Pre-dawn hours

What a wonderful promise Mary Baker Eddy has given us to begin the Preface of her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings” (vii: 1-2).

Hymn 342 in the Christian Science Hymnal sprang into thought here, particularly the lines in the first verse: "All our blessings show/The amplitude of God’s dear love." 

Here is the whole poem written by Laura Lee Randall, with music by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, arranged by R.J. Hopkins:

This is the day the Lord hath made;

Be glad, give thanks, rejoice;

Stand in His presence, unafraid,

In praise lift up your voice.

All perfect gifts are from above,

And all our blessings show

The amplitude of God’s dear love

Which every heart may know.

 

The Lord will hear before we call,

And every need supply;

Good things are freely given to all

Who on His word rely.

We come today to being Him praise

Not for such gifts alone,

But for the higher, deeper ways

In which His love is shown.

 

For sin destroyed, for sorrow healed,

For health and peace restored;

For Life and Love by Truth revealed,

We thank and bless the Lord.

This is the day the Lord hath made,

In praise lift up your voice.

In shining robes of joy arrayed,

Be glad, give thanks, rejoice.

© Words copyright 1932, The Christian Science Board of Directors

Laura Lee Randall was a Christian Scientist; Felix Mendelssohn is, of course, a NAME.

JSH-Online only quotes the hymn, so it must not have been printed separately as a poem in the Christian Science periodicals. The Bible concordance doesn’t give me any clues. Perhaps it was written for the 1932 Hymnal. Anyway, it is a much-loved hymn which expands so beautifully on that opening sentence in Preface.

If I am awake in the pre-dawn hours of a day, I can sometimes see the Evening Star reflected in a window. On occasion, the moon can keep it company. It is very beautiful. I think of myself as a wakeful shepherd, similar to the one Mrs Eddy speaks of next: “The wakeful shepherd beholds the first faint morning beams, ere cometh the full radiance of a risen day” (ibid vii: 2-4). How glorious a vision to that shepherd. And I can share it.

A first-time reader of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, unless they had some Bible, perhaps would not have understood that this paragraph refers to the coming of the baby Jesus. There is no mention of God or the Christ. [My Sunday School teaching left me with a love of the songs I sang there; songs like Jesus Bids us Shine and What a Friend We Have in Jesus, but one might say, No Metaphysics.]

The pale star “shone to the prophet-shepherds” (lines 4-5); the Wisemen beheld and followed the daystar (lines 10-12). I notice that “wakeful shepherd” suggests the present tense, so it can be the present student of the Scriptures and Science and Health who glimpses the glory of Christ.

"Daystar" as a thing of the Bible does not rate well on Google. I find this about Revelation 22:16 satisfies as a reference-point for Mrs. Eddy’s use of it:

The Book of Revelation also uses the imagery of the “morning star” in reference to Jesus Christ. Revelation 22:16 states: “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and Offspring of David, the bright Morning Star.” Here, Christ identifies Himself as the “bright Morning Star,” emphasizing His divine authority, eternal nature, and the hope He brings to the world. Bible Hub.

Joyce Voysey

Pale star to guiding star

With just one student, Baker Eddy started teaching around 1867. After establishing the Massachusetts Metaphysical College in 1881, over 4000 students were taught in a 7-year period. More were to follow. What a story of resilience and dedication. 

Her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures was subsequently published in 1891 and is still being read and studied by thousands of people around the world today.

The Preface to Science and Health establishes the book's scriptural roots in the opening paragraph. With new-old vocabulary, Mrs. Eddy refers to "prophet-shepherds", "the Bethlehem babe" and the "Wise-men". She sketches a picture of "a night of error" and "benighted understanding" giving way to the dawn of "morning beams" and a "daystar". These opening twelve lines shine with vivid, light-filled imagery unmistakably referencing the Bible. They shine with present promise.

What a lovely project, to be noticing Biblical references in Science & Health. Won't you join us in this adventure? 

Julie Swannell

 

At the beginning

I find those pages without numbers at the beginning of books very interesting and informative. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy these pages do really have numbers, but they are in Roman numerals and don't begin until page vii with the Preface. One can go back and put in iii, ii, and i etc. (except the computer often insists on a cap I instead of i).

Now, here is an interesting point. The Manual of The Mother Church has ordinary numbers on the relative pages, while Prose Works also has the Roman numerals. AI (Artificial Intelligence) puts these numerals in caps. To my understanding AI has it wrong on this occasion! The ordinary numbers are called ordinal numerals or ordinal number words.

In the paperback version I am using, I find there are two unnumbered pages after the endpapers and preceding the Roman-numerated ones.

Page i announces the title and author, and introduces Mary Baker Eddy as President of Massachusetts Metaphysical College and Pastor Emeritus of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, Massachusetts. Then we have the wonderful Cross and Crown registered trademark and Mrs. Eddy’s signature.

Ah! Page ii explains that the Cross and Crown seal and the facsimile signature of Mary Baker Eddy are trademarks of The Christian Science Board of Directors, and are registered in the U.S. and other countries.

The top of the page lists Copyright renewals up till 1934.

Here is part of an interview with Kevin Ness, a legal man in Boston. The excerpt is from the March 2012 edition of The Christian Science Journal.

Is it true that Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is no longer under copyright? 

That is true. Generally under United States law, items first published before 1923 are in the “public domain,” which means that Mrs. Eddy’s original published writings in English are no longer under copyright. In the case of Science and Health, the copyright was extended beyond its normal duration by special legislation in 1971, but this legislation was later reversed by a court decision. However, most non-English translations of Science and Health and Mrs. Eddy’s other published writings still remain under copyright.

This means that anyone can make alterations to the textbook and Mrs. Eddy’s other writings and publish the adulterated copy. And they have.

Don’t you love page iii? It quotes from John viii. 32, Shakespeare, and includes Mary Baker Eddy’s wonderful little prayer: 

Oh! Thou hast heard my prayer;

And I am blest!

This is Thy high behest:--

Thou here, and everywhere. 

I have been known to include that prayer in Wednesday evening readings. And what a sense of the universality of Christian Science is given with that emphasised everywhere.

Page v has the Contents. I think the order may have changed during the many revisions by Mrs. Eddy of her textbook.

And so on to page vii Preface. We still haven’t reached the actual page 1. But we will with that stupendous chapter Prayer.

Joyce Voysey