It is symptomatic of an antichristian religion that it relieves the conscience and makes it easy to go on with sin and the world, and in connection with this system there is the added attraction of its being a money-making concern. Let Mrs. Eddy speak for herself as to the financial side of her religion.
"When God impelled me to set a price on my instruction in Christian Science mind healing, I could think of no financial equivalent for an impartation of that divine power which heals; but I was led to name three hundred dollars as the price for each pupil in one course of lessons at my college-a startling sum for tuition lasting barely three weeks. This amount greatly troubled me. I shrank from asking it, but was finally led by a strange providence to accept this fee" (R. & I., p. 71).
But Mrs. Eddy soon got over her shrinking, for we read that afterward her full scale of fees was as follows:-
Primary Class, 12 lessons (afterward 7 lessons)—$300
Normal " " 6 " "—$200
Class in Metaphysical, Obstetrics, 6 lessons—$100
Class in Theology, 6 lessons—$200
That is, thirty lessons in all cost $800. Verily the old adage is true, "Fools and their money are soon parted," though indeed some paid these fees, and used Christian Science to effect on a smaller scale that which Mrs. Eddy did on a larger, viz., to make money. She certainly could not say, like the Apostle Peter, "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have GIVE I thee" (Acts 3:66Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. (Acts 3:6)); nor could she say that she carried out the injunctions of the Lord when He enjoined: "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, FREELY GIVE" (Matt. 10:88Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. (Matthew 10:8)). On the contrary, a more sordid, money-making concern than Christian Science is hard to imagine.
Take her gains from her book, Science and Health, to begin with. Her first edition of 1000 copies in 1875 was disposed of after much peddling and wearisome effort. In 1891 it had reached sixty-two editions. The year 1896 witnessed the publishing of the one hundredth edition. Between five and six hundred editions have gone through the press.
Each Christian Scientist was obliged to possess a copy, and when a new edition came out it was his duty to possess the latest. It was the duty of each Scientist on pain of losing his membership in the Church to circulate and sell as many of them as he could. Each teacher and patient was obliged to have a copy, and that the latest edition. The book sold for $3 with 18 cents additional for postage. The manufacture of each book cost forty-seven and a half cents exactly. There was no advertising or booksellers' profits to take into account.
Mrs. Eddy received at first $1 royalty on each book, but afterward, when her adopted son, Dr. Foster Eddy, whom she afterward repudiated, became her publisher, she worked up her royalty to $1.50 per volume. "Dr. Foster's accounts show that in the year 1893 he paid Mrs. Eddy $11,692.79 in royalties. In 1894 her royalties amounted to $14,834.12; and in 1895 she received from Dr. Foster $18,481.97, making a total profit of $45,008.88 for the three years. Needless to say, her annual royalties have greatly increased since 1895, and have now reached a figure which puts all other American authors to financial shame" (M., p. 420). In 1891 Mrs. Eddy published a series of autobiographical sketches in which many incidents of the author's life were "highly idealized." This small volume, "Retrospection and Introspection," sold at the high price of $1.
If Christian Science contained the message of God's relief to mankind, is it conceivable that it should be prostituted to such sordid covetousness? Christian Science jewelery—emblems, rings, brooches, watches, pendants, etc.-sold for prices varying from $2.50 to $325. Mrs. Eddy's authorized photograph (since admitted by Christian Scientists to be a composite) sells in its cheaper form for $1. In the Journal (May, 1899), Mrs. Eddy in announcing it, wrote: "I simply ask that those who love me purchase the portrait" (M., p. 452).
Then there was the "Mother Spoon." Mrs. Eddy adopted the title "Mother" in 1895. She substituted for it the title "Leader" as the result of Mark Twain's humorous sally in the North American Review. The spoon was an ordinary silver spoon, with Mrs. Eddy's portrait embossed upon it, Mrs. Eddy's signature, the motto, "Not Matter but Mind Satisfieth," and a picture of Pleasant View, Mrs. Eddy's home. When this spoon was put upon the market, Mrs. Eddy wrote: "Mother request's that each Scientist shall purchase at least one spoon, and those who can afford it, one dozen spoons, that their families may read this motto at every meal, and their guests be made partakers of its simple truth.
Mary Baker G. Eddy"
(M., p.451).
Did it never strike those who used such spoons what a denial this was of every tenet of Mrs. Eddy? Was it "matter" or "mind" which was put into the spoon, and conveyed to their mouths? Surely the truth was that at meal times matter and not mind satisfied. This ordinary silver spoon sold for $5.00!