Mrs M. B. G. Eddy

I know more than one of your best friends who would like to congratulate you on your new departure– I refer to the partial attempt to shake off the ministerial incubus which whichAs Written:which has rested upon you & your work.

This may seem a terrible blow- to discover at this late day- that ministers are now what they always were– but you may consider yourself fortunate to discover the fact so soon as you have– for you and your CauseEditorial Note: The cause of Christian Science will be stronger than ever before "So do not be discouraged." It has been some time since I have seen anything in the Journal which pleased me more than the paragraph chronicling the rejection of 8 ministers from your classes– And it pleases me still more to learn that you have at last though at great cost to yourself and the grand Cause of C. S. found out that Clerical cloth is worm-eaten and the very edifice the clergy live in is honey-combed Corrected: honeycombed with pious fraud & pretension.

Your love of the church of your childhood has followed you into C. S.Expanded:Christian Science and can be distinctly traced through your wonderful book & later writings – and your partiality towards the Clergy & Church has been one of the weak props of your Cause - a Cause which needed no such artificial supports.

You fondly hoped that aMen with "Rev" prefixed to their names would be the glittering bulwarks of your Cause– forgetting that the very worst foes Christ had to contend with were the Clergy of his day, who hovered around hHim as listeners long enough to hget his ideas and plans which they straightway began to distort into weapons for his own destruction.

You have favored the Clergy beyond all other persons– nothing was too good for them– they must have instruction free– be coaxed humored indulged &c &c- while many a poor deserving Student has had to pay the last farthingMatt 5:25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Matt 5:26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. of tuition – and what reward have you received for this unwonted liberality and indulgence of one class at the expense of another.

I really doubt whether you have a single true friend among all the ministers you have put– yourself out to benefit. while your friends – real friends – among the laity "the common people" who heard him gladly"Mark 12:35 ¶And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David? Mark 12:36 For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. Mark 12:37 David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly. may be numbered by the hundreds & thousands.

Just think Mrs Eddy- how much time you have given to the Clergy– of cour [?] Unclear or illegible se you had the right to give them their tuition though this was a discrimination against others and equally deserving in your classes.

Then how much of your time – fully one half – would they take up with their useless theological discussions– never ending until you were compelled in sheer despair – to choke them off-

And how stupid most of the preachers proved to be– chow hard to beat allnything like C. S.Expanded:Christian Science into their heads– stuffed full of the old theology– so that to the very last you had to reiterate the same things– and even lecture & coach them out of class.

Your very worst students were these self-same ministers and to this day some of then Corrected: them who are preaching the Science do not understand it half as well as your lay students – so that they are a constant source of mortification.

Not long since one of your best students & friends remarked – I wish Mrs Eddy would never admit another preacher into one of her classes.

Then how much trouble they give by revamping their old theology in C. S. dress, & parading their learning at your expense.

But thank Heaven your eyes are now opened and you see what they are – and that they are no real help to your great Cause

Without them you will be stronger than you have ever been and may congratulate yourself that such weak props are gone.

I have just read Mr Gills "article" in the Religio Philosophical JournalEditorial Note: The Religio-Philosophical Journal was a spiritualist publication founded in 1865 in Chicago, Illinois. It ceased publication on April 22, 1905. of Chicago.

Do no reply to it– he cannot hurt you or your Cause by any such disjointed articles– the weak pleas and protestations of a discharged clerk who feels bad because he has lost his place. His articles in the C. S. Journal were well written – though full of I- I- I- and Gill Gill Gill. but bthat in the R- P Journal is the work of one partially insane. You are fortunate in losing Mr Gill. Respectfully