And this woman, who has accumulated a fortune by the methods stated, and imposed upon the credulity of many thousands of religious people to build up a powerful organization of which she has made herself the whimsical and imperious autocrat, is the woman, forsooth, whom the Creator of the universe selected to be the successor to Jesus!
I lately stood at the threshold of the Holy of Holies of the “Mother Church,” and with a crowd of worshipers patiently waited for admittance to the hallowed precincts of the “Mother’s Room.” Over the doorway was a sign informing us that but four persons at a time would be admitted; that they would be permitted to remain five minutes only, and would please retire from the “Mother’s Room” at the ringing of the bell. Entering with four of the faithful, I looked with profane eyes upon the consecrated furnishings. A show-woman in attendance monotonously announced the character of the different appointments. Set in a recess of the wall and illumined with electric light was an oil painting the show-woman seriously declared to be a life-like and realistic picture of the chair in which the “Mother” sat when she composed her “inspired” work. It was a picture of an old-fashioned, country, haircloth rocking chair, and an exceedingly commonplace-looking table with a pile of manuscript, an ink-bottle and pen conspicuously upon it. On the floor were sheets of manuscript. “The mantelpiece is of pure onyx,” continued the show-woman, “and the bee-hive upon the window sill is made from one solid stone. The rug is made of a hundred breasts of eider-down ducks, and the toilet room you see in the corner is of the latest design, with gold-plated drain pipes. The painted windows are from the Mother’s poem, ‘Christ and Christmas,’ and that case contains complete copies of all the Mother’s books.” The chairs, upon which the sacred person of the Mother had reposed, were protected from sacrilegious touch by a broad band of satin ribbon. My companions expressed their admiration in subdued and reverent tones, and at the tinkling of the bell we reverently tiptoed out of the room to admit another delegation of the patient waiters at the door.
There are no other proselyters like the Christian Scientist; for there is no other “religion” that is at the same time a source of large revenue to its promoters. The more money that comes into the coffers of the central organization in Boston, the more liberal salaries may be voted to the workers. The organization publishes the periodicals, and there is a corps of salaried lecturers constantly distributed over the country. The Christian Science Journal, a monthly periodical, and the Christian Science Sentinel, a weekly periodical, were for many years the only organs of the cult; but lately a more pretentious effort has been made and a daily newspaper has been established in Boston, called the Christian Science Monitor. The Journal and the Sentinel reach practically all of the sixty or sixty-five thousand Christian Scientists, and large numbers of them are regular subscribers to the daily newspaper. Of course, outside of Boston the paper cannot reach its subscribers in time to be anything but stale as a news agency. But what of that! To buy it helps the cause; and to help the cause puts money into the capacious pockets of the managers. All over the country copies of these various publications are distributed free, and in nearly every railroad station and waiting room throughout the length and breadth of the land copies of the weekly and monthly periodicals may be found in conspicuous places. The newspaper has little or no paid circulation outside the ranks of the believers, but many, many thousands of copies are daily delivered to people who pay nothing whatever for it. Of course, all of this costs a great deal of money, and the money comes out of the pockets of the believers, and goes into the pockets of the exploiters.
The “String” on the Gifts
Mr. Farlow, Mr. Hanna and other paid agents of Mrs. Eddy from time to time meet these various accusations with the response that, while Mrs. Eddy has made a great deal of money, she has given away a great deal; and, while she possesses the powers aforesaid, she lives in retirement, at Concord, N.H., and lets the organization run itself. Let us see what there is in these defenses.
Has Mrs. Eddy given away many thousands of dollars? Mr. Hanna quotes Mrs. Eddy as having said, “I could have been worth many millions of money. My college alone was an annual income of forty thousand dollars; but I managed to give away enough to balance my account with conscience.” It may be inferred from this that, but for what Mrs. Eddy has given away, she would today be worth many millions; consequently that she has given away millions. She has given away money, with reservations, but whenever she has so given it, it has been to enhance her comfort, to extend her power, or to add to her glory; and again and again, by herself and her chosen representatives, by Mr. Hanna and Mr Farlow, have false representations been made of the amounts given by her. This is important. Let me give a view of Mrs. Eddy’s character as displayed in these business transactions.
Much has been made of Mrs. Eddy’s gift of the land upon which the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, stands. In her book entitled “Pulpit and Press,” copyrighted by Mrs. Eddy, and published in 1895, is the statement that the cost of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, “is two hundred and twenty-one thousand dollars, exclusive of the land, a gift from Mrs. Eddy, which is valued at some forty thousand dollars.” Valued at some forty thousand dollars! Mrs. Eddy, of course, here intends to convey an impression that this gift of the land was a gift by her of some forty thousand dollars’ worth of real estate. In none of her many published references to this peculiar transaction has Mrs. Eddy told the truth, or any material part of the truth.
The land upon which the church stands was originally owned by a society known as The Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, and it was originally mortgaged for nine thousand dollars to Mr. Nathan Matthews. This original society, by contributions, fairs, etc., raised enough money to reduce the amount of the mortgage to about five thousand dollars, when, according to Mrs. Eddy’s statement in her book “Pulpit and Press,” “Owing to a heavy loss, they were unable to pay the mortgage; therefore I paid it, and through trustees gave back the land to the church.”
Mrs. Eddy did not pay the mortgage. She did not give back the land to the church. What she did was quite other than what she says she did. Through her agents, she took an assignment of the mortgage for the balance of five thousand dollars due upon it, foreclosed it, crowded out all of the original contributors, members of the Church of Christ, Scientist, acquired the title herself, and gave it to trustees for a new organization, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, reserving to herself a right to re-enter and repossess herself of the land with any church that might be constructed upon it. And this cost Mrs. Eddy five thousand dollars, not forty thousand, as she would have us understand, and as Mr. Farlow has represented; nor even twenty thousand, as the more modest Hanna intimates.