On the front page of your paper recently there appear...

John M. Dean, Committee on Publication for the State of Tennessee,

Jonesboro Herald and Tribune

On the front page of your paper recently there appear these wise and timely words: "Idle talk has ruined many reputations. Why not ignore the next yarn you hear?" This good advice is strikingly pertinent in connection with a contributed article on the same page, which includes a story concerning Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.

Please permit me to make this brief statement. As understood in Christian Science, the seventh commandment, like the other nine of the Mosaic law, has a spiritual meaning which comprehends not only the limited construction ordinarily placed upon it, but goes far beyond that construction. Christian Science is opposed to adulteration of every name and nature. The definition of the word "adulterate," as given in the best dictionaries, will throw some light on its broader meaning. Nevertheless, Mrs. Eddy had such a keen appreciation of Christian ethics that she neither would nor could have charged one with violating the seventh commandment, only to dismiss lightly the charge in the manner set out by your correspondent.

No lofty character of recent years has been more maligned than Mrs. Eddy. Yet, like the great Exemplar, Christ Jesus, she sought only the good of mankind. When she was reviled, she "reviled not again." Indeed, she rejoiced at every opportunity to overcome hate by the demonstration of divine Love. Her philosophy concerning such happenings was summed up in these words, written by her when she was unjustly attacked (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 143): "When these things cease to bless they will cease to occur."

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