Article October 23, 1926 Issue

The name of Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and...

Joseph Coffer, Committee on Publication for the State of Oklahoma,

Tulsa-Tribune

The name of Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, has been the center of many controversies. Relentlessly criticized and even persecuted, assailed by the keenest minds and the sharpest intellects, her religious beliefs attacked and her theology condemned, despite all the odium hurled at her, Mrs. Eddy has maintained her prestige, and her church has grown from one small community of worshipers to many thousands found in every part of the civilized world. The latest attack emanates from those who in the frail craft of the "wets" would ride to public favor through treacherous channels on foaming waves of beer and light wines, only to have their hopes shattered upon the coasts of prohibition, whose shores display no friendly beacons to violators of the Eighteenth Amendment. Mrs. Eddy, throughout her writings, admonishes her followers to be obedient to the laws of the land. Her writings speak for themselves—there is no neutral territory or compromise there with alcoholic drinks or stimulants of any sort. The most designing individual cannot disort her language in any particular, to suit the evil propensities of those who seek only the loaves and the fishes. In her book, "Miscellaneous Writings" (pp. 288, 289), she writes: "People will differ in their opinions as to means to promote the ends of temperance; that is, abstinence from intoxicating beverages. Whatever intoxicates a man, stultifies and causes him to degenerate physically and morally. Strong drink is unquestionably an evil, and evil cannot be used temperately: its slightest use is abuse; hence the only temperance is total abstinence. Drunkenness is sensuality let loose, in whatever form it is made manifest." And on page 80 of the same book, she says: "The vox populi, through the providence of God, promotes and impels all true reform; and, at the best time, will redress wrongs and rectify injustice. Tyranny can thrive but feebly under our Government. God reigns, and will 'turn and overturn' until right is found supreme."

Let the law be obeyed and the officers of the law perform their duty, whether the law be written or lex non scripta. It is inconceivable that any citizen or group should advocate under technical guise of personal liberty, or the cloak of religion, the violation of the nation's law. The famous commentator, Blackstone, said, "The science of law should in some manner be the study of every free citizen." The life-work of Mary Baker Eddy was to teach mankind the laws of God and how to obey them, as well as strict conformity to the laws of the land. Would Mrs. Eddy have been in favor of the prohibition amendment to the Constitution of the United States? To those who knew her best and to those who have studied her life's work and her writings this question would be unnecessary. The coming generation will read and reread her writings as we read to-day the lines of the immortal Lincoln: "Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution never to violate in the least particular the laws of the country and never to tolerate their violation. ... Let every man remeber that to violate the law is to trample on the blood of his fathers, and to tear the charter of his own and his children's liberty. Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap; let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in primers, spelling books, and in almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation." American idealism cannot be better exemplified than by unconditional surrender of personal preferences and tastes for the universal good of all mankind. The words of Paul, whose wisdom can lift us from doubt, are as applicable to-day as they were centuries ago when, in his epistle to the Galatians, he said, "For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another."

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