Article August 24, 1912 Issue

In his list of "twenty greatest women" which appeared...

Clinton B. Burgess

Erie (Pa.) Dispatch

In his list of "twenty greatest women" which appeared in this morning's Dispatch, Elbert Hubbard includes, as he should, the name of Mrs. Eddy, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, saying of her that "two million people believe in her implicitly. A hundred million are influenced in their daily thinking through her philosophy." Mr. Hubbard does not seem to have arranged his list in the order of greatness in his own estimation, but rather chronologically, and Mrs. Eddy's name is the seventeenth, but his tribute to the influence of her life and work upon the mind of this age shows what a high place she holds in the rank of greatness.

It is too soon for the public mind to form an accurate judgment of this wonderful life. It is impossible to get a fair perspective amid the turmoil which absolute spiritual idealism, scientifically tested and demonstrated, has produced in the realm of materialistic philosophy, theology, and medicine. As time goes on and prejudice subsides somewhat and enlightenment takes the place of misapprehension, Mrs. Eddy's true place in the history of modern thought will be more clearly seen. Two among the many qualities which will then be recognized with admiration are her humility and daring. These two qualities, though often considered opposites, must be dominant in every one who finds himself the messenger and mouthpiece of an epoch-making truth. Without humility he will look upon himself as a source rather than the channel of the message, will encourage a following of his own personality instead of the truth which he stands for, and consequently his work, instead of taking on the proportions of the infinite which belong to the idea or Principle, will dwindle to the limitations of a personality. Without daring, the would-be pioneer would shrink at the task of opposing the anchored and enmeshed conservatism of ages and quail at the sting of its ridicule and the offensiveness of its insults.

Mrs. Eddy's sense of the one and only source of all truth and good, and her knowledge of the danger of anything like a worship of her personality, demanded a humility that needed strenuous backing to keep the tide of love and gratitude of her followers within proper bounds; but so successful was she in learning and teaching this lesson that when her work here was done there was no shock or division or disintegration in the Christian Science ranks such as had been predicted. They had had their orders years before. The Bible had been opened, its truth made clear and practical to all the affairs of life, and it had been adopted by all Christian Scientists as their "sufficient guide to eternal Life" (Science and Health, p. 497).

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