MARY BAKER EDDY LETTER

Letter Number Seven, December 25, 1997

"Tell the truth concerning the lie....A lie left to itself is not so soon found out as it is with the help of truth telling" (My. 130:18). These "Letters" tell the truth concerning Mary Baker Eddy and will appeal to those who love Mrs. Eddy and want to see her Manual obeyed.

To Avoid Mistakes

"Many things are opened by mistake but none so often as the mouth."

How can we avoid making mistakes?

Mrs. Eddy urged Judge Hanna: "Ponder in thought your infinite, harmonious, Christ expressing selfhood and claim it as you, and she followed this wonderful urging with the divine assurance: "All the truth and beauty of God's [your own real Mind's] creation is yours and you." It is "yours and you" because YOU ARE the divine being, having the Mind that is God, infinite good, Love. As Jesus said, you have "the kingdom of God within you"- within your consciousness.

Because "infinite, harmonious, Christ-expressing selfhood" was Judge Hanna's own real Mind, because the kingdom of God was within his consciousness, pondering this great truth his mouth would not be apt to open with a mistake.

Christian Scientists are not immune to mistakes. Some of Mary Baker Eddy's strongest, most inspired statements are rejected by church Scientists, even though the essence of these very statements is today being trumpeted by secular authors who know little of Christian Science, such as Neale Donald Walsch who wrote Conversations With God, and many other wonderful authors whose books are best sellers. Physical scientists are more and more becoming theologians; and even many medical doctors are admitting the efficacy of metaphysics. If Christian Scientists can't fully understand all of Mrs. Eddy's teachings, maybe it's time for faith.

Spiritual Realities Dawn in Faith

Here, at the beginning of our spiritual journey, Mrs. Eddy tells us, spiritual realities "dawn in faith and glow full-orbed in spiritual understanding." Faith, like love and hope, is basically an action word. Trust completely in infinite good, believe what infinite good is telling you, do what infinite good directs, and you will grow spiritually. In Hebrews we read that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Are Mrs. Eddy and the Bible saying here that faith is that element of intelligence by which divinity reaches humanity?

Yes. Faith is the open door to all departments of learning; the school child accepts on faith what the instructor teaches.

So it was when, on the road to Emmaus, three days after the crucifixion, "Jesus himself drew near [to the disciples], and went with them." Jesus needed to instruct them because the disciples, who were sadly discussing the momentous happenings of the last few days, believed Jesus was dead.

The disciples did not recognize Jesus as he approached, and Jesus learned, from the disciples' expressions of grief, that their faith in his works of healing was not sufficient to convince them that he was the promised Messiah. They believed that his mission had failed.

Jesus saw he must rally the troops. He began by rebuking their unbelief, their lack of faith. Then, Luke 24:27 tells us, "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." Jesus was aware that his mighty works of healing and even of raising the dead would not be enough to guarantee their loyalty to his Messiahship unless that loyalty was based on prophetic vision, on scriptural prophecy.

Beholding his disciple's ignorance of what he, Jesus, really was, Jesus saw that his cause could only be rescued if his followers were willing to acknowledge his place in scriptural prophecy. They must see that his mighty ministry stemmed directly from God, from infinite good. We will see in this Letter that the same willingness to acknowledge Mary Baker Eddy's ministry as direct from God is necessary in order for each of us to become aware of the kingdom of God within our consciousness.

What Made it Difficult for the Disciples to See Jesus' Mission?

It is natural that the disciples' daily association with Jesus made it difficult for them to believe that the son of a carpenter (as they thought of him) could have a place in Bible prophecy.

This is why, later, when Jesus again appeared in his disciples' midst, he discovered once more that they had lost their faith in his mission. Seeing him, "they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit." Jesus reassured them, saying, "a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have." To further reassure them, he took a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb and ate before them, so that they became convinced that he had indeed risen from the dead, and so fulfilled the scriptural prophecies concerning him.

"And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures" (Luke 24:44-45).

The disciples' narrow view of Jesus had exposed them to temptations of desertion and disloyalty. But when Jesus opened their understanding that he had been scripturally prophesied, they were never again tempted with disloyalty.

Moses Had Prophesied the Coming of Jesus

St. Paul in Acts 3:22 tells us, "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you." To prove that Jesus understood the significance of this prophecy, he had, before his crucifixion, entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and "he began to say unto them [to the congregation], This day is this scripture [Moses' prophecy concerning Jesus' coming] fulfilled in your ears" (Luke 4:21).

At another time (John 8:12), Jesus had told them: "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." The "light" does not create anything. When you turn on the light in a room, it shows what is already there. When we turn on the light of divine Science it shows us what is already there, namely, the omnipresence of present perfection. What is already there is the kingdom of God within our own consciousness, revealing that our own real Mind is the only God there is.

Light appeared on the first day of creation. But two great lights appeared on the fourth day; these two great lights are described as "rulers"; they speak of the idea of the heavenly kingdom. In Science and Health, pp. 510-511, Mrs. Eddy says that their light is "not a vitalizing property of matter," but rather it is spiritual truth "whose seed is in itself." These lights do not rule over "material darkness and dawn," but rule over "the successive appearing of God's [Mind's, infinite good's] ideas" (S&H 504).

The Unseen Christ and the Visible Idea

When Jesus said, "I am the root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning star" (Rev. 22:16), he was referring to his dual nature as the unseen Christ and the visible idea. The visible idea, "the bright and morning star"-the star of Bethlehem-marks the dawn of Christianity. Of it, Mrs. Eddy writes, "Led by a solitary star amid the darkness, the Magi of old foretold the Messiahship of Truth." In Miscellaneous Writings, page 320, Mrs. Eddy tells us the star of Bethlehem is the star of Boston.

What is this star? "It is the light of divine Science. It is the light of Truth...beckoning [man] on to truth and love...The star of Bethlehem is the light of all ages; is the light of Love."

The one lone brave star is the human and divine coincidence as seen in the star of its first appearing. This star was represented as Christ Jesus in human experience. But, as Mrs. Eddy's appearance represents the Second Coming of the Christ-depicted in Christ and Christmas- it is really the "the star of Boston;" the "lone brave star," beckoning us on to Truth and Love. (See Mis. 320.)

"Is the wise man of today believed when he beholds the light which heralds Christ's eternal dawn and describes its effulgence?" The wise men of today follow the "daystar of divine Science, lighting the way to eternal harmony." (S&H 95 & Pref. vii).

Jesus told Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world....To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth" John 18:33, 36, 37).

The Prophet Micah Foretells "the Woman"

Both Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy understood their prophetic mission. That they

were complimentary to each other can be seen from the following:

After prophesying the coming of Jesus (Micah 5:2), Micah tells us that Jesus must continue to rule "until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth" (Micah 5:3). This passage describes the second great light that is to be ruler in Israel as "a woman in travail."

Revelation 12:2, 5 also speaks of a "woman in travail" who "brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne." What does Jesus mean here, in his prophecy to St. John?

Would it not mean that the great revelation that Mary Baker Eddy brought forth in the Second Coming of the Christ, as the "Comforter," will be eventually understood spiritually by you and me and by all mankind, because the "Comforter" is within our consciousness? The "Comforter" is our own real Mind, and through spiritual education will come to light and be understood. This "Comforter," this Second Coming of the Christ, reveals the omnipresence of present perfection.

"As a Science this system is held back by the common ignorance of what it is,...and (worse still) by those who come falsely to its name" (No. 11:11). Therefore we must educate, educate, educate.

We Are Not "Flesh, Blood and Bones"

At present we seem to think of ourselves as material bodies, as flesh, blood, and bones. In this we are much like the man who presented himself to a psychiatrist complaining he thought he was a dog. "Everything I do makes me think I am a dog," he told the psychiatrist, who put him on the couch and asked, "How long have you felt this way?"

"Ever since I was a puppy," said the man.

This is exactly what has happened to us. We believe we were born into matter; that we are "flesh, blood, and bones." But this is false-just as false as the man's belief that he was a dog. Both Jesus and Mrs. Eddy instruct us that human birth is the first death. In the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly taught, "Blessed are the wombs that never bare"; and Mary Baker Eddy, in strong language to those near her in understanding, taught that bringing a child into the world was "murder." Before the crucifixion, Jesus prayed: "And now, O, Father, glorify thou me...with the glory I had with thee before the world was [before this dream of life in matter overtook me.]"

In the "new birth," in Christian Science, we are all destined to learn that we are not matter. We are not made up of brain, blood, bones and other material elements. Why? Because God, infinite good, our own real Mind, the kingdom of God within our consciousness, is ALL. As Science and Health tells us, "All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation," and this Mind, that is your real Mind, cannot reflect itself in its opposite, matter, in flesh, blood, and bones. So "flesh, blood, and bones" must be an illusion, hypnotic suggestion only.

Jesus, in the First Coming of the Christ, and Mary Baker Eddy, in the Second Coming, proved a flesh, blood, and bones man to be unreal, illusion, hypnotic suggestion, and without foundation in fact. Your true Mind does not reflect itself in matter, in flesh, blood, and bones.

Your Mind's reflection has no mind of its own, as Mrs. Eddy tells us in her definition of "man." Man is "that which has no separate mind from God." When you look out on the universe and see things, none of these things that you see has a mind of its own, any more than your image in the mirror has a mind of its own. Just so, man, or that which your Mind sees "has not a single quality underived from Deity." Deity, here, means your own real Mind; there is no God up in the sky, somewhere apart from your Mind.

Mrs. Eddy continues her definition of man by saying man is "that which possesses no life, intelligence, nor creative power of his own, but reflects spiritually all that belongs to his Maker." Can your image in the mirror have creative power? Your real true Mind, your divine consciousness, the kingdom of God within your consciousness is the only creative power.

Einstein saw the truth of Mary Baker Eddy's "scientific statement of being," and taught it. Lincoln Barnett, in The Universe and Dr. Einstein, tells us that "Gradually philosophers and scientists arrived at the startling conclusion that since every object is simply the sum of its qualities, and since qualities exist only in the mind, the whole objective universe of matter and energy, atoms and stars, does not exist except as a construction of consciousness. Einstein carried this train of logic to its ultimate limits by showing that even space and time are forms of intuition."

The "Little Book," the Prophesied "Comforter"

"In the first century of the Christian era...Christ, or the spiritual idea, appeared to human consciousness as the man, Jesus" (Ret. 93:1). Jesus prophesied and promised the Second Coming of the Christ which he called the "Comforter." Mrs. Eddy writes: "This Comforter I understand to be Divine Science" (S&H p. 55). This is "the little book" which Daniel was required to seal "even to the time of the end." Daniel saw how these "two great witnesses" complement each other. He saw them standing on the banks of a river, "the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river" (Dan. 12:5). Why did he use the symbolism of a river? Perhaps because Euphrates and Hiddekel, which are rivers of Eden, are defined by Mary Baker Eddy as symbolical of divine Science.

In John 14:16 we read that Jesus said, "I will pray the Father [his own right Mind, the Christ Mind] and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth [the spiritual understanding that we will gain from the "Comforter" that Jesus promised]." In John 16:13, Jesus said, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth [the Second Coming of the Christ, the "Comforter"] is come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak...."

For nearly two thousand years Christians looked for the coming of the "Comforter"-"another Comforter" such as Jesus had been-that would reveal all things and guide into all truth. Christians the world over looked for this "Comforter," meaning the Second Coming of the Christ, "the Spirit of truth," meaning the understanding of truth, just as the Jews had looked for the promised Messiah.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Second Coming of the Christ, the "Comforter" promised by Jesus, was ushered in as the First Coming had been ushered in, with the sign of healing. By 1902 it was estimated that Mary Baker Eddy and her students had healed over two million cases of disease, and had even raised the dead.

Because of this wonderful healing work more than three thousand Christian Science churches and Christian Science Societies rose up in the world, and were filled to overflowing with the grateful benefactors of this new Science that healed. Mrs. Eddy wrote in Science and Health, "Today there is hardly a city, village, or hamlet, in which are not to be found living witnesses and monuments to the virtue and power of Truth, as applied through this Christian system of healing disease" (p. 149:31).

"But," she adds, "these signs [the healings] are only to demonstrate its divine origin, to attest the reality of the higher mission of the Christ-power to take away the sin of the world." Over all, is God, Mind-"all is infinite Mind"- your true, real, Christ Mind.

The Stairs That Lead to Spiritual Love

Mary Baker Eddy in her classroom once said, "There is a vast difference between the meaning of the words 'human' and 'mortal.' When you become human you are approaching the divine. Jesus was divinely human." In Science and Health (p. 54) Mrs. Eddy states, "Through the magnitude of his human life, he demonstrated the divine Life."

Jesus removed the mysticism about the human and divine life in his conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. She had accepted the prophetic Scripture concerning the promised Messiah, "which is called Christ," but "Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he" (John 4:26).

Jesus did not speak of himself as a symbol or illustration of that prophecy. He insisted that he, the one who was talking with her, was the promised Messiah. Later (John 9:35-37), he again voiced the same truth to the man born blind. Jesus asked, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God? [The blind man whose sight Jesus had restored] answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee."

The coincidence of the human and divine in Jesus-who had a fleshly form just as we have-was seen by Peter when he declared, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." How did Jesus answer this? "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father..."-the one Mind, the kingdom of heaven within your consciousness, has revealed it to you. Peter had seen that divinity reaches humanity through the incarnation of Truth, and Jesus proved to his disciples and to all mankind that he was the Christ by "his mighty, crowning, unparalleled and triumphant exit from the flesh" (Science and Health 117:21).

The Woman

In a parable about the kingdom of heaven Jesus made a far-reaching utterance: "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."

What does this mean? Jesus is telling us this woman of prophecy must place in Science, Theology, and Medicine the leaven of the "Comforter" until the whole of mortal thought is changed "as yeast changes the chemical properties of meal." He is talking about the "little book," that a woman would write-the book Jesus prophesied and promised when he said, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you ANOTHER COMFORTER, that he may abide with you forever." This "little book," Science and Health, by Mary Baker Eddy, will leaven the thought of the whole world.

Why will it do this? Because it was written by one whose heart was filled with love for all mankind, for every individual in the whole world. She "saw the love of God encircling the universe and man." There are no words to express how great was the love of Mary Baker Eddy-that she felt and expressed. This love enabled her to write the textbook of Christian Science that will teach each individual that his own real Mind is God-that "the kingdom of heaven [infinite good] is within [his consciousness]." And because the individual's own Mind is God, he "possesses sovereign power to think and act rightly, and nothing can dispossess [him] of this heritage."

"The Scientific Statement of Being"

Of St. Paul's statement to the Athenians , "For in Him we live, and move, and have our being," Mrs. Eddy writes: This statement is in substance identical with my own: 'There is no life, truth, substance, nor intelligence in matter.' The divine Message, humanly expressed, has always come through a divinely sent Messenger." (Ret. 93:17)

The advent of the Messenger precedes the message; the promised Messiah came first as the incarnate Jesus, and then followed Christ's Christianity; and Christ Jesus is inseparable from his message of Christianity. In the same way, Mary Baker Eddy in the Second Coming

of the Christ is inseparable from the message she brought when she fulfilled Jesus' promise of the "Comforter" that will reveal all things and "abide with you forever."

"It is quite clear that as yet this grandest verity has not been fully demonstrated, but it is nevertheless true. If Christian Science reiterates St. Paul's teaching, we, as Christian Scientists, should give to the world convincing proof of the validity of this scientific statement of being. Having perceived, in advance of others, this scientific fact, we owe to ourselves and the world a struggle for its demonstration" (Ret. 93:17).

Why She Wrote the Manual

It was for this reason, namely, that "we owe to ourselves and the world a struggle for its demonstration," that Mary Baker Eddy wrote the Manual which, when it is obeyed, will terminate all central control, all control by an ecclesiastical hierarchy. This will set every Christian Scientist free to seek the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, already within his own consciousness.

Why was Mrs. Eddy so determined that each individual should be free of centralized, hierarchical, ecclesiastical control? Why was she so determined that any semblance of MATERIAL ORGANIZATION should last only as long as she was personally here with us to control and guide the material organization?

Because she knew, as she wrote in My. 117:22: "There was never a religion or philosophy lost to the centuries except by sinking its divine Principle in personality. May all Christian Scientists ponder this fact, and give their talents and loving hearts free scope only in the right direction!". She knew that about a hundred years after Jesus' apostles had left the human scene, Jesus' teaching began to be materialized as it fell into the hands of heathen culture.

Knowing this, and wanting to prevent her great divine discovery and revelation from falling into the same trap that the teaching of Jesus and his apostles fell into, Mrs. Eddy, with unsurpassed courage, left Boston in the height of prosperity, to retreat from the world, and seek the one divine Person, whereby and wherein to show others the footsteps from sense to Soul, spiritual understanding. The result was the God-dictated Church Manual.

The Woman whom God had appointed and anointed had made the spiritual remedy demonstrable and practical. As noted before, because of her wonderful healing ability and the healing work of her many students, Christian Science, by that time, had healed millions of sickness and sin, and even raised the dead. Thousands of Christian Science churches were springing up all over the world.

Had Mary Baker Eddy's Manual been obeyed after she left us in 1910, the world today would not be flooded with disease and discord. Why? For the simple reason that mortals would be well on their way to comprehending their God-being, comprehending that the human, mortal mind and body are myths.

Materially-Minded Students Cause Trouble

Mrs. Eddy's materially-minded students continually tried to drive a wedge between and her great revelation. One such wedge came around 1900 in the case of the Woodbury suit. Mrs. Woodbury sued Mrs. Eddy for slander, because Mrs. Woodbury considered Mrs. Eddy's reference to the Babylonish woman to be personal, and directed toward her. The case left deep scars.

Church members were bewildered. Why? Because in order to win the suit against Mrs. Woodbury, the lawyers could not bring out that Mrs. Eddy was indeed the woman of the Apocalypse-the woman that "had been kept secret from the foundation of the world"-the woman whose coming Jesus had prophesied and promised. The attorneys for Mrs. Eddy could not bring out that the entire 54th chapter of Isaiah was a prophecy of Mary Baker Eddy; they could not bring out the many other biblical references heralding her. It was too early to publicly bring out this great reality. Mrs. Eddy would have lost the case, and far more serious damage would have been done to the Cause. The people in general were not yet ready for this truth, as they are not even today. Mrs. Eddy

knew that " a lack of wisdom betrays truth into the hands of evil as effectively as does a subtle conspirator. "

Instead, the attorneys for Mary Baker Eddy asked the presiding judge to strike out of Mrs. Woodbury's Bill of Complaint all those actually true assertions about Mrs. Eddy and her book, which Mrs. Woodbury was ridiculing. The amended Bill of Complaint was still unsatisfactory, however, and a second demurrer suit was filed and won by Mrs. Eddy's lawyers. This narrowed the suit down to the sole issue as to whether Mrs. Eddy's reference to the Babylonish woman in her Communion Message meant any specific woman.

This narrow interpretation was necessary to win the suit, but it was this attorney action (advised by Mary Baker Eddy) that confused the Field, and left the deep scars.

After four days of testimony by witnesses, the prosecution turned the case over to the defense who claimed the plaintiff had failed to prove that the defendant was at all personal in her reference to the Babylonish woman.

Further, the restricted view of Mary Baker Eddy's role presented in the Woodbury trial was not helped when Edward Kimball, in order to protect Mary Baker Eddy, answered newspaper men, that Mrs. Eddy did not teach that she considered herself the woman of the Apocalypse.

This limited view of Mary Baker Eddy generated a crop of skeptics. The more materially minded began to plot to drive deeper the wedge between Mrs. Eddy and the Science she discovered. Others began to question why couldn't any one who had listened to God's voice have discovered Christian Science? They rejected the facts that Jesus is "the only begotten Son," and that the woman (Mary Baker Eddy) had been "kept secret from the foundation of the world."

This is only one of the many cruel actions taken by Mrs. Eddy's renegade students to hinder her God-mission. These dire actions appeared as cliffhangers at the time, but Mrs. Eddy's love for all mankind, and her trust in good, met every demand made on her. In her Mess. '01. (33:24) Mrs. Eddy writes, "The richest and most positive proof that a religion in this century is just what it was in the first centuries is that the same reviling it received then it receives now, and from the same motives which actuate one sect to persecute another in advance of it." The great red dragon in Revelation is old theology, that persecuted the woman.

Let's uncover the truth no matter who may fall from grace. The old theology now persecuting the woman is a powerful hierarchy willfully disobeying her Manual. But, those opposing Mary Baker Eddy's Manual estoppels have only the arm of flesh. We have the Lord God Almighty-the divine Mind, our real Mind, that gives us "sovereign power" and the cloak of invincibility.

Those who love Mary Baker Eddy's great revelation will stand with her, and help expose this Boston charade for the scam it is.

Courage Is Demanded of Loyal Christian Scientists

It will take courage on the part of Christian Scientists whose eyes have been opened to the sacredness of Mary Baker Eddy's Manual, to challenge those in ecclesiastical authority at the Boston so-called headquarters who feel no shame for disobeying the Manual's estoppels, and whose greed for power has no equal. The all-star cavalcade of pilgrims who come to pay homage to this Manual-terminated five-member Board demonstrates the power this Manual-terminated Board still wields. It is well to remember our Leader's admonition: "If you, my dear students, could but see the grandeur of your outlook, the infinitude of your hope, and the infinite capacity of your being, you would do what? You would let error destroy itself."

But today we must open our eyes to see what evil is trying to do. Those who love Mary Baker Eddy and are obedient to her Manual By-Laws, and her ten Deeds of Trust that make the Manual a legal instrument, are rallying to the "remnant's" side. They realize they must double their efforts to educate themselves and their fellow Christian Scientists in order to meet this challenge from those who oppose Mary Baker Eddy's Manual estoppels that stop an action.

These "Mary Baker Eddy Letters" are a call to the "small and feeble" Biblical "remnant" to do all they can to double and triple the "remnant's" number. We must grow to meet the challenge of those who support the disobedient five-member Board of Directors who oppose Mary Baker Eddy's Manual requirements and who flout her ten "Deeds of Trust" that make the Manual a legal instrument. When the Ten Deeds of Trust comes before the courts of this land, THE LAST LINK IN THE CHAIN OF SCIENTIFIC BEING, will be forged.

Loyal Christian Scientists will rally to Mary Baker Eddy's side, and so fulfill her dearest wish, namely, that her great revelation and discovery be not again sunk in personality as was Jesus' wonderful demonstration and work on earth nearly two thousand years ago.

On page 130 of Miscellany Mrs. Eddy pleads for "the help of others...to reprove, rebuke and exhort. A lie left to itself is not so soon destroyed as it is with the help of truth-telling." These Mary Baker Eddy Letters are an answer to Mrs. Eddy's plea.

The Biblical "remnant," those who love Mary Baker Eddy, have witnessed a truly inspiring response to the call that has gone forth to the faithful, in books, "Letters," and tape recordings. It has enabled us to add thousands to our mailing list; many of whom are deploying every weapon in their spiritual arsenal to bring Truth to pass.

To increase the effectiveness, and spread the Biblical "remnant's" voice, please share these listed books, "Letters," and tapes that honor Mary Baker Eddy. Share them with those who love Mary Baker Eddy and want to see her Manual obeyed. Mrs. Eddy's Manual has something to say, and says it clearly. Her Manual sets all men free to be a law to themselves. But there are many Christian Scientists who still believe they must obey five mortals in Boston who have stealthily, in a grab for power over the entire Christian Science movement, set themselves up as Mary Baker Eddy's successor.

It was Mrs. Eddy discernment that her Manual would not be obeyed that brought about her mental murder. She knew and stated that "whoever proclaims Truth loudest, becomes the mark for error's shafts. The archers aim at Truth's mouthpiece; but a heart loyal to God [infinite good] is patient and strong....The stake and the scaffold have never silenced the messenger of the most high...." (Mis. 277:31).

Mrs. Eddy warned, "Never was there a more solemn and impervious call than God makes to us all, right here, for fervent devotion and an absolute consecration to the greatest and holiest of all causes. THE HOUR IS COME. The great battle of Armageddon is upon us. The powers of evil are leagued together in secret conspiracy against the Lord and His Christ, as expressed and operative in Christian Science. Large numbers, in desperate malice, are engaged day and night in organizing action against us. Their feeling and purpose are deadly, and they have sworn enmity against the lives of our standard bearers [those who obey Mary Baker Eddy's God-dictated Manual ] (Mis. 177:1).

In the next paragraph Mrs. Eddy asks us if we will give ourselves "wholly and irrevocably to the great work of establishing the truth, the gospel, and the Science which are necessary to the salvation of the world [or will you try to work equally with those who disobey Mary Baker Eddy's sacred Manual ?]"

Faithfulness-faithfulness in obeying the Manual-not material success, must be our motto as we do all we can to fulfill Mary Baker Eddy's deepest wish that her Manual would be obeyed as written; and that her ten Deeds of Trust be honored, so that her great revelation would not be lost in personality, as happened after Jesus' great demonstration of divine reality. Remember her last pathetic words that she had Laura Sargent write five days before she left us-when she found out that her own students in the highest echelon had set everything in readiness to betray her-" It took a combination of sinners that was fast to harm me. "

The Need Today

What is needed today is action on the part of the Biblical "remnant" that will trigger falling support for the Manual-terminated five member Board of Directors.

We need to act now, and we need to act aggressively.

Mrs. Eddy's "ten Deeds of Trust," the judicial battering ram that makes her Manual a legal instrument, needs to be brought to the courts of our land. This is necessary in order to expose the evil that was done to all humanity when Mary Baker Eddy's estoppel By-Laws in her sacred Manual were not obeyed. The murderous error of defying and violating her estoppel clauses, committed by a bureaucratic, Manual-terminated five-member Board at her passing, needs to be exposed and destroyed.

"Pale, sinful sense, at work to lift itself on crumbling thrones of justice by pulling down its benefactors, will tumble from this scheme into the bottomless abyss of self-damnation, there to relinquish its league with evil....Satan is unchained only for a season, as the Revelator foresaw" (My. 200:21).

That "season" is about to end. Why?

As Isaiah's "small and very feeble" remnant continues to educate the people spiritually, the time is coming when there will be an army of reliable students ready to rise up and march on Mary Baker Eddy's behalf.

Let's Lay Evil Bare

"When God bids one uncover iniquity in order to exterminate it, one should lay it bare; and divine Love will bless this endeavor and those whom it reaches. 'Nothing is hid that shall not be revealed.'...Error left to itself [and it certainly wants to be let alone] accumulates" (Mis. 348:8).

But we can't leave evil alone. Evil must be uncovered; then it "is found out, and exposure is nine points of destruction." Mrs. Eddy warned that we must say, in particular, the error that is damning men; and not swallow camels and strain at gnats.

"The unseen wrong to individuals and society [certain students] are too cowardly, and too ignorant, or too wicked to uncover, and excuse themselves by denying that this evil exists." This describes those who think Mary Baker Eddy's Manual does not need to be obeyed, that Mary Baker Eddy can't rule from the grave, and that the five-member Board of Directors had every right to disregard the estoppels that terminated them. (The 5-member Board of Directors saw clearly that the Manual estoppel on page 36, "Directors," toppled them. They tried many times to get Mrs. Eddy to omit it but she said God had dictated that estoppel ).

"This mistaken way, of hiding sin in order to maintain harmony, has licensed evil, allowing it first to smoulder, and then break out in devouring flames. All that error asks is to be let alone; even as in Jesus' time the unclean spirits cried out, 'Let us alone; what have we to do with thee?"

Mrs. Eddy again warned, "Error says, 'Don't talk about me; talk about God."

Gilbert Carpenter, Sr., at one time a secretary to Mary Baker Eddy, stated that Mrs. Eddy told several in her household, besides himself and Adam Dickey, that if she ever left or died it was because she was "mentally murdered."

Mary Baker Eddy's mental murder came from the shock of learning that the Manual-terminated five-member Board intended to disobey her Manual estoppels, and keep themselves in power as an ecclesiastical hierarchy, to gain global control of all Christian Scientists, Christian Science churches, and Societies.

The "Combination of Sinners"

As we have already mentioned, five days before she left the human scene Mrs. Eddy dictated the following statement to Laura Sargent: "It took a combination of sinners that was fast to harm me."

In Mary Baker Eddy Letter No. 4. we touched on Jesus' prophecy to St. John in Revelation chapters 13 to 21. Mrs. Eddy does not interpret this prophecy in Science and Health, but when she was asked about it, she said she had studied it, and it "is awful." Jesus said "Scripture cannot be broken." We are today going through that period of which Jesus prophesied to St. John on the Isle of Patmos, when he said, "the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth he has but a short time."

Mary Baker Eddy's sacred Manual sets every Christian Scientist free to be a law to him self, but we can see how exactly Jesus' prophecy in Revelation chapters 13 to 21 is today being fulfilled, as a disloyal and disobedient five-member Board of Directors defies Mary Baker Eddy's Manual and usurps her place, naming itself her successor.

The situation parallels what happened after Jesus left the ascended. Once St. Paul and the other apostles were no longer there to guide and protect those who had joined the early Christian church, materialists moved in and began educating the converts in a material way. When you get church-goers to believe a doctrine, however false, it is then easy to guide and control their thinking. Thus the Roman Catholic church grew, and its adherents were not allowed to read the Bible until the early part of THIS century, circa 1930.

Similarly, when Mary Baker Eddy left the human scene, the five-member Board of Directors that had been given so much power while Mrs. Eddy was here to closely supervise them, defied her Manual estoppel that forever TERMINATED them. Instead of obeying the Manual, they called themselves Mary Baker Eddy's successor, and moved in to dominate the Christian Science movement.

Why and how did they get away with this?

It was because while Mrs. Eddy was at Pleasant View, busy with furthering the movement, writing books, and thousands of other tasks, the Field was instructed to take their problems, questions, etc., to the Board of Directors. While Mrs. Eddy often had to severely correct the Directors, she always did so quietly and privately; PUBLICLY she only praised them. It thus became natural for the Field to think the Directors could do no wrong.

And who reads the stuffy little Church Manual?

In the confusion that ensued when Mrs. Eddy left the human scene, it was easy for the five-member Board, that the Manual had terminated, to boldly and deceitfully step in and tell the Field that Mrs. Eddy had made THEM her successor. This lie was brazenly published in the Christian Science Monitor for all Christian Scientists to see. Except for a few, the entire Christian Science Field believed this totally untrue story, and it was then, of course, easy for the Manual-TERMINATED Board of Directors to falsely gain global control of the entire Christian Science movement.

Because few people had read the Manual which had utterly ended the five-member Board of Directors, the Board was able to tighten their grip on the Field by making drastic changes in Mary Baker Eddy's last Manual. These changes gave the Manual-terminated Board complete control over Christian Science churches, Societies, and Christian Scientists. Their 89th Manual has been the only one for sale since 1911. (My two books on the Manual give an account of the takeover by the five-member Manual-terminated Board of Directors.)

The Christian Science Publishing Society

After Mrs. Eddy had left the human scene, the Board began, at once, to dictate to the Christian Science trustees of the Publishing Society, which Mrs. Eddy had LEGALLY set up as an ENTIRELY SEPARATE entity. When the trustees made the mistake of filing suit against the Board to defend their independence (instead of bringing up the Ten Deeds of Trust) the Directors used their clout with the Field, instructing teachers, practitioners, and Committees on Publication members to urge Christian Scientists everywhere to write to the presiding judge on the trial to decide in favor of the Board of Directors, and also to cancel their subscriptions to the periodicals, the Sentinel, Journal, and Monitor. The boycott of Christian Science periodicals bankrupted the Publishing Trustees so they could not carry their case to the Supreme Court, and thus the Board gained control.

"Authorized" Literature

Controlling what could be published was not enough, however. To retain its power over Christian Scientists an ecclesiastical hierarchy must control what the church members read. Six years after Mrs. Eddy left us the Board of Directors instituted their infamous "authorization" notice, indicating Christian Scientists should only read what the Board of Directors indicated as "safe."

If you received the recent July 28th C.S. Sentinel you remember you were told not to read letters, books, or listen to tape recordings unless they were "authorized" by the Board of Directors. This warning not to read anything unless it was authorized by the Boston Board of Directors was repeated, word for word, in the November Christian Science Journal, just issued. This is exactly the OPPOSITE of what Mrs. Eddy taught. (See tip-in sheet, July, 1891, Christian Science Journal, as well as pp. 126-129 of the third edition of If Mary Baker Eddy's Manual Were Obeyed.) Mrs. Eddy fiercely protected the right of the individual to make his own decision as to what he should read or listen to.

There is probably much buried in the archives of the Mother Church, declared to be unauthorized literature, that the Manual-terminated Board of Directors do not want you to see, as they are afraid too many members would become enlightened, as to what Mary Baker Eddy's real provisions and intentions were for her Church.

It was to PREVENT this censorship of what Christian Scientists should read, that Mary Baker Eddy wrote the Manual. Mrs. Eddy placed 29 estoppel clauses in the Manual, estoppels that tell what the Board of Directors CAN NOT DO unless they have Mary Baker Eddy's consent, and through her ten Deeds of Trust, she made the twenty-nine estoppel clauses in the Manual a LEGAL requirement.

Recognizing this fact, the Board of Directors, as mentioned before, many times petitioned Mrs. Eddy to change the estoppel that terminated them at her death, but she firmly said that God had dictated that estoppel, and she would not change a word of it, (See Manual, p.26, Directors).

How Did the Directors Thank Mary Baker Eddy?

Once Mrs. Eddy had left the earthly scene how did her most trusted students succeed in doing what her worst enemies had never been able to accomplish?

Besides changing Mary Baker Eddy's sacred Manual to give them complete control of individual Christian Scientists, Christian Science churches, and Societies, they were telling the Field that only what they, the Board of five Directors, cranked out-pardon me-authorized, should be read.

What were a few of the many disobedient actions the illegal Board of Directors took to show their low regard for Mary Baker Eddy? Note the following:

Her Beautiful Pleasant View Home Destroyed

Around 1918, not long after Mrs. Eddy left us, the illegal Board ordered the tragic, wanton destruction of Mary Baker Eddy's Pleasant View home.

Here Mrs. Eddy had for sixteen years so faithfully toiled for all humanity. Of the 432 editions of Science and Health, 380 editions had gone to press from Pleasant View. Here she wrote Retrospection and Introspection, Christ and Christmas, Pulpit and Press, all her 88 Church Manuals, Miscellaneous Writings, Christian Science vs. Pantheism, the three Messages to the Mother Church, Poems, and lastly, The First Church of Christ Scientist and Miscellany.

These books were written in between the thousand and one other things that daily occupied her as she worked for the world, praying that all mankind might see their infinite, harmonious, Christ-expressing selfhood. Yet the 5-member terminated Board issued orders to tear down this shrine of Love, this beautiful home Mary Baker Eddy loved so dearly, and which should have been preserved forever out of gratitude and love for our Leader.

Directors Order Diabolical Destruction of Grand Pyramid Marker at Bow

When the Board of Directors noted that too many Christian Scientists were visiting the grand granite marker at Bow (see picture) that marked Mary Baker Eddy's birthplace, they had it destroyed, dynamited to bits!

Located near the ancient house in which Mrs. Eddy was born in 1821, this great pyramid-shaped monument was cut from the largest piece of granite ever quarried in New Hampshire, weighing

over 100 tons, and more than 11 feet on each side before cutting.

This pyramid-shaped "marker" was an exact reproduction of the capstone of the Great Pyramid in Egypt depicted on "The Great Seal" of the United States of America, as shown on our one-dollar bills. We know the Great Pyramid was never completed. The "Bible in Stone" never had its capstone, that is, until this inspired gift from the Masons who clearly recognized Mary Baker Eddy as the one who fulfilled Jesus' promise and prophecy of the "Comforter," who would bring the Second Coming of the Christ.

This monument, which was dedicated in 1921 on the 100th anniversary of Mary Baker Eddy's birth, was considered by many to be an eminently appropriate symbol of Science. Doesn't its wanton destruction, by the self-appointed Board of Directors who so stealthily usurped Mrs. Eddy's place, tell us something? "...Would you consent that others should tear up your landmarks, manipulate your students, nullify or reverse your rules, countermand your orders, steal your possessions, and escape the penalty therefor? No!" (Mis. 119:27)

Directors Obtain Perpetual Copyright Control of Science and Health

Perhaps the cruelest blow struck at Mary Baker Eddy, and at all mankind, occurred when the five-member Board of Directors approached Congress and gained a perpetual copyright on Science and Health. This appalling story is more fully explained in my books, Mary Baker Eddy's Church Manual, and If Mary Baker Eddy's Manual Were Obeyed (see third edition).

Mrs. Eddy never copyrighted her 1910 edition of Science and Health. She wanted it to go out to heal all the world; to teach all mankind that "the kingdom of God is within you"-within your own consciousness, here and now, and needs only to be understood. But when the 1906 copyright had run out in the 1930's the Board of Directors illegally found a deceitful way to have it renewed. Then, when that copyright ran out in 1971, the Board shamelessly and dishonestly worked on Congress, and our government, to give them a copyright on Mrs. Eddy's uncopyrighted Science and Health and on all 432 editions of Science and Health.

They succeeded. The copyright was renewed in such a way that the Manual-terminated five-member Board would have perpetual copyright on all editions of Science and Health. The copyright they obtained also made it possible for them to make changes in Science and Health, and even to discontinue printing it altogether. This was like giving the Archbishop of Canterbury a copyright on the Bible, enabling him to change it or discontinue printing it forever.

As soon as the Board of Directors had securely gotten a perpetual copyright on Science and Health, what did they do?

They WITHDREW Science and Health from all bookstores that were handling it. Science and Health could henceforth be obtained only by writing to Boston, or from the fast-closing Christian Science reading rooms!

Was this love for Mary Baker Eddy, and the Second Coming of the Christ, the "Comforter" promised by Jesus? Remember, Mrs. Eddy hoped her students would make Science and Health available to as many people as possible. (See p.321, of Mary Baker Eddy's Six Days of Revelation by Richard Oakes.)

Fortunately, David James Nolan, Chairman of United Christian Scientists, with God-bestowed courage, instituted suit against the Directors. On Aug. 15, 1985, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson decided Boston's Board of Directors' copyright was blatantly unconstitutional. The Board of Directors' fifteen-year copyright imprisonment of Science and Health had ended. Mary Baker Eddy had won.

The Board of Directors Never Comprehended Mary Baker Eddy's Mission

The evidence is overwhelming that the Boston Board of Directors never comprehended Mary Baker Eddy's God-sent mission to restore to man his true being. They never understood that being truly good makes a man truly great. They never comprehended that the entire purpose of the teachings of Christian Science was to restore to man his consciousness of the divine Mind as his real and only Mind. They never really saw that Mary Baker Eddy was prophesied throughout the Bible, and would bring the Second Coming of the Christ, the "Comforter" prophesied and promised by Christ Jesus.

Failing to recognize that they owed both Jesus and Mrs. Eddy endless homage, the Directors never saw Mrs. Eddy as their forever Leader; they saw her as a personal leader whom they would some day replace. Their views echoed those of Judge Clarkson, who felt strongly, as Frye's Diary tells us, that Mrs. Eddy should step aside and let the men take over. Their resistance was like that of Mr. Nixon, Mrs. Eddy's publisher, whose attitude was "Obey a woman? Bah!"

Oh! how lonely was Mary Baker Eddy's battle! If she had been a man the way would have been easier.

But as Mrs. Eddy says, "An unjust, unmerciful, and oppressive priesthood must perish, for false prophets in the present as in the past stumble onward to their doom; while their tabernacles crumble with dry rot. God is not mocked...." The Board seems to have great power and glory; and it's true that you can't take it with you, but folks should remember that how you got it determines where you go.

Mrs. Eddy's whole work and revelation was to restore to us our God-Mind, our real and true Mind that is the kingdom of God within our consciousness.

Children's Corner The Wise Parent

Being a good parent means giving the care and attention that will see our children through a lifetime of difficulties. Discipline and trust are necessary, but wise parents know the most important thing of all is love. Give children a lot of love, and do it NOW. Never put off the impulse to show your children love. Act on the impulse immediately.

How do parents show love? Love is a daily thing; it shows in your voice, your attitude, the look on your face. Expressing this needed love may take a hundred different forms-a smile, a hug, a well-earned compliment.

What else do wise parents do, and what do they avoid? Wise parents build up their children's self-esteem by constantly urging them that they can accomplish what is assigned to them or what is necessary for them to do. Constantly assuring a child that he CAN do it, helps the child tremendously, because out in the world children are apt to get the opposite treatment. Wise parents never compare their child, derogatorily, with another child who is superior or better at the work set before him/her; they do what they can to build up the child's self-esteem and confidence in himself/herself.

"Only a Virtuous People Can Maintain Their Freedom"

But love and self esteem are not enough; wise parents also teach virtue. The following story from a recent speech by Jeb Bush shows why:

"There was an old man who was a great admirer of democracy and public education. So close to his heart did he hold both institutions that he tried to bring them together into one grand experiment, a public college where students would practice self-governance. There would be no regulations; the goodwill and judge-

ment of the students would suffice. After years of planning, the school was finally opened. The old man was overjoyed.

"But as the months went by, students proved time and time again that they were not the models of discipline and discernment the old man envisioned. They skipped classes, drank to excess, and wasted hours in frivolous pursuits. One night 14 students, disguised by masks and 'animated with wine,' went on a rampage that ended in a brawl. One struck a professor with a brick, and another used a cane on his victim.

"In response, the college trustees convened a special meeting. The old man, now 82 years old, and very frail, was asked to address the student body. In his remarks he recalled the lofty principles upon which the college had been founded. He said he had expected more-much more-from the students. He even confessed that this was the most painful event of his life. Suddenly he stopped speaking. Tears welled up in his failing eyes. He was so overcome with grief that he sat down, unable to go on. His audience was so touched that at the conclusion of the meeting the 14 offenders stepped forward to admit their guilt. But they could not undo the damage already done. A strict code of conduct and numerous onerous regulations were instituted at the college. The old man's experiment had failed. Why? Because he took for granted the one essential ingredient for success: virtue. 1

"Only a virtuous people can secure and maintain their freedom.

"A short time later, on the 4th of July, the old man passed away. Engraved on his tombstone were the simple words that reflected the success and failure of his most important experiments: 'Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and father of the University of Virginia."'

1 Mary Baker Eddy, like Thomas Jefferson, discovered that she had to write a Manual to govern. In Miscellany, p. 229:24, she writes: "Heaps upon heaps of praise confront me, and for what? That which I said in my heart would never be needed,-namely, laws of limitation for Christian Scientists."

The Manual was necessary because like the 14 boys who misbehaved in Thomas Jefferson's college, there were those who did not understand Mary Baker Eddy's divine commission.

Jeb Bush concludes: "our own...success or failure will ultimately be determined by our virtue. Virtue is indeed the oxygen of a free Society....without virtue there can be no self-governance."

Children are never too young to learn positive values. As soon as they are able to understand, let them know you always want them to tell you the truth. Teach them the spiritual qualities of love for one another, gratitude, patience, joy, generosity, courage, responsibility, truthfulness, and the many other qualities we cherish. It is in these fine, true, spiritual and moral values that virtue and strong, sturdy character has its roots. These qualities furnish the standard for behavior. They are the guide to the choices any child is making hourly of what to do and what not to do. They are a steadying force when temptations come.

Mary Baker Eddy tells us that when thought is filled with the true and good, there is no room in it for the wrong. Thought so filled has nothing in it upon which the suggestions of delinquent behavior can take hold.

The Power of a Good Story

Teaching children love for Bible stories is one way to fill young minds with the true and good and to promote virtue. My good friend Margaret Jewson suggests parents start by explaining that the Holy Bible is not an ordinary book, written by one author.

Tell children that long before people knew how to read or write, they told stories, wonderful stories of what had happened. The good stories were told over and over. Then, years later, but still thousands of years ago, when people learned to write and to read, some of these stories of a spiritual nature were written down.

The wise men who wrote down the stories were called prophets. They wanted to teach people how to be good, how to be kind to each other, in other words, how to be more spiritually-minded. They wanted to teach people to think only good thoughts.

Since ancient times humanity has used a myriad of mystic tools in its quest for enlightenment, knowledge, and spiritual understanding. From time to time there were spiritual heroes whose commitment to spiritual ideals made them ready to confront any evil that threatened them. Often they faced terrifying choices, but with super-human courage they confronted the enemy, often on several fronts simultaneously.

The prophets and heroes were tough. They were like steamrollers, great combatants in the world. You have to be a pretty tough character to try to help people, meaning all mankind, those whom other people aren't interested in helping. By faithfully ministering to all mankind, the Biblical prophets and heroes, in their holiness, became an example with global impact, and their stories can have a similar impact on children today.

A story that has the power to reach children even more deeply is the account of what happened about 2000 years ago in a stable in Bethlehem, surrounded by animals and straw. There was no fanfare, yet that quiet event was the greatest miracle of all-the incarnation-where the infinite good we call God broke into human history to show us the way to reality, the way to realize what we already truly are, as divine beings, when we see ourselves and others rightly.

Children identify with the Christ child; they hear the welcome in Jesus' words, "Suffer the little children to come unto me." In Jesus' teachings-the golden rule, the parables, the Sermon on the Mount-and in his example, children find a compelling guide.

Stories from Mary Baker Eddy's life are also potent demonstrations. Consider the day she walked on the water, an event which showed how completely spiritually-minded she was. Mrs. Eddy. and Ira O. Knapp were on the coast at Red Rock, near Lynn, Mass. It was a place she often visited to meditate and pray, sitting on the rock promontory, which jutted so far out into the waves that it was completely cut off from the mainland at high tide.

Mrs. Eddy was sitting on Red Rock, deep in spiritual thought, knowing the nothingness of matter, when the tide came in. Mr. Knapp saw her caught out on the rocks, stranded, and hurried to rescue her, but while he was looking for a boat, Mrs. Eddy walked on the water and came to shore.

Stories like this help children realize what Christ Jesus meant when he said "the kingdom of God is within you." Young children might not understand what is meant by the statement that Mrs. Eddy proved, that water is subjective, not objective, but they can begin to understand that Mrs. Eddy, like Jesus, could walk on the water because she knew that the one divine Mind that is Love was her real and true being.

Stories about Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy are especially meaningful to children because they spring from lives rooted in love, the foundation of all virtue. Wise parents use these stories to help the child's budding love unfold, but they always remember that there is no better or surer way for parents and other caring adults to teach children this all-encompassing love than by living it themselves. As a child feels this warm, tender love surrounding him and sees it in action, in living, he learns to express it; he comes to understand and live the love that reaches out to all mankind.

"O dreamer, leave thy dreams for joyful waking,

O captive, rise and sing, for thou art free;

The Christ is here, all dreams of error breaking,

Unloosing bonds of all captivity."

Rosa M. Turner (Hymn 412)

 

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