Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/417

Rh the imprint of the Christian Science Publishing Society of Boston."

This red-hot exhortation was brought out by the fact that the dissenters of 1888 were now publishing periodicals, bringing out books, and carrying on their work of healing and teaching under the name of Christian Science, exactly as if Mrs. Eddy did not exist. Most of them had adopted the policy of non-resistance. They kept a neutral attitude toward Mrs. Eddy, refused to discuss her or her church, and in their work and public utterances they adhered to the rule of excluding personalities and keeping close to principle. They no longer recognised Mrs. Eddy's favourite doctrine of Malicious Animal Magnetism, but dwelt much upon the affirmative principle of Good. But they must have missed the inspiring presence and influence of their old leader, for after a few years their publications lagged and most of these "independents" either dropped Christian Science definitely or joined the New Thought movement.

But, whether Mrs. Eddy realised it or not, sedition among the Boston students no longer meant jeopardy to her or to her cause. If there was disloyalty in Boston, hundreds of converts in New England, the middle West, and the far West waited but the word to rally to her support. Christian Science was an established faith, and was no longer at the mercy of any group of people. It had been established by those indefatigable missionaries, the healers; with Mrs. Eddy always behind them, and their devotion to her holding them together, inspiring them with one purpose, and enabling them to work for one end.

After Mrs. Eddy herself, the most remarkable thing about