From the Papers: Mentoring healers

Mary Baker Eddy’s correspondence includes many letters of support for her students in their growing practice of Christian Science. They would write to her about their questions and challenges, along with their insights and victories, and she would often respond with words of wisdom and encouragement.

Such exchanges formed the basis of “Dear Student: Mentoring healers,” part of our new Story Paths feature on the Mary Baker Eddy Papers website. Because nurturing these tender relationships was such an important part of Eddy’s work, we wanted to highlight some of this correspondence, along with a few additional letters. It’s interesting that, despite Eddy’s role as the founder of Christian Science and their teacher, her students were willing to be vulnerable with her. Also that Eddy, for her part, did not appear to have made them feel any shame or sense of inferiority in their struggles. Rather she responded with warmth and guidance, indicating that she was really reading their letters and responding to their specific needs.

Caroline D. Noyes, a pioneer of Christian Science in the Chicago area, took Eddy’s class in February 1884. Afterward she faced challenges in establishing her healing practice. On April 10, 1884, she wrote to her teacher:

… My Business does not come in good at all I was gone so long my Patients lost interest and then I suppose they are freighted down with Laws that they will not come because I have been to the College and am trying to do something for the Cause I am delving away trying to break them I think I must have recieved some help from you as my courage is quite good notwithstanding the depression in my Business If I can once get another start here I think know I will be all right with my increased knowledge – ….¹

Eddy echoed Noyes’s words directly in her response: “Now you say you are ‘delving’ to break the law of malice and envy that you may be in business again.” She then offered an alternative view of the situation:

… Remember it needs no delving, only a consciousness on your part of the Truth in the case. Have as clear an understanding that evil is not a power and cannot make a law, as that sickness is no power and can make no laws, and then you are free – and the Law of Christ, Truth, will have made you free from the law of sin and death….²

Although Noyes continued to struggle with her practice throughout the year, she wrote on August 5, 1884, to note a change for the better:

… I am rapidly losing my fear for I am finding the utter beginning to realize the utter nothingness of the opposite of God and that there really is no power in Malice however concentrated or consolidated it may appear it is simply an appearance – and I know that if I heal with the truth that my superstructure will stand against the breakers and storms of Error, malice, or mortal mind, or whatever else the lie may name itself, because it is built on God – ….³

Eddy then responded with further encouragement:

Am just in receipt of your very interesting letter. You are right in all the conclusions therein named, and growing apace. The ultimatum of science is to know that nothing can harm us since God and His idea are all there is…. ⁴

Janet T. Colman was a student of Eddy from the Boston area, who travelled to the Midwest to teach Christian Science classes. Although she struggled with her own doubts about her abilities, she endeavored to put her understanding of Christian Science into practice. On January 5, 1885, she wrote to Eddy, “… I don’t seem to make a very brilliant student, but my aim is to do as near right as I can, and live up to what you have taught me….”

Despite her humble view, Colman continued on to share inspiration she had received the day before:

… I had such a beautiful day yesterday. My thoughts were filled to overflowing with good. The subject of them was the ten commandments, and the way that they are written, “Thou Shalt” not do this nor that. It is something that we must look into. How can people say that they are free moral agents when the commands are so imperative. I feel that when we begin to understand that we cannot break his commands then we go higher in the understanding of “Science”. Oh to get so high as to understand that there is no evil…..⁵

Eddy responded a few days later, with words of pleasure at hearing from Colman and supporting the idea that Colman would continue to grow in her understanding:

Your kind letter just rec’d I was pleased to hear from you and rejoiced at your report God grant you this view until the heavens open of Love that fulfilleth the law and you shall feel the sweet sense of loving even your enemies the sweet sense of patience that hath its perfect work — the sweet sense of God good with us that never turns to person for help but is the perfect Love casting out all fear the peace that floweth as a river the one and eternal reality of your being ….⁶

In other cases, Eddy’s students had yet to gain the desired insight and inspiration. This letter from Emma A. Thompson revealed her struggles to establish a healing practice. She wrote on October 25, 1886 to confide in Eddy:

… I’ve tried so hard always to follow your teachings and do as near right as I could but I cant tell any one the struggle I’ve made to rid my self of this so terrible terrible state of mind is it possible that I’m losing my mind?⁷

Eddy responded with kindness, speaking directly to the issue at hand: “Now remember dear, your cardinal points in Science viz that a lie is never true, Truth & Love are your only Life, substance and Intelligence or Mind and you cannot lose your true mMind any more than God can.”⁸

Although we do not have a response from Thompson to this particular letter, we know that a few weeks later she wrote to Eddy’s secretary Calvin Frye with a large order for Christian Science literature.⁹ Clearly, her Christian Science practice was carrying on.

In addition to responding to their specific concerns, Eddy also corresponded with her students to share guidance more generally on work necessary for a Christian Science healer. In a December 9, 1884, letter, she wrote to Noyes:

… Now quit every feeling of being wronged, of hate, envy, jealousy or revenge, if ever you had any such feelings Silence all lust of the flesh and pride of human life Think right and you will heal and none can hinder you…. ¹⁰

Eddy expressed a similar sentiment in an October 7, 1886, letter to Colman, counseling her that taking an annual class would not promote the most growth in Christian Science but rather “to search your own nature and see what is unlike the true likeness and eradicate it.”¹¹

To this end, Eddy saw the expression of humility as important in the growth of a Christian Science healer. Maria B. C. Newcomb wrote on July 2, 1886, conveying her interest in Christian Science and desire to take Eddy’s class. She also indicated concern that she was not up to the task:

… I have the deepest interest in this Science, and the most intense longing to sit at your feet and learn of you these grand beautiful Truths. But at the same time I am haunted by the fear that I am not equal to it, It seems to my weak undeveloped mind so vast and immeasurable.

 

Perhaps I could gather up a few crumbs, and even with these I might be content …. ¹²

Despite Newcomb’s apprehension, Eddy responded that she was in quite the right mental state to take a class soon:

… I am deeply interested in the state of your mind described in your letter. It is by humility that mortals reach the exaltation of understanding God, as in Christian Science. I hope when you get this you will immediately write me that you will join my Class in early Autumn–– ….¹³

This exchange contrasted with correspondence Eddy had around the same time with her student Malinda J. Lancaster, who wrote on July 26, 1886:

Cannot you have a class about the 1^st of Sep or a little sooner, & let me know by the 10^th of Aug- if you are willing to take me in it. I feel that you must & will, & you will have the goodness of heart & merciful judgment to push me through the normal class also…. ¹⁴

A note at the bottom of the letter indicates that Eddy did not feel Lancaster was ready for her class yet and should first study with Lancaster’s sister, M. Bettie Bell (a student of Eddy). Lancaster took great offense, writing back in a heated tone. Eventually Bell persuaded Eddy to teach her sister. For her part, Lancaster began to take a more humble view of her readiness to grow in understanding Christian Science. She sent a contrite letter to Eddy on August 22, 1886 ¹⁵, before entering Eddy’s Primary class eight days later.

When she corresponded a little over a month later, Eddy emphasized the importance of humility, a quality that Lancaster was evidently gaining in her healing practice: “We shall never know our strength until it be put to the test and then His strength is made perfect in our weakness and we learn from humility the might of divine Truth and Love.”¹⁶

Lancaster replied on October 11:

Your words are very encouraging and I hope “Our heavenly Father” will always make me feel that I am equal to His requirements.

 

I have several cases that the Dr’s consider hopeless, & I consider hopeful. I am so entirely satisfied with what you have taught me, and by your teaching am learning every day, that I have no hesitency to take any case….¹⁷

Such tender exchanges between Eddy and her students reveal the trusting and caring relationships they shared. Her students’ trust and forthrightness allowed her to speak directly to their specific needs in warm, uplifting ways. This correspondence reminds us of a passage from Eddy’s book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:

The tender word and Christian encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience with his fears and the removal of them, are better than hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame with divine Love.¹⁸

Eddy hoped that, through her mentoring, her students would ultimately find the confidence to successfully carry forward their own practices, bringing to the fore the qualities of thought that she had stressed as essential for healing. Indeed, all of the women mentioned here went on to have lifelong careers in Christian Science.

Please note: Quoted references in our “From the Papers” article series reflect the original documents. For this reason they may include spelling mistakes and edits made by the authors. In instances where a mark or edit is not easily represented in quoted text, a deletion or insertion may be made silently.