After she left Richard Kennedy, Mrs. Eddy seems for some years to have given little thought to the project which she used to discuss with him of founding a new church. It is quite possible that even then by “church” she meant a new faith rather than an organised sect. In the first edition of Science and Health she expressed her opinion that church organisation was a hindrance rather than a help to the highest spiritual development.

  We have no need of creeds and church organisation to sustain or explain a demonstrable platform, that defines itself in healing the sick, and casting out error. The uselessness of drugs, the emptiness of knowledge that puffeth up, and the imaginary laws of matter are very apparent to those who are rising to the more glorious demonstration of their God-being.

  The mistake the disciples of Jesus made to found religious organisations and church rites, if indeed they did this, was one the Master did not make; but the mistake church members make to employ drugs to heal the sick, was not made by the students of Jesus. Christ’s church was Truth, “I am Truth and Life,” the temple for the worshippers of Truth is Spirit and not matter. . . .

  No time was lost by our Master in organisations, rites, and ceremonies, or in proselyting for certain forms of belief.

  The very fact, however, that Christian Science was irreconcilable with the doctrines of any of the established churches must have suggested that it should have an organisation of its own. A belief which presented a new theory of the Godhead, of sin and the atonement, which declared that petitions to a personal Deity could not obtain for man truth, life, or love, needed an organisation behind it if it were to be successfully propagated. Mrs. Eddy’s most useful and effective students had been active in church work before they came into Christian Science. They missed their old church associations and wanted a church to work for. They believed that their new faith was a revival of the apostolic method of healing, a new growth from the original root of Christianity, and it was as a religion, rather than a philosophy, that they liked to regard it. While most of these students had first allied themselves with Christian Science chiefly because they wished to heal or to be healed, a mere scheme of therapeutics, even metaphysical therapeutics, was too deficient in sentiment to hold them together and fire them with the zeal which the cause demanded. Mrs. Eddy began to realise this and to see that the time had come to emphasise the more expressly religious features of Christian Science.

  The first Christian Science organisation was that formed June 8, 1875, when eight of Mrs. Eddy’s students banded to gether, calling themselves “the Christian Scientists,” and pledging themselves to raise money enough to have Mrs. Eddy address them every Sunday. On July 4, 1876, the students reorganised into “The Christian Scientists’ Association,” and this society still held occasional informal meetings when first a church organisation was talked of.

  In 1879 Mrs. Eddy and her students took steps to form a chartered church organisation. They elected officers and directors, and chose a name, “The Church of Christ (Scientist).” On August 6th they applied to the State for a charter. The officers and directors were: Mary B. G. Eddy, president; Margaret J. Dunshee, treasurer; Edward A. Orne, Miss Dorcas B. Rawson, Arthur T. Buswell, James Ackland, Margaret J. Foley, Mrs. Mary Ruddock, Oren Carr, directors.

  All proceedings were conducted with the greatest secrecy, as Mrs. Eddy felt that it was imperative that the infant church should be hidden from the knowledge of the mesmerists, Spofford and Kennedy. When it was necessary for the newly elected officers and directors to meet before a notary and to sign the agreement of incorporation, Mrs. Eddy had a long list of notaries looked up, and finally selected one in Charlestown, a man who was known to Margaret Dunshee, and for whom she could vouch that he had no affiliations with mesmerists. The students met at Mrs. Dunshee’s house in Charlestown, and, one by one, by circuitous routes, they went to the notary’s office, where the papers were made out and signed. This meeting of the subscribers to the articles of incorporation occurred August 15th, and the papers were filed and a charter issued August 23, 1879. The purpose of the corporation was given as “to carry on and transact the business necessary to the worship of God,” and Boston was named as the place within which it was established. There were in all twenty-six charter members, but by no means all of these were active in the work. The membership roll represented, like those of most new churches in small towns, all who could be persuaded to ally themselves with the sect.

  For the first sixteen months of its existence the church had no regular place of meeting, but Sunday services were held at the houses of various members in Lynn and Boston. The Lynn meetings were usually held at the house of Mrs. F. A. Damon, who was one of the most earnest workers in the new church. A copy of the secretary’s minutes of the Lynn meetings shows that, in Mrs. Eddy’s absence, either Mrs. Damon or Mrs. Rice usually conducted the service. These minutes are interesting in that they make one realise what a small organisation the Christian Science Church then was. Half a dozen members, gathered in Mrs. Damon’s parlour on Jackson Street, constituted a congregation. The minutes show that on one Sunday five members were present; on another four; on another seven, etc. The Boston circle of Christian Scientists, which met at the house of Mrs. Clara Choate, was scarcely larger. The service itself, however, was very much like the service now used in the great church in Boston. The meeting opened with silent prayer or with Mrs. Eddy’s interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer; then Mrs. Damon read from Science and Health, after which Mrs. Rice read from the Scriptures. The following record occurs for the meeting on September 5, 1880:

  Meeting opened by Mrs. Damon in the usual way. Mrs. M. B. G. Eddy, having completed her summer vacation, was present and delivered a discourse on Mesmerism.

  Whole number in attendance, twenty-two.

  On the following Sunday the subject was again Mesmerism. Mrs. Eddy’s resuming of her duties seems to have been marked by a vigorous return to this subject and by a marked increase in the attendance.

  1.

  1. part2 ## On December 12, 1880, the Christian Scientists began to hold their services in the Hawthorne rooms, on Park Street, Boston. Mrs. Eddy usually preached and conducted the services, though occasionally one of her students took her place, and now and again a minister of some other denomination was invited to occupy the pulpit. In spite of the fact that she was always effective on the rostrum, Mrs. Eddy seemed to dread these Sunday services. The necessity for wearing spectacles embarrassed her. When she sometimes wore glasses in her own home, she apologised for doing so, explaining that it was a habit she often rose above, but that at times the mesmerists were too strong for her. She believed that the mesmerists set to work upon her before the hour of the weekly services, and on Sunday morning her faithful students were sometimes called to her house to treat her against Kennedy, Spofford, and Arens, until she took the train for Boston. Certain ones of the students were delegated to attend her from Lynn to Boston and to occupy front seats in the Hawthorne rooms for the

  Photograph by W. Shaw Warren

  MARY BAKER G. EDDY

  From a tintype given to Lucy Wentworth in Stoughton, Mass., in 1870

  ⁠

  From a photograph taken in Boston in the early eighties

  purpose of treating her while she spoke. On the way back to Lynn the party frequently discussed the particular kind of evil influence which had been brought to bear upon Mrs. Eddy during the service. Already Mrs. Eddy thought she could tell which was Kennedy’s influence and which was Spofford’s, and she could even liken their effect upon her to the operation of certain drugs. Later Arens’ malevolence, too, came to have an aroma of its own, so that when Mrs. Eddy rose in the morning she could tell by the kind of depression she experienced which of the three was to be her tormentor for the day. At times she was convinced that Kennedy and Spofford were both annoying her, and not infrequently she declared that the three mesmerists had all set upon her at once.

  During the last few years the attitude of the Lynn public toward Mrs. Eddy had changed from one of amused indifference to one of silent hostility. Mrs. Eddy attributed this change entirely to Kennedy and Spofford, and despairing of ever bringing her work to a successful issue in Lynn, she began planning to take Christian Science up bodily and flee with it to some place far removed from mesmerists. She decided to send Arthur Buswell to some other part of the country, there to seek out a spot for the planting of her church. Where to send him was the question. Mrs. Eddy and Mr. Buswell got out a map of the United States and studied it together. But, however topical the map, there were no red or green lines to indicate where mesmerism ran light or heavy, and they realised that the venture would be largely a leap in the dark. They finally selected Cincinnati, attracted, Mr. Buswell says, by its central location and by the number of railroads which seemed, on the map, to pass through that city. Mr. Buswell was, accordingly, despatched, at his own expense, to make straight the path in Cincinnati, with the understanding that Mrs. Eddy would follow him in six weeks. She did not go, however, and was greatly annoyed when Mr. Buswell ran out of money and wrote to her for help. She replied that it was very evident to her that mesmeric influences were abroad in Cincinnati as well as in Lynn, and had inspired him with disloyal sentiments.

  In the meantime Mrs. Eddy’s forerunners in Boston had been meeting with some success. Mrs. Clara Choate and her husband had taken a house on Shawmut Avenue and were introducing the Christian Science treatment of disease. Edward J. Arens came to Boston immediately after the unfortunate conspiracy tangle, and fell to work with industry and courage. He took an office at 32 Upton Street and began to do missionary work among the marketmen down about Faneuil Hall, treating a bronchial cold here and a case of rheumatism there. He spoke occasionally in a hall in Charlestown, lecturing on Metaphysical Healing, and charging an admission fee of ten cents. Among his first patrons was James C. Howard, a bookkeeper who came to arrange for treatments for his invalid wife. This was before Mrs. Eddy had entirely renounced Mr. Arens, and it was in his office that Mr. Howard first met Mrs. Eddy. He became interested in Christian Science and made one of a class of two which Mrs. Eddy taught at Mrs. Choate’s house. Mrs. Eddy was then in need of practitioners, and she urgently needed an active man of affairs to succeed Mr. Arens, toward whom she had begun to feel deep resentment. She was also desirous of letting the lower floor of her Broad Street house, which had been tenantless for some time, in spite of the fact that she had tried very hard to rent it. In fact, Mrs. Eddy’s differences with her tenants, servants, and students had created a general impression in Lynn that life at Number 8 Broad Street was difficult and complicated. Mr. Howard, when he moved there with his wife and children, certainly found it so. The Eddys were in such perpetual terror of mesmerism that they could give very little attention to anything else. They felt that the sentiment toward them in Lynn had changed, and Mrs. Eddy was so anxious and nervous that she easily gave way to petulance and anger. Mr. Howard and Mr. Eddy were indefatigable in their efforts to please her, but whatever they did, it usually proved to be the wrong thing. She had lost all patience with Mr. Eddy’s slowness and had begun to exhibit annoyance at his somewhat rustic manner and appearance. Mr. Eddy had never been a particularly efficient man, and now his fear of mesmerists kept him in a semi-somnambulant condition. He sometimes became deeply discouraged in his efforts to help his wife, and once bitterly confided to Mrs. Rice that he did not believe God Almighty could please Mrs. Eddy.

  Mr. Howard was an alert, adaptable young man who made himself useful in a great many ways. He took charge of the sale of the third edition of Mrs. Eddy’s book, often acted as her private secretary, and played the cornet at the Sunday services in Hawthorne Hall. Mrs. Eddy at first seemed fond of him and seemed to enjoy his musical accomplishment. But she soon tired of him as she had tired of so many others, and grew so exacting that when he went out to do her errands he found it expedient to take down her instructions in writing, so that if, by the time he returned, she had changed her mind as to what she wanted done, he would have his notes to justify himself. When Mr. Howard left Mrs. Eddy’s house in October, 1881, six months after he had moved into it, he had decided to leave the Church as well.

  Mr. Howard was not the only Christian Scientist who came to this decision. Discouragement and discontent had been growing among Mrs. Eddy’s oldest and most devout followers. For a long while they said nothing to each other, and each bore his disappointment and disillusionment as best he could. They believed firmly in the principles of Christian Science and hesitated to do anything which might injure the Church, but they felt that no good, either to her or to themselves, could come from their further association with Mrs. Eddy. Mr. Howard, when he went to explain his position to Mrs. Rice before he took the final step, found, to his amazement, that both she and her sister, Miss Rawson, felt that they had come to the end of their endurance and could follow Mrs. Eddy no further. Five others of the leading women of the Church confessed that they were discouraged and dissatisfied. They were tired of being dragged as witnesses into lawsuits which they believed were unwise, and which they knew brought discredit upon the Church and, discouraged by the outbursts of rage which Mrs. Eddy apparently made no effort to control, and which they believed helped to bring on the violent illnesses for which they were perpetually called to treat her. Above all, they were tired of Malicious Mesmerism. Several of her students really believed that this subject had become a monomania with Mrs. Eddy. Christian Science seemed, for the time, to have been superseded, and Demonology was the living and important issue. After earnest discussion and consultation, eight of Mrs. Eddy’s most prominent students agreed to withdraw from the Church together. They held a meeting and drew up a memorial which each of them signed, and of which each preserved a copy. This resolution read as follows:

  We, the undersigned, while we acknowledge and appreciate the understanding of Truth imparted to us by our Teacher, Mrs. Mary B. G. Eddy, led by Divine Intelligence to perceive with sorrow that departure from the straight and narrow road (which alone leads to growth of Christ-like virtues) made manifest by frequent ebullitions of temper, love of money, and the appearance of hypocrisy, cannot longer submit to such Leadership; therefore, without aught of hatred, revenge or petty spite in our hearts, from a sense of duty alone, to her, the Cause, and ourselves, do most respectfully withdraw our names from the Christian Science Association and Church of Christ (Scientist).

  S. Louise Durant,

  Margaret J. Dunshee,

  Dorcas B. Rawson,

  Elizabeth G. Stuart,

  Jane L. Straw,

  Anna B. Newman,

  James C. Howard,

  Miranda R. Rice.

  21st October, 1881.

  On the night of October 21st this memorial was read aloud by Mrs. F. A. Damon at the regular meeting of the Christian Scientists’ Association. This meeting, which was a heated session, was prolonged until after midnight. The eight resignations were a complete surprise to Mrs. Eddy, and she expressed her indignation at length, declaring that the resigning members were all the victims of mesmerism. The next day she made an effort to see in person several of the signers of the memorial, but they kept well within their doors and refused her admittance. Mr. Howard had been Mrs. Eddy’s business representative; Mrs. Dunshee, Mrs. Newman, and Mrs. Stuart were all able and intelligent women, and their membership had been a source of great pride to Mrs. Eddy. Mrs. Rice and Miss Rawson had been her friends and followers for more than eleven years, and were the only ones of her early students who had been faithful until the founding of the Church. They had believed in her sincerely, and had served her, heart and soul. Because of Mrs. Rice’s robust health, Mrs. Eddy liked to have her much about her. Mrs. Rice had been more successful than any other student in treating Mrs. Eddy in her illnesses, and a messenger from Broad Street often summoned her to Mrs. Eddy’s side in the hours after midnight. When Mr. Eddy was arrested on the charge of conspiracy and thrown into jail, it was Mrs. Rice who persuaded her husband to furnish bail. On the morning after her resignation from the Church, Mrs. Rice saw Mrs. Eddy a moment from her window, but from that day to this she has never seen her again.