I have made a note “JOY” on
page 252 of Mary Baker Eddy – The Years of
Discovery – against the Bancroft description of Mrs. Eddy when she was
struggled to teach others to heal using her new-found knowledge of God’s
infinitude and infinite Love. It was in the 1870’s. “When in
conversation, the animation she displayed added much to her
attractiveness. It was the animation of conviction, not of excitement or
agitation.”
A couple of weeks ago our church’s
Second Reader and I had a discussion about why “joy” might have been included in a passage
from that week’s weekly Lesson-Sermon: “What is the model before mortal mind? Is it imperfection, joy, sorrow, sin,
suffering?” See Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary
Baker Eddy.
Joy just didn’t seem to fit in
that company, so I looked up “joy” in Noah Webster’s The Student’s Reference
Dictionary (first printed in 1828). I found: “The passion or emotion
excited by the acquisition or expectation of good; that excitement of
pleasurable feelings which is caused by success, good fortune, the
gratification of desire or some good possessed, or by a rational prospect of
possessing what we love or desire; gladness; exultation of spirits,” along
with meanings one could expect to find like gayety (!Yes!) and happiness.
We were satisfied with the
reference to passion and emotion – mortal mind qualities which do indeed fit
in with the other more recognisable ones; however, as I write this, I am taken
with the “excitement” reference. S&H doesn’t give it a good press,
e.g. the “exciting cause of all suffering.” The whole sentence is: “So-called
mortal mind or the mind of mortals being the remote, predisposing, and the
exciting cause of all suffering, the cause of disease must be obliterated
through Christ in divine Science, or the so-called physical senses will get the
victory” (p. 230:32). None of the other five references I found in S&H suggest anything less
than mortal mind in action.
Joyce
Voysey
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