Helen M. Wright

Mary Baker Eddy

A New Look At Her Place in Bible Prophecy
(And Its Deep Meaning For These Crisis-Ridden Times)

Dear Reader: In explanation of the few pages that might come loose: Six years ago when Boston attorneys threatened to sue because a copyright was claimed on the beautiful Bliss Knapp material, the writer removed the “offending” pages and pasted in substitute pages. The glue is not holding up. But this may eventually add to the book's value.

© Copyright Helen M. Wright 1980ISBN 0-9604648-0-8

Dedication: This book is lovingly dedicated to the spiritually-minded reader, to the pure in heart, and in particular to: Bill, Anna, Zoltan, Grace, Marie, Francie, Rookie, Kathleen, Johnny, both Margies, Juliann, Tommy, Rocky, Sally, Jackie, Bessie, Elsie, Florence, Tina, Billy, and Diane with whom I (as the Moderator) held regular meetings for over two decades, and with whom I have had an unbroken friendship stretching over more than four decades.

Acknowledgments: Gratitude and appreciation is expressed—To my husband Bill, who encouraged me to write this book and assisted in many ways.— To John W. Doorly of London, England, who as early as 1916 began to glimpse the working of the system in the textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy—”the system that she denominated Christian Science.” Since 1945 Doorly and the illustrious students who have followed the same line have published over one hundred books and pamphlets explaining the system of Christian Science which Mrs. Eddy embodied in the textbook.— To Richard Oakes for making available to the world—in his two books: Essays and Other Footprints, and Divinity Course and General Collectanea— some of the Gilbert C. Carpenter, Jr. Collection of the wonderful Mary Baker Eddy teachings not contained in her published writings.— To Ralph Geradi, who for over half a century has been a true and trusted friend of the Christian Science movement, and has filled a unique and special part in God's plan.—To International Metaphysical Association, Inc., for their generous and faithful world-wide support of the pure Science of Christian Science activities, and their wholehearted support in the publication of this work.

Foreword
Mary Baker Eddy, the Revelator to this age, can be known and understood only through her writings. To Scientists who are seeing that the textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, reveals their true identity as coexistent and coeternal with God, Mrs. Eddy's name, like the name of Jesus, becomes ever more sacred. Her God-appointed mission to complete the works of Christ Jesus on earth—to discover the grandeur of divine Science and to found it in human consciousness—was sublimely consummated. She revealed humanity's oneness with God, the one Mind and divine Principle, Love. She showed us that what Jesus did individually each one of us can and must do, so that man generically is found to be God's image and likeness.

Jesus offered the highest proofs of divine Love, but his hearers understood neither his words nor his works. History repeated itself in the reception given Mary Baker Eddy, and in 1893 she pointed out to her most advanced students that “for the world to understand me in my true light and life would do more for the Cause than aught else could. This I learn from the fact that the enemy tries harder to hide these two things from the world than to win any other points. Also Jesus' life and character in their first appearing were treated in like manner. And I regret to see that loyal students are not more awake to this great demand in their measures to meet the enemies' tactics” (Divinity Course and General Collectanea, hereinafter abbreviated to “DCC,” p. 111. See Appendix).

The central theme of these seminars is, first, to show Mary Baker Eddy's place in Bible prophecy; and second, to show that Mrs. Eddy as Revelator, Discoverer, Founder, and Demonstrator of divine Science, laid the foundations in human consciousness that are ushering in a totally new structure of consciousness. Then as Isaiah said: “unto us a child is born.”

Because of the world's gross materialism and its utter lack of mental preparedness to receive a spiritual revelation of the magnitude of that which came to Mary Baker Eddy in the year 1866, she had to veil this Science of the Christ, this spiritual leaven, in her textbook. Much of her highest teaching is cloaked in mystical symbolism. She hid it in such a way as to require growth in spiritual understanding before her meaning could be understood.

While a great deal has unfolded in the seventy years since Mrs. Eddy left us in person, it may require the entire seven-thousand year period, or the next millennium to fully disclose to humanity as a whole what is contained in the textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, and its solution for all humanity's woes.

To make available to others our research and our glimpses of the meaning of this mystical symbolism, as well as to call attention to Mrs. Eddy's place in scriptural prophecy, has been the objective in recording these class Sessions. The Sessions are based on Mrs. Eddy's statement: “Those who look for me in person, or elsewhere than in my writings, lose me instead of find me” (My. 120:2). We find Mary Baker Eddy in her writings as well as in scriptural prophecy as “The woman,” whom Jerimaiah (31:22) said would, “compass a man,” meaning she would teach all that Jesus had proved to be true, and bring the second coming of the Christ,” “the Comforter.”-Helen WrightAutumn 1979

Explanatory Notes:
Many of the explanations brought out by the students in these Sessions can be found in the writings of ALICE ORGAIN and other early recorders of the life and teaching of Mary Baker Eddy.

Italics not appearing in the original are sometimes used in quotations, not to emphasize, but to identify that portion of the quote directly applicable to the point under discussion.

Abbreviations for the titles of Mrs. Eddy's writings are those used in the Concordance to (Miscellaneous Writings and Works Other than Science and Health.)

References to Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy are shown in parenthesis, e.g. (464:12).

EOF and DCC:

EOF is the abbreviation for Essays and Other Footprints

DCC is the abbreviation for Divinity Course and General Collectanea.

Spelling of fulfil and fulfilment, practice and practise is in conformity with Mrs. Eddy's spelling.

CONTENTS

PART I: MARY BAKER EDDY'S DIVINELY
PROPHESIED MISSION

PART II: MRS. EDDY FOREVER FOUND IN HER WRITING SESSION

APPENDIX

PART I: MARY BAKER EDDY'S DIVINELY PROPHESIED MISSION

SESSION 1: GOD'S MESSENGERS

INTRODUCTORY

Moderator: In this present series of seminars we are going to look at Mary Baker Eddy in a new way. We will see her not as an individual but as the fulfilment of the prophecies regarding her that run through both the Old and New Testament. These prophecies culminate in Jesus' prophecy to St. John concerning the woman of the Apocalypse who was to bring the Comforter Jesus had promised in chapters 14, 15, and 16 of St. John's Gospel.

This Comforter, Divine Science, enables man to become aware of his perfect completeness as an ever-present fact. The woman in the Apocalypse who symbolizes generic man (561:22) brings forth a “man child,” called Science and Health. In the sixteenth to the fiftieth editions of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy identifies herself unmistakably with the woman of the Apocalypse.

What does this tell us?

The woman of the Apocalypse, who symbolizes generic man, “weds” her own “man child,” Science and Health. This simply means that the Mind, God, that wrote Science and Health is wedded to the truth expressed in that “precious volume.”

Jesus prophesied that the Comforter, Divine Science—all that the woman of the Apocalypse stands for—would reveal to you all things, would teach you all things, and would bring to your remembrance all things that he had said. Jesus further stated that he had yet many things he would like to say unto his disciples, “but ye cannot bear them now [it would take nineteen centuries of spiritual growth before men would be ready for his 'second coming'.] Howbeit when he, the spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. . . .” (See John 14, and 16.)

Tommy: Jesus was speaking for all mankind, and was foreseeing the time when the “spirit of Truth,” the Comforter, Divine Science, would lead man, generically (meaning all mankind), to be the Son of God. He foresaw the time when everyone on earth would have the same understanding of God that he had

Moderator: Yes, Tommy, Jesus called himself the “bridegroom” (John 3:29). He could call himself the bridegroom because he had “wedded” himself to divine Science, meaning he understood Divine Science and practised it.

Bessie: In this biblical symbolism, who would the “bride” be?

Moderator: The Mind of Christ, the Mind that wrote Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, would be the Bride. The Bride is the Science that explains how Jesus performed his works, and how each one of us can do what Jesus did, and do even greater works. (As we continue with these Sessions all these symbols Mrs. Eddy uses in Science and Health such as “Bride,” “Bridegroom,” “Father,” “Mother,” “woman of the Apocalypse,” “wilderness woman,” “man child,” and many other symbols, will become quite clear. As in any other subject, patience and a desire to understand are the prime requisites.)

Kathleen: Then this would be why Mrs. Eddy can equate herself with the woman of the Apocalypse as she so unmistakably did in former editions of Science and Health?

Moderator: Yes, Kathleen. And as she unmistakably does in our present edition on page 565 where she states that while the impersonation of the spiritual idea had but a brief history in the earthly life of Jesus, of his kingdom there shall be no end. This immaculate idea, she says, “represented first by man,” meaning by Jesus, and represented “last by woman,” meaning by Mary Baker Eddy, will “baptize with fire; . . .”

There are many other passages in her writings in which, when we look with spiritual sense, we have no difficulty grasping the fact that Mrs. Eddy very definitely identifies her mission with what is symbolized by the God-crowned woman.

Science and Health is the “little book” with which the God-crowned woman is pregnant. In Revelation 12:5 this “little book” is referred to as “a man child”: “And she brought forth a man child…” This man child is TRUTH, which Mary Baker brought to this age. It is the second coming of the Christ. This second coming of the Christ is destined to lift man out of the belief of mortality and into his native province as one with God.

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is the whole Word of God. It encompasses the Bible. Through the “system” Science and Health contains, it is a full and final revelation of God's nature and of man's nature as God's reflection. This revelation, being a Science, will unfold forever, since “God expresses in man the infinite idea forever developing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from a boundless basis” (258:13).

Francie: It is this wonderful revelation, then, that is equated with “the Lord God Almighty” in Revelation 21:22 (576:8), isn't it?

Moderator: Yes, Francie, it is the revelation and the founding of it in human consciousness that is equated with “the Lord God Almighty”—the revelation and all it signifies and entails, and its complete assimilation by humanity.

We can see, therefore, that Mary Baker Eddy's consciousness must be Spirit since “Spirit is the only substance and consciousness recognized by divine Science” (278:4). Spiritual consciousness enabled Mary Baker Eddy to receive this profound revelation even as it will enable us to receive revelation. So it is the God-consciousness of Mary Baker Eddy that is equated with the “Bride” of Revelation, as well as with the woman of the Apocalypse, as we shall see.

The important thing to remember as we progress with these Sessions is that Jesus manifested the idea of the fatherhood of God and Mary Baker Eddy manifested the motherhood of God. Through her discovery of divine Science—as its Revelator and Demonstrator and her founding of it in human consciousness—Mrs. Eddy revealed God's motherhood character. This means that she revealed divine Love. It is only through divine Love that man, generically—meaning all mankind, humanity as a whole—can become the Son of God, as is divinely prophesied in the symbol of the woman of the Apocalypse. Becoming the Son of God means the ushering in of divine brotherhood, or divine unity. There can only be true individuality when individuality rests upon this Christ Science, because this Christ Science shows God (Principle) to be the only creator and the Father of all, the divine Principle of all. This means that every individual consciousness reflects its divine Principle, Love, and via Principle, reflects every other consciousness, which also reflects the living love of its divine Principle. This is the “unity” of divine Love. Love is the Principle of unity, and there can be no true unity without it.

Who would like to add something regarding Jesus' prophecy to St. John about the woman of the Apocalypse, and how Mary Baker Eddy fulfilled that prophecy?

Anna: Mrs. Eddy introduced a totally new way of looking at God. She discovered divine Science which is a completely new Science that shows the nature of God. Her discovery was a Science that explained God, or Being. She explained Principle and Principle's universe as God presented it to her, discarding once and for all the viewpoint of conventional religion. Therefore if we want to be Scientists we too must start with God Principle, and leave the ruts of human thinking and reasoning.

In her reasoning Mrs. Eddy always started with God, Principle, and never left God's standpoint. This approach was totally new. Religion had always started with man and consequently arrived at a man-like God. But, as the woman of the Apocalypse, Mrs. Eddy had to start with God and never leave God's standpoint. She wasn't the woman of the Apocalypse only from 1866 to 1910 but for all time, and when we understand that Mary Baker Eddy is the woman of the Apocalypse, we no longer have a fleshly person or a time sense. “Mrs. Eddy” and “the woman of the Apocalypse” are just different names for the same sense, but neither of them is a person. What Mrs. Eddy wrote was the woman of the Apocalypse writing it; what Mrs. Eddy brought was the woman of the Apocalypse bringing it. The woman of the Apocalypse is just a symbol for what Mrs. Eddy brought to the world. Mary Baker Eddy is the name God uses to give Science and Health to the world. Science and Health shows the Science behind Jesus' startling and yet natural demonstrations and examples as God's Principle’s personal representative.

Moderator: Note to the reader: In Part I of this book Mrs. Eddy is introduced, and the reader is shown how and why, because of personal viewpoints, she was lost to many—to those who saw her only as another mortal—just as Jesus was lost to those who saw him only as the son of Joseph and Mary.

In Part II Mrs. Eddy is found.

Part I shows the logical growth from the idea of wonderful and creative persons to the certainty of one all-responsible Person. Through the evidence presented, the most materially-minded inquirer would be forced to admit that Mary Baker Eddy was not an ordinary person—in fact Mrs. Eddy would be “lost” if she were confined to the ordinary sense of “persons.” The inquirer is led to see that Mary Baker Eddy had to be the way God was appearing to so-called material, personal, thought—first as a scribe of thought contained in a book, and finally as the God-offering that embraces and closes the book when its contents have been assimilated and man finds himself as God's own image and likeness. The reader finds himself as “incooporial, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love, of which man is the image and likeness.

PROPHECY INVOLVES FAITH

Moderator: Our subject for today is Mary Baker Eddy's place in Bible prophecy. Prophecy involves the genius of faith. Why is faith important?

Anna: It's important because what Mrs. Eddy discovered is unseen to the physical senses. Through the Science and system presented in the Christian Science textbook, she has given us the method whereby we can, individually, receive revelation direct from God divine Principle, in the same way she did.

Unequivocally she teaches that man is not a corporeal being, but is an infinite spiritual calculus of divine ideas, always bringing forth new revelations of goodness and perfection.

A doctrine as radical as this, that can in no way be compromised with the evidence of the five physical senses, must at first be accepted on faith since mortals are prone to believe only what they are aware of through sense testimony and what they have been taught to believe. The false testimony of the eye tells us the sun rises and sets. Until recently we had to accept on faith what natural science had discovered to be the fact about the earth's daily rotation.

Bill: Faith is important because it is the open door to learning in any subject. If I want to learn music I accept on faith that learning the seven notes: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, (do), will pave the way to my eventually understanding music. If I want to understand and use arithmetic, I accept on faith that learning the four basic functions: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, is essential. To acquire reading skill, I accept on faith that learning the alphabet is a necessary first step.

Dawning of Spiritual Realities in Faith

Sally: I like to think of the faith our great inventors had, and the faith that people like Charles Lindberg had when he flew the Atlantic, and the faith our spacemen had, more recently, when they journeyed to the moon.

Mrs. Eddy says that spiritual realities dawn in faith and then glow full-orbed in spiritual understanding. (298:3) [This is so because as Jesus taught, “the kingdom of God is within you.”]

Francie: You might say that faith is that element of intelligence that enables divinity to reach humanity. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Through faith, patience and persistence we inherit the promises of our union with God. As we strive to enter the kingdom of heaven we constantly turn away from material sense and look toward the imperishable realities of Spirit. (21:9)

In Hebrews we read, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (11:3).

Moderator: We have seen how valuable and indispensable faith is. Now let's look a little more closely at Mrs. Eddy's place in Bible prophecy.

Why is it important to be aware of Mrs. Eddy's place in Bible prophecy?

Kathleen: If we know her place in Bible prophecy it is a great aid to our understanding, because as has been pointed out, we accept spiritual realities on faith before we completely understand them. Moses was appointed to lead the people out of darkness. In order to lead them, he had to evoke their faith and allegiance.

God's Messengers Mistakenly Seen As Mere Mortals

Moderator: Jesus had difficulty persuading his followers that he had a message straight from God, just as Mrs. Eddy had the same difficulty nineteen centuries later when she came to complete his work on earth, and fulfill Jeremiah’s prophecy: “A woman shall co-pass a man” which Mary Baker Eddy did in the great divine revelation that came to her.

The disciples and others saw Jesus as the son of the local carpenter. This is why they were tempted to forsake and deny him at the crucifixion. Jesus had to arouse them from this spiritual ignorance. Both before and after the crucifixion he continually drew their attention to his role in Bible prophecy, to the part he was to play in God's plan of salvation.

In the conversations he had with his followers, after his resurrection, we are shown, unmistakably, the importance he placed on their seeing his role in scriptural prophecy.

Anna: That they had not taken Jesus seriously is implied in St. John's report of the conversation between Jesus and Mary Magdalen (John 20:15-17) and in John's statement: “for as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead” (John 20:9). But Jesus refused to be defeated in his life-mission, and he instructed Mary Magdalen, “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17).

So Mary Magdalen alerted the disciples. Had she not done so, they might not have been receptive enough to recognize him. Their unbelief might have shut him out, since they were absolutely convinced he was dead. The crucifixion and death of Jesus caused the disciples and his other followers to doubt his teachings. On the walk to Emmaus, even though they had been alerted by Mary Magdalen, they were still questioning his Messiahship—they “reasoned.” They were uncomprehending. It was then that Jesus saw the need of defending his mission, so he “drew near and went with them,” and expounded in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:15-16). His renewed explanations, together with all that had happened, finally opened their eyes. They saw Jesus' true identity as portrayed in Bible prophecy, and they were never again tempted to forsake his teaching or be disloyal.

It is the same with Mary Baker Eddy and her teaching. She explained her place in Bible prophecy, just as Jesus had explained his. She was not just another religious leader. She was commissioned by God, divine Love, to bring the promised Comforter, and complete the works of Christ Jesus on earth.

Moderator: We look for Mary Baker Eddy not only in her writings but also in the many prophecies and references to her coming found in the Bible.

John the Baptist had been quick to recognize Jesus as the Lamb of God, but not so the chief priests and elders who were always trying to trick Jesus into saying something for which they could condemn him. When the elders asked him by what authority he did his mighty works, he questioned them about John the Baptist whom the people loved. (Matt. 21:24-27) He didn't tell them anything. He had the wisdom to let his heaven-bestowed authority remain a mystery to them. Mrs. Eddy did the same. Jesus and Mrs. Eddy both knew that spiritual things must be spiritually discerned.

We are today being asked if Mrs. Eddy's teachings are from heaven or of men. Mrs. Eddy knew her teaching was from God, that she was fulfilling Bible prophecy, but she also knew that the less said about it in her lifetime the better. Unwise talk about it only stirred up her enemies to heap on her more scorn, envy, reviling, and hate. This led her, when dealing with enemies, as for instance in the Woodbury lawsuit (according to Bliss Knapp), to advise her lawyers to convince the court that “a little white-haired old lady couldn't possibly be the woman of the Apocalypse.” Mrs. Eddy did this to offset the enemies' charges, and circumvent their sly maneuvers to discredit her divine mission.

Again, in her diversionary tactics, she calls attention to the woman spoken of in the twelfth chapter of Revelation as prefiguring no special individuality, but as just symbolic of purity much as the Statue of Liberty is symbolic, and doesn't represent any particular man or woman. While this is true in one respect, we could say the same thing regarding Micah's prophecy of Jesus (chapter 5:2) made many centuries before Jesus appeared; or Isaiah's prophecy (chapter 53) or any of the prophecies referring specifically to Jesus.

When something Mrs. Eddy had to say as a temporary defense strategy for the protection of her founding mission—or when she is reported to have said this or that—if it conflicts with what she said in Science and Health, all loyal Christian Scientists will adhere to, and honor, what Mrs. Eddy wrote in Science and Health. In her chapter, The Apocalypse, Mrs. Eddy makes it clear to the discerning reader that St. John's revelation concerned her mission to complete the work of Christ Jesus on earth; and that the God-crowned woman and the wilderness woman symbolize her two-fold mission: first, of receiving the revelation—that is, making the discovery—and second, founding it in human consciousness. But it must be clear that in equating Mrs. Eddy with the woman of the Apocalypse we do so in consonance with her statement that looking for her elsewhere than in her writings would mean losing her instead of finding her. (My. 120:2) Equating Mrs. Eddy with the woman of the Apocalypse is revolutionary. It will be repeated many times. All students must clearly understand that what is equated with the woman of the Apocalypse (who symbolizes generic man) is the God-Mind with which Mrs. Eddy is identified. When Peter correctly identified Jesus, saying, “Thou art the Christ,” it was the teachings of Jesus he was referring to, and not the personal Jesus. When we speak of Mary Baker Eddy in the same way, it is her writing and teaching that we are identifying as the Christ, not her physical personality. As a human personality, Mrs. Eddy counted herself as the weakest of mortals, but as the Discoverer and Founder of Divine Science she knew she was the bone and sinew of the world.

Mrs. Eddy Recognized As Prophesied Woman Of Apocalypse

Margie: Carolyn D. Noyes, an early student of Mary Baker Eddy, states that a distinguishing feature of Mrs. Eddy's students and loyal followers, and of her faithful Normal teachers, was that they recognized Mrs. Eddy to be the woman St. John prophesies in Revelation XII. They recognized that the “little book” spoken of in a previous chapter of Revelation is Science and Health, because the “angel” thought, meaning the Mind of Mary Baker Eddy, that brought the book, declared there should be time no longer. Only Science and Health brings such a message; it reveals the unreality of mortal mind and of all that goes with mortal mind, and time belongs to mortal mind. Just as in mathematics where 2x2=4 has nothing to do with time.

Mrs. Eddy's Science and her spiritual interpretation of the Bible insure the understanding that time is a mortal element. The city foursquare appearing at the end of the Bible is a view of timeless reality, which impels the journey from sense to Soul, until God's kingdom is revealed as ever-present, and time and mortality “fall into oblivion, 'unknelled, uncoffined, unknown' “ (441:11).

“Mrs. Eddy's loyal students knew that Truth, Christ, would come by the woman—by the woman St. John prophesies in Revelation XII. Mrs. Eddy's loyal students,” writes Mrs. Noyes, “knew that no mortal could have been instrumental in the coming of Christian Science; they knew that the ‘little book’ must be in accordance with the prophecy, “the seed of the woman.” They recognized that the “little book,” Science and Health, makes it clear that the unity of the male and female as two individual natures in one, was the divinely united spiritual consciousness that perfectly reflects God. In this consciousness there is no impediment to eternal bliss, and this divinely united spiritual consciousness is the central theme of Science and Health. “In so believing,” states Mrs. Noyes, “they recognize the only true Leader in Mrs. Eddy, the Revelator, the Discoverer and Founder of the Christ, Truth; and they recognized Science as containing the whole undivided Truth that is saving the world. They consider it an altogether sacred book, as prophesied by St. John; and they feel confident by the results of their work in casting out error and healing all manner of discord that it is the Word of God, and it will save all who trust in it; they see in it a continuation and confirmation of Jesus' teaching” [Miscellaneous Documents Relating to Christian Science], p. 277. See Appendix).

Moderator: It seems clear that if the world is to receive the message Mrs. Eddy brought then it must have the right evaluation of the messenger. All Christian Scientists know that the advent of Jesus was the “first coming” of the Christ, and they are just as convinced that Mary Baker Eddy's discovery of divine Science and the founding of it in human consciousness as Christian Science, fulfilled the prophecy of the “second coming.” Both the Old and New Testaments supply ample biblical authority for the conviction that Mrs. Eddy was God's messenger. She was the woman who was to take the leaven of Spirit and Truth and hide it in a right interpretation of Science, Theology, and Medicine until the whole lump of mortal error—the material theoretical life-basis—yielded to the spiritual and divine Principle, and the whole earth was transformed by Truth. One God can have only one whole divine and perfect reflection. This one whole divine and perfect reflection is generic man—the Christ.

Mrs. Eddy's prophetic role must be understood, not for her glorification, but simply because seeing her as God's representative to this age is a necessary step to seeing Truth correctly. If we look for Mary Baker Eddy in her writings (My. 120:2) then the name Mary Baker Eddy is synonymous with this one whole divine and perfect reflection, or generic man, the Christ. But Mary Baker Eddy is not synonymous with the divine reflection or generic man if we look at her as a person, a human personality. Restoring Mrs. Eddy to her rightful status in world consciousness and thus retoring to Christian Science its temporary “lost element of healing,” stands as the Mary Baker Eddy Institute’s Holy Grail.

Christian Science Originating With God

Grace: Christian Science couldn't have been a human invention; it must have originated with God. Only by divine revelation could Mrs. Eddy have discovered the Science that is destined to revolutionize world thought and usher in the kingdom of heaven on earth.

Moderator: Yes, Understanding the healing Truth she discovered returns. Mary Baker Eddy, the Revelator, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science to the spiritual pinacle where she so rightfully belongs.

Mrs. Eddy always made sure her students understood that it was the truth revealed to her by divine Mind, and which found expression through her, that was the Leader of the Christian Science movement. It was never a corporeal personality.

Her discovery of Christian Science fulfilled prophecy, and Mrs. Eddy constantly endeavored to turn the thoughts of her followers away from herself as a human personality to the contemplation of the Science, the divine revelation, that had come from God to the world through her. She brought the Christ Science, “the divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error” (583:10).

There is an article by Mrs. Eddy explaining the scientific phenomenon of individual being as the final outcome of the life more abundant. In it she said:

Jesus' mission on earth was to show by demonstration that there is no corporeal personality, no sickness, no sin, no death.

According to Christian Science, the word “person” means divinity, not humanity. This Science teaches that there is absolutely no such thing as physical personality. The incarnation (or fleshly environment) of Jesus was intended to illustrate the process by which physicality (or so-called material personality) is diminished—that proportionately as the human mind is spiritualized, physical personality decreases, until it finally disappears, as Jesus vanished in the ascension.

Jesus' work was individual, and can never be repeated. His reappearing must be impersonal. His second coming must be as an idea, not as corporeality. The second coming must present, not mind as incarnated in matter, or soul circled in the flesh, but a realization of Life, Truth, and Love in their spiritual signification, as set forth in the Scriptures and in Science and Health.

The mother who believes she gives, or can give, birth to a babe whose career will be an improvement upon that of Jesus—or will even reproduce his individuality—labors under a greater delusion than is found in the widely diffused doctrine concerning the second advent of Christ; because this [belief in a human personality] implies that the infinite can be embodied in the finite, and that there can be a material reappearance of what St. Paul calls 'the man Christ Jesus'; whereas the Savior proved that his growth was a progress upward and out of corporeality, into Spirit, not a retrogression downward, into the flesh. [Note: The belief that mortals are here to create othermortals is very strong. And it was the Chapter “Marriage” that saved the Cause. Mrs. Eddy did not want to teach today more than what the age has strength to bear. Jesus was crucified because he taught “death would never cease until ye women cease your child bearing; and “blessed are the wombs that never bear and the paps that never gave suck” Mrs. Eddy did not want to be crucifed so she wrote the Chapter Marriage.

“No mortal man or woman ever will, or ever can, take Jesus' place, or again fulfil his earthly mission. His work is already accomplished and needs no duplication. What will be developed through Christian Science, and is now unfolding itself, is the purer idea and spiritual manifestation of the Christ character in word and deed. The personal appearance of the Master was but once, and for all time.”

“The spiritually scientific phenomenon of individual being is the final outcome or result of the life more abundant which the Savior gave to the world in his demonstration of the unreality of what is called material personality, and his witness that the belief of any possible life, substance, and intelligence in or of matter is an illusion. He is simply mad who avers that a mortal and material man or woman is Deity, the divine Principle, or can be the divine idea. Such a blasphemous allegation, such a materialistic conjecture, such a misdirected imagination is anthropomorphic, and leads to atheism ...” (EOF. 23).

The Christ Character

Elsie: What would be “the Christ character” that Mrs. Eddy speaks of?

Margie: I think it would be those third degree qualities Mrs. Eddy writes of: “wisdom, purity, spiritual understanding, spiritual power, [love], health, holiness” (116:2). The more these become natural to us, the more the depraved and physical-unreality traits such as evil beliefs, passions and appetites, etc., are supplanted by the wonderful transitional qualities of humanity, honesty, affection, compassion, etc., which then again, in turn, lead us to the spiritual qualities of wisdom, purity, spiritual understanding, etc. (115-116)

Mrs. Eddy wanted Christian Scientists to look into their own hearts and turn upon themselves the magnifying lens of Truth that brings to light their errors. She felt that an unwise word or deed of ours is a shovelful of earth thrown upon the grave to which the enemies of our cause would consign Christian Science. We all must learn, when alone, to guard our thoughts, when struggling with mankind, our temper, when in society, our tongue. No reproof, she says, is as potent as the silent lesson of a good example. (Mis. 126:20) There is no limit on how fast we can go in reforming and transforming ourselves, but we should not attempt this too rapidly with our neighbor. “The warfare with one's self is grand. It gives one plenty of employment” (Mis. 118:25). It's a wise dog that scratches his own fleas.

Every minute we are faced with a choice of operating in the calculus of Spirit and Truth, or in the material calculus that counterfeits our divine identity and beingness, and leads only to death. The basis of Christian Science is love loving, returning good for evil; love that sufferith long, and is kind. This, Mrs. Eddy said, is the basis of Christian Science.

Sally: We must learn that Love alone is life. Learning this gives birth to the true man, to reality. Then individuality is universal in its expression and brings about collective salvation, the brotherhood of man. This divine brotherhood can only come about as we lay down the mortal belief of life, substance, and intelligence in matter, and so become one with our divine Principle. The Ego of each one of us is not in ourselves but in the divine Principle, God, from which our reflection, is inseparable. Remember, our Mind, being God, has a reflection or it wouldn’t be Mind.

The Transitional Qualities

Bessie: I sometimes get the feeling that many think they can succeed without what Mrs. Eddy calls “second degree” qualities (115:26), the “transitional” qualities, namely: humanity, honesty, affection, compassion, etc.

Moderator: Those who think that, will be turned sadly awry. These qualities are encompassed in the spiritual qualities of wisdom, purity, spiritual understanding, etc, that make up the Principle of our being. And this Principle of our being which encompasses the moral or “transitional” qualities is just as inexorable as the principle of mathematics. When we believe 2x2=5 we suffer from that error in our calculations until it is corrected. Mathematics isn't literature that needs only to be read; neither is Christian Science. Thinking to enter the kingdom of heaven without the “transitional” qualities of humanity, honesty, affection, compassion, etc., is like starting with the letter and thinking to succeed without the spirit. Life and Love demand that we work out our own salvation but this cannot be done without encompassing the “transitional” qualities, the moral qualities. Bringing to light the true man in place of the caricature presented by the senses means the culturing and incorporating of those wonderful transitional qualities in our daily life.

There can be no individuality divided from the divine Principle which includes the transitional qualities. True individuality is the reflection of divine Principle, Love, and must be integrated within the universal being of God. In reality we all come from the same source, so the transitional qualities are innate in us all.

The system of Christian Science enables each one of us to become individually self-governed, and to be a law unto ourselves. Imbibing the spirit and gaining a spiritual understanding of the order, diversification, categories, and system which constitute the Science of Christian Science is the Spirit itself, and makes the letter and Spirit one, and in this oneness the moral, the transitional qualities, are included.

The Bible And Mrs. Eddy

Tina: We have talked a lot about the Bible and about Jesus. What part did the Bible play in Mrs. Eddy's life work?

Florence: We know the Bible was a comfort to Mrs. Eddy during her entire life. After she discovered Christian Science she realized it had prophesied her coming, but the Bible was a closed book until God revealed its meaning to her seventeen years after the publication of Science and Health. It was not until 1883 in the sixth edition that she received the Key to the Scriptures.

I think even Christian Scientists tend to forget that at the time Mrs. Eddy brought the Comforter, Divine Science, the “Christian” conception of Jesus was very limited. Very little was taught of Jesus beyond a crucified Savior dying to appease an angry God who refused the world salvation without the shedding of blood—and that, literally. Further, it was generally believed that man's salvation depended only upon asking forgiveness in His name, etc. So we need only compare the world's concept of God and Jesus before the advent of Mary Baker Eddy in order to perceive how she has revolutionized the world's thinking on these subjects. She resurrected Jesus from a “crucified Lord” to “him, glorified.” She has indeed fulfilled Jesus' promise of the “Comforter” who would reveal all things.

Today, Christian Scientists, and the world in general, have become so accustomed to the higher concept of Jesus revealed by Mrs. Eddy, they scarcely remember what the “Christian” concept of Jesus was a century ago. But it will take much spiritualization of thought to understand all she has written. Centuries will elapse before the world generally becomes aware of what Mary Baker Eddy brought in fulfilling her mission as the second coming of the Christ. But that understanding will come and as we restore Mary Baker Eddy to her rightful status in world consciousness we will also restore the healing ability of Christian Scientists.

Tina: Mrs. Eddy loved her Bible, didn't she?

Moderator: Yes, Tina, all her life she went to it for comfort and guidance. She saw how genuine the Scriptures were. “The genuineness, in the main, of the Scriptures is that the views of their writers exposed them to suffering and violent deaths, and yet they held steadfastly to the facts which they recorded. Had they not been honest in their records they would have been men encountering great suffering in the maintenance of what they knew to be false and by immoral means attempting to establish a cross-bearing Christianity” (EOF. 49). Mrs. Eddy saw the Scriptures as an infallible guide when understood spiritually. She saw them as containing the truth of God and man, of Soul and body.

Victory Prophesied For Her Mission

Anna: Also, Mrs. Eddy loved the Scriptures because they testified of her and foretold her divine mission to complete the works of Christ Jesus on earth. This was a herculean task and, as we have seen, Mrs. Eddy stood absolutely alone, just as alone as Jesus had stood nineteen hundred years before. She had to begin where Jesus left off. Her great comfort was her Bible and its prophecy of the ultimate victory of her cause. She had nothing else to lean on. Her help had to come from God, from a higher than human source. No one on earth could know the burden Mrs. Eddy bore in carrying out the divine purpose dictated by God, namely, to find evil to be nothing and divine Love to be All, thus laying in human consciousness the foundations of heaven, through the Science and system embedded in the textbook, where it could be studied, pondered, and learned.

Juliann: Isaiah 54 is an instance where the Bible comfortingly prophesied victory for the Science Mrs. Eddy was to establish on earth: “Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed; neither be thou confounded; ... For thy Maker is thine husband; ... for the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit.... 0 thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.... In righteousness shalt thou be established.... No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.”

Micah, who prophesied the birthplace of Jesus, also prophesied of her that “travaileth”:

“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little ... yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel [ruler within each consciousness—each spiritual, divinely scientific consciousness] whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travalleth hath brought forth; then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel” (Micah 5:2, 3). Mrs. Eddy explains this verse as showing that the “Jesus thought” is the mediator between God (perfect Mind) and man (human mind), or we can say it is the link between the human and the divine. This “Jesus thought” must reign until it has put all enemies under its feet. (See I Cor. 15:25.) When all enemies have been put under its feet we reach Science (the Bride). In the great revelation that came to Mrs. Eddy in 1866 she glimpsed the fact that on the level of Science itself everything is perfect now; everything is God, Mind, Principle and His reflection—“the moon was under her feet”—hence there is then no longer a need for a mediator between God and God's own reflection of Himself. But until Science itself is understood and demonstrated, Christian Science, absolute Christian Science, and divine Science are here to guide us into a spiritual divinely scientific consciousness that knows no evil. As the Master said, “He [Christian Science] shall glorify me.”

Bill: Mrs. Eddy needed every bit of encouragement the Bible could give her. This was especially true in the early years when no student remained loyal for very long. In October of 1876 she wrote Daniel Harrison Spofford, “The mercury of my mind is rising as the world's temperature of thought heats up and the little book ‘sweet in the mouth’ but severe and glorious in its proof, is about to go forth…But, my student, in my lonely chamber I read the coming storm. I feel it gathering…I feel like a tired and wounded soldier of the cross, taken to the rear; but my wounds are enlivening my soldiers, I do believe; if so, God give me more—and teach me all I need—and make me more of a blessing; poor, weak and unworthy, on one hand, august and glorious on the other! Pray for me, dear student.” (Preserved in Alice Orgain Library.)

Mrs. Eddy Laying Her Own Foundations

Moderator:Before Mrs. Eddy could show that Jesus was demonstrating a Principle she had to lay her own foundations. As the Bride-consciousness, she had to bring her foundations with her from heaven, just as though there had never existed such a person as the Galilean Prophet (My. 318:31). The foundations she laid were revealed to her by God, divine Principle; therefore in her writings she shows that Jesus was demonstrating a Principle. The works he did had no more to do with his personality than if he had been a great mathematician demonstrating the principle of mathematics. Our ability to demonstrate mathematics has nothing to do with our so-called physical body; it only has to do with learning and understanding the principle of mathematics. To those who understand the mission of the Comforter, the name Mary Baker Eddy is synonymous with divine Principle, Love. (See My. 120:2.)

Anna: So we can see in fulfilling Jesus' promise that the Comforter would reveal all things, Mrs. Eddy actually had to lay her own foundations because the teaching of Jesus had largely been lost, and its Principle had never been understood. The Bible, through material interpretation, had become a valley of dry bones. (See Ezekiel 37.) Mary Baker Eddy's work was to regenerate the dry bones of the Bible-symbols into living ideas. As Alice Orgain points out, “Surely Abraham, as Bible symbol, is not as great as ‘fidelity’ or idea in Science and Health; surely Moses, as Bible symbol, is not as great as ‘moral courage’ in Science and Health, etc.” (As It Is, p. 48). Also, see Glossary (579-599). Each of the Bible characters, Mrs. Orgain explains, is something we each are innately.

Mrs. Eddy was the first to interpret the Scriptures in their true sense and so reveal the spiritual origin of man. “God requireth that which is past, “ i.e. God required Mrs. Eddy to interpret the Bible in its spiritual meaning so that it could become the foundation for her great discovery that all is infinite Mind infinitely manifested.

Tommy: Further answering Tina's question, “What part did the Bible play in Mrs. Eddy's life work?” it is vital to remember that in “the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him,” Jesus prophesied the coming of divine Science, the Comforter, the spirit of Truth. It was to come in the form of a book. This book was in the hand (hand stands for power) of the angel, meaning in the Mind of Mary Baker Eddy. God was the Author of the textbook, but to make it understandable to us, God used Mary Baker Eddy as His divine channel, just as two thousand years ago He used Jesus as His divine channel for His Message at that time.

Mrs. Eddy's “Key to the Scriptures” made it possible to interpret the Bible spiritually, and to see the Science in it. The Key consists of her seven synonymous terms for God and her revelation of how these seven synonyms operate through the Word, Christ, Christianity, and Science, which today we would call input, process, output, and feedback. Mrs. Eddy also revealed in the textbook how these seven synonyms for God operate on the four levels of spiritual consciousness. Mr. Doorly was the first to discern in the textbook of Christian Science the divine system which Mrs. Eddy had provided as the key to the Scriptures.

Francie: It is interesting that Mrs. Eddy knew that every advancing epoch of Truth would be characterized by a more spiritual apprehension of the Scriptures that would show their marked consonance with the textbook of Christian Science Mind-healing in which she gave us the Science of the Word, the Science of the Christ, the Science of Christianity—in other words, the Science of being. (See Mis. 363:30.)

Moderator: We have been talking about God's messengers, His “two witnesses,” Christ Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy. We have seen that when faith “glows full-orbed in spiritual understanding,” God's messengers will not be looked upon as mere mortals, but will be seen as God, Principle, Love, coming to us as Jesus the Christ, and as Mary Baker Eddy. Those who look for Mary Baker Eddy in her writings will see her as the prophesied woman of the Apocalypse, and will realize that Christian Science originated with God, not with a mortal.

In our Session today we have seen that “the divine must overcome the human at every point” (43:27); all mortal traits and characteristics must be supplanted with the Christ character, as we more and more let the spiritual qualities (S&H page116) replace the depraved qualities of mortal mind. In this way we gradually come to manifest the image and likeness of God, [and this in turn allows us to grow into seeing that we are Mind, Principle, or God].

Only that consciousness which is Love alone can become aware of reality, and become one with it. “The beast bowed before the Lamb,” before the consciousness that is Love (womanhood). Mrs. Eddy says, “It was supposed to have fought the manhood of God that Jesus represented; but it fell before the womanhood of God, that presented the highest ideal of Love” (Hea. 10:5). Jesus, with the manhood qualities of God, proved there is no intelligence, substance, or life in matter. Then Mary Baker Eddy, showing the divine Science that lay behind his ability to give this proof, founded in human consciousness the great truth that All is infinite Mind infinitely manifested, for God is All-in-all. (468:9) During the coming millennium this will all become practical.

Bill: We've talked a lot about “prophecy” and Mrs. Eddy's place in prophecy. Before we leave could we have a word on just what prophecy is?

Moderator: Prophecy considered in the light of Christian Science has a meaning or aspect not recognized by other systems of religion. In Christian Science, prophecy is not merely the tabulating of future events chronologically and then awaiting their coming. This, in effect, would be fatalism, which is paganism. Christian Science is founded on Principle, God, and is demonstrable according to pure spiritual law.

The blessings Christian Science brings are not to be postponed. They are omnipresent, here and now, so one doesn't have to wait for them. To accept all the good that has been prophesied for us, only one thing is necessary, namely: ENLIGHTENMENT, understanding.

In the past, enlightenment has seemed to come only through cycles of time and a gradual development. When the prophets saw that by means of right knowing they could prevent disasters, they were led to prophesy the coming of the Christ, the divine idea that saves and heals.

In Christian Science there can be no prophecy but the prophecy of good, since God infinite good is All-in-all, and there is nothing else that has reality. Speaking of John the Baptist, Mrs. Eddy said: “He who knew the foretelling Truth, beheld the forthcoming Truth” (Mis. 82:6), and this is the true character of prophecy. Anything that was true in the time of the prophets is eternally true. All good is now and always has been self-existent as our true Mind and intelligence. Good requires no time and no thinking process. Good is and always has been spontaneous and immediate, needing no development. In Christian Science we correct things both inside ourselves (character faults) and outside ourselves only in the proportion that we correct our own consciousness.

In Revelation we read, “Behold, I make all things new.” This “I” that makes all things new is your true “I” and everyone's true “I,” since there is only the one I AM that we all are in reality. In Christian Science this “I” is revealed as infinity, since every idea reflects every other idea via divine Principle, God which we are. Therefore, reflecting Truth, infinity, it is our duty and privilege to fulfil prophecy in righteousness, scientifically. Waiting for something to happen is not Christian Science. We reject evil, of any kind, as pure illusion or as Spirit incorrectly viewed. What we are looking at is always Spirit, God, if rightly viewed and beheld.

Any view of prophecy that makes sin and suffering inevitable or which makes progress contingent upon either or the other is contrary to Christian Science. To maintain a mental attitude that postpones our blessings tends to deprive us of them. The fact is that all good is now; there never will be more good than there is this minute. Just as with the principle of mathematics where all mathematical possibilities are now; time and space do not enter.

SESSION II: SOME HIGHLIGHTS —
MRS. EDDY'S FULFILLING OF PROPHECY

Moderator: Today we will be looking more closely at the woman of the Apocalypse, and we will see how Mary Baker Eddy fulfilled St. John's prophecy of this woman. We have seen that the woman of the Apocalypse is also a symbol for each one of us. The “child” we are bringing to birth, through sore travail, is our recognition of our true Christ selfhood. Through the study of our textbook, Science and Health, we each become a mother to this “Child,” to this understanding that Principle and its idea is one, that subject and object is one, and that manhood and womanhood is one and indivisible.

Today we will delineate a few of the highlights in Mrs. Eddy's life as she fulfilled her mission of teaching, guiding, helping, explaining, and nurturing her students in support of the divine seeds she was sowing in human consciousness.

PICKING UP WHERE JESUS LEFT OFF

Mrs. Eddy had to begin where Jesus left off. Jesus showed the ascending footsteps. Mrs. Eddy, in accordance with Jesus' prophecy that the Comforter would “bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26), had to lay the same foundations that Jesus laid before she could go on to her own mission of revealing the motherhood character of God.

The Comforter, or the Bride-consciousness, is a divine Science. A Science shows the motherhood of God because it teaches us in easy steps how we can lay off the mortal and put on the immortal nature of our being.

The only way we can become this Bride-consciousness, which means complete at-one-ment with God Principle, is through the assimilation of the truth in Science and Health, the textbook of Christian Science. As we assimilate its teachings, we approach nearer and nearer to this divine Principle. Of this process—the process that leads us to the Bride-consciousness—Mrs. Eddy says: “When you eat the divine body of this Principle [the Principle that is the Bride-consciousness]—thus partaking of the nature, or primal elements, of Truth and Love—do not be surprised nor discontented because you must share the hemlock cup and eat the bitter herbs . . . “(559:23). The Bride-consciousness cannot come unless we lay down the mortal, and laying down the mortal is usually resisted to the hilt, and proceeds slowly through great suffering, sweat, tears, agony. He that overcometh gains the Bride-consciousness, which is always present. Mortal consciousness, however—with it’s adamant of self-will, self-justification, self-love (242:16)—hides and wars against the spirituality that constitutes the Bride-consciousness. (For further explanation of “Bride” see “Definitions” in Appendix.)

Marie: Did Jesus have the Bride-consciousness?

Anna: Yes, Jesus was using Science or the Bride consciousness or he could not have made what Mrs. Eddy calls “his mighty, crowning, unparalleled, and triumphant exit from the flesh.” Only through the Bride-consciousness or an understanding of man's oneness with God, could Jesus have managed such a feat. Jesus is called the Lamb of God because he totally sacrificed the mortal sense of life. And because he got self out of the way he was in a position to wed the Science of Love, the Bride-consciousness. In mathematics we only wed the principle as we get self out of the way and abide strictly with the principle.

Rocky: What is meant when you speak of Mrs. Eddy's manhood reflection of God? How does it differ from her bridal reflection?

Grace: Her “manhood” reflection of God was her wilderness-woman or motherhooding phase, meaning her teaching and all that was necessary to lift the students up to her level of understanding, whereas the Comforter, or the Bride-consciousness, is both masculine and feminine. “The Lamb's wife presents the unity of male and female as no longer two wedded individuals, but as two individual natures in one” (577:4).

The Bride-consciousness has to include the masculine elements since she must bring her own foundations (the ascending or masculine phase) with her from heaven. We will see this more clearly as we go along. The Bride-consciousness, being the full reflection of God, Principle, Love, must encompass the foundations Jesus laid and bring these foundations with her as she comes from heaven. Mrs. Eddy's mission was a descending mission in contrast to Jesus' ascending mission. Her mission started from God instead of teaching mortals how to reach up to Him.

Florence: We saw in our previous session that the woman of the Apocalypse symbolized the mission of Mary Baker Eddy who was to show that the real life of man is entirely separate from the dream of material living. In material living the delusion persists that man and woman are separate. They believe that through physical union they can become creators and create other physical bodies in their own image and likeness, thus usurping the prerogative of the divine creator who creates all spiritually in the image and likeness of divine Mind. The woman of the Apocalypse symbolizes the end of human birth, the end of sin, disease, and death. She symbolizes the fact that lust and hypocrisy will be overcome because of the teaching of the “little book,” which destroys the dragon of Old Theology. The dragon is destroyed because the woman's teaching ushers in a totally new structure of consciousness wherein man finds himself ever beautiful, complete, and perfect, since he is the perfect reflection of a perfect God.

Man Both Masculine And Feminine

The new era brought by the woman shows man in his true nature, both masculine and feminine, a combination of spiritual understanding and perpetual peace. We learn heaven is here, now. We need only awaken out of the Adam-dream to see heaven ever-present.

This divinely scientific view of man may not be fully understood for centuries to come. It is held back by the adamant mortal traits of self-love, self-will, self-justification, which war against spirituality and continue the willful procreation of mortals, the law of sin and death, for sin brings death, and death will only disappear with the disappearance of sin.

Heaven is a divine state of mind, but it is not a breeding ground for mortals. Mrs. Eddy severely and vehemently rebuked James Gilman (artist for Christ and Christmas) when he painted figures of children or cherubs for the eleventh (or ascension) picture, saying indignantly, she “would not have anything of this personality represented which was according to the old idea, as if heaven was a breeding place of personal forms as this world of belief is” (Recollections of Mary Baker Eddy, p. 52. See Appendix.)

Who would like to comment further on this subject?

Human Birth A Mirage

Johnny: As the teaching of Science and Health—Mrs. Eddy's “man child”—is assimilated, it replaces materialistic consciousness with spiritual consciousness. From the vantage point of spiritual scientific awareness human birth and death are seen as merely hypnotic suggestion, a mirage, which is dissipated by a correct point of view. This new dimension of consciousness, which the woman of the Apocalypse reveals through her “man child,” will destroy forever the physical plagues imposed by material sense. (575:4)

Our Wedding To God

Bessie: Mrs. Eddy writes that “the Revelator saw also the spiritual ideal as a woman clothed in light, a bride coming down from heaven, wedded to the Lamb of Love.” What does it mean?

Moderator: In Bible symbolism, the woman of the Apocalypse who brings forth the “man child,” the Lamb of Love, is wedded to that “man child,” or Lamb of Love, since the textbook, this “man child,” is in her own Mind. It is Love wedded to its own spiritual idea. When you really understand something, you are wedded to it. The only real marriage is our marriage to God. In divine revelation, material and corporeal selfhood disappear and the spiritual idea is understood. The woman of the Apocalypse illustrates the coincidence of God and man as the divine Principle and divine idea (561:15). This coincidence is called “the marriage feast.” Understanding our relationship to God is the “wedding,” the bride wedded to the Lamb of Love.

Billy: What would be the practical consequences of really understanding that?

Tommy: Heaven on earth. It would give back the lost likeness and power of God. It would nullify the belief that man is born of the basest instincts—of “brute instinct” (63:6-7)—the belief responsible for evil traits in mortals: passion, appetites, hatred, revenge, etc. The element misnamed matter must be resolved into its original sin. Human will is that original sin. Sin brought death. “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:12, 23). Death is an element of matter, never of Spirit. Matter and death are mortal illusions. Matter, when examined in the light of divine metaphysics, disappears, says Mrs. Eddy. If God, divine Mind, is all, matter can be nothing but an image in mortal erring mind, which spiritual education eradicates and replaces with the images in the Mind that is Love.

Mary Baker Eddy And Divine Love

Sally: I would like to read from Mr. Gale's notes concerning a class he took with Mrs. Eddy: “I shall never forget the light that shone in her face when we considered the subject of Love. As nearly as I can recall her words, she said, 'God is Love; to love, is to express God, and as God is eternal Life, if we always loved we should always express Life, and never have a belief of death. Hate is the opposite of Love, and leads to death; therefore never hate anything.'” Love alone is Life, so if we are not loving, we are not living. How many tombstones could read: “Died at 30; buried at 80.” We must see the Love of God encircling the universe and man. We must feel Love.

Vindicating The Prophecy

Moderator: We have talked about the woman of the Apocalypse. We will see that in order to fulfil Jesus' prophecy of the twelve stars on woman's crown (560; Rev. 12:1) Mrs. Eddy must present the Science which would bring all humanity back to its original divinity and oneness with “natural good,” God. Nothing but a Science that all could learn step by step would be able to vindicate this prophecy. Science enables man to become aware of his perfect completeness as an ever-present fact. The woman in the Apocalypse who brings forth the “man child,” Science—and with whom, as we have said, Mrs. Eddy identifies herself unmistakably in the 16th to 50th editions of Science and Health, on p. 515:6—“symbolizes generic man.”

The whole Word is Science and Health, which was the result of Mary Baker Eddy's oneness with the Mind of God. Thus, the Mind of God is her true identity. It is, therefore, in her writings that we find her true identity and not in her human personality. This is why anyone who looks for Mrs. Eddy elsewhere than in her writings loses her.

Jesus had a very special relationship with God because of his greater understanding of true facts. It was the same with Mary Baker Eddy. It was because of her unique understanding of God that she was able to fulfil the prophecy of the woman of the Apocalypse.

Johnny: Would Mrs. Eddy's special understanding of God as Love (representing the motherhood characteristics of God) also equate her with generic man?

Moderator: Yes, Johnny, because the woman of the Apocalypse symbolizes generic man (561:22). Generic man here means that all men together constitute the Son of God—generically man is the Son of God. This will come to pass through the spiritual education made available in the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. Eventually all mankind will understand its oneness with God.

Tina: What does it mean?

Margie: It means that as all men assimilate the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy they will exchange a belief of being born into a matter body and the sinful misconception of an existence separate from God, for the true facts, namely, being born of Truth and Love, born of God. Then men will all be of one Mind. The Mind of God, Love, will be their only Mind.

Johnny: We could illustrate that by the fact that we are all of one mind concerning the multiplication table.

Juliann: Or by the fact that today we all agree the earth is round whereas a few centuries ago only a few courageous souls dared to voice their conviction that the earth wasn't flat.

When man is Christian Science he is generic man. Because Mrs. Eddy is one with the textbook she wrote, she is generic man. The textbook shows us how to find our identity as God, as incorporeal, divine supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Love, and find man as our image and likeness. Principle and idea is one. The more we actually understand the textbook and Mrs. Eddy's other writings, the more it will be seen that what is in the divine Mind is our only identity. In reality we are an image the divine Mind that has an image and this is the fact or “seed within itself” that enables consciousness to expand and reflect every God-like quality. As we gain in understanding we are translated out of mortal consciousness back into our original God-consciousness that is one with the divine Principle, Life, Truth, Love, Soul, Spirit, Mind (115:13).

The way we find our God identity is not so different from the way we identify with the principle of music or math. If we want to learn those subjects, we abide strictly with their principle and don't deviate from the principle of these subjects. If we want to bring forth our God-identity we must stay with the Principle of our being, pay attention to what the textbook teaches, “abide strictly by its rules, heed every statement, and advance from the rudiments laid down” (462:14).

Billy: This is why Mrs. Eddy stressed “unity” so much, isn't it?

Grace: Yes, there can be no unity when there is “elbowing” for position and power: “The noblest work of God is man in the image of his Maker; the last infirmity of evil is so-called man, swayed by the maelstrom of human passions, elbowing the concepts of his own creating, making place for himself and displacing his fellows” (Mis. 294:1). Love is the liberator and gives man the victory over himself. When the victory over self is gained, man joins the fraternity of generic man. True unity comes about as each one reflects divine Principle, and reflects every other idea via this one divine Principle.

Francie: The prophets faintly glimpsed the meaning of the Son of God as it began to form in the matrix of generic consciousness. Then this matrix of generic consciousness brought forth great wonders in the life and demonstration of Christ Jesus, on an individual basis. Nineteen centuries later the same divine matrix brought forth, through the life and demonstration of Mary Baker Eddy, the collective and universal counterpart of Jesus' individual demonstration, called Christian Science. Mrs. Eddy taught that the Christ, which constituted the identity of Jesus and enabled him to do his mighty works, was the identity of all men. Through her scientific system of the seven synonymous terms for God operating through a fourfold calculus of Word, Christ, Christianity, and Science, her textbook shows us how to progressively lay off the “old man” until man is found to be the image of infinite good. While the mission of Jesus might be viewed as proving that there is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter, Mrs. Eddy's mission was to show that “all is infinite Mind, and its infinite manifestation.” Christian Science shows the omnipresence of present perfection.

Elsie: Mrs. Eddy quotes Rev. Hugh Black as saying: “The birthplace of civilization is not Athens but Calvary” ('02:10).

Moderator: And she then says that “when the human mind is advancing above itself towards the divine, it is subjugating the body, subduing matter, taking steps outward and upwards . . . [rising] from sense to Soul, from earth to heaven” (ibid).

The way is straight and narrow, and the Christian religion is the only one on earth that has “the straight and narrow way of demonstration, every step of which has been explored from cross to crown.” The cross is the inevitable symbol of a united divinity and humanity. Alice Orgain states that pagan religions have no “crosses” and hence no “crowns.” “A few very spiritual seers have glimpsed the truths of being and given them to the people from the point of broad theories, but no other religion has had its demonstrators that bridged the gulf between their vision and the vision of the people, with their own bodies, as did Jesus and Mrs. Eddy—Jesus with his specific temple or body; Mrs. Eddy with the Church body. Jesus bore the specific pains of bodily consciousness; Mrs. Eddy bore the collective and collected pains (mankind's errors) of Church and universal consciousness.

So, we find Mrs. Eddy's “body”—her Principle of being—in her Church, and in its every purpose, and its resurrection therein” (Alice Orgain, As It Is, p. 856. See Appendix.) The Mother Church was Mrs. Eddy's patient. It typified the mortal body, the warfare with the flesh, and how to raise oneself out of the mortal illusion of a matter body. It signifies the cross, something to be overcome through spiritual education. As our understanding of what is in our textbook grows, we are progressively liberated from the slavery of believing we live in a mortal body.

Tommy: As the masculine representative of the spiritual idea, Jesus showed the unpopular upward (ascending) steps, namely, the cross-bearing of giving up the mortal, the toil and sacrifice; in short, the crucifixion of the human in order that the divine could come to light. His mission was to reveal the manhood characteristics of God. He would love to have gathered all humanity under his wings but this was not to be the province of the masculine representative of the spiritual idea. The gathering had to await his second coming in his femininity (Science), or his all-encompassing nature as Love which Mary Baker Eddy presented in Christian Science, the unity of Christianity with Science. But without the cross, the laying down of the mortal, there can be no crown. The cross is what the “builders” have always rejected. “Students love the explanations of Christian Science: God is Love, God is good, God is Mind, etc. This is the crown of Christian Science. But they dislike the cross of Christ—the patient, slow bearing of the cross, they shun. They will not handle animal magnetism. All the cross-bearing they leave to me, while they love the crown. Yet this lesson they will learn” (DCC. P. 198).

Grace: Alice Orgain says man uses his wings to soar (in rising from first seeing that all is mental, to thinking only in terms of ideas, to finally seeing I AM THAT I AM) as Enoch did, and also Moses, Elijah, and Jesus; whereas Jesus in his second coming, as womanhood, descends and “hovers” (Mis. 388:22). Truth's immortal idea, Mrs. Eddy says, sweeps down, not up as in the ascending manhood idea; it sweeps down the centuries, gathering beneath its wings the sick and sinning. (55:15-16) Coming from God it sees only complete perfection. This correct view heals all discord.

No “Third Coming”

Elsie: We have talked a lot about the first and second coming of Jesus. Will there be a third?

Florence: No. When Mrs. Eddy was asked this question she answered unequivocally: “This is the 'second coming' of the Christ and it will be the last” (DCC. 234). Naturally a Science unfolds forever, and each century will bring to light the higher meaning of the textbook. Jesus presented , the fatherhood qualities of God, and Mrs. Eddy completed this figure of God by presenting God's motherhood as a Science that all can learn, and so become the Principle, Love, as we find “the kingdom of God is within you.”

Marie: What is the “second coming” that we hear so much about—when man will be restored to his original perfection which in reality, we understand, he has never lost?

Moderator: Mrs. Eddy says the second coming is another era of the world's awakening, a higher advent in human consciousness of the spiritual idea, the true character of God. This idea, Mrs. Eddy tells us, neither comes nor goes, for it is inseparable from its divine Principle, the ever-present I AM. But the human concept of this idea has its periods of light and shade. The second coming of Christ is the next higher, hence, more spiritual revelation of God's character.

The Christian era, Mrs. Eddy says, presented the first tangible idea of God's character by its inspired man, Jesus. The era of Christian Science ushers in through woman the second appearing of His character, namely, His feminine nature, and this from the necessity of His nature as the Father and Mother of all, the creator, even the complete and ever-present idea of God. Therefore this era comes not through Jesus but through Mary, the type of womanhood and mother of its first and forever appearing which divine Science alone can give, in which we see “we are Life, Truth, and Love when we understand them.”

The “third appearing” or “third baptism” is a different subject entirely, pertaining to the student's progress out of materiality into total spirituality. The third appearing or baptism will present but the disappearing of all else, and establish the supremacy of Spirit. This obliterates the human sense of the divine, takes away all sense of matter, and reveals the final fact that the idea, Christ, is not a materialized or finite man or woman, but is the infinite concept of infinite Mind. (Mis. 205:13)

Difference Between First And Second Coming

By this explanation Mrs. Eddy endeavored to dematerialize, unrestrict, and unlimit our human dream of the divine, our material sense of the spiritual, our finite views of the infinite. She wanted to give us a scientific concept of Jesus and his mission, and of the nature of the Christ.

Jesus' work on earth is done, Mrs. Eddy said. Jesus as an individual finished his glorious earthly career and left earth for heaven—entered into the infinite sense of Life and its manifestation. This was the consummation of his earth mission and it needs no reappearing or repetition to crown its glory.

This scientific concept of man, says Mrs. Eddy, is not the material Jesus, neither is it the material Mary or Martha, but it is the spiritual idea dwelling forever in God, the Father-Mother God, Principle, Love, because this idea is the link in being's chain which indissolubly unites God and man, and the onrushing centuries will ere long yield to the sense of its ascendant glory. (See EOF. pp. 48-49.)

Grace: Mrs. Eddy further distinguishes between the first and second coming in explaining Mark 6:35-44. She states that Jesus no doubt supplied the literal loaf and fish to their sense so as to impress upon them at that period (the Christian era) the fact of his two-fold power, as the way-shower or mediator between the things of the flesh and those of Spirit. His mission on earth was, declaratively and demonstratively, from the beginning to the end, to be the mediator between the flesh and the Spirit, to show, through the senses, the way out of the flesh.

Not so, says Mrs. Eddy, is the Christ's appearing at this age. Today it is to show through Science and not through the senses, the power of Spirit and of Good. It is to spiritualize all the meaning of the Christ, to name Christ the idea and not the person of God, and to impress, at this period, the Science of Spirit on the mind, through Truth, and the phenomena of Mind, and not matter, The “second coming” voices God less in parable and more in the facts of Being. To name Christ the idea and not the person of God must be the true interpretation of the parable of the loaves and fishes, because Jesus could in no other way have made the way for the second appearing of Christ in Science. (See letter to Mrs. E. P. Skinner, DCC. p. 125.)

Moderator: Mrs. Eddy knew that the revelation of the truth of being that had dawned on her had to be founded in human consciousness in such a way that it could be apprehended practically. It must be stated in terms understandable to all mankind. St. John recorded Jesus' prophecy of the dual mission of the woman of the Apocalypse: the God-crowned woman with twelve stars signifies the complete perfection of man which was revealed to Mrs. Eddy; the prophecy of the wilderness-woman signifies her mission to establish Truth in human consciousness through her writing and teaching.

Recess

THE PATH OF THE PIONEER

Moderator: Are there any questions?

Elsie: Isn't it true that few of the great and good people walking this earth have been fully appreciated in their time? It usually remains for future generations to realize how truly great and good they were. Nevertheless they persevered and patiently persisted.

Jackie: Yes, from the world's point of view, Jesus' earthly career ended disastrously. Mrs. Eddy, too, met with scorn, ridicule, and persecution when her discovery “undermined the favorite inclinations of a sensuous philosophy.” To understand, even in part, what Mrs. Eddy brought, the world must see Mrs. Eddy's direct relationship to God.

Seditious Students

Juliann: Very little help came in the years immediately following Mrs. Eddy's discovery. She was harrassed by pulpit, press and the medical profession. But actually the seditious behavior of students she personally took into her fold and taught, caused her the most grief. Her indefatigable laboring with and shepherding of students during her first fourteen years of teaching netted her no loyal follower capable of assisting her in even a minor