Article July 26, 2010 Issue

'NEXT FRIENDS' AND LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR

BY JUDY HUENNEKE

MARY BAKER EDDY MENTIONS the "two great commandments" together in her correspondence and other manuscripts perhaps two dozen times. Six of these are in correspondence related to the "Next Friends" lawsuit of 1907. On the surface, this lawsuit was all about compassion: Several family members had expressed deep concern about Mrs. Eddy's mental and physical well-being and felt she could no longer properly care for herself or her business affairs. One doesn't have to probe too deeply, though, to see that these family members were being manipulated by a group of individuals whose compassion was superficial at best. This group was far more interested in discrediting Christian Science and taking control of her finances (for more information about the suit, see pages 471–520 of Mary Baker Eddy by Gillian Gill).

In March, as legal proceedings against her were beginning to take shape, Mrs. Eddy wrote to four individuals asking for their prayerful support at this critical time. All four letters included this powerful statement:

"This hour is going to test Christian Scientists and the fate of our Cause and they must not be found wanting. They must forget self and remember only their God and their Wayshower and their duty to have one God and love their neighbor as themselves. I see this clearly that the prosperity of our Cause hangs in this balance. May God open your eyes to see this and to come to her who has borne for you the burden in the heat of the day" (L15581, Mary Baker Eddy to Calvin C. Hill, March 24, 1907, The Mary Baker Eddy Collection, The Mary Baker Eddy Library).