Article February 8, 1908 Issue

Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy has given one million dollars...

Daily Colonist

Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy has given one million dollars for the founding of an institution in Boston where indigent people may be taught the principles of Christian Science. This cult is undoubtedly growing in influence and the number of its adherents. Its progress in this respect is probably more rapid than any other movement inaugurated within the domain of Christianity. To claim that it is a mere fad would be absurd in the light of the hold it has upon the minds of a very large number of highly intelligent and educated people. It is stoutly opposed by the churches, and yet it claims to be the logical outcome of the doctrines which the churches teach. It claims to be the truest exponent of the principles which Jesus taught, and to furnish a demonstration of the power with which the apostles were endowed. A claim of this kind, sincerely advanced by right-living, intelligent, and prayerful people, is not to be dismissed as absurd until at least it has been tested by its fruits. Doubtless extravagant assertions are made on behalf of Christian Science; doubtless many preposterous things are attributed to it; and to distinguish between the true and the false may not always be easy, yet it is not only quite possible but very probable that it may be a legitimat step in the evolution of Christianity towards the exceedingly simple yet all potent faith taught by its Founder. To speak of an evolution backwards may seem like a contradiction in terms, and perhaps it would be better to speak of Christian Science as a step in the evolution of ecclesiasticism into true Christianity, which a pagan writer of the first century described as absolute faith in Christ.

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