Herbert Eustace and “The Litigation”

Herbert Eustace was one of three Trustees of the Publishing Society that Mrs. Eddy appointed under the Deed of Trust when she set up the publishing as an independent trust — independent of the church. The church had its Board of Directors, and the Publishing Trust had its three Trustees.

It was after Mrs. Eddy passed that the Board of Directors of the church decided to take action to control the Publishing Trustees. That was when they approached the three Trustees and began the process of taking control of the Publishing Society. But, since the Trustees of the Publishing Society knew that Mrs. Eddy intended for it to continue to be independent, they did not bow down to that desire of the Board of Directors of the church. That is when the Directors began a lawsuit to take control of the publishing, and that litigation caused a huge rift within the Christian Science movement. A large number of Christian Scientists gave up their membership, and left the church as a result of that litigation, because it was so unprincipled and so wrong.

Mr. Eustace, as one of the Trustees, helped to fight for the independence, which is what Mrs. Eddy intended. When they lost, some of the Publishing Trustees resigned and others were excommunicated, and any church member who supported the independent Trust was also excommunicated, including quite a few practitioners and teachers.

As we read in the introduction of his book, instead of becoming angry or resentful, Mr. Eustace wrote that his excommunication was basically his freedom — being set free from the ecclesiastical despotism that he would have been under had he not been excommunicated. He went on to become a very popular and successful practitioner and teacher, and continued to travel around the country to give talks to groups who invited him, because he was so well respected.

Why is it important to understand the history of the church, and why that organization is as it is today? Just as the history of our country is being rewritten so that our youths are being misled, the same is true about the Christian Science movement. It would perpetuate a lie not to have the truth clearly stated.