The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-02-10

among its own adherents or elsewhere.
He is obliged to say No"
Four years ago there were six Christian
Scientists in a certain town that l am
acquainted with; a year ago there were
250 there; they have built a church, and
its membership now numbers 400. This has
all been quietly done; done without tren-
zied REVEALS, without uniforms, brass
bands. street parades, corner oratory, or
any of the other customary persuasions
to a cody life. Christian Science, like
Mohammedanism. IS restricted" to the
"unintelligent. the people who do not
think" There lies the danger. It makes
Christian Science formidable. 1t is re
stricted' to ninety-one one hundredths Of
the human race, and mQsS be reckoned
with by regular Chris tianlty. And will be,
as soon as it Is too late.
No matter, she is interesting enough
without an amicable agreement. In sey-
eral ways she is the most interesting
woman that ever lived and the most ex-
traordinary. The same may be said Of
her career and the same may be said of
its chief results She started from nothing.
Mrs. Eddy has one very curious and In
terestlns PECULIARLY; whenever she no
tees that she Is ehorling along without
saying anything, she pulls NJ with a sud
den God is over us ALL or some other
sounding irrelevancA and for the moment
it seems to light up the whole district,
then. before you can recover from the
shock. she goes fitting pleasantly and
meaninsiessy along again, and you hurry
hopefully after her. thinking you are
going to get something this true; but as
soon a she has Led YOU far enough away
from her tlrkeylet she takes to a tie.
Whenever she discovers that she Is get
Ii glaa
with an ostentatious but" which has
nothing to 10 with anything that went be
fore or Is to come after, then she bitches
some empues to the train--unrelated
verses from the Bible. usually-and
steams out of sight and leaves you Won
dering how she did that clever thing.
Thus far we have part of Mrs. Eddy 8
portrait Not made of hctions, surmises,
reports rumols, innuendoes. dropped by
her enemies; 10, she has furnished all of
the materials hf/3elf. and laid them on
the canvas. under my general superintend-
ence and direction. rs far as she has gone
with 1t, It is the presentation of a COM
placent commonplace. illiterate New Eng
land woman who forgot everything She
knew" when she discovered her dscov-
cry; then wrote Bible in good English
under the inspiration of God, and climbed
up it to the supremest summit OF earthly
grandeur attalnable by man-where she
sits serene today, beloved and worshiped
by a multitude of human beings of as
good average intelligence as is possessed
by those that march under the banner of
any competing cult. This is not intended
to fatter the competing cults, 1t Is merely
q statement of cold fact.
She published her book She copyrighted
it, She copyrights everything. II she
should say, Good morning; how do you
40 she cartwright If for she Is
a careful person, and knows the value
of small things.
When in the beginning she taught Chris
tian Science gratis (for good reasons)
pupils were few and reluctant and re-
uuired persuasion; 1t was when she raised
the limit to $500 for dollars wor1h that
she could not find standing room for
the invasion of pupils that followed.
With fine astuteness she goes through
the motions of making 1t difficult to get
membership in her church. There is
two-fold value in this system; 1t gives
membership a high value in the eyes of
the applicant.
She does not have to prefer charges
against him Cthe reader), she does not
have to find him lazy. careless. incompe.
tent untidy. ill-mannered. unholy, dis
honest: she does not have to discover
fault OF any KIND IN Inmi Sne uoes not
have to tell him nor his congregation
why she dismisses and disgraces him and
insults his meek flock; she does not have
to explain to his family why she takes
the bread out of their mouths and turns
them out of doors homeless and ashamed
in a strange land; she does not have to
do anything but send a letter and say:
Pack and ask no questions"
Some of the hostiles think that Mrs.
Eddy's idea in protecting this property
in the interest of her heirs. and in accum-
ulating a great money fortune, is that
she may leave her natural heirs well pro-
vided for when she goes. / think 1t is
a mistake. / think she is of late years
giving herself large concern about only
one interest-her power and glory and the
perpetuation and worship of her Name
with a capital IN" Her church is her
pet heir, and think 1t will get her wealth.
1t is the torch which is to light the
world and the ages with her glory
I think she once priced money for the
ease and comfort It could bring, the
SNOWY vanities it could furnish. and the
social promotion it could command; for
we have seen that she was born into the
world with little ways and instincts and
aspirations and affectations that are dup
llcates of our own. l do not think her
money passion has ever diminished in
ferocity: | do not think that she has
ever allowed a dollar that had no friends