Christian Science -- Controversial literature; Eddy, Mary Baker, 1821-1910
Thus it is plain that she did not plead that the Deity was the (verbal)
Author; for if she had done that, she would have lost her case--and with
rude promptness. It was in the old days before the Berne Convention and
before the passage of our amended law of 1891, and the court would have
quoted the following stern clause from the existing statute and frowned
her out of the place:
“No Foreigner can acquire copyright in the United States.”
To sum up. The evidence before me indicates three things:
1. That Mrs. Eddy claims the verbal author ship for herself. 2. That she
denies it to the Deity. 3. That--in her belief--she wrote the book under
the inspiration of the Deity, but furnished the language herself.
In one place in the Autobiography she claims both the language and
the ideas; but when this witness is testifying, one must draw the line
somewhere, or she will prove both sides of her case-nine sides, if
desired.
It is too true. Much too true. Many, many times too true. She is a most
trying witness--the most trying witness that ever kissed the Book, I am
sure. There is no keeping up with her erratic testimony. As soon as you
have got her share of the authorship nailed where you half hope and half
believe it will stay and cannot be joggled loose any more, she joggles
it loose again--or seems to; you cannot be sure, for her habit of
dealing in meaningless metaphors instead of in plain, straightforward
statistics, makes it nearly always impossible to tell just what it
is she is trying to say. She was definite when she claimed both the
language and the ideas of the book. That seemed to settle the matter.
It seemed to distribute the percentages of credit with precision between
the collaborators: ninety-two per cent. to Mrs. Eddy, who did all the
work, and eight per cent. to the Deity, who furnished the inspiration
not enough of it to damage the copyright in a country closed against
Foreigners, and yet plenty to advertise the book and market it at famine
rates. Then Mrs. Eddy does not keep still, but fetches around and comes
forward and testifies again. It is most injudicious. For she resorts to
metaphor this time, and it makes trouble, for she seems to reverse the
percentages and claim only the eight per cent. for her self. I quote
from Mr. Peabody's book (Eddyism, or Christian Science. Boston: 15 Court
Square, price twenty-five cents):
“Speaking of this book, Mrs. Eddy, in January last (1901) said: 'I
should blush to write of Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures,
as I have, were it of human origin, and I, apart from God, its author;
but as I was only a scribe echoing the harmonies of Heaven in
divine metaphysics, I cannot be supermodest of the Christian Science
text-book.”'
Mr. Peabody's comment:
“Nothing could be plainer than that. Here is a distinct avowal that the
book entitled Science and Health was the work of Almighty God.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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