MARY BAKER EDDY LETTER

Letter Number Four, July 1, 1997

"These things saith He that is holy,... I know thy works: Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." -Revelation.

I thank the many kind recipients of these "Letters"who have responded with loving expressions of interest and encouragement. The Bible and Mary Baker Eddy's writings are the door open before us. They are my only authority in this work. You, dear friends, are my support in heralding Mary Baker Eddy as the spiritual Leader of the world.

Heaven's Open Door

"Dear one, realize for yourself and all each day, clear and strong, that the Christ, Truth, does not merely open 'the windows of heaven' for us, or promise us heaven, but the knowledge of the Christ in Christian Science IS heaven here and now. This knowledge of Truth as it is taught in Science is heaven's OPEN DOOR for all." (Mary Baker Eddy, to a student, May, 1884. Preserved by Carpenter Foundation.)

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock" (Rev. 3:20). What is this "I" that stands at the door? What is this "I" of which Jesus said, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me"?

It is your divinity, your real selfhood, the Christ. It is "your infinite, harmonious Christ-expressing selfhood," the kingdom of God that lies latent within your consciousness. It is the practical understanding of the Christ that delivers us from illusions and wrong beliefs.

We open the door to our real selfhood when we silence the voice of animal magnetism-when we can "be still, and know that I am God [that my own real Mind is God, infinite good, Love]" (Ps 46:10). "The ultimate of the entire teaching of Christian Science is to restore to man his consciousness of the divine Mind as his only Mind" (a Carpenter item). The command to enter into your closet and shut the door when you pray would have been foolish unless in the seclusion with you is that Mind (our real Mind) which includes within itself all truth.

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock." The pessimist is someone who, ignorant of spiritual facts, complains when opportunity knocks. Isn't it time to put doubts aside and open the door to our true, divine being?

The Starting Point

"The starting point of divine Science is that God, Spirit [our own right Mind that is Love], is All-in-all, and there is no other might nor Mind.... All is Mind, and that Mind [our own true Mind, the kingdom of God within our consciousness] is God" (S&H 275:6).

When Jesus said, "and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32), he was dealing only with the Christ Mind, his real "I." What "I" accept as "I," as consciousness, is really "I,"-is consciousness lifted up from the earth. Because this consciousness is all there is, I cannot help seeing all from the basis of what I am accepting as "I"; and the whole of that which constitutes being to me must rise as I rise, when I have the Mind that was Mind to Jesus, who beheld in Science the perfect man.

"The great spiritual fact must be brought out that man IS, not shall be perfect and immortal" (S&H 428:22). "God [infinite good, our own real Mind], the Principle of man, and man in God's [our true Mind's] likeness are inseparable, harmonious, and eternal" (S&H 336:25). Since our Principle is Love, our Leader urged us: "Be Love, just BE Love; be nothing but Love."

There is not God and man. There is only our true Mind, that is Love, manifesting itself. That doesn't make two-"all is infinite Mind, manifested" doesn't make two, does it? "The Christian Scientist is alone with his own being and with the reality of things [just as in our night dreams we are alone with our own being and with all that we see and experience in the dream]" (Mess. '01. 20:8).

In the truth of being our real name is "Christ Science." (See Mis. 167:15.) We can only "go in and possess the land which the Lord thy God hath given thee" if we see that our own real Mind is God and therefore we already possess every good thing. When we understand what we already really are spiritually, we realize that our true Mind is "omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience,-that is, all power, all presence, all Science. Hence all is, in reality, the manifestation of Mind [our true Mind, the kingdom of God within our consciousness]" (S&H 275:22).

Matter Held as Substance is Error

"Matter held as shadow is scientific, but matter held as substance is belief and error" (Mary Baker Eddy). In Letter No. 3 we talked about Einstein, and how our foremost physical scientists are seeing there is no matter. In the 1903-4 C. S. Journal, Mr. Eustace wrote: "Advanced thought no longer asks, What is matter? Matter is rapidly finding its correct solution, as simply a false sense of that which in reality is mental, and so the question ceases now to be in relation to matter as such, but .... asks: What is mind or consciousness?"

Scripture tells us the first question of Truth to mortal man was, "Adam....where art thou?" This demand was made not to matter, but to Adam, to consciousness; and it continues to be made up to the present time, where it is thundered from Science and Health with the warning demand, "Consciousness, where art thou?" Are you dwelling in the belief that evil is real, that mind is in matter?

Mr. Eustace continues: "When Christian Science is first presented to human thought it seems to come in a cloud. Mortal man has been so educated to look at all things from the standpoint of materiality that he cannot in a moment lay hold of the idea that the universe, instead of being a material universe, is in reality a mental universe, or a universe of consciousness."

Of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy said, "a book introduces new thoughts, but it cannot make them speedily understood....Future ages must declare what the pioneer has accomplished." Malcolm MacDonald writes: "Your Mary Baker Eddy Letters are helping to do what 'Future ages must [do:] declare what the pioneer has accomplished.' Surely, after over one hundred years we are the 'future ages.'"

Jesus said, "Moses gave you not that bread from heaven" (John 6:32). What does this mean? The Ten Commandments and all that Moses taught are glorious, and Jesus said, "I came not to destroy the law" [the divine requirements typified in the law of Moses] but to fulfill it in righteousness." Mrs. Eddy writes, "This spirit of sacrifice always has saved, and still saves mankind; but by mankind I mean mortals, or a kind of men after man's own making. Man as God's [our true and real Mind's] idea is already saved with an everlasting salvation" (Mis. 261:18).

"Christian Science," Mrs. Eddy said, "is the omnipresence of present perfection." With Moses, a long journey lay ahead in order to reach the promised land, but Christian Science goes out from the spiritual fact that man IS, not shall be perfect and eternal. If 2x2 didn't equal 4 now, it never would. Mrs. Eddy said, "When we find out we don't have a matter body, nothing can touch us. The resurrection is seeing the real man that was never in matter...." (DCC, 27)

Letting Go of Error Makes a Staff of Every Serpent

Mrs. Eddy, in fulfilling Jesus' promise and prophecy of the Comforter, said she "wished [she] could teach only Love, our true divine being, but [she] dared not." The evil that makes us think we live in a matter body has to be exposed so it can be corrected.

"Many are willing to open the eyes of the people to the power of good resident in divine Mind," she notes, "but they are not so willing to point out the evil in human thought, and expose evil's hidden mental ways of accomplishing iniquity.....Who is telling mankind of the foe in ambush?" (S&H 570:30).

The devil says, "Talk only about God," but that, of course, would leave evil, error, unchallenged. "When God [our own right Mind] bids one uncover iniquity, in order to exterminate it, one should lay it bare....Error left to itself accumulates" (Mis. 348:8).

The fundamental error is faith in things material. This is "the unseen sin, the unknown foe" which must be exposed and banished. In doing this, Mrs. Eddy urged us to be wise and harmless. "A lack of wisdom betrays Truth into the hands of evil as effectually as does a subtle conspirator," she said.

In Miscellany, Mrs. Eddy instructs: "Love unfolds marvellous good and uncovers hidden evil. The philanthropist or reformer gives little thought to self-defense; his life's incentive and sacrifice need no apology. The good done, and the good to do are his ever-present reward. Love for mankind is the elevator of the human race" (p. 288:2).

Love's greatest triumph is to roll away the stone, the deep-rooted belief that there is life, substance, intelligence in matter, by removing mankind's ignorance of the fact that "all is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation." Matter is only an image in mortal mind. To our real Mind matter does not exist. Erring mortal thought holds in itself all sin, sickness, and death, and imparts these states to the body; while the Mind, as seen in the truth of being, antidotes and destroys these material elements of sin and death. Christian Science teaches us to turn each serpent we face into a staff by ridding ourselves of a matter viewpoint.

"Mortal Existence is a Dream"

"Spirit [which means understanding, our real Mind, our real I] is the only Ego, which never dreams....which is never born and never dies" (S&H 250:7). The belief of life in matter is death- "to be carnally-minded is death"-but as we hold the true consciousness of existence, sooner or later we will master sin and death. Why? Because "mortal existence is a dream; mortal existence has no real entity but saith, 'It is I.'" (S&H 250:6)

How few today seem ready to scale the spiritual ramparts instead of just watching passively. Resurrection is ours right now as we put off mortal mind, the carnal mind, and awaken to the truth of being. Think of the freedom we will have when we no longer believe we live in a little material form, when we realize we do not have to wait for the resurrection. Why do we cling so fiercely to our shackles? Why do we refuse the wake-up call?

It seems the world does not want to awaken until the nightmare gets so painful it forces an awakening. Yet it would take so little to free us. Scripture promises "a little child shall lead them." "A little child" means the tiniest speck of the truth of being-even faith in the truth of being. That little speck of divinity will lead us, individually and collectively.

Spiritualization of thought is the great necessity. What has prevented harmony and peace on earth more than anything is the ignorant belief that there is a God "out there" that can give us something. Only the kingdom of God within our consciousness can give us anything, and it gives all.

The Struggle Today

Mary Baker Eddy tells us: "The education of the future will be instruction in spiritual Science, against the material symbolic counterfeit sciences. All the knowledge and vain striving of mortal mind, that lead to death...will be swallowed up by the reality and omnipotence of Truth over error, and of Life over death....

"Evil in the beginning claimed the power, wisdom, and utility of good; and every creation or idea of Spirit has its counterfeit in some matter belief. Every material belief hints the existence of spiritual reality; and if mortals are instructed in spiritual things, it will be seen that material belief, in all its manifestations, reversed, will be found the type and representative of verities priceless, eternal, and just at hand" (Mis. 6l:4, & 60:26).

Mortal body and mortal man are delusions which spiritual consciousness will destroy. It is pure delusion that man has a mind apart from God, infinite good, made up of both evil and good tendencies. As humans we are nothing and can do nothing. It is always Mind, our real Mind, doing it. When we get a personal sense of ourself out of the way and obtain divine realization we are automatically one with infinite good. This appears as form, as health and wholeness.

"Legally to abolish unpaid servitude in the United States was hard; but the abolition of mental slavery is a more difficult task" (S&H 225:23-25) The great Armageddon struggle today is for the mind of man, to redeem it from materialism. It is in the mind of man that the crucial battles must be fought-battles between reality and appearance, between understanding and belief.

Ridding Ourselves of Evil: An Explanation of Animal Magnetism

Mary Baker Eddy tells us that "unless we learn to handle animal magnetism [her name for error of every name and nature] Christian Science will do very little good in the world." Jesus was the Christ, she reminds us, because he loved good, righteousness, and hated iniquity.

Many have asked: "Just what is animal magnetism?"

In the Science taught by Mary Baker Eddy, animal magnetism stands for the sum total of evil. She says, "...It is the false belief that mind is in matter, and is both evil and good; that evil is as real as good and more powerful" (S&H 103:20).

"Animal" refers to the belief that man belongs to the animal kingdom and must express animality in his nature. "Magnetism" means an ability to attract; mesmerism; hypnotism. "Animal magnetism" could be defined as the pull or influence that animality exerts in drawing mankind to evil or materiality and away from spirituality, meaning infinite good.

Christian Science refutes the ignorant belief that evil is inherent in man, and that man is animal in nature, whereas "old" or traditional theology supports the mistaken belief that evil is inherent in man. Traditional theology accepts literally the Bibical teaching that God made man of the dust of the ground, made him capable of knowing both good and evil. This makes man, in effect, an evil believer, an evil actor, thus, a sinner.

The illusion of animality (that man lives in the flesh) is the only supposed source of evil suggestions. Animal magnetism is only a false belief, not an entity; but by means of aggressive suggestion it seems able to take possession of one's thinking. It claims to be able to influence man to accept evil as reality and evil thoughts as one's own thinking.

The Deadly Pull of Animal Magnetism

What is the greatest, deadliest pull of animal magnetism? When Laura Sargent asked Mrs. Eddy, "Mother, what do you mean by 'sin, sin, sin?'" she answered, "I mean the connubial relationship" (a Carpenter item). Animality or animal magnetism claims that sex is normal, instead of being sin, and would rationalize this sin and make man the helpless victim of it. Mrs. Eddy speaks of this type of animal magnetism when she states: "Whatever is not divinely natural and demonstrably true, in ethics, philosophy, or religion, is not of God but originates in the minds of mortals. It is the Adam dream according to the Scriptural allegory, in which man is supposed to start from dust and woman to be the outcome of man's rib,-marriage synonymous with legalized lust..." (My. 4:31).

Christian Science, in contrast, reveals man as God's, our real Mind's, image. To deal with animal magnetism, we must constantly resist the animal element that suggests itself as being part of our nature. Classify thoughts: are they spiritual or animal? Know that there is no pleasure in matter or any sinful tendency.

We consent to error when we think there is reality and desirability in evil. We are hypnotized by animality when we yield to its aggressive suggestions. "Heaven," Mrs. Eddy said, "is not a breeding-ground for mortals." In Christian Science we learn to refuse to consent to evil when we realize that the reality, attractiveness, and desirability of evil are nothing more than aggressive hypnotic suggestion. "Resist evil, error of every sort-and it will flee from you" (S&H 406:19).

Reject Hypnotic Suggestion

"Treat a belief in sickness as you would sin, with sudden dismissal," we are advised (S&H 218:24). In order to do this we must know how to silence the voice of animal magnetism. This is easiest if we understand just what it is we are rejecting. Animal magnetism is the name for the Biblical serpent, for illusion, hypnotism, hypnotic suggestion. It is the lie which denies our oneness with infinite good. It is the seemingly endless stream of false education that keeps us thinking we are mortals and blinds us to the omnipresence of our present perfection, to the fact that our own real Mind is the infinite good we call God.

As we silence the whispering of hypnotism, and "let discord of every name and nature be heard no more," we let the harmonious and true sense of Life and being take possession of our consciousness. As it does we become aware that behind every case of physical disease and mental inharmony is the underlying error, the basic false belief of matter or physicality as the foundation of life.

If we only see the disease or discord as unreal, and do not see the unreality of the belief in matter and physicality as the foundation of life, we are not reducing the underlying cause. The basic belief must be seen as the lie, and must be cast out, and in its place we must see the truth that creation is purely mental, the product of our true Mind that is Love.

In Science and Health (p. 116:13) Mrs. Eddy writes: "Works on metaphysics leave the grand point untouched. THEY NEVER CROWN THE POWER OF MIND [our real Mind] AS THE MESSIAH." This she says is the "aim of Science." The human heart yearns for spiritual harmony because it doesn't understand that it already possesses it. Animal magnetism causes humanity to scramble in every direction to attain what they ALREADY ARE, and HAVE ALWAYS BEEN, but we are all destined to see that infinite good is right here, as us, even if our ignorance of God, our ignorance of our present perfection, seems at present to hide it.

Hidden Evil Error in the Christian Science Movement

"Love unfolds marvellous good and uncovers hidden evil." Perhaps the most pernicious hidden evil is spiritual wickedness in high places. This has been sadly true in the Christian Science movement, where animal magnetism in its most subtle forms has caused misled Christian Scientists to harm the Leader whom they profess to follow. Wanting to be in the mainstream of Christian thought and to identify with the so-called Christian Scientists in high places, they overlook the fact that those holding high positions in the Christian Science movement are in total and deadly defiance of Mary Baker Eddy's Manual, which terminated the five-member Board of Directors and all material organization.

In 1910, when the Christian Science movement was sweeping the world, the Directors, parading as Mary Baker Eddy's successor, seized global power. Calling themselves "the highest ecclesiastical court in the land," they, by their traitorous actions, halted all progress in Christian Science.

Since then the Directors' primary goal seems to have been to discredit her who brought the Second Coming of the Christ. Unfortunately, many so-called Christian Scientists have followed their lead. Instead of joining "the small and feeble remnant" (Isa 16:14) who are telling the truth about Mary Baker Eddy who can never be separated from her writings, they support the continuing down-playing of her role, with the result that her revelation with its healing power has almost been lost.

Mrs. Eddy's History Is a Holy One

Mary Baker Eddy's writings are sacred Scripture, as sacred as any portion of the Holy Bible. Her writings fulfill the many scriptural references concerning the woman that "shall compass a man" (Jer. 31:22). They explain and demonstrate all that Jesus knew and demonstrated.

We must herald abroad this great truth. As Noah Webster said: "If truth is not diffused, error will be; if God and His Word [that God, infinite good, is your own real Mind] are not known and received, the devil and his works will gain the ascendancy; if the evangelical volume does not reach every hamlet, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature will; if the power of the Gospel [and the sacred writings of the Second Coming of the Christ] is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the land, anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness will reign without mitigation or end."

Mary Baker Eddy knew, and every loyal Christian Scientist knows, that her history is a holy one. Isaiah 54 is a prophecy of her coming, and there are many other Bible references pertaining to the woman's coming. Like Jesus, Mrs. Eddy's unparalleled teaching unfolded God to us-unfolded to us our own true Mind that is God.

Jesus was our example. He demonstrated that Mind's understanding can work a "mighty, crowning, unparalleled and triumphant exit from the flesh" and promised us that what he did, we too would do, but he did not show us how. In the Second Coming of the Christ our Leader shows us how he did it, and how we also can DO it. She shows us that only our ignorance of God, infinite good, hides this ability from us and that through spiritual teaching and practice ignorance can be overcome. In time to come Mary Baker Eddy will be seen not only as the Leader of the Christian Science movement, but as the spiritual Leader of the world.

A Mark for Error's Shafts

The Second Coming of the Christ came through Mary Baker Eddy because she was not only the one prepared to receive it, but was also prepared to withstand the hatred of the carnal mind and its efforts to destroy her revelation. Having realized this divine Truth, she had to teach it to all mankind, no matter what the cost.

"Heeding not the pointed bayonette," with courage unmatched in human history, knowing that "falsehood is on the wings of the winds" and that "whoever proclaims Truth loudest, becomes the mark for error's shafts" Mrs. Eddy placed herself between humanity and the danger. Her teachings on marriage stirred human hatred. In astonishment mingled with awe the world of old theology let out a collective gasp when it became aware that "sin" was the connubial relationship.

While this teaching opened Mary Baker Eddy to merciless attack, she never faltered. She wrote, "the archers aim at Truth's mouthpiece....[but] the stake and the scaffold have never silenced the messages of the Most High. Then can the present mode of attempting this-namely, by slanderous falsehoods and a secret mind-method, through which to effect the purpose of envy and malice-silence Truth? Never." (See Mis. 277:3-17.)

The cost to herself was great, but out of her deep, abiding love for suffering humanity Mary Baker Eddy bore it bravely. "Charity," she said, "never flees before error, lest it should suffer from an encounter. Love your enemies, or you will not lose them; and if you love them, you will help to reform them" (Mis. 210:31).

In Science and Health, p. 134:4, we read, "The word martyr...means witness; but those who testified for Truth were so often persecuted unto death, that at length the word martyr was narrowed in its significance and so has come to mean one who suffers for his convictions." In both senses the word fits both Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy.

Treacherous Students Caused Suffering

Mary Baker Eddy suffered severely from treacherous students. She writes (My. 130:7): "The effort of disloyal students to blacken me and to keep my works from public recognition-students seeking only public notoriety, whom I have assisted pecuniarily and striven to uplift morally-has been made too many times and has failed too often for me to fear it." Noting that: "A lie left to itself is not so soon destroyed as it is with the help of truth-telling," Mrs. Eddy asked her loyal students to help counteract these lies, reminding them, "Jesus was the Christ because he loved right-eousness and hated iniquity."

Mrs. Eddy suffered greatly from the resistance of students-from "the shocking human idolatry that presupposes Life, substance, Soul and intelligence in matter which is the antipode of God [our own real Mind]" (No. 35:17). She suffered most from those whom she had labored much to benefit.

She foresaw that she eventually would be mentally murdered, and five days before she left the human scene she dictated a note to her loyal companion, Laura Sargent, saying: "It took a combination of sinners that was fast to harm me." When Mrs. Eddy said, "harm me," she meant harm her life work, harm (for the present time) the Second Coming of the Christ, the "Comforter" promised by Jesus. How do we know this? Because Mary Baker Eddy herself has told us that she is one with what she has written. The only place we can find her is in her books. In her own words, "Those who seek me...elsewhere than in my writings, lose me instead of find me" (My. 120:2).

Reflecting on the many decades of suffering she endured because of backsliding students Mrs. Eddy wrote: "No one else can drain the cup which I have drunk to the dregs as the Discoverer and teacher of Christian Science" (Ret. 30:21). Then she adds: "neither can its inspiration be gained without tasting this cup. Where is our heart? To what do we give our time and money?" Those who put the spiritual first, giving their all to its furtherance, will surely taste this cup. (See S&H 40:19).

The "Beast is the Number of a Man"

The only estoppel in the Manual the Board of Directors persistently asked Mrs. Eddy to change was the one concerning the 5-member board that said, "a vacancy on that Board" can only be filled "AFTER the candidate is approved by the Pastor Emeritus" (Man. 26, Sect. 5-Directors). This did away with all material organization, making each Scientist a law unto himself.

Through the breaking of this Church Manual estoppel, as well as others, the error Mary Baker Eddy faced during her sojourn with us has persisted since she left the human scene. Immediately after her passing a great wave of ecclesiastical despotism washed over the Christian Science movement, and under its withering assault healing after approximately forty years declined radically, churches emptied, and practitioner listings shriveled. This was precisely the danger the estoppels were designed to prevent. Had Mrs. Eddy foreseen this lurking menace?

When asked by a Boston Herald correspondent (May, 1901) if her successor would be a man or a woman, Mary Baker Eddy answered, "It will be a man."

Revelation 13:18 speaks of the "number of a man," saying: "Let him that hath understanding count the number of the BEAST; for it is the number of A MAN." Mrs. Eddy did not interpret Revelation's chapters 13 to 21:1, but she knew they would be fulfilled, and told a student that it would be "awful."

When Mary Baker Eddy left us, her Manual By-Law (p. 26, Directors, Sect. 5) absolutely terminated all centralized control, but at her leaving, men brazenly claimed they were Mrs. Eddy's successor. Can there be any doubt this was in fulfill-ment of Revelation 13:18? And Jesus said, "Scripture cannot be broken" (Jn 10:35).

Other References to the "Beast"

Are there other references to the beast in Revelation? Yes indeed. Revelation 11 tells us the "angel" said: "I will give power unto my two witnesses....and when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast which ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them....And after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet....and there were great voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever."

Chapter 13:1 starts, "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns [symbolizing the great power evil, hypnotism, animal magnetism seems to have], and upon his heads the name of blasphemy."

The beast is a symbol for ecclesiastical despotism which gets its power from the dragon-the "drag-on" of old orthodox religion-which reigned until its reign was broken by Christian Science. "I saw one of his heads...wounded to death and his deadly wound was healed" (Rev. 13:3) The beast's power was broken by Mary Baker Eddy's great revelation that God is your own real Mind. But the beast's deadly wound, wounded by Mrs. Eddy's teaching, was healed when the Manual-teminated Board of Directors set themselves up as "Mrs. Eddy's successor."

"And they worshipped the dragon which gave power to the beast," as so-called Christian Scientists continue to do to this day. They bow down before the reign of ecclesiastical despotism that today holds sway in the Christian Science movement, instead of listening to the "Comforter" promised and prophesied by Jesus. This "Comforter" admonished, "Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you...." (S&H 442:30). Ultimately the Truth brought us by the "Comforter" will destroy the dragon [the drag-on of old theology] that blocks the light of divine Science from the view of mankind.

Another Dire Prediction of St. John's Revelation Fulfilled

We have seen how prophecy was fulfilled when Mary Baker Eddy left the human scene and the estoppel clauses in her Manual that terminated the temporary five-member Board were brazenly disobeyed. In 1916 another prophecy was fulfilled when the Manual-terminated five-member Board cemented their despotic ecclesiastic control over the field with the illegitimate and deadly imposition of the label: "Authorized Literature" on the flyleaf of all Mary Baker Eddy's works. This wicked device enabled the usurpers of Mary Baker Eddy's place to control what the Christian Science field could read. It sounded the death knell to any advance in Christian Science, and froze this advance for the present time.

Twenty-five years earlier, in 1891, when misguided students tried to set up what amounted to authorizing literature, Mrs. Eddy wrote her publisher, Mr. Nixon, calling such a scheme, "This most wicked, prescriptive, uncharitable [and] ...obnoxious feature...a priviledged monopoly to tyrannize over other writers." and refused to sanction it, even though it came at a time when seditious students were busy setting up rival publications which woefully misrepresented her teaching. Mrs. Eddy saw the great future danger. (See MBE's Six Days of Revelation, Oakes, p.373)

The Beast is Given a Mouth

When the Board instituted their "Authorized Literature" control and later seized the Christian Science Publishing Society, using it to downplay and even discredit our Leader, Revelation 13:4-8 was fulfilled,-the beast was given a mouth. "And there was given unto [the beast] a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him....and he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name [by attacking students loyal to His witness, Mary Baker Eddy]." We are still experiencing this prophecy today. As Jesus said, "Scripture cannot be broken."

"The Earth Helped the Woman"

In the face of this onslaught, is there no hope? Returning to Revelation 12:17, 15, 16, we read: "And the dragon [the drag-on of ecclesiastical despotism] was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God....And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child [Science & Health, the Second Coming of the Christ, the "Comforter" prophesied and promised by Jesus]."

But Revelation continues, "And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent [alias the beast, ecclesiastical despotism]."

The "great eagle" represents that which flies above the storm-above illusions and error. Can there be any doubt that "the great eagle" that helped the woman was the United States of America with its Constitution and Bill of Rights? It is no accident that the New World was not named Columbia after Columbus. Mildred LeBlond, a noted authority on the ancient derivatives of word meanings tells us that the root meaning of America is: "the second coming of the Christ."

This prophecy concludes, "And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon [who gave power to the beast] cast out of his mouth."

How is "the earth helping the woman"?

By educating mankind spiritually, and telling the truth about Mary Baker Eddy, our forever Leader, who can never be separated from her scripturally prophesied mission to bring forth the Second Coming of the Christ, the "Comforter" promised by Jesus.

Ode to Heroes

Among the many who have dared to defy ecclesiastical despotism, I would like to mention three I have known personally, whose love for Mary Baker Eddy was deep and abiding. They are Reginald Kerry, David James Nolan, and Loran Mansfield. But there are many others, some of whom I have written about elsewhere, all of whom are the remnant which Isaiah says is "very small" (16:14).

In the early 1970's, Reginald Kerry, who had been a supporter of the ecclesiastical hierarchy in Boston and was even a candidate for the Board of Directors, suddenly saw the spiritual wickedness practiced there. He saw that in their total disobedience to Mary Baker Eddy'sManual, the Board was "taking the livery of heaven wherewith to cover iniquity"- the most fearful sin mortals can commit.

With great courage-knowing he was destroying any hope of becoming a Director and that he faced excommunication and every other form of punishment the hierarchy could inflict-he put out "Letters" to the entire field exposing the error he had witnessed. His fearless, revealing "Letters" let in a breath of fresh air and greatly enlightened many in the Christian Science field. All error asks is to be let alone. The Kerry "Letters" did not leave error alone. Their exposure of the spiritual wickedness in high places did much good in their support of the "small and feeble remnant."

The second hero I mentioned, David James Nolan, was used by God to free the Christian Science textbook from ecclesiastical control. The Boston Directors had, through false and treacherous means, secured a perpetual copyright on the 1910 textbook, Science and Health. David James Nolan realized this imprisoning of the Christian Science textbook by copyright laws was the cruelest and rankest error ever to be imposed upon suffering humanity, since it hid from mankind its way of escape from the misery of sin, disease, and death.

Although earlier editions of Science and Health had been copyrighted, Mrs. Eddy deliberately chose not to copyright her 1910 edition, which contained far-reaching, important changes. (See my book, If Mary Baker Eddy's Manual Were Obeyed, which gives full details). The changes she had made after 1906 perfected the Science in it. A Science does not need copyrighting, and she wanted all the world to benefit from it.

In light of these facts, what greater good could anyone do for mankind than to free the Christian Science textbook from imprisonment by ecclesiastical despotism? Like the David of old who went forth to battle Goliath, David James Nolan challenged the Boston hierarchy. And on the 14th day of August, 1985, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled against the hierarchy. Calling the copyright "offensively unconstitutional," the judge "Further Ordered, that the copyright conferred by Private Law 92-60 is held to be null, and void, and of no effect."

Our third hero, Loren Mansfield, was a dedicated Christian Scientist, who, out of heartfelt gratitude for what Christian Science had done for him, did many things to help the "small and feeble remnant." One of his deeds that impressed this writer was his action after he read that Mrs. Eddy hoped Christian Scientists would do all they could to put Science and Health into as many hands as possible. Mr. Mansfield took this wish of our Leader seriously. Out of love for Mrs. Eddy, and wanting to be obedient, he bought ten thousand copies of Science and Health and distributed them to Christian Science churches and societies, asking that they be made available to people who might not otherwise be aware of the healing power of this book.

This noble and generous impulse and action in obedience to Mrs. Eddy's desire was met with great alarm by the Boston hierarchy. They immediately had their emissaries (the COP's) send a warning to all churches and societies which had received copies of Science and Health that "this action was not supported by The Mother Church." Fear of officialdom's disapproval caused nearly all ten thousand copies to be unceremoniously returned to Mr. Mansfield. Undismayed, he then had several hundred thousand copies of Science and Health printed for distribution to hotels and motels. This could not have been done had our second hero, David James Nolen, not challenged and won the copyright suit on Science and Health. Unfortunately Mr. Mansfield passed on before the establishment of his "Mary Baker Eddy Foundation" was legally completed.

Slaves of Ecclesiastical Despotism

"They are slaves who dare not be in the right with two or three. They are slaves who dare not choose hatred, slander, and abuse rather than in silence shrink from the truth they needs must think." The genuine Christian Scientist, the "small and very feeble" Biblical "remnant" obedient to Mary Baker Eddy's Manual, cannot work with those who willfully and flagrantly disobey the Manual estoppels that TERMINATED ALL CENTRALIZED CONTROL. Mrs. Eddy knew it would be the Christian Scientists within the movement who would allow themselves to become "slaves" of the serpent, and cause the Biblical plagues to descend, and the healing element of Christian Science to almost disappear.

Revelation 12:15, 16, tells us that "the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood, after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood." This prophecy was fulfilled in 1910 when Mary Baker Eddy's Manual, that terminated the five-member Board of Directors, was NOT OBEYED, and five personalities set themselves up as her successor. Had the field, or even one man, risen up like David Nolan did in the copyright case, and at once legally challenged the five-member Board's coup in December of l910, the whole history of the Christian Science movement would have been different.

Closing thoughts

The human race has been able to improve everything, it is said, except people. But today, because of Mary Baker Eddy's teaching, humanity is entering a new age. The world is being transformed; old thoughts of fear and separation are being replaced with thoughts of love and unity. Mrs. Eddy's teaching and writing has revolutionized world thought. Her "infinite logic" (No. 16:15)-in which "divine light, logic, and revelation coincide"-has brought to an end centuries of dualistic human reasoning. "Being faultless" it is a logic from which "there is no escape." As it dissolves the historical concept of man, "material history is drawing to a close" (No. 45:27).

Lovingly Mrs. Eddy urged, "Can you all hear the wonderful tone that has just been struck-a tone never before heard in human consciousness? Could you, my dear ones, but see the grandeur of your outlook, the sublimity of your hope-and the infinite capacity of your being-you would do what? Let error kill itself. It comes to you for life and you give it the only life it has-in belief" (D.C.C. 215).

Students of Christian Science sometimes fail to see why Mrs. Eddy wrote: "Without a correct sense of its highest visible idea, we can never understand the divine Principle" (S&H 560:18).

She means here that if we don't accept her as the "highest visible idea," who for forty-four years continuously demonstrated it, we cannot accept it for ourselves. Without a correct sense of its highest visible idea-Mary Baker Eddy, our Leader, the Discoverer, Founder, teacher and demonstrator of this Science-we fail to understand the divine Principle or Life which her writings accurately reveal.

We who have been taught by Mary Baker Eddy can say of her as she said of Jesus: "May we unloose the latchets of her Christliness, inherit her legacy of love and reach the promised reward of righteousness: 'Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.'"

Like Johnny Appleseed of old, may we spread throughout the world the healing truth of Mary Baker Eddy's great discovery as brought out in these "Letters."

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