 ,it is the all-hearing and all-knowing ,mind1 to whom each want of man is always known1 and by whom it will be supplied4 ,the danger from audible prayer is1 that it may lead us into temptation4 ,by it we may become involuntary hypocrites1 uttering desires which are not real1 and consoling ourselves in the midst of sin1 with the recollection that we have prayed over it--or mean to ask forgiveness at some later day4 ,hypocrisy is fatal to religion4 ,a wordy prayer may afford a quiet sense of self-justification1 though it makes the sinner a hypocrite4 ,we never need despair of an honest heart1 but there is little hope for those who only come spasmodically face to face with their wickedness1 and then seek to hide it4 ,their prayers are indexes which do not correspond with their character4 ,they hold secret fellowship with sin2 and such externals are spoken of by ,jesus as 8like unto whited sepulchres444 full of all uncleanness40 ,if a man1 though apparently fervent and prayerful1 is impure1 and therefore insincere1 what must be the comment upon him8 ,if he had reached the loftiness of his prayer1 there would be no occasion for such comment4 ,if we feel the aspiration1 humility1 gratitude1 and love which our words express--this ,god accepts2 and it is wise not to try to deceive ourselves or others1 for 8there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed40 ,professions and audible prayers are like charity in one respect--they 8cover a multitude of sins40 ,praying for humility1 with whatever fervency of expression1 does not always mean a desire for it4 ,if we turn away from the poor1 we are not ready to receive the reward of ,him who blesses the poor4 ,we confess to having a very wicked heart1 and ask that it may be laid bare before us2 but do we not already know more of this heart than we are willing to have our neighbor see8 ,we ought to examine ourselves1 and learn what is the affection and purpose of the heart2 for this alone can show us what we honestly are4 ,if a friend informs us of a fault1 do we listen to the rebuke patiently1 and credit what is said8 ,do we not rather give thanks that we are 8not as other men80 ,during many years the author has been most grateful for merited rebuke4 ,the sting lies in unmerited censure--in the falsehood which does no one any good4 ,the test of all prayer lies in the answer to these questions3 ,do we love our neighbor better because of this asking8 ,do we pursue the old selfishness1 satisfied with having prayed for something better1 though we give no evidence of the sincerity of our requests by living consistently with our prayer8 ,if selfishness has given place to kindness1 we shall regard our neighbor unselfishly1 and bless them that curse us2 but we shall never meet this great duty by simply asking that it may be done4 ,there is a cross to be taken up1 before we can enjoy the fruition of our hope and faith4 ,dost thou 8love the ,lord thy ,god with all thy heart1 and with all thy soul1 and with all thy mind80 ,this command includes much--even the surrender of all merely material sensation1 affection1 and worship4 ,this is the ,el ,dorado of ,christianity4 ,it involves the ,science of ,life1 and recognizes only the divine control of ,spirit1 wherein ,soul is our master1 and material sense and human will have no place4 ,are you willing to leave all for ,christ1 for ,truth1 and so be counted among sinners8 ,no6 ,do you really desire to attain this point8 ,no6 ,then why make long prayers about it1 and ask to be ,christians1 since you care not to tread in the footsteps of our dear ,master8 ,if unwilling to follow ,his example1 wherefore pray with the lips that you may be partakers of ,his nature8 ,consistent prayer is the desire to do right4 ,prayer means that we desire to1 and will1 walk in the light so far as we receive it1 even though with bleeding footsteps1 and waiting patiently on the ,lord1 will leave our real desires to be rewarded by ,him4 ,the world must grow to the spiritual understanding of prayer4 ,if good enough to profit by ,jesus' cup of earthly sorrows1 ,god will sustain us under these sorrows4 ,until we are thus divinely qualified1 and willing to drink ,his cup1 millions of vain repetitions will never pour into prayer the unction of ,spirit1 in demonstration of power1 and 8with signs following40 ,christian ,science reveals a necessity for overcoming the world1 the flesh and evil1 and thus destroying all error4 ,seeking is not sufficient4 ,it is striving which enables us to enter4 ,spiritual attainments open the door to a higher understanding of the divine ,life4 ,one of the forms of worship in ,thibet is to carry a praying-machine through the streets1 and stop at the doors to earn a penny by grinding out a prayer2 whereas civilization pays for clerical prayers1 in lofty edifices4 ,is the difference very great1 after all8 ,experience teaches us that we do not always receive the blessings we ask for in prayer4 ,there is some misapprehension of the source and means of all goodness and blessedness1 or we should certainly receive what we ask for4 ,the ,scriptures say3 8,ye ask1 and receive not1 because ye ask amiss1 that ye may consume it upon your lusts40 ,what we desire and ask for it is not always best for us to receive4 ,in this case infinite ,love will not grant the request4 ,do you ask ,wisdom to be merciful and not punish sin8 ,then 8ye ask amiss40 ,without punishment1 sin would multiply4 ,jesus' prayer1 8forgive us our debts10 specified also the terms of forgiveness4 ,when forgiving the adulterous woman ,he said1 8,go1 and sin no more40 ,a magistrate sometimes remits the penalty1 but this may be no moral benefit to the criminal2 and at best1 it only saves him from one form of punishment4 ,the moral law1 which has the right to acquit or condemn1 always demands restitution1 before mortals can 8go up higher40 ,broken law brings penalty1 in order to compel this progress4 ,mere legal pardon 7and there is no other1 for divine ,principle never pardons our sins or mistakes till they are corrected7 leaves the offender free to repeat the offense2 if1 indeed1 he has not already suffered sufficiently from vice to make him turn from it with loathing4 ,truth bestows no pardon upon error1 but wipes it out in the most effectual manner4 ,jesus suffered for our sins1 not to annul the divine sentence against an individual's sin1 but to show that sin must bring inevitable suffering4 ,petitions only bring to mortals the results of their own faith4 ,we know that a desire for holiness is requisite in order to gain it2 but if we desire holiness above all else1 we shall sacrifice everything for it4 ,we must be willing to do this1 that we may walk securely in the only practical road to holiness4 ,prayer alone cannot change the unalterable ,truth1 or give us an understanding of it2 but prayer coupled with a fervent habitual desire to know and do the will of ,god will bring us into all ,truth4 ,such a desire has little need of audible expression4 ,it is best expressed in thought and life4 ,,appendix ,e ,reverend ,heber ,newton on ,christian ,science3 ,to begin1 then1 at the beginning1 ,christian ,science accepts the work of healing sickness as an integral part of the discipleship of ,jesus ,christ4 ,in ,christ it finds1 what the ,church has always recognized1 theoretically1 though it has practically ignored the fact--the ,great ,physician4 ,that ,christ healed the sick1 we none of us question4 ,it stands plainly upon the record4 ,this ministry of healing was too large a part of ,his work to be left out from any picture of that life4 ,such service was not an incident of ,his career--it was an essential element of that career4 ,it was an integral factor in ,his mission4 ,the ,evangelists leave us no possibility of confusion on this point4 ,co-equal with his work of instruction and inspiration was ,his work of healing4 ,the records make it equally clear that the ,master laid ,his charge upon ,his disciples to do as ,he had done4 8,when ,he had called unto ,him ,his twelve disciples1 ,he gave them power over unclean spirits1 to cast them out1 and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease40 ,in sending them forth1 8,he commanded them1 saying1444 ,as ye go1 preach1 saying1 ,the kingdom of heaven is at hand4 ,heal the sick1 cleanse the lepers1 raise the dead1 cast out demons40 ,that the twelve disciples undertook to do the ,master's work of healing1 and that they1 in their measure1 succeeded1 seems beyond question4 ,they found in themselves the same power that the ,master found in ,himself1 and they used it as ,he had used ,his power4 ,the record of ,the ,acts of the ,apostles1 if at all trustworthy history1 shows that they1 too1 healed the sick4 ,beyond the circle of the original twelve1 it is equally clear that the early disciples believed themselves charged with the same mission1 and that they sought to fulfil it4 ,the records of the early ,church make it indisputable that powers of healing were recognized as among the gifts of the ,spirit4 ,st4 ,paul's letters render it certain that these gifts were not a privilege of the original twelve1 merely1 but that they were the heritage into which all the disciples entered4 ,beyond the era of the primitive ,church1 through several generations1 the early ,christians felt themselves called to the same ministry of healing1 and enabled with the same secret of power4 ,through wellnigh three centuries1 the gifts of healing appear to have been1 more or less1 recognized and exercised in the ,church4 ,through those generations1 however1 there was a gradual disuse of this power1 following upon a failing recognition of its possession4 ,that which was originally the rule became the exception4 ,by degrees1 the sense of authority and power to heal passed out from the consciousness of the ,church4 ,it ceased to be a sign of the indwelling ,spirit4 ,for fifteen centuries1 the recognition of this authority and power has been altogether exceptional4 ,here and there1 through the history of these centuries1 there have been those who have entered into this belief of their own privilege and duty1 and have used the gift which they recognized4 ,the ,church has never been left without a line of witnesses to this aspect of the discipleship of ,christ4 ,but she has come to accept it as the normal order of things that what was once the rule in the ,christian ,church should be now only the exception4 ,orthodoxy has framed a theory of the words of ,jesus to account for this strange departure of ,his ,church from them4 ,it teaches us to believe that ,his example was not meant to be followed1 in this respect1 by all ,his disciples4 ,the power of healing which was in ,him was a purely exceptional power4 ,it was used as an evidence of ,his divine mission4 ,it was a miraculous gift4 ,the gift of working miracles was not bestowed upon ,his ,church at large4 ,his original disciples1 the twelve apostles1 received this gift1 as a necessity of the critical epoch of ,christianity--the founding of the ,church4 ,traces of the power lingered on1 in weakening activity1 until they gradually ceased1 and the normal condition of the ,church was entered upon1 in which miracles are no longer possible4 ,we accept this1 unconsciously1 as the true state of things in ,christianity4 ,but it is a conception which will not bear a moment's examination4 ,there is not the slightest suggestion upon record that ,christ set any limit to this charge which ,he gave ,his disciples4 ,on the contrary1 there are not lacking hints that ,he looked for the possession and exercise of this power wherever ,his spirit breathed in men4 ,even if the concluding paragraph of ,st4 ,mark's ,gospel were a later appendix1 it may none the less have been a faithful echo of words of the ,master1 as it certainly is a trustworthy record of the belief of the early ,christians as to the thought of ,jesus concerning ,his followers4 ,in that interesting passage1 ,jesus1 after ,his death1 appeared to the eleven1 and formally commissioned them1 again1 to take up ,his work in the world2 bidding them1 8,go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature40 8,and these signs10 ,he tells them1 8shall follow them that believe0--not the apostles only1 but 8them that believe10 without limit of time2 8in ,my name they shall cast out devils444 they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover40 ,the concluding discourse to the disciples1 recorded in the ,gospel according to ,st4 ,john1 affirms the same expectation on the part of ,jesus2 emphasizing it in ,his solemn way3 8,verily1 verily1 ,i say unto you1 ,he that believeth on ,me1 the works that ,i do shall he do also2 and greater works than these shall he do40 ,,appendix ,f ,few will deny that an intelligence apart from man formed and governs the spiritual universe and man2 and this intelligence is the eternal ,mind1 and neither matter nor man created this intelligence and divine ,principle2 nor can this ,principle produce aught unlike itself4 ,all that we term sin1 sickness1 and death is comprised in the belief of matter4 ,the realm of the real is spiritual2 the opposite of ,spirit is matter2 and the opposite of the real is unreal or material4 ,matter is an error of statement1 for there is no matter4 ,this error of premises leads to error of conclusion in every statement of matter as a basis4 ,nothing we can say or believe regarding matter is true1 except that matter is unreal1 simply a belief that has its beginning and ending4 ,the conservative firm called matter and mind ,god never formed4 ,the unerring and eternal ,mind destroys this imaginary copartnership1 formed only to be dissolved in a manner and at a period unknown4 ,this copartnership is obsolete4 ,placed under the microscope of metaphysics matter disappears4 ,only by understanding there are not two1 matter and mind1 is a logical and correct conclusion obtained by either one4 ,science gathers not grapes of thorns or figs of thistles4 ,intelligence never produced non-intelligence1 such as matter3 the immortal never produced mortality1 good never resulted in evil4 ,the science of ,mind shows conclusively that matter is a myth4 ,metaphysics are above physics1 and drag not matter1 or what is termed that1 into one of its premises or conclusions4 ,metaphysics resolves things into thoughts1 and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of ,soul4 ,these ideas are perfectly tangible and real to consciousness1 and they have this advantage--they are eternal4 ,mind and its thoughts comprise the whole of ,god1 the universe1 and of man4 ,reason and revelation coincide with this statement1 and support its proof every hour1 for nothing is harmonious or eternal that is not spiritual3 the realization of this will bring out objects from a higher source of thought2 hence more beautiful and immortal4 ,the fact of spiritualization produces results in striking contrast to the farce of materialization3 the one produces the results of chastity and purity1 the other the downward tendencies and earthward gravitation of sensualism and impurity4 ,the exalting and healing effects of metaphysics show their fountain4 ,nothing in pathology has exceeded the application of metaphysics4 ,through mind alone we have prevented disease and preserved health4 ,in cases of chronic and acute diseases1 in their severest forms1 we have changed the secretions1 renewed structure1 and restored health2 have elongated shortened limbs1 relaxed rigid muscles1 made cicatrized joints supple2 restored carious bones to healthy conditions1 renewed that which is termed the lost substance of the lungs2 and restored healthy organizations where disease was organic instead of functional4 ,,mrs4 ,,eddy ,,in ,,error ,i feel almost sure that ,mrs4 ,eddy's inspiration--works are getting out of repair4 ,i think so because they made some errors in a statement which she uttered through the press on the #agth of ,january4 ,not large ones1 perhaps1 still it is a friend's duty to straighten such things out and get them right when he can4 ,therefore ,i will put my other duties aside for a moment and undertake this helpful service4 ,she said as follows3 8,in view of the circulation of certain criticisms from the pen of ,mark ,twain1 ,i submit the following statement3 8,it is a fact1 well understood1 that ,i begged the students who first gave me the endearing appellative 'mother' not to name me thus4 ,but1 without my consent1 that word spread like wildfire4 ,i still must think the name is not applicable to me4 ,i stand in relation to this century as a ,christian discoverer1 founder1 and leader4 ,i regard self-deification as blasphemous2 ,i may be more loved1 but ,i am less lauded1 pampered1 provided for1 and cheered than others before me--and wherefore8 ,because ,christian ,science is not yet popular1 and ,i refuse adulation4 8,my visit to the ,mother-,church after it was built and dedicated pleased me1 and the situation was satisfactory4 ,the dear members wanted to greet me with escort and the ringing of bells1 but ,i declined1 and went alone in my carriage to the church1 entered it1 and knelt in thanks upon the steps of its altar4 ,there the foresplendor of the beginnings of truth fell mysteriously upon my spirit4 ,i believe in one ,christ1 teach one ,christ1 know of but one ,christ4 ,i believe in but one incarnation1 one ,mother ,mary1 and know ,i am not that one1 and never claimed to be4 ,it suffices me to learn the ,science of the ,scriptures relative to this subject4 8,christian ,scientists have no quarrel with ,protestants1 ,catholics1 or any other sect4 ,they need to be understood as following the divine ,principle ,god1 ,love and not imagined to be unscientific worshippers of a human being4 8,in the aforesaid article1 of which ,i have seen only extracts1 ,mark ,twain's wit was not wasted ,in certain directions4 ,christian ,science eschews divine rights in human beings4 ,if the individual governed human consciousness1 my statement of ,christian ,science would be disproved1 but to understand the spiritual idea is essential to demonstrate ,science and its pure monotheism--one ,god1 one ,christ1 no idolatry1 no human propaganda4 ,jesus taught and proved that what feeds a few feeds all4 ,his life-work subordinated the material to the spiritual1 and ,he left this legacy of truth to mankind4 ,his metaphysics is not the sport of philosophy1 religion1 or ,science2 rather it is the pith and finale of them all4 8,i have not the inspiration or aspiration to be a first or second ,virgin-,mother--her duplicate1 antecedent1 or subsequent4 ,what ,i am remains to be proved by the good ,i do4 ,we need much humility1 wisdom1 and love to perform the functions of foreshadowing and foretasting heaven within us4 ,this glory is molten in the furnace of affliction40 ,she still thinks the name of ,our ,mother not applicable to her2 and she is also able to remember that it distressed her when it was conferred upon her1 and that she begged to have it suppressed4 ,her memory is at fault here4 ,if she will take her ,by-laws1 and refer to ,section #a of ,article ,,xxii41 written with her own hand--she will find that she has reserved that title to herself1 and is so pleased with it1 and so--may we say jealous8--about it1 that she threatens with excommunication any sister ,scientist who shall call herself by it4 ,this is that ,section #a3 8,the ,title of ,mother4 ,in the year #ahie loyal ,christian ,scientists had given to the author of their text-book1 the ,founder of ,christian ,science1 the individual1 endearing term of ,mother4 ,therefore1 if a student of ,christian ,science shall apply this title1 either to herself or to others1 except as the term for kinship according to the flesh1 it shall be regarded by the ,church as an indication of disrespect for their ,pastor ,emeritus1 and unfitness to be a member of the ,mother-,church40 ,mrs4 ,eddy is herself the ,mother-,church--its powers and authorities are in her possession solely--and she can abolish that title whenever it may please her to do so4 ,she has only to command her people1 wherever they may be in the earth1 to use it no more1 and it will never be uttered again4 ,she is aware of this4 ,it may be that she 8refuses adulation0 when she is not awake1 but when she is awake she encourages it and propagates it in that museum called 8,our ,mother's ,room10 in her ,church in ,boston4 ,she could abolish that institution with a word1 if she wanted to4 ,she is aware of that4 ,i will say a further word about the museum presently4 ,further down the column1 her memory is unfaithful again3 8,i believe in444 but one ,mother ,mary1 and know ,i am not that one1 and never claimed to be40 ,at a session of the ,national ,christian ,science ,association1 held in the city of ,new ,york on the #bgth of ,may1 #ahij1 the secretary was 8instructed to send to our ,mother greetings and words of affection from her assembled children40 ,her telegraphic response was read to the ,association at next day's meeting3 8,all hail6 ,he hath filled the hungry with good things and the sick hath ,he not sent empty away4--,,mother ,,mary40 ,which ,mother ,mary is this one8 ,are there two8 ,if so1 she is both of them2 for1 when she signed this telegram in this satisfied and unprotesting way1 the ,mother-title which she was going to so strenuously object to1 and put from her with humility1 and seize with both hands1 and reserve as her sole property1 and protect her monopoly of it with a stern ,by-law1 while recognizing with diffidence that it was 8not applicable0 to her 7then and to-day7--that ,mother--title was not yet born1 and would not be offered to her until five years later4 ,the date of the above 8,mother ,mary0 is #ahij2 the 8individual1 endearing title of ,mother0 was given her 8in #ahie0--;according to her own testimony4 ,see her ,by-law quoted above4 ,in his opening ,address to that ,convention of #ahij1 the ,president recognized this ,mary--our ,mary-and abolished all previous ones4 ,he said3 8,there is but one ,moses1 one ,jesus2 and there is but one ,mary40 ,the confusions being now dispersed1 we have this clarified result3 ,there had been a ,moses at one time1 and only one2 there had been a ,jesus at one time1 and only one2 there is a ,mary and 8only one40 ,she is not a ,has ,been1 she is an ,is--the 8,author of ,science and ,health2 and we cannot ignore her40 #a4 ,in #ahij1 there was but one ,mother ,mary4 ,the ,president said so4 #b4 ,mrs4 ,eddy was that one4 ,she said so1 in signing the telegram4 #c4 ,mrs4 ,eddy was not that one for she says so1 in her ,associated ,press utterance of ,january #agth4 #d4 ,and has 8never claimed to be that one0--unless the signature to the telegram is a claim4 ,thus it stands proven and established that she is that ,mary and isn't1 and thought she was and knows she wasn't4 ,that much is clear4 ,she is also 8,the ,mother10 by the election of #ahie1 and did not want the title1 and thinks it is not applicable to her1 and will excommunicate any one that tries to take it away from her4 ,so that is clear4 ,i think that the only really troublesome confusion connected with these particular matters has arisen from the name ,mary4 ,much vexation1 much misunderstanding1 could have been avoided if ,mrs4 ,eddy had used some of her other names in place of that one4 8,mother ,mary0 was certain to stir up discussion4 ,it would have been much better if she had signed the telegram 8,mother ,baker02 then there would have been no ,biblical competition1 and1 of course1 that is a thing to avoid4 ,but it is not too late1 yet4 ,i wish to break in here with a parenthesis1 and then take up this examination of ,mrs4 ,eddy's ,claim of ,january #agth again4 ,the history of her 8,mother ,mary0 telegram--as told to me by one who ought to be a very good authority--is curious and interesting4 ,the telegram ostensibly quotes verse #ec from the 8,magnificat10 but really makes some pretty formidable changes in it4 ,this is ,st4 ,luke's version3 8,he hath filled the hungry with good things1 and the rich ,he hath sent empty away40 ,this is 8,mother ,mary's0 telegraphed version3 8,he hath filled the hungry with good things1 and the sick hath ,he not sent empty away40 ,to judge by the ,official ,report1 the bursting of this bombshell in that massed convention of trained ,christians created no astonishment1 since it caused no remark1 and the business of the convention went tranquilly on1 thereafter1 as if nothing had happened4 ,did those people detect those changes8 ,we cannot know4 ,i think they must have noticed them1 the wording of ,st4 ,luke's verse being as familiar to all ,christians as is the wording of the ,beatitudes2 and ,i think that the reason the new version provoked no surprise and no comment was1 that the assemblage took it for a 8,key0--a spiritualized explanation of verse #ec1 newly sent down from heaven through ,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,for all ,scientists study their ,bibles diligently1 and they know their ,magnificat4 ,i believe that their confidence in the authenticity of ,mrs4 ,eddy's inspirations is so limitless and so firmly established that no change1 however violent1 which she might make in a ,bible text could disturb their composure or provoke from them a protest4 ,her improved rendition of verse #ec went into the convention's report and appeared in a ,new ,york paper the next day4 ,the 7at that time7 ,scientist whom ,i mentioned a minute ago1 and who had not been present at the convention1 saw it and marvelled2 marvelled and was indignant--indignant with the printer or the telegrapher1 for making so careless and so dreadful an error4 ,and greatly distressed1 too2 for1 of course1 the newspaper people would fall foul of it1 and be sarcastic1 and make fun of it1 and have a blithe time over it1 and be properly thankful for the chance4 ,it shows how innocent he was2 it shows that he did not know the limitations of newspaper men in the matter of ,biblical knowledge4 ,the new verse #ec raised no insurrection in the press2 in fact1 it was not even remarked upon2 ,i could have told him the boys would not know there was anything the matter with it4 ,i have been a newspaper man myself1 and in those days ,i had my limitations like the others4 ,the ,scientist hastened to ,concord and told ,mrs4 ,eddy what a disastrous mistake had been made1 but he found to his bewilderment that she was tranquil about it1 and was not proposing to correct it4 ,he was not able to get her to promise to make a correction4 ,he asked her secretary if he had heard aright when the telegram was dictated to him2 the secretary said he had1 and took the filed copy of it and verified its authenticity by comparing it with the stenographic notes4 ,mrs4 ,eddy did make the correction1 two months later1 in her official organ4 ,it attracted no attention among the ,scientists2 and1 naturally1 none elsewhere1 for that periodical's circulation was practically confined to disciples of the cult4 ,that is the tale as it was told to me by an ex-,scientist4 ,verse #ec--renovated and spiritualized--had a narrow escape from a tremendous celebrity4 ,the newspaper men would have made it as famous as the assassination of ,caesar1 but for their limitations4 ,to return to the ,claim4 ,i find myself greatly embarrassed by ,mrs4 ,eddy's remark3 8,i regard self-deification as blasphemous40 ,if she is right about that1 ,i have written a half-ream of manuscript this past week which ,i must not print1 either in the book which ,i am writing1 or elsewhere3 for it goes into that very matter with extensive elaboration1 citing1 in detail1 words and acts of ,mrs4 ,eddy's which seem to me to prove that she is a faithful and untiring worshipper of herself1 and has carried self-deification to a length which has not been before ventured in ages4 ,if ever4 ,there is not room enough in this chapter for that ,survey1 but ,i can epitomize a portion of it here4 ,with her own untaught and untrained mind1 and without outside help1 she has erected upon a firm and lasting foundation the most minutely perfect1 and wonderful1 and smoothly and exactly working1 and best safe-guarded system of government that has yet been devised in the world1 as ,i believe1 and as ,i am sure ,i could prove if ,i had room for my documentary evidences here4 ,it is a despotism 7on this democratic soil72 a sovereignty more absolute than the ,roman ,papacy1 more absolute than the ,russian ,czarship2 it has not a single power1 not a shred of authority1 legislative or executive1 which is not lodged solely in the sovereign2 all its dreams1 its functions1 its energies1 have a single object1 a single reason for existing1 and only the one--to build to the sky the glory of the sovereign1 and keep it bright to the end of time4 ,mrs4 ,eddy is the sovereign2 she devised that great place for herself1 she occupies that throne4 ,in #ahie1 she wrote a little primer1 a little body of autocratic laws1 called the ,manual of ,the ,first ,church of ,christ1 ,scientist1 and put those laws in force1 in permanence4 ,her government is all there2 all in that deceptively innocent-looking little book1 that cunning little devilish book1 that slumbering little brown volcano1 with hell in its bowels4 ,in that book she has planned out her system1 and classified and defined its purposes and powers4 ,,main ,,parts ,,of ,,the ,,machine ,a ,supreme ,church4 ,at ,boston4 ,branch ,churches4 ,all over the world ,one ,pastor for the whole of them3 to wit1 her book1 ,science and ,health4 ,term of the book's office--forever4 ,in every ,c4,s4 pulpit1 two 8,readers10 a man and a woman4 ,no talkers1 no preachers1 in any ,church-readers only4 ,readers of the ,bible and her books--no others4 ,no commentators allowed to write or print4 ,a ,church ,service4 ,she has framed it--for all the ,c4,s4 ,churches--selected its readings1 its prayers1 and the hymns to be used1 and has appointed the order of procedure4 ,no changes permitted4 ,a ,creed4 ,she wrote it4 ,all ,c4,s4 ,churches must subscribe to it4 ,no other permitted4 ,a ,treasury4 ,at ,boston4 ,she carries the key4 ,a ,c4,s4 ,book--,publishing ,house4 ,for books approved by her4 ,no others permitted4 ,journals and ,magazines4 ,these are organs of hers1 and are controlled by her4 ,a ,college4 ,for teaching ,c4,s4 ,,distribution ,,of ,,the ,,machine',s ,,powers ,,and ,,dignities ,supreme ,church4 ,pastor ,emeritus--,mrs4 ,eddy4 ,board of ,directors4 ,board of ,education4 ,board of ,finance4 ,college ,faculty4 ,various ,committees4 ,treasurer4 ,clerk4 ,first ,members 7of the ,supreme ,church74 ,members of the ,supreme ,church4 ,it looks fair1 it looks real1 but it is all a fiction4 ,even the little 8,pastor ,emeritus0 is a fiction4 ,instead of being merely an honorary and ornamental official1 ,mrs4 ,eddy is the only official in the entire body that has the slightest power4 ,in her ,manual1 she has provided a prodigality of ways and forms whereby she can rid herself of any functionary in the government whenever she wants to4 ,the officials are all shadows1 save herself2 she is the only reality4 ,she allows no one to hold office more than a year--no one gets a chance to become over-popular or over-useful1 and dangerous4 8,excommunication0 is the favorite penalty-it is threatened at every turn4 ,it is evidently the pet dread and terror of the ,church's membership4 ,the member who thinks1 without getting his thought from ,mrs4 ,eddy before uttering it1 is banished permanently4 ,one or two kinds of sinners can plead their way back into the fold1 but this one1 never4 ,to think--in the ,supreme ,church--is the ,new ,unpardonable ,sin4 ,to nearly every severe and fierce rule1 ,mrs4 ,eddy adds this rivet3 8,this ,by-law shall not be changed without the consent of the ,pastor ,emeritus40 ,mrs4 ,eddy is the entire ,supreme ,church1 in her own person1 in the matter of powers and authorities4 ,although she has provided so many ways of getting rid of unsatisfactory members and officials1 she was still afraid she might have left a life-preserver lying around somewhere1 therefore she devised a rule to cover that defect4 ,by applying it1 she can excommunicate 7and this is perpetual again7 every functionary connected with the ,supreme ,church1 and every one of the twenty-five thousand members of that ,church1 at an hour's notice--and do it all by herself without anybody's help4 ,by authority of this astonishing ,by-law1 she has only to say a person connected with that ,church is secretly practicing hypnotism or mesmerism2 whereupon1 immediate excommunication1 without a hearing1 is his portion6 ,she does not have to order a trial and produce evidence--her accusation is all that is necessary4 ,where is the ,pope8 and where the ,czar8 ,as the ballad says3 8,ask of the winds that far away ,with fragments strewed the sea60 ,the ,branch ,church's pulpit is occupied by two 8,readers40 ,without them the ,branch ,church is as dead as if its throat had been cut4 ,to have control1 then1 of the ,readers1 is to have control of the ,branch ,churches4 ,mrs4 ,eddy has that control--a control wholly without limit1 a control shared with no one4 #a4 ,no ,reader can be appointed to any ,church in the ,christian ,science world without her express approval4 #b4 ,she can summarily expel from his or her place any ,reader1 at home or abroad1 by a mere letter of dismissal1 over her signature1 and without furnishing any reason for it1 to either the congregation or the ,reader4 ,thus she has as absolute control over all ,branch ,churches as she has over the ,supreme ,church4 ,this power exceeds the ,pope's4 ,in simple truth1 she is the only absolute sovereign in all ,christendom4 ,the authority of the other sovereigns has limits1 hers has none1 none whatever4 ,and her yoke does not fret1 does not offend4 ,many of the subjects of the other monarchs feel their yoke1 and are restive under it2 their loyalty is insincere4 ,it is not so with this one's human property2 their loyalty is genuine1 earnest1 sincere1 enthusiastic4 ,the sentiment which they feel for her is one which goes out in sheer perfection to no other occupant of a throne2 for it is love1 pure from doubt1 envy1 exaction1 fault-seeking1 a love whose sun has no spot--that form of love1 strong1 great1 uplifting1 limitless1 whose vast proportions are compassable by no word but one1 the prodigious word1 ,worship4 ,and it is not as a human being that her subjects worship her1 but as a supernatural one1 a divine one1 one who has comradeship with ,god1 and speaks by ,his voice4 ,mrs4 ,eddy has herself created all these personal grandeurs and autocracies--with others which ,i have not 7in this article7 mentioned4 ,they place her upon an ,alpine solitude and supremacy of power and spectacular show not hitherto attained by any other self-seeking enslaver disguised in the ,christian name1 and they persuade me that1 although she may regard 8self-deification as blasphemous10 she is as fond of it as ,i am of pie4 ,she knows about 8,our ,mother's ,room0 in the ,supreme ,church in ,boston--above referred to--for she has been in it4 ,in a recently published ,north ,american ,review article1 ,i quoted a lady as saying ,mrs4 ,eddy's portrait could be seen there in a shrine1 lit by always-burning lights1 and that ,c4,s4 disciples came and worshiped it4 ,that remark hurt the feelings of more than one ,scientist4 ,they said it was not true1 and asked me to correct it4 ,i comply with pleasure4 ,whether the portrait was there four years ago or not1 it is not there now1 for ,i have inquired4 ,the only object in the shrine now1 and lit by electrics--and worshiped--is an oil-portrait of the horse-hair chair ,mrs4 ,eddy used to sit in when she was writing ,science and ,health6 ,it seems to me that adulation has struck bottom1 here4 ,mrs4 ,eddy knows about that4 ,she has been there1 she has seen it1 she has seen the worshippers4 ,she could abolish that sarcasm with a word4 ,she withholds the word4 ,once more ,i seem to recognize in her exactly the same appetite for self-deification that ,i have for pie4 ,we seem to be curiously alike2 for the love of self-deification is really only the spiritual form of the material appetite for pie1 and nothing could be more strikingly ,christian-,scientifically 8harmonious40 ,i note this phrase3 8,christian ,science eschews divine rights in human beings40 8,rights0 is vague2 ,i do not know what it means there4 ,mrs4 ,eddy is not well acquainted with the ,english language1 and she is seldom able to say in it what she is trying to say4 ,she has no ear for the exact word1 and does not often get it4 8,rights40 ,does it mean 8honors80 8attributes80 8,eschews40 ,this is another umbrella where there should be a torch2 it does not illumine the sentence1 it only deepens the shadows4 ,does she mean 8denies80 8refuses80 8forbids80 or something in that line8 ,does she mean3 8,christian ,science denies divine honors to human beings80 ,or3 8,christian ,science refuses to recognize divine attributes in human beings80 ,or3 8,christian ,science forbids the worship of human beings80 ,the bulk of the succeeding sentence is to me a tunnel1 but1 when ,i emerge at this end of it1 ,i seem to come into daylight4 ,then ,i seem to understand both sentences--with this result3 8,christian ,science recognizes but one ,god1 forbids the worship of human beings1 and refuses to recognize the possession of divine attributes by any member of the race40 ,i am subject to correction1 but ,i think that that is about what ,mrs4 ,eddy was intending to convey4 ,has her ,english--which is always difficult to me--beguiled me into misunderstanding the following remark1 which she makes 7calling herself 8we10 after an old regal fashion of hers7 in her preface to her ,miscellaneous ,writings8 8,while we entertain decided views as to the best method for elevating the race physically1 morally1 and spiritually1 and shall express these views as duty demands1 we shall claim no especial gift from our divine organ1 no supernatural power40 ,was she meaning to say3 8,although ,i am of divine origin and gifted with supernatural power1 ,i shall not draw upon these resources in determining the best method of elevating the race80 ,if she had left out the word 8our10 she might then seem to say3 8,i claim no especial or unusual degree of divine origin--0 ,which is awkward--most awkward2 for one either has a divine origin or hasn't2 shares in it1 degrees of it1 are surely impossible4 ,the idea of crossed breeds in cattle is a thing we can entertain1 for we are used to it1 and it is possible2 but the idea of a divine mongrel is unthinkable4 ,well1 then1 what does she mean8 ,i am sure ,i do not know1 for certain4 ,it is the word 8our0 that makes all the trouble4 ,with the 8our0 in1 she is plainly saying 8my divine origin40 ,the word 8from0 seems to be intended to mean 8on account of40 ,it has to mean that or nothing1 if 8our0 is allowed to stay4 ,the clause then says3 8,i shall claim no especial gift on account of my divine origin40 ,and ,i think that the full sentence was intended to mean what ,i have already suggested3 8,although ,i am of divine origin1 and gifted with supernatural power1 ,i shall not draw upon these resources in determining the best method of elevating the race40 ,when ,mrs4 ,eddy copyrighted that ,preface seven years ago1 she had long been used to regarding herself as a divine personage4 ,i quote from ,mr4 ,f4 ,w4 ,peabody's book3 8,in the ,christian ,science ,journal for ,april1 #ahhi1 when it was her property1 and published by her1 it was claimed for her1 and with her sanction1 that she was equal with ,jesus1 and elaborate effort was made to establish the claim40 8,mrs4 ,eddy has distinctly authorized the claim in her behalf1 that she herself was the chosen successor to and equal of ,jesus40 ,the following remark in that ,april number1 quoted by ,mr4 ,peabody1 indicates that her claim had been previously made1 and had excited 8horror0 among some 8good people03 8,now1 a word about the horror many good people have of our making the ,author of ,science and ,health 'equal with ,jesus4'0 ,surely1 if it had excited horror in ,mrs4 ,eddy also1 she would have published a disclaimer4 ,she owned the paper2 she could say what she pleased in its columns4 ,instead of rebuking her editor1 she lets him rebuke those 8good people0 for objecting to the claim4 ,these things seem to throw light upon those words1 8our my divine origin40 ,it may be that 8,christian ,science eschews divine rights in human beings10 and forbids worship of any but 8one ,god1 one ,christ02 but1 if that is the case1 it looks as if ,mrs4 ,eddy is a very unsound ,christian ,scientist1 and needs disciplining4 ,i believe she has a serious malady--8self-deification02 and that it will be well to have one of the experts demonstrate over it4 ,meantime1 let her go on living--for my sake4 ,closely examined1 painstakingly studied1 she is easily the most interesting person on the planet1 and1 in several ways1 as easily the most extraordinary woman that was ever born upon it4 ,p4,s4--,since ,i wrote the foregoing1 ,mr4 ,mc,crackan's article appeared 7in the ,march number of the ,north ,american ,review74 ,before his article appeared--that is to say1 during ,december1 ,january1 and ,february--,i had written a new book1 a character-portrait of ,mrs4 ,eddy1 drawn from her own acts and words1 and it was then--together with the three brief articles previously published in the ,north ,american ,review--ready to be delivered to the printer for issue in book form4 ,in that book1 by accident and good luck1 ,i have answered the objections made by ,mr4 ,mc,crackan to my views1 and therefore do not need to add an answer here4 ,also1 in it ,i have corrected certain misstatements of mine which he has noticed1 and several others which he has not referred to4 ,there are one or two important matters of opinion upon which he and ,i are not in disagreement2 but there are others upon which we must continue to disagree1 ,i suppose2 indeed1 ,i know we must2 for instance1 he believes ,mrs4 ,eddy wrote ,science and ,health1 whereas ,i am quite sure ,i can convince a person unhampered by predilections that she did not4 ,as concerns one considerable matter ,i hope to convert him4 ,he believes ,mrs4 ,eddy's word2 in his article he cites her as a witness1 and takes her testimony at par2 but if he will make an excursion through my book when it comes out1 and will dispassionately examine her testimonies as there accumulated1 ,i think he will in candor concede that she is by a large percentage the most erratic and contradictory and untrustworthy witness that has occupied the stand since the days of the lamented ,ananias4 ,,conclusion ,broadly speaking1 the hostiles reject and repudiate all the pretensions of ,christian ,science ,christianity4 ,they affirm that it has added nothing new to ,christianity2 that it can do nothing that ,christianity could not do and was not doing before ,christian ,science was born4 ,in that case is there no field for the new ,christianity1 no opportunity for usefulness1 precious usefulness1 great and distinguished usefulness8 ,i think there is4 ,i am far from being confident that it can fill it1 but ,i will indicate that unoccupied field--without charge--and if it can conquer it1 it will deserve the praise and gratitude of the ,christian world1 and will get it1 ,i am sure4 ,the present ,christianity makes an excellent private ,christian1 but its endeavors to make an excellent public one go for nothing1 substantially4 ,this is an honest nation--in private life4 ,the ,american ,christian is a straight and clean and honest man1 and in his private commerce with his fellows can be trusted to stand faithfully by the principles of honor and honesty imposed upon him by his religion4 ,but the moment he comes forward to exercise a public trust he can be confidently counted upon to betray that trust in nine cases out of ten1 if 8party loyalty0 shall require it4 ,if there are two tickets in the field in his city1 one composed of honest men and the other of notorious blatherskites and criminals1 he will not hesitate to lay his private ,christian honor aside and vote for the blatherskites if his 8party honor0 shall exact it4 ,his ,christianity is of no use to him and has no influence upon him when he is acting in a public capacity4 ,he has sound and sturdy private morals1 but he has no public ones4 ,in the last great municipal election in ,new ,york1 almost a complete one-half of the votes representing #c1ejj1jjj ,christians were cast for a ticket that had hardly a man on it whose earned and proper place was outside of a jail4 ,but that vote was present at church next ,sunday the same as ever1 and as unconscious of its perfidy as if nothing had happened4 ,our ,congresses consist of ,christians4 ,in their private life they are true to every obligation of honor2 yet in every session they violate them all1 and do it without shame2 because honor to party is above honor to themselves4 ,it is an accepted law of public life that in it a man may soil his honor in the interest of party expediency--must do it when party expediency requires it4 ,in private life those men would bitterly resent--and justly--any insinuation that it would not be safe to leave unwatched money within their reach2 yet you could not wound their feelings by reminding them that every time they vote ten dollars to the pension appropriation nine of it is stolen money and they the marauders4 ,they have filched the money to take care of the party2 they believe it was right to do it2 they do not see how their private honor is affected2 therefore their consciences are clear and at rest4 ,by vote they do wrongful things every day1 in the party interest1 which they could not be persuaded to do in private life4 ,in the interest of party expediency they give solemn pledges1 they make solemn compacts2 in the interest of party expediency they repudiate them without a blush4 ,they would not dream of committing these strange crimes in private life4 ,now then1 can ,christian ,science introduce the ,congressional ,blush8 ,there are ,christian ,private ,morals1 but there are no ,christian ,public ,morals1 at the polls1 or in ,congress or anywhere else--except here and there and scattered around like lost comets in the solar system4 ,can ,christian ,science persuade the nation and ,congress to throw away their public morals and use none but their private ones henceforth in all their activities1 both public and private8 ,i do not think so2 but no matter about me3 there is the field--a grand one1 a splendid one1 a sublime one1 and absolutely unoccupied4 ,has ,christian ,science confidence enough in itself to undertake to enter in and try to possess it8 ,make the effort1 ,christian ,science2 it is a most noble cause1 and it might succeed4 ,it could succeed4 ,then we should have a new literature1 with romances entitled1 ,how ,to ,be an ,honest ,congressman ,though a ,christian2 ,how ,to ,be a ,creditable ,citizen ,though a ,christian4