Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/330

284 Eddy's work where it answered his purpose, but substituting his own ideas for many of her statements which he believed were extreme or untenable. In his preface he announced that he made no claim to the authorship of the doctrine which he advanced, stating that it had been practised by Jesus and the apostles, by the secret association of priests known as the Gottesfreunde in the fourteenth century, and in the nineteenth century by P. P. Quimby of Belfast, Me. He added that he had made use of "some thoughts contained in a work by Eddy." The third edition of Science and Health appeared a few months later, containing a preface signed by Asa G. Eddy, which scathingly denounced Arens as a plagiarist, and paid the following tribute to Mrs. Eddy:

"Mrs. Eddy's works are the outgrowths of her life. I never knew so unselfish an individual, or one so tireless in what she considers her duty. It would require ages and God's mercy to make the ignorant hypocrite who published that pamphlet originate its contents. His pratings are coloured by his character, they cannot impart the hue of ethics, but leave his own impress on what he takes. He knows less of metaphysics than any decently honest man."

From this time on, the Eddys credited Mr. Arens with the same malicious intervention in their affairs with which they had already charged Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Spofford. As has been mentioned before, Mrs. Eddy believed that the mesmeric influence of each of these three men affected her differently, and that each operated upon her in a manner analogous to the effect of certain harmful drugs. The influence of Mr. Arens, she insisted, affected her like arsenic. Hence, when Mr. Eddy's