Article March 20, 1926 Issue

In behalf of all Christian Scientists, and especially of a...

Hugh Stuart Campbell, Committee on Publication for the State of Illinois,

News-Democrat

In behalf of all Christian Scientists, and especially of a respected group of your fellow-citizens who strive for the establishment of Christian fellowship among men, I wish to protest in your columns against misleading comment and misrepresentation reported on the editorial pages of your recent issue. I refer to the reprint of an article from a current monthly magazine headed, "The Real Mary Baker Eddy." Your editorial introducing the article under consideration referred to Mrs. Eddy as "the famous woman who founded the religion of Christian Science, a powerful influence in religious life to-day." But with this friendly compliment to the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, truth disappeared, and the so-called "life" which gained the courtesy of your columns became the vicious tirade of a critic steeped in prejudice, who had so distorted facts that but a garbled tale of loose rumors and unfounded insinuations was released to your readers. Moreover, much that was said was but an echo of gossip in vogue perhaps a quarter of a century ago, but long since refuted by undeniable proof. Such printed matter could not by any trend of reason be identified as news. To answer completely each of the wholesale aspersions on the character of Mrs. Eddy made by her critic might require an extra edition of your esteemed newspaper! Therefore, as a seeker of Truth, and one who is in possession of irrefutable facts, I submit that Mrs. Eddy was at no period of her life a cheat, fraud, liar, charlatan, mesmerist, or hypochondriac. During her childhood and during a later period until healed through prayer, as taught in Christian Science, she was frail, nervous, and a great sufferer. Truly, how unkind, unjust, and uncharitable it is for any one to vilify and condemn a sick person for being an object of loving care! Yet this attitude of thought is held by the author of the aforementioned article, and is expressed throughout his attack.

The true life-story of Mary Baker Eddy is beyond cavil. It is an open book to honest investigators. No mystery surrounds a single experience in the interesting career of this marvelous woman. Authentic records and first-hand testimony combine to establish historical accuracy. Such a biography is "The Life of Mary Baker Eddy" by Sibyl Wilbur. When Mrs. Eddy granted permission for the publication and circulation of this volume she said, "I briefly declare that nothing has occurred in my life's experience which, if correctly narrated and understood, could injure me; and not a little is already reported of the good accomplished therein, the self-sacrifice, etc., that has distinguished all my working years" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 298). Christian Scientists are grateful to acknowledge that Mrs. Eddy's comment on this book will stand throughout all time. Her followers know that no outburst of malevolence through the printed word can possibly injure her or mar the fruitage of her great gift to humanity—Christian Science.

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