Standing tall in the face of censure

What a valuable worker Julia Bartlett was as a church pioneer of the development of the Cause of Christian Science! In his book, Historical Sketches, Clifford Smith tells us (pp. 228, 229 in the chapter “Among the early workers”) about all the positions she held in the church. He says it is difficult to mention them all. She served –

·       For The Church of Christ, Scientist: President for one year; Treasurer for over 5 years; one of the Directors for over 6 years.

·       On many committees: Original member of the Committee on Bible Lessons; for the Massachusetts Metaphysical College she was one of its constituent members as a corporation; for the National Christian Scientist Association, she was a founding member, a member of its Executive Committee for one term, and its treasurer twice; for The Mother Church she was one of the original First Members, continuing as a First Member or Executive Member from 1892 until this office was abolished in 1908.

One thinks of the churches, societies, and informal groups of Christian Scientists in this present era. We know of groups successfully working with only three or so members, holding weekly testimony meetings and having Reading Rooms open to the public. Members wearing lots of hats, we presume.

§§

Another fascinating chapter is “Censures Now Discredited”. Smith’s book was published in 1941, so I am left wondering about the censures or criticisms current in the present day. I have requested of our Committee on Publication, Edwina Aubin, that she give me an idea of those.

Censures mentioned in Historical Sketches include the following:

·        It was claimed that Christian Science is not a religion. (I found Mr. Smith’s explanation of this to be interesting. Before she founded a Church, Mrs. Eddy used the terms “Metaphysical Science” and “Moral Science” for the discovery she was presenting to the world, more often than she used the term Christian Science.)

·        It was claimed that Christian Science does not accept the Bible and does not believe in God.

·        It was claimed that Christian Science does not believe in Christ.

·        It was claimed that Christian Science does not believe in prayer.

·        It was claimed that Christian Science healings are the result of mesmerism. (This was an early one in the history of Christian Science.)

Mr. Smith puts the question: “How can this Science be distinguished from other teachings or practices?” He quotes Mrs. Eddy as saying,“[What is the cardinal point of the difference in my metaphysical system? This: that] by knowing the unreality of disease, sin, and death, you demonstrate the allness of God. This difference wholly separates my system from all others” (Unity of Good, by Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 9-10).*

Edwina Aubin has now answered my question: One criticism from orthodox Christians is that Christian Science is not Christian. Another is that Christian Science is a cult.

The Committee on Publication is still being kept busy, as it has been since it was introduced by Mrs. Eddy. The Mary Baker Eddy Library has this information on its site under the title: What is the history of the name “Committee on Publication”?

August 8, 2018

On December 13, 1898, the Christian Science Board of Directors adopted a By-Law that Mary Baker Eddy had submitted. It established a three-person “Publication Committee,” tasked with obtaining “the publication in respectable newspapers or such as she [Eddy] shall select―whatever the Pastor Emeritus commits to them for this purpose.”1 In accordance with Eddy’s wish, this By-Law was not made public, for unknown reasons.2

On January 9, 1900, Eddy submitted another By-Law, calling for a “Publishing Committee.” The Board adopted this By-Law on January 11. At Eddy’s request news of it appeared in the January 18, 1900 edition of the Christian Science Sentinel.3

For several months the church’s publications confusingly used both the names “Publishing Committee” and “Publication Committee.” This was ironed out when the second By-Law appeared in the 14th edition (1900) of the Church Manual and “Publication Committee” became the standard title, used through the 56th edition (1906). However occasional references to the “Publishing Committee” still appeared for years.

The shift from “Publication Committee” to “Committee on Publication” officially took place on September 5, 1906, with the adoption of By-Laws that replaced the old name with the new one in every instance.4

We have not been able to find any records suggesting reasons why Eddy changed the name. The updated By-Law first appeared in the 57th edition of the Manual (1906)—but the name change only found gradual acceptance. For example Alfred Farlow (the first Committee on Publication) didn’t make the change on his letterhead until early 1907. In fact we have found the old title “Publication Committee” used in the Christian Science periodicals as late as the 1940s.

[Ed: Good sleuthing Joyce!]

Joyce Voysey

This is the full quote from Unity of Good.

·        What is the cardinal point of the difference in my metaphysical system? This: that by knowing the unreality of disease, sin, and death, you demonstrate the allness of God. This difference wholly separates my system from all others. The reality of these so-called existences I deny, because they are not to be found in God, and this system is built on Him as the sole cause. It would be difficult to name any previous teachers, save Jesus and his apostles, who have thus taught.
(Unity of Good, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 9:27)

"You are never alone."

Reading in this month's book, Historical Sketches by Judge Clifford P. Smith, I was touched by the story of a Mr. Joseph H. Leishman, chief of a construction firm, and his encounter with Mrs. Eddy in 1892.

 The question was whether it would be more prudent to retain or remove the old buildings on the site of what is now The Mother Church. 

Mr. Leishman was "loath to keep the engagement, because he was exceedingly busy and because he did not expect from it anything practical or worth-while" (p. 91). Leishman later recalled that "Mrs. Eddy was rather dainty in appearance, was of medium height, and was straight as an arrow. Her big eyes penetrated one deeply as he looked into them. I had imagined that I would meet a woman whose years lay heavily upon her. Instead, I met one with the sweetness, spirit, and complexion of a child. ... her face radiated happiness and love. ...her explanations were as clear and distinct as they possibly could be. ..."

"She asked me to consider most thoroughly the matter before us, and to make a concise and exhaustive report, as she wanted the information to be useful for the future as well as for the present. She also asked me when she might expect the report. I said that my office force was occupied with other matters, and that I was all alone. Quick as a flash her answer came, an answer that has been ever with me throughout the years and has done much to shape my course: 'Mr. Leishman, you are never alone!' So affected was I by her words that I could not at once reply" (p. 92)

What was going on here? Was it the keenness of Mind, the adaptability of Soul, the warmth of Love, the communication of Truth? God expressed exquisitely.

"Later, Mr. Leishman became a Christian Scientist" (ibid).

Julie Swannell

A remarkable leader and devoted students

When I read Historical Sketches by Clifford Smith in May this year, I made a note: “Scientific testing – page 148.” It has now come to my attention again. It is in the chapter Mrs. Eddy as Leader. The following extract begins on page 147:

Not only did Mrs. Eddy learn to depend implicitly on God for discernment and direction throughout her leadership of the Christian Science movement, but she also learned to study the lessons of experience in a scientific way. Her attitude toward these subjects could be illustrated by many excerpts from her letters. When writing to The Christian Science Board of Directors in 1895 she said, “And from long tests I know that He will show me the way that is just, and then I will follow it.” And when writing to the Directors in 1908 she expressed her thought in these few words: “Be wise from inspiration and experience.”

As is the practice of all scientists, she tested and observed. A sentence/statement in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures seems to illustrate this for me: “That body is most harmonious in which the discharge of the natural functions is least noticeable” (478:18-20).

My branch church is currently working metaphysically about church, so I wondered what I could find about church in Smith’s book. I had rushed through the latter part of the book last month but recalled a section entitled Early History of Christian Science in the British Isles. Together with the chapter Early History of Christian Science in Germany, they form the last two chapters in the book.

I knew that Longyear Foundation (https://www.longyear.org/), which is devoted to everything related to Mary Baker Eddy and her church and its early workers, would help. It did.

A Google search of “Longyear churches in England” brought to light a very good article which gives a very full account of Mrs. E. Blanche Ward’s connection with starting Christian Science church services in England. Here is an interesting titbit –

In the years ahead the question of daily supply was often to be an acute one for her. She had renounced a settled income and a sheltered life that she might continue in the healing work and bring up her little sons in Christian Science. When she moved to Bedford, she had no patients, but more than all else she desired to impart the truth of Christian Science to others. “I felt impelled to say nothing audibly but to preach the gospel continuously, silently, mentally, alone.” She realized, as she said in her biographical sketch, that this truth could not be withheld from the people. Within a short time she had a large practice, with many patients coming from London seeking healing and knowledge of Christian Science. It soon became clear to her that she must move to London.

In 1894 she took a house at Hammersmith with a drawing room large enough to accommodate meetings. Christian Science services began the same year in that room. There were many healings and the interest in Christian Science reached to the highest levels of British society. A larger drawing room for services was soon needed and she moved to 142 Portman Mansions which was more centrally located. In 1896 this drawing room was overflowing and Mrs. Eddy advised taking a hall, and opening services to the public. The first services held in Portman Rooms were in February 1896 with Mrs. Ward as First Reader and three other Scientists taking turns as Second Reader.

I am sure readers of the blog will be delighted to read about Mrs. Ward on the Longyear site.

The next person of interest on the Longyear site is Adam Dickey. It includes some facts about Mr. Dickey I had not been aware of. There seems to have been a great compatibility of thought between Mrs. Eddy and Mr. Dickey:

Mr. Dickey became Mrs. Eddy’s private secretary through whom business matters often came to her. Between them there existed a compatibility of thought and action which greatly facilitated her work. His sole purpose, as he saw it, was to help her fulfill her mission for God and mankind. In the Pink Room at Chestnut Hill there hangs a picture of Mr. Dickey, placed there by Mrs. Eddy near the portraits of Dr. Asa Eddy and herself.

In matters which required a decision from the standpoint of wisdom, Mr. Dickey tells us, “She was always able to appeal to the divine Mind and get her answer,” but there were “times when she seemed to bend beneath the heavy load that mortal mind had placed upon her and it was then that she really yearned for human aid and sympathy.”

…When a request for a German translation of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures was approved by Mrs. Eddy, she directed Mr. Dickey to oversee this work. Miss Florence M. Dickey of Kansas City, Adam Dickey’s sister, has left this record of the initial steps in this work: “When the committee appointed by The Christian Science Board of Directors of The Mother Church met to translate the textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, from English into German, the first day of their meeting Mr. Archibald McLellan told them that Mrs. Eddy had instructed Mr. Dickey to ‘watch the translation and to guard the metaphysical meaning of each line.'”

The German translation of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures was copyrighted in 1912, and a report later submitted to the Board of Directors about Mr. Dickey, included this statement by Frau Oldenburg (formerly Fraulein Schultz): “The German Christian Scientists’ gratitude to our Leader for her precious gift of the translation is inseparably bound up with unceasing gratitude to Adam H. Dickey for the stupendous work he did during all those months of the translation. Only his great love for our Leader, for her textbook and his dutiful care to carry out her wish could have enabled him to self-sacrificingly ‘watch’ in never ceasing patience and encouraging love. Indeed, his ‘works do follow’ him.” (Rev. 14:13)

The Longyear article also tells of Mrs. Dickey’s involvement in those early days of the Christian Science movement. She was right there alongside him up until his call to be that steadfast helper of his beloved leader. [Mrs Lillian Dickey is shown seated at a meal among Mrs Eddy's workers in a photo on page 420 (in Adam Dickey's account) of We Knew Mary Baker Eddy Volume II Expanded Edition.]

Joyce Voysey

Giving credit where it is due

Sometimes, antipathy to Christian Science may be attributed to ignorance of or misunderstanding about Mary Baker Eddy, its discoverer and the author of its textbook Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Clifford P. Smith helpfully addresses this in his chapter on Mrs. Eddy as an Author (chapter 12, pp. 102-113). 

Three passages stand out to me.

The first is a quote from one "disinterested observer", Francis Potter, who wrote that "Mary Baker Eddy 'is the most compelling figure in American religious history. No one but a prejudiced bigot can deny her credit for having made available to hundreds of thousands of sufferers a method of healing which literally gave them new life. The reason she spake with authority and not as the scribes was because she was sublimely conscious of the fact that she had a message of great worth for mankind'" (pp. 104, 105).

The second relates to Mark Twain's criticism of Mrs. Eddy. Smith states that "He [Twain] allowed enmity to displace his habitual good humor and common sense" (p. 108). Smith then refers to two responses -- from Mr. Kimball and Rev. Lyman P. Powell. The latter noted that "[b]y actual count in her [Eddy's] published writings hers was a vocabulary of 18,000 words which makes her second in vocabulary only to Shakespeare among those who have written in the English language" (p 109). Smith then quotes Mark Twain's biographer, Albert Bigelow, who records Twain (Samuel Clemens) as having written "Somehow I continue to feel sure of that cult's [Christian Science's] colossal future" (ibid)*.

Finally, Smith remarks on Eddy's "insistent reiteration of fundamental ideas", which he explains as "[m]ore than mere repetition", but rather as a method which "involves presenting a thesis from different approaches, with different applications ... until the fundamental thought has been completely expressed and effectively sustained" (p. 112).

I commend this chapter to our readers.

Julie Swannell

* Note the word cult used here by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) may have a different meaning from that used today.

Google notes that -  

The term "cult" first appeared in English in 1617, derived from the French culte, meaning "worship" which in turn originated from the Latin word cultus meaning "care, cultivation, worship". The meaning "devotion to a person or thing" is from 1829.

https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/it-cult-or-new-religious-movement suggests the following:

"the word 'cult' originally designates a practice of religious veneration and the religious system based around such veneration..."