The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-10-10
st8S ~ SUBSCRIPTION.
nlLAiE'~ TON. n. c.
Tt ESDAY,.O OCT. 10. 1899.
RELIGIOUS EDITORIALS FOR SUN
DAY.

The Worcester (Mass) Beacon brings
fearful charges against Mrs. Mary Ba-
ker G.. Eddy, of Boston. 1t charges
that she is full of falsehood and Of i'm
pure life, venomous, despotic and arol-
thorough impostor. 1t claims
tn have made investigations extending
through weeks as to her life, reputa-
ton and character" n revelations
proved a surprise. The editor says we
had assumed Mrs. Eddy to be a person
OF some culture, of pure life ana splr-
itual aspirations, sincere in her behef,
and nothing worse than a fanatic. We
had not proceeded far before we De-
came doubtful of the accuracy OF our
preconceived opinion" We do not care
to go into the record which would I'LL
nearly a column, but opy but this
as his summary:
eve close our investigation, which
has been very thorough and entlrely
judicial in character, not with doubt OF
the accuracy of our eardler VIEWS, out
confidence that we entirely mis1udgeo
the woman known as Mary BAKER ".
Eddy. n that she, while definitely
claiming to be the equal in nature and
power of Jesus Christ, is in almost
. everything his precise opposite; IS IN
sincere, dishonest, full of DECEIT ana
f~alsehood, unclean of heart, impure or
life, venomous to the last degree, des-
motto and arbitrary almost beyond be-
.iief,-an exceptionally clever charlatan,
who has built an immense fortune upon
the c%redulity of hosts Of innocent dupes
We had no other in looking
into the character and antecedents OF
Mrs. Eddy than the discovery Of the
truth, and it would have afforded us
genuine pleasure to have been able to
say as the result Of our inquiries, that
she is the sanity, immaculate, even d1-
vine person, her followers believe. 1t
is with regret, but with entire conf
edence, that we affirm her to be none
of these things. We allege nothing
that is not susceptible Of legal proof"
He AYERS that she was first a spiritual
list and obtained all of her ideas upon
which her so-called Christian Science
is based, from a man named Quimby, to
whom she has very definitely and une-
%quivocaly time and again credited them
over her own signature n whom she
extolled as n of the greatest men the
world had ever produced (she now rep
udiates her former repeated statements
and maligns the man whom she for
merly praised); etc" That she is a
pronounced humbug Of the first water
the Intelligent Christian world fully
believes. That she is an impure, bad
woman is not known to it. The Bea-
con arraigns her with terrific vlgor. Ii
even goes so far as to charge that she
IYras fraudulently obtained large sums
OF her dupes, and that "she terrifies
into silence those who could of their
own knowIedg disclose her absolute de-
pravity of character n the fraudu-
lent nature Of her claims. To such an
extent does this fear go that many be-
Heve Mrs. Eddy to have punished her
enemies by causing her death, or the
death of some members Of their fam
lily. One of her former believers, at one
time most intimately in her confidence,
has recently told us, with bated breath,
of four deaths she believed to nave
been caused by Mrs. Eddy's mental
power exerted upon people she believed
to be hostile to her, or upon some one
dear to them, whose death would in
hict pain" That is awful and should
only be asserted upon strong, clear evil
.dence. If true instead of a Healer she
is a Destroyer, instead Of being a Saint
she is a devil, 1.-The most successful i'm
poster, the most prosperous humbug
that ever lived" What a wonderful
Christian Science" that must be whose
inspirer and revealer is a consummate
deceiver, pretender, fraud. If she is
what the Beacon charges it is the duty
of all Christians aud to
hold her UP to public Reproduction.