Part 8 (1/2)
Therein was this preachment:
”The Bible says that the teachings of Jesus rightly practised, will, _must_, set at variance the members of any household, some of whom do, and some of whom do not, imbibe the faith.... G.o.d's will be done. The command is still on the elect to come out from the world, and to separate and to shake the dust from their feet, of any house which will not receive the peace bestowed.”
Mrs. Woodbury, having thus justified her religion and her economics by Scripture, proceeded to justify Scripture itself by the Absolute--the example of Mrs. Eddy. St. Josephine went on, in her letter, thus:
”When the Discerner of this Science first apprehended the demands of this Religion and system of ethics, she was forced to withdraw from the Congregational Church.... I have been informed, also, that not one of her family ever held her faith in anything but active contempt.”
This latter revelation to St. Woodbury, regarding Saint Mary Baker Eddy and her relatives, is probably true. Others have received the same information. But when the chosen one was rejected of the Baker family, particularly of its affluent members, it is affirmed that the spirit of ”Science” arose within Mary, like a mighty tantrum, and, recalling her early likeness to Samuel and the Hebrews, she exclaimed with ”immortal mind,” ”I will yet roll in wealth!” These words of the prophetess-Mother are sweet to the ear of Christian Science, which admonishes its adherents to go and do likewise--a.s.suring them that if steadfast ”in Science,” they will be sure to stand solid in Dunn and Bradstreet.
It is well that our condition of existence, whatever may be its metaphysical bases, is not all tragedy, but is relieved by a border of comedy. According to a tale of Christian Science, as told by the Boston _Traveler_, Mrs. Woodbury, when in the prime of her healing illumination, with its full returns, felt on one occasion that piety would be advanced if a ”loyal student” of hers--a lady of means--should add a promising husband to the true Church. It was done. Then, the ever-watchful ”teacher”
sent forth on the wedding tour a third ”loyal student”--a virgin with her lamp trimmed and burning--to see that neither of the other twain should lapse from grace and the certainty of further contributions.
The complaint against the _Traveler_ newspaper got into court on the 11th of January, 1897. Short work was made of it. Notwithstanding all the divine science incarnate in St. Josephine C. Woodbury, His Honor the Judge, Dewey by name, excluded her from the court-room, that she might not contribute to the examination of her witnesses any eye-beams of hypnotism.
As this book is not designed to be improperly personal, but simply an exposition of the claims, doctrines, and effects, of Christian Science, all unnecessary use of individual names must be avoided. But a few are indispensable; and people who are mentioned here have already got themselves corruscatingly into print.
The first witness for Mrs. Woodbury--who turned out also to be the last--was a Mr. Alfred M. Potter. He testified that he was a brother of Mrs. Fred D. Chamberlain--the lady said to be alienated from her husband--and that he and his sister boarded with the Woodburys. He was estranged from his family, he said, except that one sister, but Mrs.
Woodbury was not the cause of it.
As the _Traveler_ summed up one point of the court-records, Mr. Potter, in the past year, had paid the husband of Mrs. Woodbury thirteen thousand dollars outside of board and room. He had paid Mrs. Woodbury ”between a thousand and eleven hundred dollars for instructions for himself.” But, in the summer of 1896, there was a European trip for Mr. Potter and the Woodburys. How could a ”loyal student,” young and wealthy, venture abroad without his ”teacher?” And why was not his money well expended for spiritual pleasures, on the way, if St. Josephine and Mr. Woodbury took good care of Mr. Potter, and brought him safe home?
But the most extraordinary matter in connection with Mr. Potter's depositions was a certain quasi-confirmation of a story that came to the _Traveler_ and had been published, alleging that, on the authority of Mrs.
Woodbury, the ancient and most infinitely closed of all miracles, ”the immaculate conception,” had been repeated under the advanced dispensation of Mother Eddy's religion. Such was declared by various ”loyal students”
of Mrs. Woodbury to have been the claim of their exalted ”teacher,” to whom a son was born, named ”Prince,” an abbreviation of his full t.i.tle, ”the Prince of Peace.” Mr. Potter came short of corroborating the whole of this miracle, but gave substantially the version of it which Mrs. Woodbury presented to the public, after the trial, in the pages of her ”War in Heaven.” There she says:
”On the morning of June 11th, 1890, there was born to me a baby boy; though, till his sharp birth-cry saluted my ears, I had not realized that prospective maternity was the interpretation of preceding months of physical discomfort.... An hour after the birth I rose. In the afternoon I was up and dressed, and at night dined with my family.... We named our boy Prince Woodbury, partly because he came into our family as a veritable harbinger of peace.”
Witness Potter testified that he understood, through Mrs. Woodbury, that ”she had no knowledge of the birth of Prince” until she found him with her. This circ.u.mstance, he understood, ”was through Christian Science.”
When Mr. Potter, with a straight, truthful, honest face, gave this testimony, it naturally affected the gravity of the bench, the bar, and all others present, except Christian Scientists. There was reflected from one to another the sardonic smile of ”mortal mind.” But the case went on until presently a paper was put before Mr. Potter, by counsel for the defense, that it might be identified.
The paper never got before the court. But the contents of it were very peculiar. The paper, in fact, was a brutally blunt form of retraction on the part of Mr. Fred D. Chamberlain, of every derogatory criticism of Mrs.
Woodbury he had ever made, and a meek submission to her brand of ”Christian Science.” In the event of his not signing the paper, he was given to understand that he must depart from the abode of his wife.
The doc.u.ment, it appears, was in the handwriting of the ”loyal student,”
Mrs. Chamberlain, and was dictated by Mrs. Woodbury. But when it was presented to Mr. Chamberlain for his signature, he had not only declined to attach his name to it, but had retained the doc.u.ment.
The Woodbury counsel quickly protested against the admission of such evidence, and the protest was judicious; for was not the whole case of ”alienation” substantially set down on that paper? Hence, too, what would become of the libel-suit? But the court decided that the evidence was admissible. Then, in such a shocking plight, what could an able Woodbury lawyer do but decline, with virtuous indignation, to go on further with the case? The short of it was that Judge Dewey discharged the defendants, reprimanded the prosecution, and the noisy _Traveler_ had everything its own way.[50]
As for the Chamberlain suit for damages ”in Science,” it was not pursued to the monetary end. It was soon ascertained that the wife really had more affection for her delectable ”teacher” than any ”loyal student” could be expected to have for a mere husband. As a business necessity, a divorce was then procured by Mr. Chamberlain, on the ground of desertion, and the twain went separate ways.
It was not proved in Mrs. Woodbury's libel suit against the _Traveler_ that St. Josephine had claimed the full import of the _Traveler's_ story about her ”Prince.” The proceedings, we have seen, were prematurely stopped. But, after the newspaper's legal victory, it published sworn statements from a number of people who would have been its witnesses had the trial gone on. The most important was one made by Hon. George E.
Macomber, an ex-mayor of Augusta, Maine.[51] In the regular form of a legal deposition he declared that he had known Mrs. Woodbury for several years, his acquaintance with her having come through his wife, who had taken lessons of her. He said:
”My wife came one day and said Mrs. Woodbury had had a child down at Ocean Point which was a 'Second Christ,' was immaculately conceived, and that it was the duty of her students to make presents to this 'Second Christ.'”
Mr. Macomber declined to make presents, and, according to his statement, his wife's ”eyes were opened,” after a while, and she ”pulled out” of ”Science.”
The _Traveler's_ other witnesses may pa.s.s. It is only essential to say that they were numerous, and that they all agreed with Mr. Macomber. One of them testified, in an interview, that he had once gone so far in neglect of his own family as to make a will in favor of ”the Prince of Peace.” But our direct point here is only this.--There would seem to be no doubt that St. Josephine Woodbury's ”loyal students,” far and wide, were called upon to bear gifts to her celestial son. Hence, his origin had palpable use as a financial mystery, whatever may have been its precise theological bearings.