It has been said, as a kind of jocular epigram, that the Holy Roman
Empire was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire. With similar truth it
may be said that Christian Science is neither Christian nor science,
in any ordinary sense of those words. Still, perhaps we ought to allow
an inventor to christen his own creation, even if the name seems
inappropriate or likely to cause misunderstanding; and, Mrs Eddy having
invented Christian Science as an organised religion--though, as we shall
see, borrowing its main features from an earlier prophet--we may admit
her right to give a name to her astonishing production. In order that
the personal equation may be allowed for, the present writer begs to
affirm that he writes as a sympathetic student though not an adherent.
Mary A. Morse Baker was born on July 16th, 1821, of pious parents, at
Bow, New Hampshire. Her father was almost illiterate, rather passionate,
a keen hand at a bargain, and a Puritan in religion. All the Bakers were
a trifle cranky and eccentric, but some of them possessed ability of
sorts, though Mary's father made no great success in life. His daughter
made up for him afterwards.
The first fifteen years of Mary Baker's life were passed at the old
farm at Bow. The place was lonely, the manner of life primitive, and
education not a strong point in the community. Mrs Eddy afterwards
claimed to have studied in her girlhood days Hebrew, Greek, Latin,
natural philosophy, logic, and moral science! It was, however,
maintained by her contemporaries that she was backward and indolent, and
that "Smith's _Grammar_, and as far as long division in arithmetic",
might be taken as indicating the extent of her scholarship. There is
certainly some little discrepancy here, and perhaps Mrs Eddy's memory
was a trifle at fault. She made no claim to any acquaintance with this
formidable array of subjects in the later part of her life, and it
seems probable that her contemporaries were right. Her physical beauty,
coupled with delicate health, seem to have resulted in "spoiling", for
even as a child she dominated her surroundings to a surprising extent.
In 1843 she married George Glover, who died in June, 1844, leaving her
penniless. Her only child was born in the September following. After ten
years of widowhood she married Daniel Paterson, a travelling dentist.
In 1866 they separated, he making some provision for her. In 1873 she
obtained a divorce on the ground of desertion. In 1877 she married Asa
Gilbert Eddy, who died in 1882.
So much for her matrimonial experiences, which may now be dismissed, as
they had no particular influence on her character and career. To prevent
confusion, we will call her throughout by the name which is most
familiar to us and to the world.
The chief event of Mrs Eddy's remarkable life, the event which put her
on the road to fame and fortune, occurred in 1862. This was her meeting
with the famous "healer", Phineas Parkhurst Quimby. This latter was an
unschooled but earnest and benevolent man, who had made experiments in
mesmerism, etc., and who had found--or thought he had found--that people
could be cured of their ailments by "faith". He therefore began to
work out a system of "mind-cure", which he embodied in voluminous MSS.
Patients came to him from far and near, and he treated all, whether they
could pay or not. Quimby was much above the level of the common quack,
and his character commands our respect. He was a man of great natural
intelligence, and was admirable in all his dealings with family,
friends, and patients.
Mrs Eddy visited him at Portland in 1862, her aim being treatment for
her continued ill-health. She claims to have been cured--in three
weeks--though it is clear from her later letters that the cure was not
complete. Still, great improvement was apparently effected, for she had
been almost bedridden, with some kind of spinal or hysterical complaint,
for eight years previously. But Quimby's effect on her was greater
mentally even than physically. She became interested in his system,
watched his treatment of patients, borrowed his MSS., and mastered his
teachings. In 1864 she visited him again, staying two or three months,
and prosecuting her studies. She now seemed to have formed a definite
desire to assist in teaching his system. No doubt she dimly saw a
possible career opening out in front of her; though we need not
attribute her desire entirely to mere ambition or greed, for it is
probable that Quimby did a great amount of genuine good, and his pupil
would naturally imbibe some of his zeal for the relief of suffering
humanity.
In 1866 Quimby died, aged sixty-four. His pupil decided to put on the
mantle of her teacher, but more as propagandist and religious prophet
than as healer. In this latter capacity perhaps her sex was against her.
(Even now the average individual seems to have a sad lack of confidence
in the "lady doctor"!) But she was poor, and prospects did not seem
promising. For some time she drifted about among friends--chiefly
spiritualists--preparing MSS. and teaching Quimbyism to anyone who would
listen. (She afterwards denied her indebtedness to Quimby, claiming
direct revelation. "No human pen nor tongue taught me the science
contained in this book, _Science and Health_, and neither tongue nor
pen can overthrow it."--_Science and Health_, p. 110, 1907 edition.)
Though unsuccessful as healer (in spite of her later claim to have
healed Whittier of "incipient pulmonary consumption" in one visit),
she certainly had the knack of teaching--had the power of inspiring
enthusiasm and of inoculating others with her ideas. In 1870 she
turned up at Lynn, Mass., with a pupil named Richard Kennedy, a lad of
twenty-one. Her aim being to found a religious organisation based on
practical results (the prayer of faith shall heal the sick, etc.), it
was necessary to work with a pupil-practitioner. Accordingly she and
Kennedy took offices at Lynn, and "Dr Kennedy" appeared on a signboard
affixed to a tree.
Immediate success followed. Patients crowded the waiting-rooms. Kennedy
did the "healing" and Mrs Eddy organised classes, which were recruited
from the ranks of patients and friends; fees, a hundred dollars for
twelve lessons, afterwards raised to three hundred dollars for seven
lessons. Before long, however, she quarrelled with Kennedy, and in 1872
they separated, but not before she had reaped about six thousand dollars
as her share of the harvest. It was her first taste of success, after
weary years of toil and stress and hysteria and eccentricity. Naturally,
like Alexander, she sighed for further conquest. _L'appetit vient en
mangeant._ And, though in her fiftieth year, she was now more energetic
than ever.
Her next move was the purchase of a house at 8, Broad Street, Lynn,
which became the first official headquarters of Christian Science. In
1875 appeared her famous book, _Science and Health, With Key to the
Scriptures_, which was financed by two of its author's friends. The
first edition was of a thousand copies. As it sold but slowly, she
persuaded her chief practitioner, Daniel Spofford, to give up his
practice and to devote himself to advertising the book and pushing its
sale. Since then it has been revised many times, and the editions are
legion. Loyal disciples of the better-educated sort have assisted in its
rewriting, and it is now a very presentable kind of affair as to its
literary form. Most, if not all, of the editions have been sold at a
minimum of $3.18 per copy, with _editions de luxe_ at $5 or more, and
the author's other works are published at similarly high prices. All
Christian Scientists were commanded to buy the works of the Reverend
Mother, and all successive editions of those works. It is not surprising
that Mrs Eddy should leave a fortune of a million and a half dollars. It
may be mentioned here that she moved from Lynn to Boston in 1882, thence
to Concord (New Hampshire) in 1889, and finally to a large mansion in a
Boston suburb which she bought for $100,000, spending a similar sum in
remodelling and enlarging. The modern prophet does not dwell in the
wilderness, subsisting on locusts and wild honey. He--or she--has moved
with the times, and has a proper respect for the almighty dollar and the
comforts of civilisation.
In 1881 was founded the Massachusetts Metaphysical College. This
imposingly-named institution never had any special buildings, and its
instructions were mostly given in Mrs Eddy's parlour, Mrs Eddy herself
constituting all the faculty. Four thousand students passed through
the "College" in seven years, at the end of which period it ceased to
exist. The fees were usually $300 for seven lessons, as before. Few
gold-mines pay as well as did the "Metaphysical College". The fact does
not at first sight increase our respect for the alleged cuteness of the
inhabitants of the States. But, on further investigation, the murder is
out. Most of these students probably earned back by "healing" much more
than they paid Mrs Eddy. Our respect for Uncle Sam's business shrewdness
returns in full force.
The experiment of conducting religious services had been made by Mrs
Eddy at Lynn in 1875, but the first Christian Science Church was not
chartered until 1879. The Scientists met, however, in various public
halls of Boston, until 1894, when a church was built. This was soon
outgrown, and 10,000 of the faithful pledged themselves to raise two
million dollars for its enlargement. The new building was finished in
1906. Its auditorium holds five thousand people. The walls are decorated
with texts signed "Jesus, the Christ," and "Mary Baker G. Eddy"--these
names standing side by side.
The following examples, culled almost at random, will further show how
great is her conviction that she has the Truth, how vigorously she bulls
her own stocks (somehow, financial metaphors seem inevitable when
writing of Mrs Eddy):
"God has been graciously fitting me during many years for the reception
of this final revelation of the absolute divine Principle of scientific
mental healing". (_Science and Health_, p. 107.)
"I won my way to absolute conclusion through divine revelation, reason
and demonstration". (_Ibid._, p. 109.)
"To those natural Christian Scientists, the ancient worthies, and to
Christ Jesus, God certainly revealed the Spirit of Christian Science,
if not the absolute letter". (_Ibid._, p. 483.)
"The theology of Christian Science is truth; opposed to which is the
error of sickness, sin, and death, that truth destroys". (_Miscellaneous
Writings_, p. 62.)
"Christian Science is the unfolding of true Metaphysics, that is,
of Mind, or God, and His attributes. Science rests on principle and
demonstration. The Principle of Christian Science is divine". (_Ibid._,
p. 69.)
The following maybe quoted as an example of mixed good and evil, with a
certain flavour of unconscious humour:
"Hate no one; for hatred is a plague-spot that spreads its virus and
kills at last. If indulged, it masters us; brings suffering to its
possessor throughout time, and beyond the grave. If you have been badly
wronged, forgive and forget: God will recompense this wrong, and punish,
more severely than you could, him who has striven to injure you".
(_Miscellaneous Writings_, p. 12.)
The advice is good, but it is not new. And Mrs Eddy seemed to experience
a special joy in the thought that by leaving our enemies alone they
will receive from God a more effective trouncing than we with our poor
appliances could administer. The ideal Christian would not want his
enemies handed over to the inquisitor--he would beg for them to be let
off. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!" That is
the Christian attitude. It is perhaps too high for ordinary mortals to
attain to, but Mrs Eddy made such high claims that we are entitled to
judge her by correspondingly high standards.
The form of service in the various Christian Science churches at first
included a sermon. But Mrs Eddy soon saw that this might introduce
discord: for the preachers might differ in their interpretations of
_Science and Health_. And Mrs Eddy above all things aimed at unity in
order to keep the control in her own hands. Therefore, in 1895, she
forbade preaching altogether. The Bible and _Science and Health, With
Key to the Scriptures_, were to be read from, but no explanatory
comments were to be made. The services comprise Sunday morning and
evening readings from these two books, with music; the Wednesday evening
experience meeting; and the communion service, once or twice a year
only. There is no baptismal, marriage, or burial service, and weddings
and funerals are never conducted in Christian Science churches.
As to church government, there was a nominal board of directors, but Mrs
Eddy had supreme power. She could appoint or dismiss at will. The Church
was hers, body and soul. Probably no other religious leader ever had
such an unqualified sway. The Holy Father at Rome is a mere figurehead
in comparison with the late Reverend Mother.
In June, 1907, there were in all 710 branch churches. Of these,
twenty-five were in Canada, fourteen in Britain, two in Ireland, four in
Australia, one in South Africa, eight in Mexico, two in Germany, one in
Holland, one in France, and the remainder in the States. There were also
295 societies not yet incorporated into churches. The total membership
of the 710 churches was probably about 50,000. (In _Pulpit and Press_,
p. 82, Mrs Eddy puts the number at 100,000 to 200,000; and this was in
1895. Some claim that the total number of adherents is as high as a
million. But these are probably exaggerated estimates.) About one-tenth
of these make their living by their faith. Here we come to the secret of
Christian Science success.
There are about 400 authorised Christian Science "healers", and many
who practise without diploma but not without pay. These people treat
sick folks, receiving fees. Their method is to assure the patient
that he is under a delusion in thinking himself ill, that matter
is an illusion, that God is All, etc. It sounds very absurd. But the
curious thing is that many people have been cured by this treatment,
and--naturally--these people become ardent Christian Scientists. It is
by the practical application that Christian Science as a religion lives
and thrives. As to the kind of diseases cured, the most extravagant
claims are made. In _Miscellaneous Writings_, p. 41, Mrs Eddy
definitely states that "all classes of disease" can be healed by her
method. After careful sifting of much evidence, however, Dr Myers and
his brother (F. W. H. Myers) found that no proof was forthcoming for
the cure of definite organic disease by Christian Science methods.
(_Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research_, vol. IX, p. 160;
also _Journal_, vol. VIII, p. 247.) Undoubtedly they have been, and are
continually, efficient in relieving, and even curing, many functional
disorders which have resisted ordinary medical treatment--and it must
be remembered that many functional derangements are as serious,
subjectively, as grave organic disease--and consequently it is
undeniable that Christian Science often does good. But it is probable
that the same amount of good, and perhaps more, could be done by the
hypnotic or suggestive treatment of a qualified medical man, or perhaps
by other forms of "faith-healing". The Christian Scientist is using
suggestion; but he couples it up with religion, and thus, perhaps--with
some people--succeeds in driving the suggestion home with greater
force. It is noteworthy that similar attempts are now being made in
other directions--witness the Emmanuel movement in New York, the
Faithists and various "psycho-therapeutic" societies in England, and
the tendency in some quarters (Bishop of London) to return to anointing
and laying on of hands by clergymen.
Psychologically, Mrs Eddy is at least classified, if not entirely
explained, by one word--monoideism. She was a person of one idea. These
people, for whom we usually have the simpler term of "crank", are common
enough. I have no personal acquaintance with the circle-squaring and
perpetual-motion cranks mentioned by De Morgan (_The Budget of
Paradoxes_), but I know a "flat-earth" crank, and am well acquainted
with a "British-Israelite" crank, who seems to derive unspeakable
joy--tempered only by his failure to convert me--from the thought that
we Britishers are veritably the descendants of one or more of the Lost
Tribes. All these people are conscious of a mission. They have had a
revelation, and are anxious to impart it. Their efforts may not be due
to the "last infirmity of noble mind", still less to a lower motive.
They may just be built that way. The majority of them, like my
Lost-Tribes friend, get no hearing because of the inflexible pragmatism
of a stiffnecked and utilitarian generation. "What difference does it
make whether we are the Tribes or not?" asks the man in the street. And
he passes on with a shrug or a grin, according to temperament. This
terrible pragmatic test makes short work of many amiable cranks. And it
is just here that Christian Science scores its point; for it cures
physical disease, thereby becoming intensely practical. Health is the
chief "good" of life. Anything that will restore it to an ailing body
commands immediate and universal respect. Christian Science therefore
appeals, on its practical side, to the deepest thing in us--to the
primal instinct of self-preservation. Hence its success.
It is possible to blame Mrs Eddy unjustly for her love of power as such.
She was not unique in this respect. The difference is that Mrs Eddy
succeeded while the others have not, and are consequently not heard of.
My Lost-Tribes friend would be as autocratic as anybody if he had the
chance; but his motive would not be greed of power, but rather the
overmastering desire to push his cause, to proselytise, to promulgate
his one idea, almost by force, if such a thing were possible. Most of
us know a few fanatics of this kind. The objects of their devotion are
varied--one is mad north-north-west, another south-south-east--but
all suffer from a lack of balance, a lack of proper distribution of
interest. Of course, we may cheerfully admit that we are all more or
less specialists in our several departments, and that the line between
sanity and insanity is rather arbitrary. We all seem more or less mad to
those who do not agree with us.
The good and true part of Christian Science is its demonstration of the
influence of mind on body, and of the usefulness of inducing mental
states of an optimistic character. It may, of course, be said that we
need no Mrs Eddy to tell us this. True, we don't. The great seers and
poets have always taught optimism, and the influence of mind on body was
medically recognised--more or less--long before even Quimby's time. But
we must remember that different minds need different treatment--need
their nutriment and stimulant in different forms, to suit the various
mental digestions and receptive powers. Consequently, though we may
prefer Browning for optimism and the doctors for hypnotic therapeutics,
we need not complain if others prefer Mrs Eddy and her disciples.
If they get good from their way of putting things, and if that good
manifests itself in their character and life--in their total reaction on
the world--by all means let them continue to walk in their chosen way.
It would be wrong to try to turn them. The system "works"; therefore it
is true for them. The tree is known by its fruits. And the fruits of
Christian Science are undoubtedly often good. In this complex world
nothing is unmixedly good, and harm is no doubt done occasionally. But,
on the whole, it seems probable that Mrs Eddy, with all her hysteria and
morbidities and rancours and queerness, has been a power for good in
the world. Her writings meet a want which some people feel, or, rather,
provide them with a useful impulse in the direction of physical and
spiritual regeneration. If you can make a sick person stop brooding over
his ailments and worrying over things in general, you have achieved
something which enormously increases his chance of recovery; and if you
can make him turn all his thoughts and energies in the direction of
recovery, and all his emotional powers in the direction of love and
goodwill to his fellow-men and towards God, there is no limit to the
powers which may be put in operation. In spite of all our achievements
in science--and they have been great--we are only, as Newton said,
picking up pebbles on the sea-shore. Nature is boundless; we can fix no
limits to her powers. And we know so little, really, about disease, that
I am not at all prepared to deny the Christian Science claims, even
with regard to organic disease. The distinction between organic and
functional is in our own inabilities, not in the nature of the case;
we call a disease "organic" when we find definite tissue-change, and
"functional" when we do not; but in the latter case there must be some
organic basis, though too small perhaps to be discoverable--say a lesion
in a tiny nerve. Consequently I regard the question of Christian Science
cures as entirely one of evidence. I keep an open mind. If I come across
enough evidence, I will believe that it can cure tuberculosis of the
lungs and other diseases, as claimed, whether I can understand how it
does it or not. At present, like Dr Myers, I am not convinced; but I
have seen enough of Christian Science results among my own friends to
prevent me from denying anything. I merely suspend judgment. But I do
believe that the power of the mind over the body is so great that almost
anything is possible; and I think that the medical advance of the next
half-century will be chiefly in this hitherto neglected direction.
I happen to know that this, or something very near this, was the
strongly-held opinion of the late Professor William James of Harvard,
who, in addition to being the most brilliant psychologist of his
generation, was also a qualified doctor of medicine.