CHRISTIAN SCIENCE:

MARY BAKER EDDY

‘True Estimate of God’s Messenger’

Part I

1821 - 1890

Published byChristian Science Foundation

P.O. Box 440, Cambridge CB4 3BH, England

Registered Charity No. 295685

2006

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE FOUNDATION was established in England as a charitable trust in 1986. Charitable status was sought and obtained in order that its Library, containing archive and contemporary material on the Bible and Christian Science, should be impersonally held, preserved and administered on behalf of man – “the generic term for all humanity” (Un 51:14). The Trustees are all active students of Christian Science who are under no personal direction but accept the unique authority of the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy’s writings. The Foundation is independent, has no membership, and is not affiliated to the church in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

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FOREWORD

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE: MARY BAKER EDDY, ‘True Estimate of God’s Messenger’ is a four-part history of Christian Science, its discoverer and her recording of the discovery in its textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Part I, 1821-1890; Part II, 1891-1901; Part III, 1902-1906; Part IV, 1907-1910.

In 1885 Mrs. Eddy herself wrote the first of three ‘historical sketches’, which she eventually incorporated into her autobiography in 1891. Since 1907 many biographies have appeared ranging from hostile to those by Christian Scientists aiming to present a picture from the inside, while others, written by professional biographers, have claimed to be unbiased. The vital question is: What is Christian Science? Is it just another Christian sect, albeit one with a remarkable leader and a textbook that is revered together with the Bible, or is it the fulfillment of prophecies in the Bible of the second coming of Christ?

When reviewing the history of Christian Science in her autobiography, Retrospection and Introspection, Mrs. Eddy advises:

"It is well to know, dear reader, that our material, mortal history is but the record of dreams, not of man’s real existence, and the dream has no place in the Science of being. It is ‘as a tale that is told,’ and ‘as the shadow when it declineth.’ The heavenly intent of earth’s shadows is to chasten the affections, to rebuke human consciousness and turn it gladly from a material, false sense of life and happiness, to spiritual joy and true estimate of being. ...

“Mere historic incidents and personal events are frivolous and of no moment, unless they illustrate the ethics of Truth. To this end, but only to this end, such narrations may be admissible and advisable; but if spiritual conclusions are separated from their premises, the nexus is lost, and the argument, with its rightful conclusions, becomes correspondingly obscure. The human history needs to be revised, and the material record expunged” (Ret 21: 13).

To enable “spiritual conclusions” to be drawn from the events of Mrs. Eddy’s life, it is obvious that they cannot be observed from “the record of dreams.” The aim of this narrative is to present the history from a spiritual perspective. Therefore the key to such a view must be found in a spiritual symbol. The seven days of creation in Genesis fulfils this requirement. These days open the Bible and they also open the Key to the Scriptures in the Christian Science textbook. Accordingly, the Bible text together with Mrs. Eddy’s exegesis is the guiding factor in viewing this history. Therefore the standpoint of these four parts is to discover the elements of the spiritual impulsion governing every detail of her mission, rather than to dwell on “mere historic incidents”.

The perspective adopted in this presentation is the same as that taken by a life-long Christian Scientist, John L. Morgan, in his book on Mrs. Eddy’s writings other than Science and Health. He introduces the reader to this radically new view of history in one of his early chapters and the first part of this chapter is quoted here (by permission).

“DATING THE UNSEEN

“The true theory of the universe, including man, is not in material history but in spiritual development. - Science and Health 547.

“That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past. - Ecclesiastes 3

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“Until the footsteps of the past are seen to fit consistently and sacredly into the present as parts of a finished whole, the present will never rest upon a divine basis. - Alice Orgain.

“Time no longer

“In this chapter we come to the story of Mrs. Eddy’s Other Writings, and as we do so we are faced with a paradox, with the fact that being is timeless even while we experience it in time. Our task is to disentangle the ideas and lessons of that story from events in time, and see them as values of eternity. Actually we live in eternity now, even though the carnal mind would have us believe in past, present and future. The Science of being, Science and Health tells us, ‘obtains not alone hereafter in what men call Paradise, but here and now; it is the great fact of being for time and eternity’ (p 285:3). Time is but a limited sense of eternity; but if time really were an actuality in itself, human experience would be deprived of God. As it is, eternity is ever-present, translating and transforming our time-structured lives. Reality is not in historical events as such, but in the spiritual ideas which they illustrate. Thus the historical Jesus, voicing the timeless Christ, could say, ‘Before Abraham was, I am’ (John 8:58). It is from this same standpoint of the eternal now that we shall be viewing Mrs. Eddy’s life-work, where all the so-called events are actually the I am unfolding itself in scientific order. As she herself is reported to have said, ‘Any event is every event, and I am the law to it” (DCC 51).

“The Scientist may well ask why he needs to trouble himself with a chronicle of historical events, which he may wish to dismiss as archaic and irrelevant in Science. But supposing the events of Mrs. Eddy’s life-work are not, in fact, merely material happenings but are the symptoms of an underlying spiritual activity? To a metaphysician those ‘events’ are just as much symbols of reality as are the incidents of the Bible, external signposts to the internal way we all have to go. We would be foolish to ignore such indicators. Unless we can look at ‘history’ as the divine order in experience we still have it as time and hence have two universes; we are imprisoned in one as material experiences, while reaching out towards another as spiritual. Just dismissing or discarding something does not deal with it scientifically but sweeps it under the carpet, to be tripped over sooner or later. History thrown down to the material level is a serpent, but if picked up it becomes a staff.

“ ‘Christian Science and Christian Scientists will, must, have a history’ (Mis 106:3) and, as with everything else in human experience, we have to discover what history is in God. Hence in this work we are setting out to discern the metaphysics behind her life-history.

“Mrs. Eddy was well aware of the need to appreciate history as spiritual unfoldment. When she collected together the articles she had written for The Christian Science Journal and republished them as Miscellaneous Writings, she wrote in the Preface (p xi), ‘May this volume be to the reader a graphic guidebook, pointing the path, dating the unseen. . . and thus may time’s pastimes become footsteps to joys eternal.’ We may usefully borrow the phrase ‘dating the unseen’ as the keynote of this chapter. Although we appear to be dealing with things which are seen, we are actually discerning through them the things which are not seen, those deep spiritual realities which determine the outward appearances. These scientific constants (the synonymous terms for God) are carefully presented in Science and Health in divine order. This same order then, in turn enables us to ‘date’ or identify spiritually what had appeared to be a human footstep.

“Original meaning

“This requisite retranslation of events and things back into their spiritual reality should be no problem for Christian Scientist, who are quite familiar with the way the Glossary chapter translates Biblical characters and themes into spiritual ideas and attitudes. In it, people from the past and objects such as the ark, thought to be physical, are translated into metaphysical states of consciousness, no longer objective and located in time and space but subjective and part of our present experience. We find Adam and Abraham within

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ourselves, we are Jacob, as the mortal yields to the spiritual. Perhaps the most vital feature of the Glossary is the explanation that ‘It contains the metaphysical interpretation of Bible terms, giving their spiritual sense, which is also their original meaning’ (S&H 579:4). Here is a startling thought! Science and Health presents the original meaning, whereas the human person or event is but a finite representation. In other words, as Scientists we do not start by trying to reason from people and things back to their spiritual sense; we have to start from their spiritual origin if we wish to discover their meaning as symbols.

“Our familiarity with the ‘Glossary method’ - translating material for metaphysical concepts - should make it natural for us to examine Mrs. Eddy’s life work in this way also, for both the Bible story and that of Christian Science are the outcome of the same spiritual idea. When faced with material problems we are all accustomed to turn our thought to the relevant spiritual idea. If it is a money difficulty, we ponder the idea of substance and supply; if it is one’s hand, we affirm the ever-operative spiritual power of Principle; if it is a bad relationship, we go to the harmonious workings of the synonymous terms for God. This we have learned from the textbook and from our own practice.

“Always what we are looking for is divine ideas. Now, if we can discern in these ideas a sense of divine order, we shall have found the means for translating the flow of time. Is there somewhere a time-free scale of reference, an orderly range of absolute values, to replace the material time-scale? Providentially, God has already given to humanity the two things we need. The first is the seven synonymous terms found in the answer to the question What is God? (S&H 465:10), which provides the absolutes. The second is the seven days of creation found in “Genesis”, which provides their basic sequential order. The two refer to the same reality, but while the synonymous terms focus on what God is, the days focus on the order of their revelation. If this sounds complicated or we have never thought of the days of creation as describing spiritual unfoldment, in practice it simply means that we shall see Mrs. Eddy’s life-work unfolding in the seven ‘days’ or periods of Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. There is nothing mystical about the number seven as such, it is just a universal symbol for the divine perfection. Mrs. Eddy writes that it is ‘the full number of days named in the creation, which signifies a complete time or number of whatever is spoken of in the Scriptures’ (‘0014:6).

“Days of creation

“The great feature of the days of creation is that they establish the basic sequence in which the sevenfold nature of God unfolds. They are like the generator of all revelation, of all creative development. The days therefore replace the material time-scale. What they express is a code of orderly spiritual thinking which is inherent in being itself. Because they are nothing to do with the calendar of time, it makes no difference whether the time-scale under consideration be short or long; the days are always the key to the chart of life. We find that the Bible, for example, is carefully arranged in thousand-year periods, successively illustrating the days of creation, for ‘one day is with the Lord as a thousand years’ (II Peter 3:8). We discover that the ‘thirty-three years’ life of Christ Jesus accurately portrays the same sevenfold working of the divine. We shall see that the spiritual evolution of the Christian Science movement under Mrs. Eddy also follows this pattern; and if we would trust the providential order we would be conscious of it shaping our own lives too. All that is needed is that we begin to be spiritually conversant with these days as ‘numerals of infinity’ (S&H 520: 10), and we shall use them as fluently as figures. God and His Science are forever complete; only for purposes of understanding is the story spread out over seven phases. These days correspond to the stages of our awareness of His nature, but it is always the whole of God and not one seventh that is appearing.

“The days of creation describe what happens as the sevenfold nature of God breaks upon consciousness, bringing the absolute vividly into our language. The symbols of the days, in order, are light, firmament, dry land, celestial system, abundant life, man, and rest. These symbols represent the spiritual qualities of the Third

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Degree [of the Scientific Translation of Mortal Mind (S&H 116:1)]: wisdom, purity, spiritual understanding, spiritual power, love, health, holiness - which also unfold in the same order. If we correlate these different sequences which are already in the textbook their relationship becomes clear:

“Mind: light, wisdom. mInd, saying ‘Let there be light,’ floods the universe with the allness and intelligence of Mind. Reflecting this Mind, man is guided by wisdom.

“Spirit: purity firmament,. spIrIt, saying ‘Let there be a firmament’ brings the understanding that separates the real from the unreal. Reflecting only the substance of Spirit, man is the expression of purity.

“Soul: dry land, spiritual understanding. soul, saying ‘Let the dry land appear,’ identifies and consolidates the ideas of God and makes them subjective. Man thus embodies the spiritual understanding which brings forth as ‘the seed within itself.’

“principle: celestial system, spiritual power. prIncIple, saying, ‘Let the lights in the heavens govern the earth,’ is dec1aring that the harmony of the universe is fixed and systematic. Man reflects this divine government as spiritual power.

“life: abundant life, love. lIfe, saying ‘Let the waters bring forth life abundantly’ opens the way for man to love to layoff the limited mortal sense of himself and his fellows.

“truth: man, health. truth, saying ‘Let us make man in our own image’ is declaring that the true man is whole and is the compound idea, and expresses health.

“love: rest, holiness. love saying ‘God’s creation is forever perfect and fulfilled,’ gives rest to its idea in the beauty of holiness.

“As days appear, mortality disappears

“When the light of Mind breaks on us in the first day, and when in the second it separates the real from the unreal, and continues through all the days until eventually we find in the seventh that Love and man are coexistent (S&H 520:6), we are tracing not only the unfoldment of spiritual truth: just as importantly, we are tracing the dissolving of mortal error, for in proportion as we understand the real the unreal disappears. The textbook explains that ‘these days will appear as mortality disappears’ (S&H 520:12), indicating that they monitor the resolving of the mortal problem as much as they record the unfoldment of truth. In fact the days cannot be made our own unless the mortal yields. Therefore, the days of spiritual creation in the Bible, and in the textbook, are immediately followed by the parallel analysis and uncovering of the material sense of creation, so that the fundamental dream of mortality can be resolved. This is an exceedingly practical and helpful feature, enabling us to tackle the problem systematically instead of piecemeal; we can work authoritatively as Scientists from an understood Principle - from the synonyms for God - rather than as passive mortals waiting to see what mortal mind will throw at us next. Truly has it been said that the two supremely great things that Christian Science gives to the world are the spiritual definition of God and the consequent ability to handle evil scientifically. Because of this, we shall see how in the life work of Mary Baker Eddy the sevenfold revelation of what God is handles precisely the seven major errors - material origin, dualism of good and evil, false identity, personal sense and disobedience, division of life from theory, rivalry, and controlling motherhood.

“In her Bible Lesson on Revelation 20 Mrs. Eddy specifically handles the error of time by referring to a thousand-year period of material history as ‘a unit of nothingness’ (Ess 137). Yet ‘with the Lord’ a thousand years is as one day, so each such period is not really material history at all, but is a picture of the day resolving

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the material sense. Thus each day of creation gives us the ‘unit of somethingness’ requisite for resolving the thousand-year periods of the Adam dream. . . .

“The standpoint adopted in this book is that of viewing Mrs. Eddy’s life-work as one composite whole, and the structure is determined principally by the half-dozen major revisions of the textbook, but not by these in isolation. Her dual mission as Discoverer and Founder requires us to observe the evolutions of the textbook parallel with the developments in the church experience, as neither can be fully understood without the other. Revelation in context with demonstration, statement alongside its correlative proof, is the keynote here. Moreover, we cannot help observing how, in this framework, the ‘tones’ of her footsteps are identical with those of the fundamental thousand-year periods of the Bible”(JLM pp 17-22).

In Retrospection and Introspection (p 37:1) Mrs. Eddy states:

“The first edition of my most important work, Science and Health, containing the complete statement of Christian Science, ... was published in 1875.”

In the final edition of the textbook she says:“I have revised scIence and health only to give a clearer and fuller expression of its

original meaning. Spiritual ideas unfold as we advance. ... That which when sown bears immortal fruit, enriches mankind only when it is understood, - hence the many readings given the Scriptures, and the requisite revisions of scIence and health wIth key to the scrIptures” (p 361:21).

This volume therefore begins with the years of her preparation, followed by the discovery and the subsequent explanation of it in the seven major editions of the textbook, ie., the first edition and the six major revisions (out of the more than four hundred editions she published).

Mrs. Eddy’s complete reliance on God throughout her life and her constant searching in the Scriptures, both before and after her discovery, enabled her to move forward not only with assurance but also with great courage for she met bitter opposition at every stage of development. She came through these experiences triumphantly and confirmed her own prediction made in 1888 in an article addressed to “Loyal Christian Scientists”: “Error will hate more as it realizes more the presence of its tormentor. I shall fulfil my mission, fight the good fight, and keep the faith” (Mis 278:5). This she did, and the following narrative bears witness to her God-impelled mission and to the fulfilment of Bible prophesy.

“A book introduces new thoughts, but it cannot make them speedily understood. It is the task of the sturdy pioneer to hew the tall oak and to cut the rough granite. Future ages must declare what the pioneer has accomplished” (S&H vii:22). Accepting Mrs. Eddy’s bidding in the last sentence, we offer this publication, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE: MARY BAKER EDDY, ‘True Estimate of God’s Messenger’, to all “honest seekers for Truth” (S&H xii:26).

Trustees of Christian Science FoundationCambridge, England

2006

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notes for part I

A two-column Overview will be found following the Contents page. This shows in chart form the evolutions of the textbook and the unfolding mission of Christian Science.

The first four Appendices relate to events in Part I. Appendix 11, “The Bible and Christian Science” and Appendix 12, “Christian Science and Mary Baker Eddy in Bible prophecy” are relevant to all four parts of this narrative and are reproduced here in order to provide from the beginning a view of the whole mission. Most of the Appendices consist of photocopies of source material.

Unless indicated otherwise, all citations from Mrs. Eddy’s writings are from the final editions of 1910.

In order to avoid interpretations or opinions original sources have been quoted extensively. These, as well as secondary sources, are cited with the quotation itself instead of being collected with ‘Notes’ in an Appendix. Where Mrs. Eddy’s published articles are quoted it is recommended that the full text should be consulted. In addition, before reading each chapter, or Period, of the following narrative the relevant pages in the textbook should be reviewed (the page numbers are given at the beginning of each Period.)

It is not possible to reproduce the Appendices in this internet version of CHRISTIAN SCIENCE: MARY BAKER EDDY. It is recommended that the printed version should he ordered.

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CONTENTS

PROLOGUE: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth God’s gracious preparation: 1821 - 1866

FIRST PERIOD, 1866 - 1877: Let there be light: and there was lightThe discovery, 1866Publication of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, 1875Formation of the Christian Scientist Association, 1876Summary of the first period, 1866 - 1877: Let there be light: and there was light

SECOND PERIOD, 1878 - 1882: Let there be a firmamentPublication of the 2nd edition of Science and Health, 1878 - the 2nd evolution Conspiracy to murder case, 1878Formation of the Church of Christ (Scientist) - chartered 1879Formation of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College - chartered 1881Publication of the 3rd edition of Science and Health, 1881Summary of the second period, 1878 - 1882: Let there be a firmament

THIRD PERIOD, 1883 -1885: Let the dry land appear and bring forth from withinPublication of The Journal of Christian Science, April 1883Protection of copyright on Science and Health, 1883.Publication of the 6th edition of the Christian Science textbook, 1883 - the 3rd evolution The first Normal class, 1884Summary of the third period, 1883 -1885: Let the dry land appear, let the earth bring forth

FOURTH PERIOD, 1886 -1890: Lights to rule over the day and the nightPublication of the 16th edition of the Christian Science textbook, 1886 -the 4th evolution Formation of the National Christian Scientist Association, 1886Publication of No and Yes, 1887; Rudimental Divine Science, 1887; Unity of Good, 1888Preparation for a new eraMrs. Eddy’s last Primary class, 1889Dissolution of the Christian Scientist Association and the College, 1889Dissolution of the Church of Christ (Scientist), 1889“The Way” – leading article in the Journal of December 1889 by Mrs. Eddy Dissolution of the National Christian Scientist Association, 1890Dissolution: an opportunity “to unite on the basis of Love”Summary of the fourth period 1886 - 1890: Lights to rule over the day and the night

APPENDICES1. Evolutions of Science and Health, 1875-1910

1) 1st edition, 18752) 2nd and 3rd editions, 1878, 18813) 6th edition, 18834) 16th edition, 1886

2 Steps required to obtain a charter for the Church of Christ (Scientist), Boston, 18793 Dissolution of the Christian Scientist Association and the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, September 1889 4 Dissolution of the Church of Christ (Scientist), Boston, December 18895 The Bible and Christian Science - a four-column overview6 Christian Science and Mary Baker Eddy in Bible prophecy

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overview

scIence and health: the seven major evolu-tIons of the textbook

mary baker eddy: the unfoldInG mIssIon of chrIstIan scIence

preparatIon : 1821-1866 1820s: Hears call. "Voices not our own" (Ret 8)1830s: Joins Congregational Church, N.H.1843: Marries George Washington Glover.1844: Widowed. Son born.1853: Marries Daniel Patterson.1862: First visit for treatment with P. Quimby.

fIrst perIod : 1866-1877Let there be light

1868: Writes Science of Man and notes on Genesis.1870: Copyrights Science of Man1872: Begins writing Science and Health1874: Delivers ms to printer.1875: Writes pages on animal magnetism for last chapter. First edition of Science and Health published.

1866: Quimby dies. Fall on ice pronounced fatal. After 3 days is healed, having caught a glimpse of "Life in and of Spirit" (Mis 24).1867: Period of healing others.1870: Holds first class, texbook - Science of Man1873: Divorced from Patterson.1875: Buys house in Lynn, Mass. Obtains letter of dismissal from Congregational Church.1876: Christian Scientist Assn. formed July 4th

1877: Marries Dr Asa Gilbert Eddy.

second perIod : 1878-1882Let there be a firmament

1878: 2nd edition of S&H published (vol II only). "Noah's ark" on cover. Frontispiece: Jesus raising Jairus' daughter.1881: 3rd edition of S&H published (in 2 vols.) Includes "Recapitulation." Cross and crown seal on cover.

1878: Conspiracy charge against Dr. Eddy.1879: Church of Christ (Scientist) formed.1880: Christian Healing pamphlet published.1881: Massachusetts Metaphysical College formed. Copyright infringement by Arens.1882: Visits Washington D.C. Moves to Bos-ton. Dr. Eddy dies.

thIrd perIod : 1883-1885Let the dry land appear and bring forth seed from within

1883: 6th edition of S&H published (in 2 vols.) Titled Science and Health with A Key to the Scriptures. 'A Key' being a new chapter.

1883: The Journal of Christian Science published. The People's Idea of God published. Wins copyright case.1884: First Normal class.

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overview

scIence and health: the seven major evolutIons of the textbook

mary baker eddy: the unfoldInG mIssIon of chrIstIan scIence

fourth perIod : 1886-1890Lights to rule over the day and the night

1886: 16th edition of S&H published (in 1 vol.) Titled Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Two new chapters: "Genesis" and "The Apocalypse", original Key becomes "Glossary." Index added. Frontispiece changed to portrait of Mrs Eddy in 21st edition.

1866: National Christian Scientist Association formed.1887: No and Yes and Rudimental Divine Science pub-lished.1888: Unity of Good published.1889: Gives C.S. Journal to N.C.S.A. Leaves Boston for Concord. Dissolves C.S.A. and Mass. Metaphysical Col-lege. Dissolves Church.1890: N.C.S.A. dissolved and adjourns for 3 years.

fIfth perIod : 1891-1901Let the waters bring forth, and fowl fly in the open firmament

1891: 50th edition of S&H published. No frontispiece. New 1st chapter, "Science, Theology, Medicine." Court case re-moved. "The Apocalypse" now includes verses from Revelation 21. New index.

1894: 81st edition, court case returns, Tenets and the 23rd Psalm, with [love] substituted for Lord, added.

1891: Retrospection and Introspection published.1892: Moves to Pleasant View, Concord, N.H.1893: Address to C.S.A., subject: "Obedience." World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago. Christ and Christmas published.1894: Christ and Christmas withdrawn. Conerstone of Church edifice laid. Bible and Science and Health ordained Pastor. 1st service in new edifice December 30th.1895: Church dedicated January 6th. Mrs Eddy becomes Pastor Emeritus. Pulpit and Press published. Delivers 1st address in Church. Church Manual published.1897: Miscellaneous Writings published. Teaching suspended for 1 year. Invitation to Pleasant View on Independence Day.1898: Board of Lectureship formed. Deed of trust for The C.S. Publishing Society. Lesson-Sermon subjects begin. Communion message: "C.S. versus Pantheism." Christian Science Weekly launched. Board of Education announced. Last Normal class.1899: 10th edition of Manual published. Communion message. Addresses Annual Meeting in person. Josephine Woodbury files libel suit against Mrs Eddy.1900: Institutes Committee on Publication. Communion message.1901: "The New Century" poem. N.Y. Herald interview. "Mrs Eddy's Successor" press release. Libel suit collapses. Communion message.

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overview

scIence and health: the seven major evolutIons of the textbook

mary baker eddy: the unfoldInG mIssIon of chrIstIan scIence

1902: Request in Communion message "to enlarge our edifice". Editorial in C.S. Sentinal by Mrs Eddy titled "Capitalization."1903: A 5th director appointed. Land conveyed to original 4 trustees for the Extension. Der Herold der Christian Science launched. 29th edition of Manual published. Christian Science Hall, Concord, demolished, corner-stone laid for new edifice, July 16th.1904: C.S. Quarterly has a 'detached branch' on the cover. Extension corner-stone laid July 16th. First Church of Christ, Scientist, Concord, (Mrs Eddy's Gift), dedicated July 17th.1906: Extension of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, Mass. dedicated June 10th. N.Y. World attack on Mrs Eddy begins. C.S. Sentinel cover changed, cross and crown removed.

sIxth perIod : 1902-1906Let us make man in our image and likeness

1902: 226th edition of S&H published. New chapter, "Fruitage." Final reordering of chapters, total of 18,700 pages. No index. No frontispiece.1903: First Concordance to Science and Health published.

1906: editions of Science and Health no longer numbered. Final copyright for next revision secured.

1907: Appointment of 3 trustees to care for real estate and possessions. "Next Friends" suit filed. Press interviews. Interview by Masters of the Court. Collapse of "Next Friends" suit.1908: Moves to Boston. Cross and crown seal changed. 73rd edition of the Manual published. The Christian Science Monitor launched, November 25th.1909: Resignation of director William B. Johnson. Augusta E. Stetson comes out of material organization. Concern for future control of church.1910: Final changes to S&H. Publication of Poems. Final edition of Manual (88th). "Instruction by Mrs Eddy: Christian Science is absolute."

seventh perIod : 1907-1910The heavens and the earth were finished

1907: February, new edition of S&H announced with new plates. September, another new edition, "thoroughly revised" in the "last 6 months." "Until June 10, 1907 she had never read this book throughout consecutively in order to elucidate her idealism." New frontispiece, dark photo & signature. Answer to question, What is God? is finished.

1908: Frontispiece changed to light drawing.1910: Final changes to chapter titles: "Christian Science and Spiritualism" becomes "Christian Science versus Spiritualism" and "Animal Magnetism" becomes "Animal Magnetism Unmasked."

See Appendix 11 for a four-column overview, which includes correlations with the exegis of the days of creation in Science and Health and Bible history.

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abbrevIatIons for sources of QuotatIons for part I

Abbreviations for books of the Bible are those in general use

AS Augusta E. Stetson: Reminiscences. Sermons, and Correspondence, 1884-1913

CSJ The Christian Science Journal

Ess Essays and Other Footprints compiled by Richard Oakes

HW1 Helen M. Wright: Mary Baker Eddy: God’s Great Scientist.Volume1

JLM John L. Morgan: Mary Baker Eddy’s Other Writings: ‘You will find me in my books’

Man Church Manual by Mary Baker Eddy

MH Marginal heading

Mis Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy

No No and Yes by Mary Baker Eddy

Ret Retrospection and Introspection by Mary Baker Eddy

RP1 Robert Peel: Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Discovery, 1821-1875. Volume I

RP2 Robert Peel: Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Trial, 1876-1891. Volume II

Rud Rudimental Divine Science by Mary Baker Eddy

S&H Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

SW Sibyl Wilbur: The Life of Mary Baker Eddy

Un Unity of Good by Mary Baker Eddy

WPR World’s Parliament of Religions

‘02 Message to The First Church of Christ, Scientist or The Mother Church, Boston, June 15, 1902 by Mary Baker Eddy

6 Days Mary Baker Eddy’s Six Days of Revelation compiled by Richard Oakes

1

PROLOGUEIn the beGInnInG God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was

wIthout form, and voId; and darkness was upon the face of the deepand the spIrIt of God moved upon the face of the waters.

(See S&H 502:22 – 503:17)

The Key to the Scriptures in the textbook opens with the ‘chapter “Genesis”. Here Mrs. Eddy intro duces her exegesis of the Bible text with three paragraphs (see 501:1 - 502:17), each of which has an illuminating marginal heading. The first is “Spiritual interpretation”, where she points out that

“Scientific interpretation of the Scriptures properly starts with the beginning of the Old Testament, chiefly because the spiritual import of the Word, in its earliest articula tions, often seems so smothered by the immediate context as to require explication, whereas the New Testament narratives are clearer and come nearer the heart. ...”

The second paragraph is headed “Spiritual overture”: “A second necessity for beginning with Genesis is that the living and real prelude of the older Scriptures is so brief that it would almost seem, from the preponderance of unreality in the entire narrative, as if reality did not predominate over unreality, the light over the dark, the straight line of Spirit over the mortal deviations and inverted images of the creator and His creation.”

The marginal heading of the third paragraph is, “Deflection of being.” “Spiritually followed, the book of Genesis is the history of the untrue image ofGod, named a sinful mortal. This deflection of being, rightly viewed, serves to suggest the proper reflection of God and the spiritual actuality of man, as given in the first chapter of Genesis. Even thus the crude forms of human thought take on higher sym bols and significations, when scientifically Christian views of the universe appear, il luminating time with the glory of eternity.”

Here we are given the, method for rightly viewing the untrue image, thus making it possible to re vise human history and expunge the material record.

The two verses that open the Scriptures and introduce the days of creation together with their exe gesis in Science and Health (see 502:22 - 503:17), present the spiritual standpoint that enables us to take a “scientifically Christian” view of Christian Science history:

There follows an exegesis of each verse in chapter one, setting out the six days of creation (503: 18 - 519:6). Verses 1 & 2 of chapter two describe the seventh day (519:7 - 520:15). Then Mrs. Eddy includes verses 4 & 5 in the spiritual record (520:16 - 521:17).

“These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God [Jehovah] made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God [Jehovah] had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.”

The marginal heading for this first paragraph of the exegesis of Genesis 2:4, 5 is, “Growth is from Mind.” Here it is made clear that although we seem to have two views of creation, one spiritual and the other mortal and material, “God creates all through Mind, not through matter” - this is the truth of creation.The spiritual record then ends with two paragraphs headed “Spiritual narrative” that show us how to have one view only, the spiritual:

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“Here the inspired record closes its narrative of being that is without beginning or end. All that is made is the work of God, and all is good. We leave this brief, glorious history of spiritual creation (as stated in the first chapter of Genesis) in the hands of God, not of man, in the keeping of Spirit, not matter, - joyfully acknowledging now and forever God’s supremacy, omnipotence, and omnipresence. “The harmony and immortality of man are intact. We should look away from theopposite supposition that man is created materially, and turn our gaze to the spiritual record of creation, to that which should be engraved on the understanding and heart ‘with the point of a diamond’ and the pen of an angel.”

After making a break in the text Mrs. Eddy addresses “The story of error” (MH 21:25): “The reader will naturally ask if there is nothing more about creation in the book of Genesis. Indeed there is, but the continued account is mortal and material.

“Genesis ii. 6. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

“The Science and truth of the divine creation have been presented in the verses al-ready considered, and now the opposite error, a material view of creation, is to be set forth. The second chapter of Genesis contains a statement of this material view of God and the universe, a statement which is the exact opposite of scientific truth as before recorded. The history of error or matter, if veritable, would set aside the omnipotence of Spirit; but it is the false history in contradistinction to the true.”

At the conclusion of her address, “Science and the Senses”, Mrs., Eddy says: “Christian Science and Christian Scientists will, must, have a history;” (Mis 106:3). Such a history cannot be a “history of error or matter.” We shall discern the true or spiritual history of Christian Science and its discov erer and founder, only as we keep our gaze on the “Science and truth of the divine creation”, for we shall not then separate spiritual conclusions from their premises.

God’s gracious preparation: 1821- 1866

In her autobiography, Retrospection and Introspection, the first twenty-three pages ending with “Emergence into Light”, deal with the years leading to “The Great Discovery.” Just prior to the publication of this book Mrs. Eddy had published a new edition of Science and Health. In the first paragraph of an entirely new Chapter 1 (now on p 107:3), is her spiritual interpretation of these years:

“God had been graciously preparing me during many years for the reception of this final revelation of the absolute divine Principle of scientific mental healing.”

By adopting the “Science and truth of the divine creation” as our standpoint for viewing this his tory, the first challenge we meet is the phrase, “in the beginning”, for the mortal record says that Mary Baker was born in 1821. The exegesis of the first words in the Bible is:

“The infinite has no beginning. This word beginning is employed to signify the only, - that is, the eternal verity and unity of God and man, including the universe. The creative Principle - Life, Truth, and Love - is God. This creation consists of the un folding of spiritual ideas and their identities, which are embraced in the infinite Mind and forever reflected. These ideas range from the infinitesimal to infinity.”

Thus what we are witnessing is “the unfolding of spiritual ideas.” Mary was the youngest child in a deeply religious family. When she was about eight years old she had the experience of repeatedly hearing her name

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called three times. On one occasion a visiting cousin also heard it, so her mother finally accepted that the voice was real and she read Mary the Bible story of the child Samuel. When the call came again she summoned up courage and replied in Samuel’s words, “Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.” The voice was never heard again, audibly. Her own account of this ex perience she titled “Voices Not Our Own” (Ref pp 8, 9). This story is the first significant event which indicates how she learned to recognize and respond to God’s voice, how she was being prepared for her mission – to trust and follow divine guidance.

The next recorded event illustrates how the “voices” had given her confidence to resist a man-made doctrine, which she met at the age of twelve. Mary was preparing to enter the Congregational Church, of which her parents were members, but she could not accept the doctrine that some people are preordained for everlasting harmony and others for everlasting misery. Her conviction that this doctrine was not true so troubled her that she was “stricken with fever” and she turned to God in prayer to solve her dilemma (see “Theological Reminiscence”, Ref pp 13-16). Not only did she re cover, but some time later the church admitted her in spite of her non-acceptance of the doctrine. This experience confirmed her trust in God and strengthened her desire to do His will. It also illus trates for us how every spiritual idea is “embraced in the infinite Mind and forever reflected.”

Genesis 1:2 states: “The earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” The exegesis (S&H 503:9) reads:

“. . . Divine Science, the Word of God, saith to the darkness upon the face of error, ‘God is All-in-all,’ and the light of ever-present Love illumines the universe. Hence the eternal wonder, - that infinite space is peopled with God’s ideas, reflecting Him in countless spiritual forms.”

In 1843 Mary married Colonel George Glover. His business took them to Charleston, South Caro lina. In the summer of 1844, in North Carolina, he caught yellow fever and died. His brother free masons helped the young widow return to the family home in New Hampshire, where her son, George Glover, was born a few months later. She was, however, without funds and when her mother died and her father re-married, she went to stay with her sister. Her son was not welcome and was sent to live with his nurse. In 1853, in an attempt to establish a home and to regain cus tody of George, she married again, but her new husband, Dr. Daniel Patterson, would not permit the boy to be with them until her health improved. Dr. Patterson was an itinerant dentist, so she still had no permanent home, and was never able to secure custody of her son.

Because of poor health, she sought help from the medical profession but gained no relief. Over twenty years she experimented with alternative methods, including homeopathy (introduced to her by her husband), hypnotism and lastly the ministrations of a “magnetic doctor,” Mr. P. P. Quimby. As she later explained, “I had been trying to trace all physical effects to a mental cause.” In home opathy she learned that the weaker the solution administered, the more effective the treatment, and eventually this line of thought led her logically to “the scientific certainty that all causation was Mind, and every effect a mental phenomenon” (see Ref 24:10.)

Although there was much ‘darkness’ in Mary’s life at this time, already she was aware of “the spirit of God [moving] on the face of the waters” as she began to see “the light of ever-present Love” illumining her universe, for she continues:

“My immediate recovery from the effects of an injury caused by an accident, an in-jury that neither medicine nor surgery could reach, was the falling apple that led me to the discovery how to be well myself, and how to make others so. “Even to the homeopathic physician who attended me, and rejoiced in my recovery, I could not explain the modus of my relief. I could only assure him that the divine Spirit had wrought the miracle - a miracle which later I found to be in perfect scientific accord with divine law” (Ref 24:12).

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This leads the narrative to the next event in her life. In her autobiography she describes this as "The Great Discovery"

". . . I apprehended for the first time, in their spiritual meaning, Jesus' teaching and demon-stration and the Principle and rule of spiritual Science and metaphysical healing, – in a word, Christian Science" (Ret 25:6).

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FIRST PERIOD 1866 - 1877AND GOD SAID, LET THERE BE LIGHT: AND THERE WAS LIGHT

(See S&H 503:18 - 505:3)The first day of creation begins with the statement “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” In Mrs. Eddy’s life (she was then Mrs. Patterson) this is experienced as the moment of her reception of “the revelation of the absolute divine Principle of scientific mental healing” for which she has been graciously prepared. Later she records this experience:

“In the year 1866, I discovered the Christ Science or divine laws of Life, Truth, and Love, and named my discovery Christian Science” (S&H 107: 1).

The discovery, 1866

Under the influence of Mr. Quimby she had been helped somewhat, but improvement had always been followed by relapse and she had to return to him. But in January 1866 Phineas Quimby died. Two weeks later, with no human support, she fell on an icy sidewalk and injured herself so severely that it was

“. . . pronounced fatal by the physicians. On the third day thereafter, I called for my Bible, and opened it at Matthew 1X2. As I read, the healing Truth dawned upon my sense; and the result was that I rose, dressed myself, and ever after was in better health than I had before enjoyed. That short experience included a glimpse of the great fact that I have since tried to make plain to others, namely,’ Life in and of Spirit; this Life being the sole reality of existence” (Mis 24: 9).

This experience was surely the most significant in her life. Consequently,“For three years after my discovery, I sought the solution of this problem of Mind healing, searched the Scriptures and read little else, kept aloof from society, and de voted time and energies to discovering a positive rule. ... I knew the Principle of all harmonious Mind-action to be God, and that cures were produced in primitive Chris tian healing by holy, uplifting faith; but I must know the Science of this healing, and I won my way to absolute conclusions through divine revelation, reason, and demonstration. The revelation of Truth in the understanding came to me gradually and apparently through divine power. When a new spiritual idea is borne to earth, the prophetic Scripture of Isaiah is renewedly fulfilled: ‘Unto us a child is born, . . . and his name shall be called Wonderful’ “ (S&H 109:11).

During the next few years, the first of her astonishing healings of others was recorded; she was proving that her discovery was “the absolute Science of Mind-healing” (Ref 27: 7). She also “made copious notes of Scriptural exposition, which have never been published” (S&H ix:27). This writ ing continued and soon “The first school of Christian Science Mind-healing was” started by the au thor with only one student in Lynn, Massachusetts, about the year 1867" (S&H xi:25). Many years later, she noted, “In 1867 I commenced reducing this latent power to a system” (WPR p 1420).

For several years after her discovery she lived in various lodgings with people who were at first interested in her ideas but who then found them too disturbing and consequently turned her out. When referring to this period Robert Peel says, “. . . she stopped with first one friend, then another, each stay ending with her being ‘evicted’ “ (RP1 p 203), Late in 1869 she returned to friends in Amesbury and here she met Richard Kennedy, who had become interested in her writings and was a successful healer. In 1870 she set up in partnership with him and they moved to Lynn. He was young and intellectually able and his success in healing enabled her to concentrate on writing and talking to those who wished to know how to heal. Soon, in order to offer a class she had to make an outline of her teaching and so she prepared a class-book. She records:

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“Her first pamphlet on Christian Science was copyrighted in 1870; but it did not appear in print until 1876, as she had learned that this Science must be demonstrated by healing, before a work on the subject could be profitably studied” (,S&H 1x20).

This copyrighted class-book was used in her first class that year, a course of twelve lessons held in her rented rooms. The pamphlet was titled The Science of Man and consisted of twenty-two ques tions and answers headed Moral Science, the first question being “What is God?” The answer was “Jehovah is not a person. God is a Principle.” Although this is so different from the final version in 1907 it must have been startling to religious thought of the day, first to be faced with a challenge and then to have the answer in the language of the scientific age. The evolution of this answer over the intervening years provides an inspiring example of spiritual education. The class-book is later included in Science and Health as the chapter “Recapitulation” and becomes the basis of all teach ing in Christian Science. (See Appendix 1, P 1 a for title page, copyright and first questions.)

The partnership with Richard Kennedy ended after just over one year because he began to use ad juncts to mental practice such as rubbing the patient’s head. She came to realize that the technique of physical manipulation was equivalent to the controlling of one person’s thoughts by another’s, which was, in fact, mesmerism, or mental malpractice. The power of mind must be the power of divine Mind alone. Henceforward she strongly condemned such methods and set to work to equip her students to nullify the power of mesmerism. She continued to be faced not only with mental opposition but also with the conflict aroused by her denunciation of mesmerism, or animal magnet ism, as she later defined it.

Late in 1873 she was able to obtain a divorce from Daniel Patterson on the grounds of his desertion and adultery; she then re-assumed the name of Mary Baker Glover. In the spring of 1875 she pur chased 8 Broad Street, Lynn, her first home. Several of her students lived there with her, and out side was a notice, which read “Mary B. Glover’s Christian Scientists’ Home.” On one side of the notice was a cross, with a crown above, and on the other side was an open book.

Publication of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, 1875

In October 1875, with the financial assistance of two of her students who called themselves the “Christian Scientists Publishing Company”, Mrs. Glover’s book, Science and Health, was pub lished. (See Appendix 1, p 1a for title and Contents pages.) Many years later she wrote of the diffi cult years between her discovery in 1866 and the publication of the Christian Science textbook in 1875:

“After I had made the discovery in 1866 that All is Mind - there is no matter, that Mind includes all that is real of man and the universe, this infinite subject had to be digested mentally and its method of practice comprehended by students before I could give it to the public in a book. So immature was the general thought upon this topic I did not venture to print my manuscript of Christian Science for several years after its discovery. ...

“From 1866 to 1875, I myself was learning Christian Science step by step - gradually developing the wonderful germ I had discovered as an honest investigator. It was practical evolution. I was reaching by experience and demonstration the scientific proof, and scientific statement, of what I had already discovered. My later teachings and writings show the steady growth of my spiritual ideal during those pregnant years” (Ess p 154).

In a chapter titled “The Precious Volume” in her autobiography (see Ret pp 37-39), she states: “The first edition of my most important work, Science and Health, containing the complete statement of Christian Science, - the term employed by me to express the di vine, or spiritual, Science of Mind-healing, was published in 1875.”

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It is in this chapter that she records “My reluctance to give the public, in my first edition of Science and Health, the chapter on Animal Magnetism, and the divine purpose that this should be done, may be of interest to the reader, and will be seen in the following circumstances.” The “chapter on Animal Magnetism” has been identified as the first sixteen pages of the final chapter “Healing the Sick” (1st ed. pp 368 - 383). Here she mentions observing a mental method of healing and its results:

“ ... traduced by an erring student and made the medium of error. ... Witnessing these terrible results was our occasion for learning their cause, or discovering this mal practice, and our students are well aware we have no difficulty in tracing the mental cause of disease” (lst ed. p 371).

In the next twelve pages the terms mal-practice and mal-practitioner are used about thirty times and there are several references to manipulating the head, mentally as well as physically. On page 378 she notes: “We thank Wisdom, that revealed this great error to us before these pages went to press.”

At the end of this chapter, “Healing the Sick,” there is “the allegory” of a law case where “Personal Sense is plaintiff’. “Man, the defendant”, is found guilty and condemned to death. Immediately come the words, “Ah! but Christ, Truth, was there; the friend of man, to open wide those prison doors and set the captive free.” The case is then heard in the Supreme Court of Spirit, “where Sci ence should appear as counsel for the poor prisoner.” The conclusion is that “the jury of Immortal Mind agreed at once on a verdict, . . . ‘NOT GUILTY’” (lst ed. pp 442-453). “Science” remains counsel until later in the fifth evolution of the textbook, where it becomes “Christian Science.”

The only time the term Christian Science is used in the first edition is as the last words in the book:

“Some of our present readers may wish to tone down the radical points in this work, others to cast them overboard; yet science will reproduce itself, and as mind changes base from matter to Spirit, there will be severe chemicalization. Truth cannot be lost; if not admitted today in its fullness, the error that shuts it out will occasion such discord in sickness, sin, etc., that future years will point it out, and restore at length the fair proportions and radical claims of Christian Science” (lst ed p 456).

Mrs. Eddy concludes her anecdote in Retrospection with the statement:.

“Science and Health is the textbook of Christian Science. Whosoever learns the letter of this book, must also gain its spiritual significance, in order to demonstrate Chris tian Science” (Ret 38:27).

It was the writing of this part of the textbook that is illustrated in the third picture in Christ and Christmas, “Seeking and Finding” and the attic room depicted is in her home in Lynn. (See fron tispiece of this narrative.) The main part of Science and Health was written earlier, before she was established in her own home.

In her last great message to her church in 1902 Mrs. Eddy included the following:

“Six weeks I waited on God to suggest a name for the book I had been writing. Its ti tle, Science and Health, came to me in the silence of night, when the steadfast stars watched over the world, - when slumber had fled, - and I rose and recorded the hal lowed suggestion. The following day I showed it to my literary friends, who advised me to drop both the book and the title. To this, however, I gave no heed, feeling sure that God had led me to write that book, and had whispered that name to my waiting hope and prayer. It was to me the ‘still,

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small voice’ that came to Elijah after the earthquake and the fire. Six months thereafter Miss Dorcas Rawson of Lynn brought to me Wyclifs translation of the New Testament, and pointed out that identical phrase, ‘Science and Health,’ which is rendered in the Authorized Version ‘knowledge of salvation.’ This was my first inkling of Wyclifs use of that combination of words, or of their rendering” (’02, 15:21).

In the Bible, apart from the usual names for God - Jehovah, Lord God Almighty, etc.- there is the occasional capitalization of a term such as Spirit - “... that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6). In the Christian Science textbook this practice is extended. Included in the Preface of this first edition (p 5) are the words, “the use of capital letters, genders and technicalities peculiar to the science, ... must give place to close analysis, .. .” An example in the text is:

“ ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God;’ the Principle of all being; hence it was not a person, to be understood, or that healed the sick, neither medium ship, mesmerism, nor drugs, but the Principle, that is, Life and Truth” (ist ed. p 45).

The answer to “What is God?” in the class-book printed in 1876 included “God is a Principle.” This was followed by “What is Principle? Ans. Principle is Life”,’ Truth and Love, Substance and Intelligence.” Thus in the first recorded statements in Christian Science the use of capital letters is fundamental (see Appendix 1, p 1 a). Many years later an article on this subject opens:

“A correct use of capital letters in composition caps the climax of the old ‘new tongue.’ Christian Science is not understood by the writer or the reader who does not comprehend where capital letters should be used in writing about Christian Science” (My 225:6).

Formation of the Christian Scientist Association, 1876

Mrs. Glover and her students held Sunday meetings in 8 Broad Street, Lynn, a combination of lec ture and questions. Because of the successful healings others began to attend and soon they outgrew the room’s capacity. In June 1875 eight of her students each pledged a weekly sum in order to rent a suitable hall for these meetings and also “to maintain their teacher.” The first meeting was held in Templar’s Hall, Lynn, with an attendance of over sixty. Many of those attending were cu rious about the new teaching and many were spiritualists who began to use the time reserved for questions to argue and challenge the teaching. After the fifth meeting they were abandoned be cause of the growing atmosphere of contention.

The following year Mrs. Glover and six of her students formed the Christian Scientist Association (C.S.A.). Unlike the group pledged to support Sunday meetings and to interest the public, this new Association was concerned to establish and develop those already interested in Christian Science. The fourth of July 1876, “the Centennial Day of our nation’s freedom” (Ret 43:22), was deliberately chosen for its birthday, for Christian Science enables the individual to free himself from mental slavery. In Science and Health there are a number of similar references linking events in Christian Science with the history of the United States, such as:

“Like our nation, Christian Science has its Declaration of Independence. ... “The history of our country, like all history, illustrates the might of Mind, and shows human power to be proportionate to its embodiment of right thinking. ... “Legally to abolish unpaid servitude in the United States was hard; but the abolition of mental slavery is a more difficult task” (S&H 106:6; 225:14; 225:23).

These students helped to circulate Science and Health, and one man who resided in her home, Daniel Spofford, was in charge of sales. He was a good healer and advertised himself as a “Scientific Physician.” He introduced Science and Health to a friend, Asa Gilbert Eddy, who was quickly relieved of a heart condition

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and then enrolled in Mrs. Glover’s next class in 1876, accepting totally the truth she taught and immediately he embarked on the healing work. She records:

“Dr. Eddy was the first student publicly to announce himself a Christian Scientist and place these symbolic words on his office sign” (Ret 42:4).

She found in him the ideal qualities for helping to carry forward the movement - gentleness, firmness, wholehearted commitment to Christian Science and to her. In the midst of a period of fric tion amongst the students, she recognized his rare spirit of self-sacrifice and loyal support, and accepted his proposal of marriage. They were married on January 1, 1877, by a Unitarian clergyman - in what she described as a “blessed and spiritual union” (Ret 42:2).

Summary of the first period, 1866 -1877: Let there be light: and there was light

As noted in the Prologue, Mrs. Eddy says at the beginning of the chapter “Genesis” that when rightly viewed the mortal history “serves to suggest the proper reflection of God and the spiritual actuality of man, as given in the first chapter of Genesis” (S&H 502:11). Accordingly, each period is identified with God as defined by the relevant synonymous term in the order given in the answer to the question “What is God?” - Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love (S&H 465: 1). In addition, Mrs. Eddy concludes the spiritual record by advising us to “look away from the opposite supposition that man is created materially, and turn our gaze to the spiritual record of creation” (S&H 521:13). Therefore, the summary of each period of this narrative begins with the exegesis of the relevant day of creation, as given in the final edition of Science and Health.

In the exegesis of the first day of creation (see S&H 503:18 - 505:3) where “God said, Let there be light”, the focus is on God as Mind, for she begins:

“Immortal and divine Mind presents the idea of God: first, in light; second, in re flection; third, in spiritual and immortal forms of beauty and goodness. ...God creates neither erring thought, mortal life, mutable truth, nor variable love.”

“First, in light.” These words describe spiritually the initial revelation and her first steps “in the newly discovered world of Spirit” (S&H viii: 31). This first period of development opens with a woman apparently on her deathbed receiving spiritual enlightenment, which has raised her up. She has sought to understand the message and explain it to others. She has also proved it to be true, good and practical by healing relatives and friends of incurable conditions.

This day continues with “God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness”, which is described as:

“God, Spirit, dwelling in infinite light and harmony from which emanates the true idea, is never reflected by aught but the good.” .

“Second, in reflection.” As a consequence of her recognition that God’s light is good, she was enabled to compile a class-book with which to teach and inspire others. This book of questions and answers opens with What is God?, which is the most important one of all. It has thus laid the foundation for teaching in Christian Science. At the same time she also recognized that this light revealed the subtlety of mental malpractice. This immediately led her to investigate the question of animal magnetism.

The first day of creation ends, “And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and morning were the first day.” In her exegesis Mrs. Eddy says:

“...there is no place where God’s light is not seen, since Truth, Life, and Love fill immensity and are ever-present. Was not this a revelation instead of a creation? . . .

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“Did infinite Mind create matter, and call it light? Spirit is light, and the contradiction of Spirit is matter, darkness, and darkness obscures light. ... Immortal Mind makes its own record, but mortal mind, sleep, dreams, sin, disease, and death have no record in the first chapter of Genesis.”

“Third, in spiritual and immortal forms of beauty and goodness.” The conclusion of this first period of Christian Science history is marked by the publication of a textbook, defining her discovery of the Christ Science. The title is, Science and Health - SCIENCE because it is understandable and demonstrable, and HEALTH because it heals and is wholly good. Following the issue of this book she formed the Christian Scientist Association, bearing witness to the purpose of the discovery - to enable every individual to be free from mental slavery, that darkness which appears to have engulfed mankind.

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SECOND PERIOD 1878 - 1882AND GOD SAID, LET THERE BE A FIRMAMENT IN THE MIDST OF

THE WATERS, AND LET IT DIVIDE THE WATERS FROM THE WATERS

(See S&H 505:4 – 506:14)The Biblical symbol in Genesis now changes from light and darkness to “a firmament in the midst of the waters.” The function of the firmament is to “divide the waters from the waters.” Mrs. Eddy begins her exegesis of this day of creation by saying: “Spiritual understanding, by which human conception, material sense, is separated from Truth, is the firmament.” In the Bible story of Noah when “God saw that the wickedness of man was great”, torrential rain floods the earth, and Noah’s ark floats, saving him and his world from destruction. (See Gen 6:1 - 8:22)

In the pages Mrs. Eddy added to the final chapter of the textbook she warned her readers that “the malpractice we allude to was more terrible than simply a change to mesmerism; it chose darkness rather than light because its deeds were evil” (1st ed. p 372). Most biographers make reference to her observing with growing concern the continuing mesmeric mind-force at work amongst some of her students that was nothing but a vehicle for evil. She began to find a tendency among some of them to turn against her - she felt their barbed thoughts as physical suffering and mental anguish. She also noticed that inexplicable things were happening to their colleagues as though an unseen, malevolent influence was being directed against them. At this stage she attributed it to personal mesmerism by Kennedy and other disaffected male students who had become alienated through jealousy and personal ambition. They also began attempting to kidnap her discovery and then tried to promote it by the world’s methods and for their own selfadvantage. Before long these storms threatened to engulf her and to destroy the divine Science of Mind-healing by perverting it into malicious mental malpractice.

Publication of the second edition of Science and Health, 1878 - the second evolution

Therefore, to protect herself and her students, Mrs. Eddy’s immediate task was to prepare for publication a second edition of the textbook. At the end of “Introductory” she stated:

“In a new edition of ‘Science and Health,’ a book of over five hundred pages, we have given a fuller synopsis of our metaphysical system, and briefly extract from the pages of that work to publish in smaller size this volume.”

Because financial difficulties and printer’s errors prevented her from publishing the new edition as she had intended, and in addition the urgent need to forewarn her readers and provide a safe haven for her discovery,

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she extracted five chapters and published them in October 1878 “in smaller size” as Science and Health, Volume II. Dr. Eddy was the publisher. (There was never a Volume I.) The book bears all the signs of her haste to put the new material before the public. Embossed on the front cover is a design of an ark on troubled waters, paralleling vividly the situation in which she found herself. Hence the second edition is known as the “Noah’s ark” edition. This book also contained a frontispiece, a facsimile of an unattributed line drawing of Christ Jesus raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead, with the words from Mark 5:41, “Damsel, I say unto thee arise.” (See Appendix 1, p 2a for title page and 2b for Contents page and p 2c for frontispiece.) In addition, on the flyleaf of this edition there appeared the following:

“I, I, I, I itself I,The inside and outside, the what and the why,The when and the where, the low and the high.

All I, I, I, I itself I.”This verse may appear to be ambiguous. When considered in relation to the frontispiece of the child being raised from the dead, “Damsel, I say unto thee arise”, a positive sense is confirmed, supported by statements already in the textbook, such as:

“He [Jesus] wished to show . . . that Spirit was not in matter, hence the death . . . and the reappearance of Jesus according to his scientific statement of Life, namely, ‘Though you destroy this temple (body) yet will I (Spirit) build it again.’ ‘I,’ the Life, Substance, and Intelligence of the universe, and man, am not in matter that you can destroy” (1st ed. p 296. See S&H 27:10).

Conversely, events in this period suggest a negative interpretation. Confirmation of this appears in 1889 when Mrs. Eddy warns the March Primary Class of

“. . . some of the doors that animal magnetism opens for the entrance of the enemy . . . The open doors most often used are those of rivalry, jealousy. It is the “I, I, I, I itself I, . . .” (CSJ April 1889).

Later, when Miscellaneous Writings was published, the verse in this report was omitted and replaced by “It is the self-asserting mortal will-power that you must guard against” (see Mis. 280:26-11). In 1908 the verse was removed from Science and Health and replaced by one from “Come Thou”, a poem by Mrs Eddy, “Oh! Thou has heard my prayer; . . .” (see S&H iii, & Mis 384)

One of the new chapters in this second edition of the textbook was “Mesmerism”, in which Mrs. Eddy exposed the subtle mental influence used by the criminally inclined, and by exposing it the reader would be able to protect himself. Counterbalancing this exposure, “Mesmerism” was followed by another new chapter, “Metaphysics.” She explained that “This chapter can furnish but the texts of our subject, brief but important.” The chapter consists of nineteen numbered statements, which in later editions are expanded to become the “platform.”

There was no immediate effect on the wrongdoers from this second edition, though it did raise a fear of mesmerism in some of her followers that continued for several years. For a while there were still incredible happenings in the outward scene. One that affected her closely was her husband’s arrest. He was charged, together with another of her students, with conspiracy to murder.

Conspiracy to murder case, 1878

Late in October 1878 a headline “Mysterious Absence” appeared in Boston newspapers. “Dr. D. H. Spofford,

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the Christian Scientist, has been missing since Tuesday, October 15th.” This was soon followed by the news that Spofford’s body had been identified at the morgue. A few days later Asa Gilbert Eddy and Edward J. Arens were arrested in Lynn charged with having conspired to procure his murder. Bail was set at $3,000. Mrs. Eddy immediately sought means to secure bail and one of her students was accepted as surety. The two men, held in jail in Boston, were then released.

Daniel Spofford, although an active Christian Scientist, not only became jealous after Mrs. Eddy had married, but was also disaffected over the slow sales of the textbook and had broken his contract with her. Edward Arens received class instruction from Mrs. Eddy soon after her break with Spofford. Before his interest in Christian Science he had been frequently involved in litigation. When he entered the household in Broad Street he was concerned to discover how many of Mrs. Eddy’s students had failed to pay for their tuition or to return money loaned to them. Because of his familiarity with the law he pursued some of these individuals on her behalf, one of whom was Richard Kennedy. All these legal actions were unsuccessful.

The preliminary hearing on the conspiracy case took place in the municipal court on November 7, 1878. The judge declared that he would hold the defendants to appear before the Superior Court in December. At this hearing an indictment was found on two counts. The Court record reads:

“This indictment was found and returned into Court by the grand jurors at the last December term when the said Arens and Eddy were severally set at the bar, and having the said indictment read to them, they severally said thereof that they were not guilty. This indictment was thence continued to the present January term, and now the District Attorney, Oliver Stevens, Esquire, says he will prosecute this indictment no further, on payment of costs, which are thereupon paid. And the said Arens and Eddy are thereupon discharged, January 31, 1879" (SW 249).

This extraordinary charge was thus dismissed without a trial. Because all three men, Spofford, Arens and her husband had either been or were residing in Mrs. Eddy’s “Christian Scientists’ Home”, the newspapers used this case to direct hostile attention to Christian Science and its Discoverer. Sibyl Wilbur’s comment on the conspiracy in her biography in 1907 sums it up neatly:

“After the lapse of many years it is as difficult to form an opinion concerning this amazing charge as it was at the time of its ocurrence. It is difficult because it requires one to follow the tangled threads of a conspiracy, a conspiracy so well wrought as at first to deceive the grand jury of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and, as was afterward found, too intricate to yield its prime mover even under legal scrutiny, and the indictment against Mr. Eddy and Mr. Arens was quashed by the District Attorney, Oliver Stevens. It may be well to state at once that Mr. Spofford had not had a hair on his head harmed, and lived years, still rehearsing the strange features of this strange story which, without explanation, would throw discredit on the blameless life of Mr. Eddy, and by implication on Mrs. Eddy” (SW 247).

After the conclusion of this case Mr. Arens elected to stay in Boston, where he opened an office. He also occasionally gave a lecture on healing, but gradually he drifted away from Mrs. Eddy’s leadership. He also produced pamplets, one of which was titled Theology, or the Understanding of God as Applied to Healing the Sick.

Formation of the Church of Christ (Scientist) – chartered 1879

Further ark-like institutions were required at this stage for the protection of the earnest student and to give evidence of the true nature of Christian Science itself. The first institution was the establishment of a

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church. In the first edition of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy had made a number of statements about church organization:

“No time was lost by our Master in organizations, rites, and ceremonies, or in proselyting for certain forms of belief: members of his church must answer to themselves, in the secret sanctuary of Soul, questions of the most solemn import. . . . We have no record that forms of church worship were instituted by our great spiritual teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, and we learn the improbability of this, in the science of God, that he taught and demonstrated. Said he, ‘The time now is when they that worship the Father should worship him in Spirit, and no longer in Jerusalem’ . . . a magnificent edifice was not the sign of Christ’s Church” (1st ed. p 166).

“Church rites and ceremonies have nothing to do with Christianity, and more than this, they draw us towards material things; hence away from spiritual Truth, and all Truth is spiritual” (p 181).

“As religion yields creeds and rites, it will build on the great cornerstone, Truth, the church of Christ. Creeds are beliefs instead of understanding, products of man instead of God. A higher state of existence will be attained only as we lose the beliefs of personal sense, and gain spiritual sense. When we lose our opinions and theories that are false, we shall find God the Principal of being, and the only antidote for all the ills of mind and body; Truth makes man harmonious as nothing else can: (p183).

We may be tempted to assume that the omission of these words from every subsequent edition of the textbook is a repudiation of them. However, in the paragraph about the revisions in the final edition we are reminded: “That which when sown bears immortal fruit, enriches mankind only when it is understood, - hence the many readings given the Scriptures, and the requisite revisions of SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE

SCRIPTURES” (S&H 361:28). We are therefore wise to be willing to set aside or re-examine our assumptions in order to understand the original statements. Mrs. Eddy’s actions in forming organizations, beginning with the C.S.A, the year after the first edition was published, may actually appear to confirm our assumptions until we take note of other words in the first edition which do remain:

When our great Teacher went to John to be baptized, not having reached his motives, the good patriarch was astounded, and reading his thoughts, Jesus prefaced his purpose saying, ‘Suffer these things to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness,’ that is, yield obedience to common forms, until you reach the understanding of their spiritual significance” (lst ed p 314).

The final words after Jesus’ saying are now:“Jesus’ concessions (in certain cases) to material methods were for the advancement

of spiritual good” (S&H 56:4).

In 1875 a notice outside her home had called it “Christian Scientists’ Home”, then in 1876 a concession to material methods appeared – the Christian Scientist Association was formed. Three years later another was required. These were not backward steps because they were “for the advancement of spiritual good.”

“In the spring of 1879, a little band of earnest seekers after Truth went into deliberations over forming a church with out creeds, . . .

“At a meeting of the Christian Scientist Association, April 19, 1879, on motion of Mrs. Eddy, it was voted, – To organize a church designed to commemorate the word and

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works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing” (Man 17).

Thus in this concession she was guiding them to take a revolutionary step: to move away from what had happened in Christian history, where Church Councils, established by governing hierarchies, defined and imposed creeds which had the effect of mentally enslaving their adherents for many centuries. This was an important step, one which would keep them free and independent of such control, and would lead inevitably to a laying off of material organization. Mrs. Eddy wrote the Tenets for the new church, which together with Rules and By-Laws enabled them to submit an application for a state charter. The first Christian Science church was formed in Lynn, Massachusetts, under a charter granted later in 1879. (See Appendix 2 for account of steps to obtain the charter.)

The date of the formation of the church, April 19, 1879, published in the Church Manual (p 17), was changed in 1931 to April 12th. Apparently the records of the C.S.A. indicate that the 12th was the actual date of the meeting. However, the date of April 19th was first published in the Journal of 1889 (see Appendix 2, p 1), next in 1891 in Retrospection and Introspection page 43, and again in 1895 in two places in Pulpit and Press pages 30 and 55, as well as in the Church Manual later that same year. All were changed to the 12th during the 1930s. Was there some good reason for this date not to be changed during Mrs. Eddy’s lifetime?

Sometimes these dates had an important connection with American history, as had the formation of the C.S.A. on July 4, 1876, “the Centennial Day of our nation’s freedom.” On April 19, 1775, was “fired the shot heard round the world.” * What had been a battle of pamphlets and protest had now been ignited, and rebellion led to war. Later Congress defined the war with its formal approval of the Declaration of Independence made on July 4, 1776. Mrs. Eddy’s ‘shot’ was to form a church without creeds, for “As religion yields creeds and rites, it will build on the great comerstone, Truth, the church of Christ” (1st ed. p 187). In this same edition Mrs. Eddy had announced that:

“The time for thinkers has come; and the time for revolutions, ecclesiastic and social, must come. Truth, independent of doctrines or time-honored systems, stands at the threshold of history. Contentment with the past, or the cold conventionality of custom, may no longer shut the door on science; though empires fall, ‘He whose right it is shall reign.’ Ignorance of God should no longer be the stepping-stone to faith; understanding Him ‘whom to know aright is Life’ is the only guaranty of obedience.” (1st ed p.3).

“By the rude bridge that arched the flood,Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,Here once the embattled farmers stood,And fired the shot heard round the world.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson.

On April 19, 1836, this “Concord Hymn” was sung on the occasion of the completion of the monument in Concord, Mass, commemorating the battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775. In 1894 Massachusetts and Maine chose to observe April 19th as a legal holiday, known as Patriots’ Day. Mrs. Eddy mentions this holiday in Miscellany 339:15.

Formation of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College - chartered 1881

A further institution to be formed was a College to present teaching that was unadulterated by human opinions and interpretations. This was the second concession to material methods.

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In 1874 Massachusetts had passed an Act that allowed “seven or more persons within this Commonwealth” to form a “corporation for a benevolent, charitable, educational, medical, religious, or scientific purpose.” In 1880 steps were taken by Mrs. Eddy and six of her students to obtain a charter “to teach Pathology, Ontology, Therapeutics, Moral Science, Metaphysics and their adaptation to the cure of disease.” In 1889, in the Boston Traveler, the Publishing Committee of the Christian Scientist Association submitted “the following history and statistics”:

“Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy obtained a college charter in January, 1881, with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereunto (including the right to grant degrees) under Act of 1874, Section 4. “This Act was repealed from and after January 31, 1882. Mrs. Eddy’s grant for a college, for metaphysical purposes only, is the first on record in history, and no charters were granted for similar colleges, except hers, from January, 1881, till the repealing of said Act in January, 1882"(Mis 272:1- emphasis in the original).

Mrs. Eddy opened the College in her home in Lynn. She was both President and the only teacher. As the students of this new College were all taught by her they also became members of the Christian Scientist Association of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College. The establishment and founding of the College served to authenticate the true teaching, and with the Christian Scientist Association and the Church acting as an ark, the revelation was becoming more firmly established.

Publication of the third edition of Science and Health, 1881

The third edition of the Christian Science textbook was published by Dr. Eddy in August 1881. It was the full five-hundred page, two-volume edition Mrs. Eddy had hoped to issue in 1878. (The second and third editions together constitute the second ‘evolution’ of the book.)

In the third edition the order of the chapters has been changed and some re-titled (see Appendix 1 p 2a for title page and 2b for Contents page). The first chapter in the first edition, “Natural Science” is now “Science of Being;” much of “Spirit and Matter” has become “Footsteps of Truth,” and “Metaphysics” (2nd ed.) is “Platform of Christian Scientists.”

The most important addition is the incorporation of her original 1870 class-book of questions and answers, as a new chapter called “Recapitulation.” The first question, as in the class-book, is “What is God?” The answer, “Jehovah is not a person. God is Principle”, challenges a misconception of a Bible name and presents a scientific term. Naturally the second question is, “What is Principle? Answer: - Life, Truth, and Love, substance and intelligence.”

In the first edition of the textbook the first record of creation and a few verses of the second were commented on verse by verse in the chapter “Creation.” This continues in the third edition but with a change that remains until the sixteenth edition in 1886: God is referred to as Her and She.

“And Spirit gathers Her ideas into one eternal bond of union, and She feeds and clothes them all and they rise in the scale of creation to express their Mother, and She names them all, from an atom to a world” (3rd ed p 110)

”The very first mention made of evil is introduced in the mythology of creation. The real creation embraces all, and has no evil. Spirit pronounces good all that She created, and says that She created all that is real” (3rd ed’p 124).

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This third edition opens with a notice “To the Public” signed by Asa G. Eddy. He had received copies of the pamphlets produced by Edward Arens soon after the conspiracy trial and he recognized that in many places there were verbatim transcripts from Mrs. Eddy’s writings. These had been taken from The Science of Man, copyrighted in 1870, the second edition of Science and Health, copyrighted in 1878, as well as from her “manuscripts of 1879, before they were published.” Dr. Eddy also noted, “If simply writing at the commencement of a work, ‘I have made use of some thoughts contained in a work by Eddy’, walks over copyright, any fool can aspire to be wise. . .” Most importantly he said, “Mrs. Eddy’s works are the outgrowths of her life”, whereas the purloining of her words did not have the authority of experience. Dr. Eddy’s reaction was to denounce this infringement of copyright in his notice and this was followed by a statement which he and thirty other students signed. They drew attention to the “abuses denominated mesmerism and malpractice” of those claiming to be metaphysicians who had tried to appropriate as their own the result of Mrs. Eddy’s labours. (See3rd ed. Vol I, pp vi-xiii.)

It is perhaps not surprising that a notable feature of this third edition, opening Volume II, is a long and militant chapter “Demonology,” in which there are also many named individuals. Mrs. Eddy identified the mesmerists as Mrs. L–, Dr. K–, W–, etc., whereas the names of those submitting testimony exposing the mesmerists appeared in the text with their signed affidavits witnessed by a Justice of the Peace or a Notary Public. This chapter is now three times longer than its previous form, titled “Mesmerism” in the second edition. In the first paragraph she warns:

“The warp and woof of crime hidden in the dark recesses of mortal thought are weaving webs so complicated and subtle they ensnare the age into indolence of inquiry, producing the very apathy on this subject that the criminal desires. Mesmerism has its definition to-day in demonology. Some one has said mesmerism is a problem lending not itself to an easy explanation and development; it implies the exercise of despotic control and is much more likely to be abused by its possessor than employed otherwise for the individual or society” (3rd ed. Vo lI, p l, see S&H 102: 16-29 for final version).

Appropriately the emblem on the cover is changed from an ark and now becomes a cross and crown, encircled by the four commands which Jesus gave to his twelve disciples when he first sent them out: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons” (Matt 10:8). Mrs. Eddy has used the 1881 Revised Version of the Bible rather than the Authorized Version – demons rather than devils. From this date the emblem becomes “the seal of Christian Science.”

Two months after the third edition was published eight of her students withdrew their names from the Christian Scientist Association, saying that they could no longer submit to Mrs. Eddy’s leadership. This rebellion came as a complete surprise at the time, although it soon became clear that it was another instance of the subtle snares of demonology.

When writing of this difficult period some time later Mrs. Eddy said:“I shall not forget the cost of investigating, for this age, the methods and power of

error. While the ways, means, and potency of Truth had flowed into my consciousnessas easily as dawns the morning light and shadows flee, the metaphysical mystery of error - its hidden paths, purpose, and fruits - at first defied me. I was saying all the time, ‘Come not thou into the secret’ - but at length took up the research according to God’s command” (Mis 222:29).

Early in 1882 Mrs. Eddy and her husband left Lynn. They traveled first to Washington, D.C., where she gave “Parlor Lectures” and “Consultations”, while he spent time studying the laws of copyright. By May they had returned to Boston and were settled in a new home, 569 Columbus Avenue, which also became the address

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of the College. Dr. Eddy continued his work to combat the attacks on Christian Science, but he passed on a month later, and his widow was left to carry the burden of founding her discovery alone (see SW 277 – 281, 267 – 271 in later editions). Yet this dark valley of grief and threatened defeat proved to be another turning point, for she wrote later:

“The loss of our husband was the resurrection morn over the night of silent crime. It rent the veil of sin, and we saw for the first time the full remedy for even this directed envenomed barb of sin, and it fell from the quiver of malice powerless before us. We can now teach every Christian student the practical power of divine Science over all mesmerism” (HW1 p 96).

Summary of the second period, 1878 - 1882: Let there be a firmament

The second day of creation, like the first, is in three parts (see S&H 505:4 - 506:14), and opens: “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” The exegesis reads:

“Spiritual understanding, by which human conception, material sense, is separated from Truth, is the firmament. The divine Mind, not matter, creates all identities, and they are forms of Mind, the ideas of Spirit apparent only as Mind never as mindless matter nor the so-called material senses.”

The first event in this period is the publication of a second edition of the textbook in order to give “a fuller synopsis of our metaphysical system” (2nd ed. p 5). The new chapter, “Mesmerism”, enables the reader to begin to separate material sense from Truth. For Mrs. Eddy there came an experience that challenged this point – the accusation against her husband of conspiracy to murder with its attendant publicity calculated to discredit the discovery. The ark on the cover of the new edition of the textbook indicates a direct connection with Noah’s experience in the second thousand-year period in the Bible where he was lifted safely above the flood (see Appendix 11, p 2). This symbol on the book, drawing attention to the waters above and beneath, is beginning to bring into focus God’s nature as Spirit.

The exegesis of the second verse – God made the firmament and divided the waters – begins: “Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts consciousness and leads into all truth. .

.Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds Mind, – Life, Truth, and Love, – and demonstrates the divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in Christian Science.

“This understanding in not intellectual, is not the result of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things brought to light. . . . Understanding is a quality of God, a quality which separates Christian Science from supposition and makes Truth final.”

The next events are the formation of the Church and College. Although both these steps are a concession to material methods, spiritual understanding enables them to be taken, and to be properly evaluated, for they are steps that are for the advancement of spiritual good. Both are concerned with understanding God.

In the third verse God identifies the firmament as Heaven: “Through divine Science, Spirit, God, unites understanding to eternal harmony. The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace. Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress.”

The final event of this period is the publication of the third edition of Science and Health, the full two-volume

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edition. It has brought in the chapter “Recapitulation”, the first appearance in the text-book of the original class-book, and there is a great expansion of the chapter on mental malpractice, now titled “Demonology.” In the midst of great turmoil and challenges the emphasis on how to understand God and how to handle the belief of an opposite power has brought peace, for “Spirit, God, unites understanding to eternal harmony.” The gradual unfolding, or “dawn of ideas,” as depicted in this biblical symbol of the days of creation, is appearing in experience as “successive stages of progress.”

The two additions to the textbook in this period, the chapters on malpractice an the original classbook, may indicate a reason for the symbol on each cover, the ark first and then the cross and crown. Both symbols are mentioned at the end to the chapter “Footsteps of Truth”.

“If you have revelations and discoveries that others have not, and venture them upon the quiet surface of thought, they disturb the waters; and if you have stripped error of its disguises, your good will be evil spoken of. This is the cross. Take it up, it wins the crown and wears it. Pilgrim on earth, thy home is heaven; stranger here, thou art the guest of God” (3rd ed. Vol 1, p 122).

(The revised wording in the final edition (S&H 254) has the marginal heading “The cross and crown”.)

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THIRD PERIOD 1883 - 1885AND GOD SAID, LET THE WATERS BE GATHERED TOGETHER UNTO ONE PLACE, AND LET THE DRY LAND APPEAR. . . LET THE EARTH BRING FORTH . . . WHOSE SEED IS IN ITSELF

(See S&H 506:15 - 509:8)The third day of creation has five verses: first the waters are gathered unto one place and dry land appears, second the dry land is called Earth and the waters Seas, third the earth brings forth from within itself, fourth the earth brings forth and it was good, fifth this is identified as the third day.

Publication of The Journal of Christian Science, April 1883

A measure of the victory over the blow of her husband’s death is shown in the publication the following year of “An Independent Family Paper to Promote Health and Morals” - The Journal of Christian Science. She chose a verse from II Corinthians to present its keynote: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds” (10:4).In this epistle Paul had already reminded his readers that “old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ” (II Cor. 5:17, 18). Mrs. Eddy later wrote that her new periodical “was designed to bear aloft the standard of genuine Christian Science” (Ret 53:4).

Mrs. Eddy was the editor and at first almost the sole contributor. She emphasized the life-values of being a genuine Christian Scientist and taught that the ethics are the outcome of understanding God; they cannot be of a different substance from Spirit nor be relegated to a lower level. From the start, and for many years, an important feature was a section called “Answers to Questions.” Just as the new chapter “Recapitulation” in the textbook opens with the question “What is God?” so the questions in the Journal all have as a common purpose the awakening of spiritual sense, so that the reader can gain not only a right apprehension of Christian Science but also an awareness of the magnitude of what it is to be a Christian Scientist.

An advertisement in the first issue of the Journal showed that at this time every principal activity for furthering and publicizing Christian Science was “gathered together unto one place” in the College, now established in Boston. Besides the College classes the following are listed: (i) church services addressed by Mrs. Eddy,

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(ii) “Public lectures, every Thursday evening, followed by discussion, and practical explanation of Christian Science,” (iii) meetings of the C.S.A. every alternate Wednesday, (iv) Science and Health and other works for sale; (these were two pamphlets: “Christian Healing”, a sermon given in April 1880 and “Science of Man”, her retitled classbook), (v) “Mary B. G. Eddy, Professor of Obstetrics, Metaphysics and Christian Science, receives calls Monday and Fridays, from 3 to 5 p.m.”

Almost half of the second issue of the Journal in June consisted of a sermon given by Mrs. Eddy in March 1880, “The People’s God. Its Effect on Health and Christianity.” This was later issued as a pamphlet renamed The People’s Idea of God

Protection of the copyright on Science and Health, 1883The verse that precedes Mrs. Eddy’s chosen text for the Journal was “For though we walk in the flesh, we

do not war after the flesh” (II Cor. 10:3), and now she takes a step that demonstrates that the weapons a Christian Scientist uses are “mighty through God.” To redress the infringement of copyright on Science and Health Mrs. Eddy filed a bill in equity in the United States Circuit Court in Boston in April 1883, against Edward Arens. Immediately he alleged that Mrs. Eddy’s copy righted works did not originate with her, but had been copied from Quimby’s manuscripts. The seriousness of this allegation was that it challenged the very authenticity of Christian Science – what was its origin? This is confirmed in a letter Mrs. Eddy had written to the Christian Scientist Association in February 1883, which began:

"There is a tidal wave coming. It is to be an attempt to wrest from me the fact of the origin of Christian Science and place it upon a mesmeric basis..." (RP2 p 133)

When Mrs. Eddy published Miscellaneous Writings in 1897 she wrote in some detail about this copyright case in the chapter “Inklings Historic.” One part reads:

". . . The time for taking testimony on the part of the defendant [Arens] having nearly expired, he gave notice through his counsel that he should not put in testimony. Later, Mrs. Eddy requested her lawyer to inquire of defendant’s counsel why he did not present evidence to support his claim that Dr. Quimby was the author of her writings! Accordingly, her counsel asked the defendant’s counsel this question, and he replied, in substance, ‘There is no evidence to present’” (Mis 381 :6).

In October 1883 the Court issued an injunction against Arens. The outcome was the offending pamphlets were destroyed, and the validity of her copyright was continued. This one-time successful student of Christian Science had committed the serious error of appropriating to himself the ideas of the author of Science and Health, one who was divinely commissioned. He then attempted to assert that they were not original to her. Some time later Mrs. Eddy wrote:

"God is responsible for the mission of those whom He has anointed. Those who know no will but His take His hand, and from the night He leads to light. None can say unto Him, What doest Thou?” (Mis 347: 25).

Human law therefore patterned the divine and condemned such an unprincipled claim. The verdict was more than success for Mrs. Eddy; it was evidence that when a despicable intent such as this is uncovered, it is forced to admit that “there is no evidence to present” and is thus self-destroyed. Most importantly, it proved that any attempt to undermine the foundations of Christian Science by challenging its origin can never succeed.

The first page of the Journal in October 1883 carried Mrs. Eddy’s detailed account of the resolution of the court case on the infringement of copyright on Science and Health. Her editorial was “Take Heed!” which began:

"We regret to be obliged to say that all are not metaphysicians, or Christian Scientists, who call themselves so. Charlatanism, fraud, and malice are getting into the ranks of the good and pure, sending forth a poison more deadly than the upas-tree in the eastern archipelago. ...

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"Some of the mere puppets of the hour are playing only for money, and at a fearful stake. Others, from malice and envy, are working out the destinies of the damned. But while the best, perverted, on the mortal plane may become the worst, let us not forget that the Lord reigns, and that this earth shall some time rejoice in His supreme rule, - that the tired watchmen on the walls of Zion, and the true Christian Scientist at the foot of the mount of revelation, shall look up with shouts and thanksgiving, – that God’s law, as in divine Science, shall be finally understood; and the gospel of glad tidings bring ‘on earth peace, good will toward men’.” (See Mis 368 for complete article).

The final page of the October issue contained an advertisement for a “Revised Edition” of the text book – “ready in a few days.” This is the sixth edition.

Publication of the sixth edition of the Christian Science textbook, 1883 – the third evolution

The first obvious reason for a revised edition was evident in its new title, which was now: Science and Health with A Key to the Scriptures. This Key is a separate section at the end of the book, giving the spiritual meaning of Bible characters and terms. The definitions were introduced thus

"We have learned in Christian Science that when reading the Scriptures, if you substitute the spiritual signification of a term for its material definition, or the bare word, it will ellucidate the meaning of the inspired writer. For this purpose we have appended to this work a brief synopsis of our Metaphysical version of Scriptural terms, giving the spiritual sense of the word, or its original meaning” (6th ed, Vol II, p 183).

Included in this chapter is the term God with its spiritual signification given as:

"God. I am. All-knowing, All-seeing, All-acting, All-loving, All-wise, and eternal. Principle. Soul, Spirit, Life, Truth, Love, Substance, and Intelligence" (6th ed, Vol II, p 193).

Almost every word here is capitalized; to those familiar with the final edition of the textbook, six are recognizable as terms that are beginning to appear consistently when referring to God.

Another important change is that the “Demonology” chapter is cut down to about one quarter of its previous length; deleted are all the attacks on named persons and the accounts of individual experiences of malicious malpractice. The entire subject is de-personalized because its identity is now being seen for what it is – the one evil, or liar, or denial of God. Also the chapter was moved from being the opening chapter of Volume II to become the last. “To the Public” by Dr. Eddy, which opened the book in the previous evolution, is omitted from this revision, as the infringement he had written about was now resolved. However, in the ninth edition in 1884 the statement signed by the thirty-one students was reinstated at the end of the “Demonology” chapter (p 181), and remained there until the fifteenth edition at the end of 1885. The statement contrasted the mesmerism practiced by so-called metaphysicians with the purity of their teacher’s work.

The flood of the second stage has been assuaged and dry land has appeared. (See Appendix 1 p 3 for title page and Contents page.)

When the identity of anything is properly understood it brings the ability to reproduce faithfully the character of its principle. This theme of correct teaching and the awareness of a proper attitude to Christian Science practice poses two crucial questions: (1) Does the teacher communicate the Principle and rules of Christian Science through his own intellectual grasp of the subject? and (2) Does the Christian Science practitioner heal by his own inspiration and power, using his own mind? The answer to both is No! “The seed is in itself,” and has to be nurtured and cultured so as to bring forth fruit after His kind. Therefore the emphasis now is on the quality of the teaching – teaching which is true education (educare – to lead forth).

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The first Normal class, 1884

In August 1884 Mrs. Eddy conducted the first Normal Class in the College. The derivation of ‘normal’ is “a carpenter’s square” and is defined as: “according to, constituting or not deviating from an established norm, rule, or principle” (Webster). This class was for qualifying students to teach, whereas the Primary class had been to equip students to heal. The ten students in this first class graduated with the degree of C.S.D. (Doctor of Christian Science). They returned to their homes and fields of healing work and began to teach in their own individual institutes or academies. Graduates of both the Primary and Normal classes in the College became members of the Christian Scientist Association, as Mrs. Eddy had taught them all. Now the pupils of these new teachers begin to form Associations, and the spiritual propagation of Christian Science was becoming apparent.

Mrs. Eddy continued to hold Primary classes. She traveled to Chicago in May 1884 and held a class there. In the Boston Primary class of December that year there were three students who were to play significant roles in the unfolding history of Christian Science. First, Mr. Ira O. Knapp: he was entrusted with holding the deed for land for the church edifice in December 1889, and was later one of the four trustees named in the 1892 deed on which the re-organized church was based; he held this trust until his passing in November 1910. Second, Mrs. Laura E. Sargent: she became one of the trusted workers in Mrs. Eddy’s home in 1890 and was with her Leader when she passed on in December 1910. Third, Mrs. Josephine C. Woodbury: her early enthusiasm and active work turned to hatred and active malice in 1899, which continued unabated until her own passing in 1930. It is recorded that in this class Mrs. Eddy explained to them the twelfth chapter of Revelation, which had not yet appeared in the textbook. As Mr. Knapp listened he exclaimed, “Thou art the woman” (WK1, p 57). It was in this same month that Mrs. Eddy wrote the message “Christmas” in which she had said, “The star of Bethlehem is the star of Boston, . . . The wise men follow this guiding star” (see Mis 320:3 - 321:22, also Appendix 12).

Late in 1885, Mrs. Eddy had to deal with certain ambitious students who wished to push her aside and take over the leadership on the pretext that the textbook was too difficult. One student resigned after serving as editor of the Journal for over a year, for she had become mesmerized by another and together they set up institutes to teach Christian Science in the Middle and Far West. Later the second student suggested that she should take care of the Christian Science field west of the Mississippi and Mrs. Eddy the field to the east. Mrs. Eddy contributed an article to the November 1885 Journal titled “Blind Leaders” in which she asked:

“What figure is less favorable than a wolf in sheep’s clothing? . . . What manner of man is it that has discovered an improvement on Christian Science, a ‘metaphysical healing’ by which error destroys error, and would gather all sorts into a ‘national convention’ by the sophistry that such is the true fold for Christian healers, since the good shepherd cares for all?

“Yes; the good Shepherd does care for all, and His first care is to separate the sheep from the goats; ...

“If. . . large flocks of metaphysicians are wandering about without a leader, what has opened his eyes to see the need of taking them out of the care of the great Shepherd, and behold the remedy, to help them by his own ‘leadership? Is it that he can guide Christian Scientists better than they, through the guidance of our common Father, can guide themselves? or is it that they are incapable of helping themselves thus?

“I as their teacher can say, They know far more of Christian Science than he who deprecates their condition appears to, and my heart pleads for them to possess more and more of Truth and Love; .. .”(See Mis 370:19-371:25 for complete article).

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False teachers work on the basis of implanting knowledge, whereas Mrs. Eddy knew that spiritual sense was always present in any seeking individual, and would grow of its own accord if nourished properly. It appears from the few accounts made by students who attended Mrs. Eddy’s Normal classes that she often referred to the transfiguration in the gospel. One reports that she expected them to listen to spiritual sense, to deny self, to follow Christ – ‘You must reach the transfiguration, you can never quit animal magnetism until you leave all personality. This is your work. This is transfiguration. ‘

To emphasize the importance of leaving all personality and having total dependence on “the guidance of our common Father,” occasionally Mrs. Eddy would test a student whom she perceived was becoming aware of a divine Principle and was allowing it to operate. One of these was Augusta Stetson. Mrs. Eddy asked her to secure a hall and invite as many clergymen as possible and she would then address them. But at the appointed time Mrs. Eddy did not appear, and her student had to decide whether to apologize and dismiss them or address them herself. She chose the latter course. Of this occasion she relates:

“The next morning I went directly to Mrs. Eddy and told her that I thought it was most unkind of her to put me in that position. There was the audience assembled, expecting to be addressed by a great woman, and there was I with very little knowledge and no preparation. I asked her, ‘Why did you not come?’ She answered ‘I was there.’ I did not know at that time what she meant and thought that her personal presence was necessary. She smiled at my innocence, and ignorance of her methods of testing her students. She said, ‘But you stood, Augusta. You stood, you did not run.’ She referred to this nearly every time I saw her after that event. ,” (AS p 15).

This experience illustrates two important points. First, the student was standing on ‘dry land’, Second, the ‘seed’ had germinated, and this seed was “the pure thought emanating from divine Mind” (S&H 508: 15). This seemingly inexperienced person had let “in the light of spiritual understanding” (S&H 508:29). The sense of a ‘person’ is now being lifted to the ‘I’, which is God, thus leading the story to the next period where God is revealed as Principle.

Summary of the third period, 1883-1885: Let the waters be gathered together and let the dry land appear

The third day of creation in both the Bible and in Science and Health is in five parts (see S&H 506:15 - 509:8). The waters of the second day are now gathered together and dry land appears. In her exegesis of the first part Mrs. Eddy states:

“Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear.”

This third period of Christian Science history begins with the launch of the Journal, a new and “proper channel.”

In the second part the dry land is called Earth and the waters Seas, and the exegesis begins:

“Here the human concept and divine idea seem confused by the translator, but they are not so in the scientifically Christian meaning of the text. ... In metaphor, the dry land illustrates the absolute formations instituted by Mind, while water symbolizes the elements of Mind. ... Spirit names and blesses all. Without natures particularly defined, objects and subjects would be obscure, and creation would be full of nameless offspring, - wanderers from the parent Mind, strangers in a tangled wilderness.”

A bill in equity is filed in order to establish the protection given by the copyright on the textbook, thus removing any confusion about its author. The infringement of copyright being settled, the sixth edition of

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the textbook is then published. Its title is changed to Science and Health with A Key to the Scriptures. This Key is a new section concluding the book and is “a brief synopsis of our Metaphysical version of Scriptural terms, giving the spiritual sense of the word; or its original meaning.” Whereas in the previous evolution which included “Recapitulation” with its answer to the question, What is God?, this third evolution includes a definition of God where every term is capitalized. It begins with the term given to Moses, which is always printed - I am.

The third part is the earth bringing forth from within itself:

“The universe of Spirit reflects the creative power of the divine Principle, or Life, which reproduces the multitudinous forms of Mind and governs the multiplication of the compound idea man. The tree and herb do not yield fruit because of any propagating power of their own, but because they reflect the Mind which includes all. A material world implies a mortal mind and man a creator. The scientific divine creation declares immortal Mind and the universe created by God.”

The next event in the unfolding of Christian Science is where Mrs. Eddy conducts the first Normal class, - to educate is to lead forth.

Fourth, the earth brought forth “after His kind: and God saw that it was good”:

“God determines the gender of His own ideas. Gender is mental, not material. The seed within is the pure thought emanating from divine Mind. . . . Gender means simply kind or sort. . . . The intelligent individual idea, be it male or female, rising from the lesser to the greater, unfolds the infinitude of Love.”

What is brought forth is that the teaching is, and must be of God, not of person:

Finally:

“The third stage in the order of Christian Science is an important one to the human thought, letting in the light of spiritual understanding. This period corresponds to the resurrection, when Spirit is discerned to be the Life of all, and the deathless Life, or Mind, dependent upon no material organization. Our Master reappeared to his students, – to their apprehension he rose from the grave, – on the third day of his ascending thought, and so presented to them the certain sense of eternal Life."

Mrs. Eddy’s own experience and that of any obedient student demonstrates that as the light of spiritual understanding appears the sense of dependence on person begins to disappear.

Although the synonymous term Soul does not appear in the exegesis of the third day of creation there is a clue in the Bible. In the second period Mrs. Eddy placed an ark on the cover of the second edition of the textbook, indicating a connection with the Bible story of Noah. In the history of Christian Science the ‘flood’ of the previous period has been followed by ‘dry land’. In the Bible the third thousand-year period opens with the saga of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph (see Appendix 11, p 3). Before her paragraphs on Jacob’s struggle and renaming as Israel, Mrs. Eddy says: “The Soul-inspired patriarchs heard the voice of Truth, and talked with God as consciously as man talks with man” (S&H 308:14). The children of lsrael are defined in the “Glossary” as “The representatives of Soul, not corporeal sense; the offspring of Spirit, who, having wrestled with error, sin, and sense, are governed by divine Science; some of the ideas of God beheld as men, casting out error and healing the sick; Christ’s offspring” (S&H 583:5). This is also descriptive of Mrs. Eddy’s own experience in the third period, or day of Soul.

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FOURTH PERIOD 1886 -1890and God set lIGhts In the fIrmament of heaven to GIve lIGht upon the earth for sIGns, season, days, and years. two Great lIGhts to rule over the day and nIGht.

(See S&H 509:9 – 511:18)

The office of the all-important fourth day of creation is to state the impersonal system of God’s government, to teach how to work from the heavenly Principle rather than to reason upwards from earth. Therefore the Biblical symbol now changes from earth to heaven. The lights in heaven give signs, seasons, days and years. Thought ascends and “we seek to apprehend the spiritual ideas of God.” In the story of Christian Science the next stage in the divine order focuses on the unfolding response to God’s government. It opens with a major revision of Science and Health.

Publication of the sixteenth edition of the Christian Science textbook, 1886 - the fourth evolution

With the sixteenth edition the textbook appears in one volume again, with the final title Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. (See Appendix 1p 4a for title and Contents pages and compare with p 3, see 4b for Journal notice and 4c and 4d for frontispieces.) A Key of the previous period has become four chapters, hence the changed book title. Two of these chapters are new: “Genesis” and “The Apocalypse.” The other two chapters are “Prayer and Atonement,” which comes between “Genesis” and “The Apocalypse,” and the original Key has been retitled “Glossary,” ending the book as chapter xv. In addition, an Index is included for the first time.

A minor but significant change in the “Glossary” is that in the definition of God another capitalized term, Mind, is added.

Most of the material in “Genesis” is extracted from the chapter “Creation” and remains almost unchanged from this edition through to the final edition of Science and Health in 1910. “The Apocalypse” is entirely new, and consists of the spiritual interpretation of Revelation 12. The spiritually scientific basis of this development in the Key to the Scriptures is explained in the “Genesis” chapter when Mrs. Eddy writes:

“Genesis and the Apocalypse seem more obscure than other portions of the Scripture, because they cannot possibly be interpreted from a material standpoint. To me they are transparent, for they contain the Science of the Bible” (16th ed. p.470. S&H 546:18-22).

The Key thus unifies Science and Health and the whole Bible.

Again there is a rearrangement of the existing chapters and new chapter titles are added. “Healing the Sick” has now become “Healing and Teaching”, “Reply to a Clergyman” becomes “Reply to a Critic” and “Demonology” is “Animal Magnetism.” Apart from the two new chapters, “Genesis” and “The Apocalypse”, there is another addition, “Wayside Hints (Supplementary),” which, strangely, has the same chapter number as the one that precedes it (see Appendix 1 p 4a). A quotation from Jeremiah sets the scene for this chapter: “They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward.” The text itself opens:

“Before entering upon the larger subjects of Demonstration and Healing, there are certain other topics, of a more general character, which are worthy of consideration by the way, that we may afterward take up our journey with fresh courage” (16th ed. p 224).

Most of the following pages in “Wayside Hints” refer to the holy city described in Revelation 21, indicating at what is to come in the next evolution of the book. This is reminiscent of the prophet Isaiah in the last period of the Old Testament foretelling the coming of the Christ in the New Testament He says “unto us a child is born,” is, not shall be in the future.

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The chapter “Demonology” (retitled "Animal Magnetism.") is no longer last, it has become chapter VI. It now opens with a historical review of this phenomenon

“Animal magnetism was first brought into notice in Germany in 1775, by Mesmer. ...“His propositions are as follows: – . . .“There exists a mutual influence between the celestial bodies, the earth and animated things.

Animal bodies are susceptible to the influence of this agent, disseminating itself through the substance of the nerves” (l6th ed p 211; see S&H 100: 1).

Mesmer’s propositions state the counterfeit of the divine fact of heaven ruling earth through the Science and system of divine Principle. The chapter then ends on the note that “God has endowed man with inalienable rights, among which are self-government, reason, conscience,” paraphrasing the well-known words from the Declaration of Independence. In the next evolution mention of the document itself will precede this sentence. Mrs. Eddy continues: “Man is self-governed only when guided by no other mind than his Maker’s, and loving his neighbor as himself" (16th ed. p 222). Thus, significantly, the chapter opens with the date 1775, the year the Revolutionary War began in America, and it ends with reference to the Declaration of Independence of 1776. As already noted, Science and Health was first published in 1875, and the Christian Scientist Association was formed on July 4, 1876.

In the April 1887 issue of the Journal a new section appeared titled: “Animal Magnetism.” Each issue contained one or more articles on the subject. It was headed with the following quotations:

“The land that Thou gavest unto our fathers, to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold we are servants in it; and it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom Thou hast set over us, because of our sins. Also they have dominion over our bodies and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

nehemIah"“When they shall say to you:‘Inquire of their necromancers and wizards,That peep and murmur’,Then say ye: ‘Should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead for the living?’ IsaIah”

The section on Animal Magnetism ceased to appear in the Journal after January 1889.

Finally, in the Preface of the textbook in each of these evolutions, the terms ‘Science,’ ‘science,’ and ‘Principle’ appear in every one. However, it is not until the third evolution, (6th ed), that the words ‘Christian Science’ and ‘this system’ are used. In this fourth evolution, (16th ed), in addition to ‘this system’ she also refers to ‘my system.’ In one instance the sentence is “The Principle of my system is demonstrable” (p 9). Although ‘my’ may seem to be personal she has made it clear from the beginning that it is God who is “the Principle of all being” (1st ed. p 4).

Formation of the National Christian Scientist Association, 1886

Almost simultaneous with the publication of the sixteenth edition of the textbook is the formation of the National Christian Scientist Association. In order “to promote unity and brotherly love,” the N.C.S.A brought together all those taught by Mrs. Eddy (who were automatically members of the C.S.A), and those taught by her students. On January 29, 1886, thirteen of her students met, at her instigation, to form the new Association.

One of the first tasks was to issue charters for branch associations, - that is, the associations of the new teachers. If such a branch was misled and was not being guided by the Bible and the textbook, it would have its charter withdrawn. Thus Mrs. Eddy was putting into the hands of the National C.S.A an important duty of detecting and handling deviations from these two books. Ultimately it will be dependence upon the Bible

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and Science and Health as the only teacher that will determine both the authentic Christian Scientist and the continuity of genuine Christian Science.

Their main annual activity was to hold a national convention. The first took place in the Massachusetts Metaphysical College on April 14, 1886, and was briefly addressed by Mrs. Eddy. The most significant of these meetings was the one that convened two years later in Chicago. As Mrs. Eddy did not intend to be there she asked that the chief speakers should be from the delegates. But learning that some of the C.S.A. in Boston were planning to expel her from the Association so that they could be ‘free’ to pursue whatever course they liked, she changed her plans and went to Chicago. By allowing the rebels to play their hand and expose their intentions, their purpose was eventually self-defeated.

The first meeting of the 1888 Convention opened in the accustomed way with a Scripture reading, and then, without warning, the Chairman moved that further business be waived until the following day, for he wished to present their President, Mrs. Eddy, to address them! Although unprepared, she did address them and a number of healings took place. Later she published the substance of this extempore address titled, “Science and the Senses.” Her message was that what the senses see as personality, Science sees as individuality – spiritual being governed by God. The address brought about wild acclaim, blinding thought to the import of the message. Shrinking from this personal adulation she said to her companions, “Christian Science is not forwarded by these methods” (SW 321).

On her return to Boston she found that the dissidents had withdrawn from both the church and the C.S.A., all finding fault with her for various personal reasons. She asked the Secretary to call a Special Meeting to allow these members to comply with the Constitution, namely, “If they have aught against other members it shall be their duty to faithfully tell them of it.” It was not surprising that the members for whom this meeting was intended did not appear. By removing themselves they had removed the divisive personal element in the Association.

This is the third rebellion by members of the C.S.A. The first was in 1881 in Lynn, when eight had withdrawn from the Association because they had become dissatisfied with Mrs. Eddy’s leadership. The second was in 1885 when two students in particular had set out to simplify the teaching in the textbook. This time, 1888, they wanted to expel Mrs. Eddy herself in order to conduct the Association as they wished, but eventually withdrew themselves.

The following month the new editor of the Journal wrote the leading article titled “Individual Effort,” which had a salutary effect on many new students:

"Let us unite our efforts, and stand a solid phalanx in love for our cause, and for its great Ex pounder. Our Teacher loves us all. What have her wayward children cost her? . . . Her rebukes are but the expression of the love she feels for us. . . .

"Let us ‘try the spirits, and see whether they be good or evil.’ Jesus says, ‘If we walk in the light we stumble not.’ Christ, Truth, is the light. . . . The Bible and Science and Health are the guides. . . .” (C.S.J. Sept, 1888).

The following year, in June 1889, Mrs. Eddy sent the N.C.S.A a letter which was read at the Convention. She presented them with the Journal, “as a gift [which was an] expression of confidence in [them].” She requested that they should continue its publication in Boston, with the same editor and publisher, adding:

"I beg to resign my office as president of this assembly. I desire to leave the active work to my juniors in years” (6 Days 289).

In the September 1889 Journal there was a half-sheet tipped inside the cover which read: “Brother W.G. Nixon has entered on his duties as Publisher of the Journal, and for the Christian Science Publishing Society.

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. . .” The cover for the October issue included the words: “Official Organ of National Christian Scientists’ Association.”

In the Editor’s Note Book of the November issue the first item was addressed “To Readers of the Journal.” It noted that “With the October issue the Christian Science Journal passed definitively under the control of the Publication Committee of the National Association. . . The Journal cannot be, in any proper sense, the ‘Organ of the [N.C.S.A.]’ except through direct work of individual members of the Association to make it so.” The editorial continued at length with plans and suggestions about future issues and continued its exhortations to all members of the Association, not only to subscribe but also to take an individual responsibility to contribute articles, etc., concluding: “The effort and help, suggestion and criticism, of every one, - to make the Journal what it should be - are needed. Every suggestion of diversion of thought, interest, or effort, at the present moment, should be dismissed as temptation.” Here was an acknowledgement that only an individual ability to respond to Principle demonstrates Christian Science, not persons taking responsibility.

Publication of No and Yes, 1887; Rudimental Divine Science, 1887; Unity 0f Good, 1888

During the eight months from August 1887 to March 1888, Mrs. Eddy also published three small books: No and Yes, Rudimental Divine Science, and Unity of Good.

The first was initially titled Christian Science: No and Yes. It was announced in the Journal of August 1887, replacing Defence of Christian Science, published in March 1885, which had been a rebuttal of theological attacks by Boston clergymen. It has now been enlarged. Thirteen of its sixteen sub-headings are in the form of a question. In this little book she says,

“If the Bible and Science and Health had the place in schools of learning that physiology occupies, they would revolutionize and reform the world, through the power of Christ. . . . because they teach divine Science, with fixed Principle, given rule, and unmistakable proof’ (see No 11 :15-22, also a variation of this point on 33:5-11).

In November 1887 Rudiments and Rules of Divine Science was published. It, too, comprises a series of questions and answers on the basic premises of Christian Science, although the Contents page presents them as statements of scientific facts. The final section, “Only one School”, answers the question,

“Is there more than one school of scientific healing?“In reality there is, and can be, but one school of the Science of Mind-healing. Any

departure from Science is an irreparable loss of Science. Whatever is said and written correctly on this Science originates from the Principle and practice laid down in Science and Health, ... This was the first book, recorded in history which elucidates a pathological Science purely mental….

“A slight divergence is fatal in Science. ... so-called schools are clogging the wheels of progress by blinding the people to the true character of Christian Science, – its moral power; and its divine efficacy to heal” (Rud 16: 14)

Throughout this book are references to “the Science of Mind-healing.” Both books illustrate the scientific method of questioning the principle of a subject.

The third book was published in March 1888, at this time titled Unity 0f Good and Unreality of Evil. It was advertised as “Next to Science and Health, it is the most important work she has written.” Its purpose is to present the God-standpoint, for it is the only book, other than Science and Health, where we find God speaking in the first person: “I am ever-conscious Life”, “I am All,” (Un 18:23,25). In “A Colloquy” good and evil are talking to one another, but she prefaces this with: “yet they are not two but one, for evil is naught, and good only is reality” (Un 21:7) – a further development of the crucial theme of dualism, initially addressed in the second evolution. This book is the prime example of how to take a divine view of the human, and not confuse it with the physical or personal.

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“In the days of Eden, humanity was misled by a false personality, – a talking snake, – according to Biblical history. This pretender taught the opposite of Truth. This abortive ego, this fable of error, is laid bare in Christian Science” (Un 44: 1 0).

“Do you believe in God?“I believe in Him more than do most Christians, for I have no faith in any other thing or

being. He sustains my individuality. Nay, more – He is my individuality and my Life. Because He lives, I live. . . .

“To me God is All. He is best understood as Supreme Being, as infinite and conscious Life, as the affectionate Father and Mother of all He creates; but this divine Parent no more enters into His creation than the human father enters into his child. His creation is not the Ego, but the reflection of the Ego. The Ego is God Himself, the infinite Soul” (Un 48:5).

Preparation for a new era

For some time Mrs. Eddy had been withdrawing from the meetings of the C.S.A., encouraging others to address them, and in October 1888 she had quietly resigned as their President. In similar fashion she had been handing over her office as Pastor of the church and calling on others to fill the role of preacher. Occasionally she was present and would add a few remarks after the sermon. An example of this is recorded in Miscellaneous Writings (p 176). The service was on July 4, 1886, the tenth anniversary of the founding of the C.S.A. The preacher’s text was taken from the prophet Jeremiah (2: 19), writing for the children of Israel in captivity: “Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God. . .”

Mrs. Eddy reminded them that the theme expounded by their preacher:“. . . has been exemplified in all ages, but chiefly in the great crises of nations or of the

human race. It is then that supreme devotion to Principle has especially been called for and manifested. It is then that we learn a little more of the nothingness of evil, and more of the divine energies of good, and strive valiantly for the liberty of the sons of God.

“The day we celebrate reminds us of the heroes and heroines who counted not their own lives dear to them, when they sought the New England shores. . . to build upon the rock of Christ, the true idea of God - the supremacy of Spirit and the nothingness of matter. When first the Pilgrims planted their feet on Plymouth Rock, frozen ritual and creed should forever have melted away in the fire of love which came down from heaven. The Pilgrims came to establish a nation in true freedom, in the rights of conscience.

“But what of ourselves, and our times and obligations? Are we duly aware of our own great opportunities and responsibilities? Are we prepared to meet and improve them, to act up to the acme of divine energy wherewith we are armored?

“Never was there a more solemn and imperious 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 against His Christ, as expressed and operative in Christian Science. . . .

“What will you do about it? Will you be equally in earnest for the truth? Answer at once and practically, and answer aright!” (See Mis 176: 5 -177:20.)

Their answer and the practical consequences of it depended on an awareness of God’s direction of their actions. While their energies were focused in material methods their devotion was not to Principle; they were looking to persons to solve their problems and were not building, or even standing, on the rock of Christ.

Mrs. Eddy’s last Primary class, 1889

On February 25, 1889, Mrs. Eddy met with the largest group of students she ever assembled for a Primary class. Although not mentioned at the time, it was the last she was to teach in the College. The April Journal

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published an article headed “The March Primary Class”, which consisted of Mrs. Eddy’s opening words; the account of a presentation by the students to her on March 4th of an album “containing beautiful hand-painted flowers on each page, with their autographs”; finally, her closing words on March 5th, the day the class was dismissed. Mrs. Eddy had begun:

“My students, three picture-stories from the Bible present themselves to my thought; three of those pictures from which we learn without study. The first is that of Joshua and his band before the walls of Jericho. . . .

“The second picture is of the disciples met together in an upper chamber; and they were of one mind. Mark, that in the case of Joshua and his band they had all to shout together in order that the walls might fall; and the disciples, too, were of one mind.

“We, today, in this classroom, are enough to convert the world if we are of one Mind; for then the whole world will feel the influence of this Mind; as when the earth was without form, and Mind spake and form appeared.”

From today’s perspective we can see that in the last paragraph is an intimation of what could be the result of the events which were about to unfold for those students, for the challenge that will face them at the end of this period rests on understanding the difference between shouting together, being of one mind, and being of one Mind. The third picture-lesson describes the challenge and how this difference between one mind and one Mind can, must, and eventually will be resolved:

“The third picture-lesson is from Revelation, where, at the opening of the seals, one of the angels presented himself with balances to weigh the thoughts and actions of men; not angels with wings, but messengers of pure and holy thoughts that say, See thou hurt not the holy things of Truth.”

Here is a warning – “See thou hurt not the holy things of Truth” – that is, every detail of the unfolding story is essential, and every word and symbol must be interpreted spiritually. She continues:

“You have come to be weighed; and yet, I would not weigh you, nor have you weighed. How is this? Because God does all, and there is nothing in the opposite scale. There are not two, – Mind and matter. We must get rid of that notion. As we commonly think, we imagine all is well if we cast something into the scale of Mind, but we must realize that Mind is not put into the scales with matter; then only are we working on one side and in Science.”

“There are not two, – Mind and matter” is the only standpoint from which the challenge posed by .”if we are of one Mind” can be met – “then only are we working. . . in Science”. The article then gives her closing words of warning, which include, “It is the self-asserting mortal will-power that you must guard against.” She then spoke of the presentation album in which they had signed their names, “I realized what a responsibility you assume when subscribing to Christian Science”, and she ended:

“You will need, in future, practice more than theory. You are going out to demonstrate a living faith, a true sense of the infinite good, a sense that does not limit God, but brings to human view an enlarged sense of Deity. Remember, it is personality, and the sense of personality in God or in man, that limits man” (see Mis 279:9 - 282:5 for complete article - emphasis in quotations is in the original).

In a Normal class held two months later Mrs. Eddy re-emphasized how important it was for each student to do his own work and not lean on anyone. She told them that this was why she was going to leave them. Then in June 1889 she wrote to the N.C.S.A., suggesting that her withdrawal from offices and activities was in order to leave the work to her juniors in years.” It has become clear at this point in 1889 that she is preparing them for a significant and momentous change. However, it is not to appoint younger successors but a remarkable and quite unexpected one of dissolving all the institutions she had set up!

Dissolution of the Christian Scientist Association and the College, 1889On the last page of the September 1889 Journal was the following:

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massachusetts metaphysIcal colleGeNotice

“There are one hundred and sixty applications lying on the desk before me for the Primary Class in the Mass. Met. College, and I, cannot do my best work for a class that contains over one quarter of that number. If all these should be taught another large number would be waiting for the same class, and the other three courses delayed. The work is more than one person can accomplish, but the demand is for my exclusive teaching, and dissatisfaction with any other, which leaves me no alternative but to give up the whole thing.

“Deeply regretting the disappointment this must occasion, and with grateful acknowledgements to the public, I now close my college.

Mary Baker G. Eddy.”The members of the Christian Scientist Association, who were also the alumni of the College, met on September 23, 1889, to hear a letter read which Mrs. Eddy had written to them. It began:

“Beloved Students: I have faithfully sought the direction of Divine wisdom in my advice herein given, namely, that you vote today to dissolve this organization.”

She then set out three points of explanation and advice: first, that because she had retired she no longer prepared students to enter the Association. In her second point she said:

“. . . I regret to say that there has been much discord in the past between students connected with the Christian Science Association, and it would seem more natural for them to harmonize than for [other] students; hence the precedent does not favor the hope of future harmony.”

Her third point was“. . . it is more in accord with Christian Science for you to unite on the basis of Love. and the purpose to benefit each other, and honor the cause. Therefore I strongly recommend this method alone, of continuing without organization, the meeting together of the students of the . . . College.”

They voted at this meeting to “continue to meet on the first Wednesday of each month” and by a unanimous vote.” the Christian Scientist Association of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College was dissolved” (6 Days p 314).

After a Special Meeting of the Board of the College Corporation on October 29, 1889, Calvin Frye, the Clerk, sent the preamble and resolutions agreed at the meeting for publication in the Journal (see Ret 48-49). He prefaced these items with the remark that they were published to

“. . .explain so fully as to preclude comment, the latest of the steps by which we are being led to the fuller consciousness that ‘man is, not will be, spiritual’ - that we are living in the spiritual world, not in one that is material” (emphasis in original).

The editorial of this same issue commented that:“The effect on the forms and methods of organization in Christian Science. . . of the dissolution of the . . . College, will be to lift them from the material sensual plane, to that of Voluntary Association, or Love” (See Appendix 3 for Mrs. Eddy’s letter and the record of the C.S.A. meeting on September 23rd, and the December 1889 Journal article containing a full account of this dissolution.)

Dissolution of the Church of Christ (Scientist), Boston, 1889

On November 23, 1889, Mrs. Eddy sent a letter to the Rev. Norcross, who was then the Pastor of the Church:

“This morning has finished my halting between two opinions. This Mother Church must

disorganize, and now is the time to do it, and form no new organization but the spiritual one. . .” (6 Days p 318).

Five days later she wrote to the Church members;“. . . I admonish this Church after ten years of sad experience in material bonds, to cast them off, and cast her net on the spiritual side of Christianity - drop all material methods whereby to regulate Christ, Christianity, and adopt alone the golden rule for unification, progress, and a better example as the Mother Church.

“When this is done, I have already caused to be deeded to those who shall build a church edifice, the lot of land designed for the site of such an edifice. ...

“This offer is made on condition that the question of disorganization shall be settled by affirmative vote at the annual meeting of this church held December 2, 1889” (6 Days p 323).

At their meeting they voted to do as Mrs. Eddy had requested and adopted resolutions to this effect. One resolution included the following:

“4. The members of this Church hereby declare that. . . they will continue as a Voluntary Association of Christians, knowing no law but the law of Love, and no Master but Christ. . .” (6 Days p 324. See Appendix 4 for the two letters and the five resolutions.)

In Retrospection and Introspection Mrs. Eddy gives her own account of the subsequent events:“When I was its pastor, and in the pulpit every Sunday my church increased in numbers,

and its spiritual growth kept pace with its increasing popularity, but…no student, at that time, was found able to maintain the church in its previous harmony and prosperity.

“Examining the situation prayerfully and carefully, noting the church’s need, and the predisposing and exciting cause of its condition, I saw that the crisis had come. . . At this juncture I recommended that the church be dissolved. No sooner were my views made known, than the proper measures were adopted to carry them out, the votes passing without a dissenting voice.

“The history of that hour holds this true record. Adding to its ranks and influence, this spiritually organized Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, still goes on. . . .

“Despite the prosperity of my church, it was learned that material organization has Its value and peril, and that organization is requisite only in the earliest periods in Christian history. After this material form of cohesion and fellowship has accomplished its end, continued organization retards spiritual growth, and should be laid off, - even as the corporeal organization deemed requisite in the first stages of mortal existence is finally laid off, in order to gain spiritual freedom and supremacy” (Ret 44:10).

Because their present “material form of cohesion and fellowship has accomplished its end, . . . and should be laid off,” she has insisted that they must disorganize. Only then can consideration be given to having a church edifice. At first sight this may appear to be a paradox, or the opposite of usual developments, but its significance becomes clearer as the story unfolds

“The Way” - leading article in the Journal of December 1889 by Mrs. Eddy

In each request to her students to dissolve Mrs. Eddy has included reference to unresolved discord, in one she said “it would seem more natural for them to harmonize” and in another to “ten years of sad experience in material bonds.” In the same issue of the Journal that contained accounts of these meetings she provided the leading article, which was titled, “The Way.” Mrs. Eddy was offering counsel to every reader concerned about these unexpected, very radical and challenging happenings. But most importantly she points to the spiritual way forward. Her article opened with a blunt statement of the situation and how it was to be resolved:

“The present stage of progress in Christian Science presents two opposite aspects, – a full-orbed promise, and a gaunt want. The need, however, is not of the letter, but the spirit.

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“Less teaching and good healing is today the acme of ‘well done;’ . . . . This absolute demonstration of Science must be revived. To consummate this desideratum, mortal mind must pass through three stages of growth.”

These stages are defined as self-knowledge, humility, and love. She also said that “the student who heals by teaching and teaches by healing, will graduate under divine honors,” indicating that the letter and spirit are operating as one. When they do, material organization will not be needed, for

“When students have fulfilled all the good ends of organization, and are convinced that by leaving the material forms thereof a higher spiritual-unity is won, then is the time to follow the example of the Alma Mater. Material organization is requisite in the beginning; but when it has done its work, the purely Christly method of teaching and preaching must be adopted.”“. . . The way is absolute divine Science: walk ye in it; but remember that Science is demonstrated by degrees, and our demonstration rises only as we rise in the scale of being.” (See Mis 355 - 359 for complete article - emphasis in the original.)

Dissolution of the National Christian Scientist Association, 1890

The last of the institutions Mrs. Eddy had set up which was also to be dissolved was the N.C.S.A. Their fifth Annual Convention was to be held in New York in June 1890, and in May she sent them a letter advising them to:

“ . .. Disorganize... and each one return to his place of labor, to work out individually and alone, for himself and for others, the sublime ends of human life.

"To accomplish this, you must give much time to self-examination and correction; you must control appetite, passion, pride, envy, evil-speaking, resentment, and each one of the innumerable errors that worketh or maketh a lie. Then you can give to the world the benefit of all this, and heal and teach with increased confidence."

She continues then to give the spiritual reason for this advice:“I once thought that in unity was human strength; but have grown to know that human

strength is weakness, – that unity is divine might, giving to human power, peace” (Mis 137:19).

Finally, she recommended that whether they disorganized or simply adjourned, they should meet again in three years, thus leaving the door open for a new phase. They adopted her recommendation and disorganized. The “Report of Proceedings” of the occasion described it as “ ‘the last session of the ‘National Association’ and the first of the ‘Universal Assembly.’ “ It noted that:

“We. . . hereby resolve ourselves into a voluntary Assembly of Christians. . . The members of the Assembly understand the letter of their Teacher, and their present action, not as tending towards disintegration, but to the contrary as footsteps in the way to real union - that in the consciousness of Divine Principle” (6 Days p 343).

Dissolution: an opportunity “to unite on the basis of Love”

All the institutions Mrs. Eddy had set up - the Christian Scientist Association, the chartered Church of Christ (Scientist), the chartered College, the National Christian Scientist Association, - have now been dissolved. But not one has disintegrated or been destroyed. Each has been resolved into a voluntary association, is united “on the basis of Love” and continues “without organization.” Any material organization experiences times of inspiration, enthusiasm, success, domination, conflict and failure - and Mrs. Eddy has openly addressed the stresses and difficulties that have been experienced, generated from within and also from without, but all focused on unresolved character now she has given them the opportunity to experience spiritual organization.

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Voluntary association requires each individual to be active and responsible, but most important of all, to be spiritually aware of God’s directions. Only then is it a spiritual organization, truly governed by God. Otherwise, as with material organizations, it not only becomes involved in pursuing material methods but also becomes taken over by personalities, opinions and influences, which can then lead to despotism or even anarchy, ceasing to be any improvement at all.

The quotation “to unite on the basis of Love” is Mrs. Eddy’s phrase in her letter to the C.S.A. read at their meeting on September 23, 1889. She had recommended “continuing without organization” and they voted to dissolve. Dissolution is a spiritual and therefore a positive step. Her words of advice in the first edition of the textbook, “yield obedience to common forms until you reach the understanding of their spiritual significance” (1st ed. p 314), envisaged this step of dissolving material organization.

Webster includes in the definition of ‘dissolve’: “to cause to pass into solution; . . . to merge entirely.” In this sense Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health:

“In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error, – self-will, self-justification, and self-love, – which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death” (S&H242: 15).

It is this identified “adamant of error” that would claim to destroy, and the “universal solvent of Love” that produces the solution.

Summary of the fourth period, 1886-1890: Lights to rule over the day and the night

In the Bible the fourth day of creation is described in six verses, but in Science and Health Mrs. Eddy takes two of these together, thus the exegesis is in five parts (see S&H 509:9 - 511: 18). The light is now specified as “lights in the firmament of heaven.” The exegesis of the last part of the third day spoke of Jesus’ “ascending thought” and the marginal heading was “Rising to the light.”

Thus we see in the fourth period of the evolution of Christian Science a profound development beyond the third, a new standpoint - an advancing understanding that our everlasting foundations are from above, not from beneath. There has been a new awareness of the perils inherent in personal control and material methods, and a willingness to give them up for a new dependence on the divine Principle that governs all.

In Mrs. Eddy’s exegesis of the fourth day she begins: “This text gives the idea of the rarefaction of thought as it ascends higher. . .”

This period opens with the publication of the sixteenth edition of the textbook and the title is changed to its final form: Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. The section Key to the Scriptures is now four chapters and there is an Index enabling the student to begin to find his own way around.

The second part of the fourth day specifies that the lights in the heaven are “to give light upon the earth.” The exegesis is:

“Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose ‘light shall we see light;’ and this illumination is reflected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn away from a false material sense.”

Because every student of Christian Science has the “Bible and Science and Health [which] teach divine Science with fixed Principle, given rule, and unmistakable proof’ (No 11), he learns that by being governed by God he can handle animal magnetism. He can say No, because he has begun to say Yes, I am God-governed.

The next verse in the fourth day is about two great lights, which is explained in the exegesis:“Light is a symbol of Mind, of Life, Truth, and Love, and not a vitalizing property of

matter. Science reveals only one Mind, and this one shining by its own light and governing

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the universe, including man, in perfect harmony.”Consequently it is becoming clear that good and evil “are not two but one, for evil is naught, and good only is reality” (Un 21:8). This point is also emphasized in her address, “Science and the Senses”, “The Science of omnipotence demonstrate but one power, and this power is good, not evil; not matter, but Mind” (Mis 101:22). What Science sees as individuality the senses see as personality.

It is at this point that Mrs. Eddy combines two verses (Gen 1: 17, 18), and her exegesis reads:“In divine Science, which is the seal of Deity and has the impress of heaven, God is

revealed as infinite light. In the eternal Mind, no night is there.”The marginal heading for these lines is “Darkness scattered.” Because Mrs. Eddy has been preparing her students to accept “only one Mind”, God’s government, as their own experience, she is able to recommend that they dissolve all forms of material organization connected with Christian Science. Since they are no longer to depend on her as a person; they have now to adopt “the purely Christly method of teaching and healing” (Mis 359:3). .

The exegesis for the final verse of the fourth day is:“The changing glow and full effulgence of God’s infinite ideas, images, mark the periods

of progress.”When “the crisis had come” (Ref 44:19) that led Mrs. Eddy to recommend the dissolution of all the institutions she had organized, it appears that her students willingly accepted their Leader’s advice, for in every case they resolved to continue in voluntary association. The final Association to be dissolved (N.C.S.A.) specifically resolved to become a “Voluntary Association of Christians.” By dissolving all sense of separate persons, or a material organization, and by letting the Christ, the One be their only I, each individual ‘glow’ has the potential to change and to be the actual shining, or “full effulgence of God’s infinite ideas, images”, - thus concluding the day of Principle.

In the Bible the fourth thousand-year period was that of the kings and prophets (see Appendix 11, P 4). The children of Israel also had their crisis and were taken into captivity. Their prophets maintained total trust and dependence on God, which eventually led to their release and return to their own land.

The Old Testament ends with the book of Malachi, who prophesies the coming of “my messenger”, and admonishes the children of Israel to “Return unto me, and I will return unto you, said the Lord of hosts”, and advises them to:

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Mal 3:1, 7,10)

The fulfillment of this prophecy marks a period of progress for the children of Israel. At this point the Old Testament closes and the Scriptures move to the New Testament and the advent of Christ Jesus. The events in this fourth period in the history of Christian Science have led to a similarly definitive stage of progress.

On to Part II of True Estimate »