Mary Baker Eddy Science Institute

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Mary Baker Eddy Hymn Index

The hymns are poems written from 1876 to 1900 by Mary Baker Eddy.
The vocalist is the world famous singer, Kenny Baker.

The poems garnered up in this little volume were written at different periods in the life of the author, dating from her early girlhood up to recent years. They were not written with a view of making a book, each poem being the spontaneous outpouring of a deeply poetic nature and called forth by some experience that claimed her attention. - Adam Dickey 1910

Introduction to the outpouring of
Soul manifesting itself as the heart of Mary Baker Eddy in the sacred "Seven Hymns"

Comments below are quoted from Mary Baker Eddy's Other Writings by John L. Morgan.
See menu button "Author" for this and other FREE references by Mr. Morgan.

A Thorough reading of this extensive introduction will enable a better appreciation of the messages in each of "The Seven" Hymns by Mary Baker Eddy. More than 17 years of historical research and spiritual inspiration by master teacher and advanced student of the "Science" and "system" of Christian Science, John L. Morgan, assures a fresh in-depth look at these very special Poems used as hymns.

What is poetry?

Each of these Other Writings calls for a whole chapter to itself, and Poems more so than most because of the essentially metaphysical nature of poetry and its relation to Science. If we look into this aspect first it will illuminate Mrs. Eddy's poems and the force of the fifteenth book.

The word 'poem' is from the Greek poiein, to make, to arrange or construct. The poet makes sense out of experience, by revealing its meaning. By making us see the meaning he recreates with the creator. Poetry is creative in that it discloses a significance we had not seen, and reunites us with the great springs of being. "Poetry is itself a thing of God; / He made His prophets poets" says P.]. Bailey in "Festus." Elizabeth Barrett Browning says, "God is Himself the best Poet, / And the Real is His song."

Professor Erich Heller provides deep insight into the subject of poetry and meaning: "Poetry always means more than itself. Its meaning is the vindication of the worth and value of the world, of life and of human experience. At heart all poetry is praise and celebration .... Whatever it does, it cannot but confirm the existence of a meaningful world - even when it denounces its meaninglessness. Poetry means order, even with the indictment of chaos; it means hope, even with the outcry of despair. It is concerned with the true stature of things." (The Hazard of Modern Poetry. )

Poetry, like spiritual sense, is heart-knowledge

Poetry, like spiritual sense, is heart-knowledge first before the head gives it words. It appeals to our innate conviction that there is symmetry and order in the depths of reality, and this feeling therefore expresses itself in words which reflect that order in metre and rhyme. The more strongly felt an idea, the more rhythmical becomes our way of voicing it.

More in images than in words

Poetry deals not so much in words as in images, and the images of good poetry are universals. That is, the poet extracts ideas from some particular experience and shows them to be universal in their significance. He links the infinitesimal to the infinite. Our hearts respond to the poem because in some strange way we already know what the poet is saying; both he and we have our origin in the same creative Mind, and so also does his archetypal image, which we recognize. One of the chief functions of poetry, then, is reduction to essence. The inspired prophet-poets who wrote the creation story in Genesis, for example, took the vast range of ideas and values of human life and reduced them to the seven days of creation (which in the original Hebrew are written in verse).

"Poems" parallel 15th Chapter of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

And so it is that the fifteenth book, Poems, has its parallel in the fifteenth chapter of Science and Health, GENESIS. As we know, much poetry is about cheated hopes and the sadness of mortal life and yet it can celebrate order and meaning behind it; likewise the chapter GENESIS contrasts the sad chronicle of Adam and fallen man with the eternal harmony of God's unfallen creation. In fact the chapter speaks of "the poverty of mortal existence," and of "richly recompensing human want and woe with spiritual gain" (S&H 501). This contrast is the overall message of Poems.

Introduction Summary

In common with many young people Mary Baker loved to put her thoughts and feelings into poetry, and she records that all through her life she seemed able to express her deeper feelings better in verse than in prose.

The constant idea that reverberates through the poems is that the unity of God and man is not a beautiful dream, but is ever-present solid reality.

All comments in the introduction, above are quoted directly from "Mary Baker Eddy's Other Writings " by John L. Morgan (available for FREE from Author menu button).

There seems to be no better way to convey the "deeper feelings" of Mary Baker Eddy in her published book of "Poems" that were used as the "Seven Hymns" than through Soul manifesting itself as world-renown vocalist, Kenny Baker.

	A BIG THANK YOU to christianscienceoncd.com for their professional conversion from the original historic recordings by Kenny Baker. These were converted from 33 RPM long playing vinyl records. The Mary Baker Eddy Science Institute is the exclusive place you can obtain these and to top if off they are all FREE. If you would like to buy Christian Science articles on CD for yourself or for a gift, please visit the website that so generously gave these MP3's to the Institute to share with the world. After hours and hours of work, this is truly a gift of Love! Just click the button below.

One of the "Seven Hymns" is sung each Sunday in Christian Science churches throughout the world as specified in The "Church Manual" written by Mary Baker Eddy. This indicates the great importance Mary Baker Eddy placed on the messages in these important poems.

"The Seven Hymns"

"Then from 1871 onwards they are characterized by a strong new tone of spiritual authority, when capitalized terms for God begin to appear plentifully in the lines. When we are ignorant of the spiritual origin of our world we see through a glass, darkly, but once Science has revealed that origin we sing a different kind of song."

The constant idea that reverberates through the poems is that the unity of God and man is not a beautiful dream, but is ever-present solid reality. - Mary Baker Eddy's Other Writings by John L. Morgan.

See menu button "Author" for this and other references by Mr. Morgan - all FREE.

"Communion" - Hymn pages 298-302 "Poems" page 75 - 1876