Letters October 27, 1906 ISSUE

LETTERS TO OUR LEADER

with contributions from John H. Worthen, Anna Meehan, Mabel C. Gage, Mary Baker Eddy, Richard D. Hamilton, Melville C. Spaulding, Harriet L. Davidson

Concord, N. H., Oct, 13, 1906.

Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy,
Pleasant View, Concord, N. H.

Beloved Leader:—In making the arrangements for the lecture on Christian Science to be delivered in this city by Professor Hermann S. Hering, C.S.B., on Sunday, Oct. 28, the committee have thought of inviting the Mayor, Judge Charles R. Corning, to introduce the speaker, if this choice meets your approval. Judge Corning performed this courtesy most acceptably last year, on the occasion of Judge Ewing's lecture.

The committee will be very happy to send you as many invitations as you may desire for use at Pleasant View.

Most sincerely yours,
John H. Worthen,
Mrs. Anna Meehan,
Mabel C. Gage,
Committee

Mrs. Eddy's Reply.

Beloved Brethren:—I am in receipt of your letter and hasten to say our Mayor, Judge Charles R. Corning, is the very man for the hour and for this introduction. His history armors him with moral mail.

Mary Baker Eddy.

Portsmouth, Va., Sept. 16, 1906.

Dear Mrs. Eddy:—I do not feel worthy to write to you, yet whatever of spiritual awakening has come to me has been through the medium of your gift to the world, and I would like to thank you for it. You have led me out of a dense theological fog into the white light of Truth. I feel certain that you have found the answer to Pilate's question, and recorded it in your "Scientific Statement of Being." Jesus, the God-crowned, brought the truth to mankind nearly two thousand years ago, yet I regard your resurrection of it, after its crucifixion and burial beneath the error of the intervening centuries, as the full equivalent of an original discovery. Jesus, with the sword of Truth, dealt the beast what seemed to be "a deadly wound," yet, strangely, the "wound was healed"—the truth, by the disloyalty of those who came after, was obscured—and the wound needed piercing again. You have dealt this second blow by your scientific interpretation of being, and through these sword-thrusts of Truth, first by man and then by woman, deliverance is come to the world. This letter is written more particularly to tell you of a profound impression that came to me while attending a service in an orthodox church. That beautiful hymn, "Lead, kindly Light," was being sung, and although it usually, by association, suggested to me sorrow and sadness, on this occasion I suddenly became overwhelmed with its beauty, as I interpreted it to mean the "kindly light" of your marvelous discovery. As I dwelt upon the fact that your revelation was the kindliest light that had ever come into my life, tears of appreciation and gratitude welled into my eyes, and the grand hymn took on a new meaning and far greater beauty than before.

Yours with very highest regard,

Richard D. Hamilton.

Concord, N. H., Sept. 18, 1906.

Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy.

Beloved Leader:—I have just seen in the State Library that wonderfully constructed book, "Bohemia, but pages 117 to 121 far outshine—transcend—all the rest, for to me your writings are like books of prophecy which are being daily and even hourly fulfilled. Several references, chiefly that on page 312, line 1, of Science and Health, in the recent Lesson-Sermon on "Substance," impressed me as declaring and sealing the doom of all merely human learning, hundreds of crafty creeds, and countless material modes of healing human ills.

How sad to think that millions of costly attempts to cure human pain and woe are worse than useless and must be gone over and over again, sooner or later, until the perfect, spiritual healing is found and applied. This leads me to say that I thank God that you were healed by the divine Word, sent you by Principle, as was evidenced through your Scripture reading on that memorable Sunday when human hope and help had failed.

As I am glad that all my efforts to obtain health, happiness, and prosperity failed me, prior to coming to Christian Science, so from both selfish and unselfish motives am I glad that the Founder of Christian Science was not healed at Portland, Me., nor by any means which she resorted to, prior to her great discovery of 1866. For, had she been healed by any merely human or material means or method, she might not have been permitted, or been able, to show to this age what true substance, Life, and Love are, as she has so wonderfully done in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," and I might not be here to worship God in those grand edifices in Concord and Boston, nor be one of the million or more beneficiaries of Truth and Love—as made known in Christian Science.

Lovingly your disciple,
Melville C. Spaulding.

Evaston, Ill., Sept. 14, 1906.

My Dearly Beloved Leader:—I do not know that you will ever see these lines, but my heart overflows with gratitude and love to you for all the blessings you have made it possible for me to experience. Your words about "Personal Contagion" have made the way so clear. Having reason to love you very much, I have never wanted to intrude on your blessed quietness, and at times I have wondered if I was lacking in appreciation of your work, because I did not wish to see you personally. Now I know that if you needed me I would walk across the continent to serve you, yet I serve you best by humbly serving the Master, in healing the sick and sinful, casting error out of my own though each hour, and helping my brother to do the same. And I am so thankful to do this. Thank you also for giving us Mrs. Conger's and Mr. Kimball's letters. He is my teacher; God bless him for his loyalty to you and for his clear, positive teaching. Devotedly yours,
Harriet L. Davidson.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit