MRS. EDDY'S REPLY

Archibald McLellan

We are glad to give prominence in this issue of the Sentinel to an article by Mrs. Eddy, in which she concisely and dispassionately states some facts concerning her early life, in contradiction of the erroneous statements published by a magazine which claims to be writing history. Mrs. Eddy has approached this subject in the calm and Christian spirit which animates her life-work and is apparent in all her writings. She has no other purpose than to supplant error with truth. This purpose is a fundamental of her teachings, which she not only persistently preaches to her followers, but also consistently presents as an object-lesson in her own life. Error has no power beyond that which a mistaken mortal sense concedes to it, and Truth, and Truth alone, destroys it. Good is the real and eternal, and evil is as powerless as it is unreal and transitory. Good annuls evil just as surely as light banishes darkness, and Christian Scientists have learned this through the teachings of Mrs. Eddy, hence their entire dependence upon Truth to right the wrongs which have been done to them and to their Leader.

It is a favorable sign of the times that these attacks are now meeting with the condemnation which they deserve. We quote the following from an article by the well-known English writer, "John Strange Winter" (Mrs. Stannard) in The Lady of Fashion, regarding a recent attack upon Mrs. Eddy. This writer says,—

"The indecencies of journalism have, I think, impressed me more during the course of my life than perhaps anything else has ever done. There are times when one feels proud of one's Press, when one feels that it is an organization on which we may justly pride ourselves. But there are other times when I am bound to admit and confess that its indecencies turn one's very soul sick.

"At the present time I am feeling this more strongly than usual, for during the last few days there have been columns of sensational writing in the papers dealing with the purely private and personal life of a very great woman, ... I speak of Mrs. Eddy, the Founder and organizer of Christian Science, a woman whom everybody may well acknowledge as one of the public benefactors of the world, whether her teaching is accepted in every detail or not. That Mrs. Eddy is an exceptionally gifted woman of the purest life and the noblest instincts, I think there will not be found one right-thinking person in this whole world to deny. A woman who has brought the consolation of a simple, clear, and singularly pure idea of religion to many thousands of men and women surely might be regarded as one somewhat set apart from the curse of vulgar curiosity. ... [Her life has] been characterized by dignity, purity, and ex-tremest refinment of feeling. That such a woman, whose whole life has proved her to be deeply religious in the truest sense of the words, could turn from her habitual ways of thought ... is manifestly absurd."

The above is but one of the many protests which have appeared in the press of both America and England, and these protests show that attacks upon Christian Science and its Leader are not favorably received by either press or public.

Archibald McLellan.

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THE REPOSE OF TRUTH

January 5, 1907

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