Article January 7, 1911 Issue

Those things that we call character in the individual are...

Beacon

[Beacon, Cannon Falls, Minn.]

Those things that we call character in the individual are expressed in the sum total of the life-work; and the ability to work in this sense is also measured by the ability of the individual to lose himself in his work. Work to be of lasting value must be a share of the general work to be done; the lasting good one does, a part of the general good. History shows this to be the one true measure of greatness, and since Mrs. Eddy's work, both as a system of healing and as a religious philosophy, long since passed the experimental point and has become an institution, so Mrs. Eddy's place in the history of her country and of all countries, of the religion of her time and of all times, is defined and certain.

Mrs. Eddy was a great soul rather than a great intellect; though as a philosophical thinker and writer she looms large, it was in the realm where the philosophical and the spiritual commingle, in the philosophy of the spiritual, that she specially shone and where she was specially strong and effective. And this expresses, too, the most striking feature of Mrs. Eddy's work; it was effective,—widely and amazingly effective. Though her thought, as expressed in Science and Health and her other writings, was often involved—as is often unavoidable in dealing with subjects that do not accommodate themselves to the foot-rule system of elucidation—her language was always most simple and even her most earnest controversial style was kindly. Nothing was ever more clearly demonstrated in the life-work of an individual than was the spirituality, the kindly nature and the human understanding of Mrs. Eddy demonstrated in her work. This, too, was one of the obvious causes of her effectiveness as a leader and teacher. No one at all familiar through Christian Science publications with the tone of the many letters addressed to her from Christian Scientists from all parts of the world where civilization has gained a foothold, could doubt that Mrs. Eddy was deeply beloved by a great multitude of people, whom she had won to her by the wisdom, the sincerity, the sympathy, the forbearance and what might we think be called the keen spirituality evident in her written work. That Mrs. Eddy's life, energies, and talents were devoted to the general good is evident, not only in the million or more who are identified with the Christian Science church, but in the millions more who through contact with the movement have been restored to health, through its system of healing, and strengthened, blessed, and comforted by its spiritual philosophy.

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