In "Rational Viewpoint" in your issue of August 15, various...

Albert E. Lombard, Committee on Publication for Southern California,

San Diego Herald

In "Rational Viewpoint" in your issue of August 15, various statements gave a misleading impression of Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. Among these was the implication that Mrs. Eddy was "a sickly, suffering victim of disease most of her life."

Although Mrs. Eddy was seriously troubled with invalidism and sickness prior to her discovery of Christian Science in 1866, that important event changed her physical condition. She was then healed instantaneously of the effects of an accident regarded as fatal by the physicians and, to use her own words, "ever after was in better health than I had before enjoyed" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 24).

The physical strength and capacity that she enjoyed after her discovery of Christian Science are evidenced by her numerous successful undertakings. For instance, she wrote and published various books, including "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," a work that has become one of the most widely read books in the world; she founded a religious denomination that has encircled the earth with more than twenty-seven hundred branches; and she established periodicals that have world-wide circulation. Among these may be mentioned The Christian Science Monitor, an international daily newspaper that was started by Mrs. Eddy when she was eighty-seven years of age.

The question may properly be asked, What constituted the discovery that brought about such a transformation in Mrs. Eddy's life and enabled her to accomplish so much for mankind? The discovery of Christian Science may be described briefly as a revelation of the law of God that was utilized by Christ Jesus. The unfoldment of this revelation brought to Mrs. Eddy the understanding that an essential factor in the Master's spiritually mental method was the knowledge of the truth about God and man—that God is infinite Spirit, that the real man is made in God's image and likeness, and that therefore this real man is spiritual and perfect. The truly scientific character of Jesus' healing work is proved by the fact that the early Christians applied successfully the same spiritual means that he employed. He said, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

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