[We are glad to publish the following splendid tribute to woman, to her place and achievements in Christian history, and to our Leader's fitness, by virtue of being a woman, as well as by her spiritual attainments, for the great work she has been called upon to do. The value of woman's work and influence is steadily gaining recognition, and it is time that her true place in the realm of moral and spiritual thought should be clearly understood and defined. The accuracy of the Senator's statement in its historical features proves him to be a close student, and his estimate of the legitimacy of Mrs. Eddy's leadership is sustained by the facts to which he refers.—]
A Short time ago a Christian lady wrote me a letter expressing great surprise and deep regret that I had found anything of interest in Christian Science, and especially surprise that a man could interest himself in a movement which recognized a woman as its Founder and Leader. We often encounter this criticism, and while a criticism may be absolutely false it yet serves one purpose; namely, of giving the viewpoint of the critic.
The stronger a man is in all that makes for real manhood the more ready he is to recognize and give credit to the influence of womanhood—that of mother, wife, sister, daughter—for all there is in him worth crediting to anybody, save that in him which is to be credited to Deity. We contemplate the force of man in the concrete and view with admiration its achievements which constitute human progress, but we must remember that this force, great as it is and splendid as are its achievements, only reflects the character and strength of the individual units which compose it, and recognizing the influence of womanhood upon the individual we readily recognize its relation to human progress. Not only this, but woman holds a peculiar relation to Christianity in her devotion and loyalty to Christ Jesus. In his labors and trials she was unfaltering in her faith, and was the first to know of his triumph. Not only this, but she bears a peculiar relation to the early history of the Church. Historians ascribe the difference between the sickly churches established in Asia, and especially the one at Jerusalem, and the strong churches established in Europe, to the difference between the weak and somewhat ceremonial James and the sturdy and practical Paul; but there is always a cause beneath the surface, and the comparison between James and Paul does not furnish the real reason, because Paul with all his strength and wonderful grasp of the spiritual was unable to establish churches in Asia with the strength and vigor of those he established in Greece. In Greece at that time, in strong contrast to the condition in Asia, women were not only free to yield acquiescence to the new faith, but were free to, and in many instances did, become co-laborers with Paul, becoming a potent force in the establishment and maintenance of the churches which kept Christianity alive during the first century. The Church soon became a great power, and as a factor in history, by its teachings and its opposition to monarchial power, awoke mankind from the deathlike slumber of forty-five centuries and gave men their first concept of political and civil liberties. For a thousand years it held in check the ambitions of kings and emperors to re-establish a dominion which had held the world in its thraldom, with but one notable interim, from the dawn of history to the final overthrow of the empire.
