if he had thought of it. He came
near thinking of it, for he mentions some of the subdivisions himself:
"the 12 kinds of Presbyterians, the 17 kinds of Methodists, the 13 kinds
of Baptists, etc." He overlooked the 12 kinds of Mennonites and the 22
kinds of Lutherans, but they are in Rev. Mr. Carroll's list. Altogether,
76 splits under 5 flags. The Literary Digest (February 14th) is pleased
with Mr. Lindh's optimistic article, and also with the signs of the
times, and perceives that "the idea of Church unity is in the air."
Now, then, is not Mrs. Eddy profoundly wise in forbidding, for all time,
all explanations of her religion except such as she shall let on to be
her own?
I think so. I think there can be no doubt of it. In a way, they will be
her own; for, no matter which member of her clerical staff shall furnish
the explanations, not a line of them will she ever allow to be printed
until she shall have approved it, accepted it, copyrighted it, cabbaged
it. We may depend on that with a four-ace confidence.
CHAPTER VII.
THE NEW INFALLIBILITY
All in proper time Mrs. Eddy's factory will take hold of that
Commandment, and explain it for good and all. It may be that one member
of the shift will vote that the word "all" means all; it may be that ten
members of the shift will vote that "all" means only a percentage; but
it is Mrs. Eddy, not the eleven, who will do the deciding. And if she
says it is percentage, then percentage it is, forevermore--and that
is what I am expecting, for she doesn't sell all herself, nor any
considerable part of it, and as regards the poor, she doesn't declare
any dividend; but if she says "all" means all, then all it is, to the
end of time, and no follower of hers will ever be allowed to reconstruct
that text, or shrink it, or inflate it, or meddle with it in any way at
all. Even to-day--right here in the beginning--she is the sole person
who, in the matter of Christian Science exegesis, is privileged to
exploit the Spiral Twist. The Christian world has two Infallibles now.
Of equal power? For the present only. When Leo XIII. passes to his rest
another Infallible will ascend his throne; others, and yet others, and
still others will follow him, and be as infallible as he, and decide
questions of doctrine as long as they may come up, all down the far
future; but Mary Baker G. Eddy is the only Infallible that will ever
occupy the Science throne. Many a Science Pope will suc
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