Article October 22, 1927 Issue

Notices

The teachings of the textbook of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," and the other writings by our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, furnish more spiritual food than has been fully assimilated by anyone in this age. Hence there is no good reason why a professed Christian Scientist should be eager to seize with avidity anything Mrs. Eddy is reputed to have said or done that she herself has not made public.

Incidents and anecdotes in which she was the central figure, as related to-day by others than those who directly participated in them, are apt to be inexact, if not illusory or imaginative, and therefore should not be invested with undue importance as compared with the words of wisdom and spiritual enlightenment which have come to us direct from her pen, the full significance of which the world is just beginning to appreciate. Personal opinions and interpretations of those once close to Mrs. Eddy are often given more weight than they deserve. Merely because Mrs. Eddy has not specifically repudiated them is no evidence of their validity.

Another form of recital in which Mrs. Eddy is made prominent is the record of impressions of persons who may have been in occasional touch with her and who have written down what they have recalled of her words and actions. The personal characteristics of such a chronicler are commonly reflected in what he writes. If he is temperamentally erratic, what he may set down as having been said or done by our Leader is prone to be colored with his own proclivities and is not to be regarded as entirely trustworthy or informative. In form or substance it may be out of line with her purposes and intentions, and thereby prove mischievous and misleading. Wrong impressions are easily acquired, but are often hard to dislodge.

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