0.0 - Christian Science Hymns and Poems by Mary Baker Eddy - Index

Christian Science Hymns & Poems by Mary Baker Eddy ~ Index

The lyrics to the hymns are poems written from 1876 to 1900 by Mary Baker Eddy.

The vocalist is the world famous singer, Kenneth (Kenny) L. Baker, Singer.

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.)

Mary Baker Eddy

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).

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.

Kenneth L. Baker (Kenny) Vocalist Index

#	Title	Bpg#	Description	Show all	Hymn & poem	View/dnld


Poems by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 29

Christmas Morn

Blest Christmas morn, though murky clouds
 Pursue thy way,
Thy light was born where storm enshrouds
 Nor dawn nor day!

Dear Christ, forever here and near,
 No cradle song,
No natal hour and mother's tear,
 To thee belong.

Thou God-idea, Life-encrowned,
 The Bethlehem babe —
Beloved, replete, by flesh embound —
 Was but thy shade!

Thou gentle beam of living Love,
 And deathless Life!
Truth infinite, — so far above
 All mortal strife,

Or cruel creed, or earth-born taint:
 Fill us today
With all thou art — be thou our saint,
 Our stay, alway.
Love - Poems by Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 6, 7

Brood o'er us with Thy shelt'ring wing,
'Neath which our spirits blend
Like brother birds, that soar and sing,
And on the same branch bend.
The arrow that doth wound the dove
Darts not from those who watch and love.

If thou the bending reed wouldst break
 By thought or word unkind,
Pray that his spirit you partake,
 Who loved and healed mankind:
Seek holy thoughts and heavenly strain,
That make men one in love remain.

Learn, too, that wisdom's rod is given
 For faith to kiss, and know;
That greetings glorious from high heaven,
 Whence joys supernal flow,
Come from that Love, divinely near,
Which chastens pride and earth-born fear,

Through God, who gave that word of might
 Which swelled creation's lay:
"Let there be light, and there was light."
 What chased the clouds away?
'Twas Love whose finger traced aloud
A bow of promise on the cloud.

Thou to whose power our hope we give,
 Free us from human strife.
Fed by Thy love divine we live,
 For Love alone is Life;
And life most sweet, as heart to heart
Speaks kindly when we meet and part.
Poems by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 79

Satisfied

It matters not what be thy lot,
 So Love doth guide;
For storm or shine, pure peace is thine,
 Whate'er betide.

And of these stones, or tyrants' thrones,
 God able is
To raise up seed — in thought and deed —
 To faithful His.

Aye, darkling sense, arise, go hence!
 Our God is good.
False fears are foes — truth tatters those,
 When understood.

Love looseth thee, and lifteth me,
 Ayont hate's thrall:
There Life is light, and wisdom might,
 And God is All.

The centuries break, the earth-bound wake,
 God's glorified!
Who doth His will — His likeness still —
 Is satisfied.
Seven Hymns

Poems by Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 4, 5

Mother's Evening Prayer

O gentle presence, peace and joy and power;
 O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour,
Thou Love that guards the nestling's faltering flight!
 Keep Thou my child on upward wing tonight.

Love is our refuge; only with mine eye
 Can I behold the snare, the pit, the fall:
His habitation high is here, and nigh,
 His arm encircles me, and mine, and all.

O make me glad for every scalding tear,
 For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain!
Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear
 No ill, — since God is good, and loss is gain.

Beneath the shadow of His mighty wing;
 In that sweet secret of the narrow way,
Seeking and finding, with the angels sing:
 "Lo, I am with you alway," — watch and pray.

No snare, no fowler, pestilence or pain;
 No night drops down upon the troubled breast,
When heaven's aftersmile earth's tear-drops gain,
 And mother finds her home and heav'nly rest.
Poems by Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 12, 13

Christ My Refuge

O'er waiting harpstrings of the mind
 There sweeps a strain,
Low, sad, and sweet, whose measures bind
 The power of pain,

And wake a white-winged angel throng
 Of thoughts, illumed
By faith, and breathed in raptured song,
 With love perfumed.

Then His unveiled, sweet mercies show
 Life's burdens light.
I kiss the cross, and wake to know
 A world more bright.

And o'er earth's troubled, angry sea
 I see Christ walk,
And come to me, and tenderly,
 Divinely talk.

Thus Truth engrounds me on the rock,
 Upon Life's shore,
'Gainst which the winds and waves can shock,
 Oh, nevermore!

From tired joy and grief afar,
 And nearer Thee, —
Father, where Thine own children are,
 I love to be.

My prayer, some daily good to do
 To Thine, for Thee;
An offering pure of Love, whereto
 God leadeth me.
Poems by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 75

Communion Hymn

Saw ye my Saviour? Heard ye the glad sound?
Felt ye the power of the Word?
'Twas the Truth that made us free,
And was found by you and me
In the life and the love of our Lord.

Mourner, it calls you, — "Come to my bosom,
Love wipes your tears all away,
And will lift the shade of gloom,
And for you make radiant room
Midst the glories of one endless day."

Sinner, it calls you, — "Come to this fountain,
Cleanse the foul senses within;
'Tis the Spirit that makes pure,
That exalts thee, and will cure
All thy sorrow and sickness and sin."

Strongest deliverer, friend of the friendless,
Life of all being divine:
Thou the Christ, and not the creed;
Thou the Truth in thought and deed;
Thou the water, the bread, and the wine.
Poems by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 14

Feed My Sheep

Shepherd, show me how to go
 O'er the hillside steep,
How to gather, how to sow, —
 How to feed Thy sheep;
I will listen for Thy voice,
 Lest my footsteps stray;
I will follow and rejoice
 All the rugged way.

Thou wilt bind the stubborn will,
 Wound the callous breast,
Make self-righteousness be still,
 Break earth's stupid rest.
Strangers on a barren shore,
 Lab'ring long and lone,
We would enter by the door,
 And Thou know'st Thine own;

So, when day grows dark and cold,
 Tear or triumph harms,
Lead Thy lambkins to the fold,
 Take them in Thine arms;
Feed the hungry, heal the heart,
 Till the morning's beam;
White as wool, ere they depart,
 Shepherd, wash them clean.

#	Title	Bpg#	Description	Show all	Hymn & poem	View/dnld
1	Christmas Morn	23	Hymn 23-28, Poem p. 29 - 1898. ~ Blest Christmas morn... First Line of Hymn Text From this wedlock of Principle and idea we can learn to be reborn, as in "Christmas Morn" - learn to regard man as "Thou God-idea, Life-encrowned," of which the human concept is but a shadow.	SHOW ALL	Poems by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 29 Christmas Morn Blest Christmas morn, though murky	PDF MP3
2	Love	30	Hymn 30-32, Poem p. 6 - 1896. ~ Brood o'er us with Thy shelt'ring wing... First Line of Hymn Text At that time there are factions within the church, and so it is the members who are being urged to pray, "Brood o'er us with Thy shelt'ring wing, 'Neath which our spirits blend.	SHOW ALL	Love - Poems by Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 6, 7 Brood o'er us	PDF MP3
3	Satisfied	160	Hymn 160-162, Poem p. 79 - 1900. ~ It matters not what be thy lot, ... First Line of Hymn Text Thus if faithful we would arrive at the last poem in the book, "Satisfied". On a personal level we know that "It matters not what be thy lot, So Love doth guide;" and in the wider generic sense.	SHOW ALL	Poems by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 79 Satisfied It matters not what be thy	PDF MP3
4	Mother's Evening Prayer	207	Hymn 207-212, Poem p. 4 - 1893. ~ O gentle presence, peace ... First Line of Hymn Text There is now a gap of six years before the next one, "Mother's Evening Prayer". The new church is established, and Mrs. Eddy's personal mothering is being withdrawn in favour of "Thou Love that guards the nestling's faltering flight!	SHOW ALL	Seven Hymns Poems by Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 4, 5 Mother's Evening Prayer O gentle	PDF MP3
5	Christ My Refuge	253	Hymn 253-257, Poem p. 12 - 1883. ~ O'er waiting harpstrings of the mind ~ First Line of Hymn Text In 1883 her path is not an easy one and she needs the reassurance of "Christ My Refuge". "And o'er earth's troubled, angry sea I see Christ walk, And come to me, and tenderly, Divinely talk."	SHOW ALL	Poems by Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 12, 13 Christ My Refuge O'er waiting harpstrings	PDF MP3
6	Communion	298	Hymn 298-300, Poem p. 75 - 1875. ~ Saw ye my Saviour?..... First line of Hymn Text "There follow the poems of 1866--1868 which reflect the years of wandering and of gradual consolidation of this discovery: "Give us this day our daily fopd / In knowing what Thou art!" (p. 28). What Thou art is then identified in 1871 as "Truth, the Life, the Principle of man" (p. 70). Soon she is able to purchase the first home of her own, and celebrates it in "Woman's Rights" (p. 21). Then, writing from this new home-summit and immediately after the first edition of Science and Health is published, she composes the confident "Hymn of Christian Science," now known as the "Communion Hymn" (p. 75): "Saw ye my Saviour? Heard ye the glad sound? Felt ye the power of the Word?"	SHOW ALL	Poems by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 75 Communion Hymn Saw ye my Saviour? Heard	PDF MP3
7	Feed My Sheep	304	Hymn 304-309, Poem p.14 - 1887. ~ Shepherd, show me how to go... First Line of Hymn Text While waiting and acting as pastor of the church in 1887, she prays to the great Shepherd, "Shepherd, show me how to go ... How to feed Thy sheep".	SHOW ALL	Poems by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 14 Feed My Sheep Shepherd, show me how	PDF MP3