Humanity misled by a false personality

My reading of this week's Lesson Sermon on Soul and Body has been enlightened by the short chapter "Personal Statements" in our book Unity of Good by Mary Baker Eddy.

We read here that "humanity was misled by a false personality, - a talking snake" who "taught the opposite of Truth."  Eddy refers to "human theories", "philosophy", and "human wisdom" including anatomy and physiology, as all being mistaken.  The mistake, she reasons, is in believing that God made and knows evil.

Eddy logically argues the case and finally proclaims: "All that can exist is God and His idea" (p. 47).  The serpent is silenced.

Julie Swannell

Revolutionary discovery: God is completely good.

Here's a little information on our book, Unity of Good, from the Mary Baker Eddy Library's web site http://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/search/node/unity%20of%20good:

Unity of Good
In this publication, Mary Baker Eddy writes about how a better understanding of God as completely good can bring healing to one’s life. Fifteen short, individual chapters address subjects such as “The Ego,” “Soul,” and “The Deep Things of God.”

1888
First Christian Science Reading Room opens in Boston.
Publishes Unity of Good and Unreality of Evil (later Unity of Good).

Julie Swannell

Do we already think we know it all?

Mary Baker Eddy knew so much about incorrect ways in which men have thought to commune with God, even as Christians.  Who would think there could be such term as ‘divine sin’ or ‘infinite sinner’ in a Christian’s vocabulary (page 15/16 of this month's book Unity of Good)?

As I read the Colloquy, I am telling myself that I know all this, and that I would like to be reading it for the first time.  But God tells me that I do not know all that, because I have not yet ascended.

I think it is in one of the We Knew Mary Baker books, where it is recorded that, during one of Mrs. Eddy’s classes, someone asked if he knew the truth about his patient well enough, would not his patient disappear.  Mrs. Eddy replied that no, he, the practitioner, would disappear.

By the way, my copy of the little book Jewel (mentioned in an earlier blog this month) has arrived.  I have now read it.  The metaphysics in it are very good, although the beginning is rather heavy.  Also, this copy is printed as by a typewriter in imitation of the first printing, I suppose.  This makes reading rather difficult, as there is not sufficient space between the lines.  The way so many of the characters in the book adopted Christian Science seems remarkable at this stage, but a friend at church, who has a long history of being a student of Christian Science, has told me that every family in her street was interested in Christian Science. This would have been in the 1930’s, I understand.

I’ve also received a copy of The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle.  Perhaps I will report on it later – have only read a few pages so far.

Joyce Voysey

Words that stay with me

My goodness, I think I have a metaphor!  My husband and I go to Tallebudgera Creek most mornings for what I call a swim.  I swim with the current for a set distance and then I walk back against the current to start another ‘lap’.  At the flood tide, the current gives a delightfully swift swim, but to walk against it is almost impossible; sometimes I even give up and walk back on the beach.

Metaphor, you ask? I ask: or is it a simile?

met·a·phor  noun \ˈme-tə-ˌfȯr also -fər\

: a word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that they are similar

: an object, activity, or idea that is used as a symbol of something else

sim·i·le  noun \ˈsi-mə-(ˌ)lē\

grammar : a phrase that uses the words like or as to describe someone or something by comparing it with someone or something else that is similar

I shall be pleased to have a verdict on that one.

On page 11 of Unity of Good, Mrs. Eddy speaks of the currents of matter, or mortal mind.  “Jesus taught us to walk over, not into or with, the currents of matter, or mortal mind.”

I know how hard it is to walk against the creek’s current and what a force it is, so it gives me a small idea of how strong the currents of mortal mind are, or rather, claim to be.  We must walk over them. 

How are we to do that?  Mrs. Eddy goes on to tell us how Jesus did that in the following lines, e.g. “He annulled the laws of matter...” (page 11).

One is reminded of Adam Dickey’s article titled “God’s Law of Adjustment.”  He tells us there is a law of God that can cope with any so-called law of mortal mind.

I am also reminded of a personal experience.  My husband and I were travelling to Perth in a campervan (car and caravan combo).  We had left Cobar without filling up on petrol.  It is a long way to the next town on the Barrier Highway – Wilcannia (260km/2 1/2 hours according to Internet) – so we were quite apprehensive about getting there on that amount of petrol, staying the night, and getting an early start the next morning. It was night by the time we got near to Wilcannia.  The caravan park was on the Darling River (magnificent river gums), a little distance before the town.  We headed directly into the town to get petrol.  The town was completely dark.  We found a petrol station and were told by an attendant that the town’s electricity supply was down; that we couldn’t get petrol.  Now we had been to this town before on trips to Perth and there seemed to be a darkness about the atmosphere, so my thought was, “typical of Wilcannia!” 

I was in the back of the campervan peeling potatoes to save time when we camped.  The thought came, “Let there be light!”  Immediately the electricity came on and the pumps were back in use.

Now, for a long time I had thought of this as my asking God to put the light back on, and Him doing it.  Finally, the penny dropped and I realised that it was the other way around.  God was telling me to “let there be light” in my thinking about the people and circumstances of that town. 

I find that as I read this book, individual words stay with me after I have turned over (the page) from them, and I feel the need to go back and take in more of their pertinence.  This morning the word is “permanent.”  Yesterday it was “Principle.”

It’s so satisfying and comforting that God knows nothing that is not permanent.  “If God knows that which is not permanent, it follows that He knows something which He must learn to unknow, for the benefit of our race” (page 13).

And when I read that “God is their divine Principle,” (that is the divine Principle of the universe and man) I had such a wonderful sense of the solidness and invincibility of God and His creation, man and the universe; a stillness and a great sense of calm and well-being.  Principle, the solid bedrock of existence.

Actually, there was another passage on page 10 – “He is not the blind force of a material universe.”  What a way to describe the supposed force of a material universe!

Joyce Voysey

He pities us

How beautifully Mrs. Eddy elaborates on the little phrase “He pities us,” in Unity of Good p.4:5!

 “No stubborn purpose to force conclusions on this subject will unfold in us a higher sense of Deity; neither will it promote the Cause of Truth or enlighten the individual thought” (p.5:14). 

The word “force” is sticking with me. Of course, the chapter title is “Caution in the Truth,” and we are still being taught from the question, “Does God know or behold sin, sickness, and death?”  Mrs. Eddy is always admonishing us to follow Jesus direction to be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Matt. 10:16).  For are we not “sheep in the midst of wolves” (ibid)?  But we can trust the “supernal guidance” if there is an occasion to discuss this matter with others. 

Page 7 is just plain wonderful!  The state of mind which heals the sick and sinning.

On to page 9 – we find the phrase “mystic psychology”*.  I had circled ‘mystic’ on a previous reading, but hadn’t looked it up.  I thought perhaps that it was Mrs. Eddy’s classification.  However, I googled it and found it is something that is practised.  The word alchemy is used; I didn’t look into it any further.  Suffice it to say that it is not the way of Jesus or of Christian Science.

Joyce Voysey

 

*Ed Here is the quote: Un. 9:8

Jesus has made the way plain,  — so plain that all are without excuse who walk not in it; but this way is not the path of physical science, human philosophy, or mystic psychology.

Realization and "SPLEWGG"

When I started reading Mrs. Eddy’s Unity of Good for our book club, for a long time I couldn’t get past the following two sentences in Caution in the Truth (p.2).  (The passage appears as part of the answer to an interesting question - Does God know or behold sin, sickness, and death?)

 

“The sinner has no refuge from sin, except in God, who is his salvation.  We must, however, realize God’s presence, power, and love, in order to be saved from sin.”  

 

I love the idea of realizing and a friend reminded me that when we realize a financial transaction, it means the money is in the bank – it’s a deal that is complete!

 

Other definitions from my dictionary app on my phone include:

1.     To grasp or understand clearly

2.     To make real; give reality to (a hope, fear, plan, etc.)

3.     To bring vividly to the mind

4.     to sight-read music on a keyboard instrument or write out in notation the full harmony and ornamentation indicated by (a figured bass)

 

I also like the definition of sin that I came across this evening of to make a mistake.

 

I did some research on “seven deadly sins” and found the following “sins” might qualify –

 

Sloth

Pride

Lust

Envy

Wrath (hatred, revenge)

Gluttony

Greed

 

In trying to find an easy way to remember them, I have finally come up with “splewgg”!!!

 

These are so interesting, and I’ve found references to all of these in both the Bible and Mrs. Eddy’s writings.  I also started writing down how we might counteract these tendencies (with some assistance from Jesus’ teachings (Matthew chapters 5 and 6):

 

Sloth – diligence

Pride – humility (Blessed are the meek…Blessed are the poor in spirit…)

Lust – purity, chastity (Blessed are the pure in heart…)

Envy – contentment, good will, kindness (Blessed are the peacemakers…)

Wrath – love, forgiveness, meekness (Blessed are the merciful…)

Gluttony – moderation, restraint (Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness…)

Greed – discipline (Give us this day our daily bread…)

 

So, as we “realize God’s presence, power, and love” we are saved from being lazy; boastful; pulled towards undue contemplation of the body; jealous; angry or resentful; indulgent; or greedy.  God, who is present, powerful, and loving, and is divine Principle and Love, directs, protects, provides, instructs, manages, choreographs, inspires, and disciplines ALL of us, including the entire universe.  We need just to realize it.

 

Julie Swannell

We are inclined to forget, or even not believe, that, “Now this self-same God is our helper.  He pities us.  He has mercy upon us, and guides every event of our careers” (Unity of Good 27-1).  What an assurance. 

There is an old hymn “Blessed Assurance” which I recall from my Methodist Sunday School days on Bribie Island.  I will look it up. 

Blessed Assurance

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blessed_Assurance

"Blessed Assurance" is a well-known Christian hymn. The lyrics were written in 1873 by blind hymn writer Fanny J. Crosby to the music written in 1873 by Phoebe P. Knapp.

Crosby was visiting her friend Phoebe Knapp as the Knapp home was having a large pipe organ installed. The organ was incomplete, so Mrs. Knapp, using the piano, played a new melody she had just composed. When Knapp asked Crosby, "What do you think the tune says?", Crosby replied, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine."^[1]

The hymn appeared in the July 1873 issue of Palmer's Guide to Holiness and Revival Miscellany, a magazine printed by Dr. and Mrs. W. C. Palmer of 14 Bible House, New York City. It appeared on page 36 (the last page) with complete text and piano score, and indicated it had been copyrighted by Crosby that year. It is not certain that this was the first printing of the hymn, but it certainly helped to popularize what became one of the most beloved hymns of all time.

Because of Crosby's lyrics, the tune is now called "- Assurance".

Lyrics - Based on Hebrews 10:22

vs.1
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.

vs.2
Perfect submission, perfect delight!
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

(Refrain)

vs.3
Perfect submission, all is at rest!
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
(Refrain)

The refrain so touches the heart in the version in my head; I like the versions on youtube much.

Joyce Voysey

The Italicized Words in the King James Bible

Here’s something helpful from http://www.biblebelievers.com/jmelton/italics.html

The Italicized Words in the King James Bible

The italicized words in the King James Bible are words that were added by the translators to help the reader. This is usually necessary when translating from one language to another because word meanings and idioms change. So, to produce a more readable translation, the King James translators (1604- 1611) added certain words to the Bible text. However, to make sure that everyone understood that these words were not in the available manuscripts they set them in italics. Imagine the confusion which would arise if the translators had not used the italicized words: "Salvation unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah." This is Psalm 3:8 with one italicized word omitted. As you can see, the reading implies that the Lord needs to be saved! The correct reading is: "Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah."

Comments on our book: Unity of Good by Mary Baker Eddy

UNITY

It was only recently that I realised that there is a meaning of unity which is not “a gathering of various things or thoughts together to create a harmonious whole.”  Let’s take a look at what Merriam-Webster has to say (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unity):

1a: the quality or state of not being multiple : oneness

1b (1): a definite amount taken as one or for which 1 is made to stand in calculation <in a table of natural sines the radius of the circle is regarded as unity> (2): identity element

2a: a condition of harmony : accord

2b: continuity without deviation or change (as in purpose or action)

3a: the quality or state of being made one : unification

3b: a combination or ordering of parts in a literary or artistic production that constitutes a whole or promotes an undivided total effect; also: the resulting singleness of effect or symmetry and consistency of style and character

4: a totality of related parts : an entity that is a complex or systematic whole

ALSO: the state of being in full agreement

GOOD 

The old Noah Webster Dictionary 1828 has about 3 full columns on good!  And I thought I would find it to be an uncomplicated word!

 

[Ed: This got me curious so here are some of the definitions for our readers: fit, useful, profitable, convenient, convenient for any purpose, spiritual advantage or improvement, elegant, polite, virtuous, complete, kind, benevolent, cheerful.  (What a good word!)]

 

GOING HIGHER 

I love the ‘reason together’ style put forward on page 1 of our book.  Mrs. Eddy’s style of class teaching was by Question and Answer, so here she is teaching us by that method in a form that we can learn from year by year as we progress in our understanding of the Christ Science she has revealed to us.

 

I find that I am a long way from the “finale in Science” where the “sinner loses his sense of sin, and gains a higher sense of God, in whom there is no sin” (page 2). This, of course, is “Adam” reasoning on my part, i.e. reasoning through my mortal history.  I can look forward to this book’s truths teaching me anew the Christ reasoning that I am “perfect, even as (my) Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

 

I must say that, as I read last week’s Lesson-Sermon on Adam and Fallen Man along with the writing of this blog post, it was very enlightening and instructive regarding sin.  The Lesson speaks of the “warfare between the idea of divine power, which Jesus presented, and mythological material intelligence called energy and opposed to Spirit” (Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p.534:14). The Marginal Heading here is Spirit and flesh.

 

Now, about warfare: I lived through World War II, and my three brothers fought in that conflict – one was killed; one was a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese; and the other served in what was then called Palestine.  It seems to me that everyone has a sense of urgency during such a war, a knowing that we must ‘fight the good fight’; an understanding that good must and will prevail.  But do we find a lack of urgency regarding the spiritual war which we must fight against the beliefs of the flesh?  There is no room for complacency, putting off till tomorrow what can be done today.

 

I am reminded that many of our young men enlisted in the forces in search of adventure, and we have that idea in Christian Science.  “We live in an age of Love’s divine adventure to be All-in-all,” Mrs Eddy tells us in The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany (p. 158:9-10).

 

Paul was the complete missionary for Christ.  In II Cor. 6, he gives us a run-down on what it takes to be such a missionary.  He seems to enumerate all the trials and triumphs he encountered, and which, if we are ‘fighting the good fight’, we are also likely to encounter. 

 

II Corinthians Chapter 6

1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also

that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

2 For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

3 Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:

4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,

5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;

6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,

7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,

8 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;

9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;

10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

Joyce Voysey

 

1887

JSH-Online (see www.christianscience.com) has provided this information about the first printing dates of Mrs. Eddy’s writings other than Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures:

Other published works by Mrs. Eddy include The People's Idea of God (1886), Christian Healing (1886), Unity of Good (1887), Rudimental Divine Science (1891), Retrospection and Introspection (1891), No and Yes (1891), Church Manual (1895-1910), Miscellaneous Writings (1896), Christ and Christmas (1893), Christian Science versus Pantheism (1898), Pulpit and Press (1895), Messages to The Mother Church (1900; 1901; 1902), The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany (1913).

So, I am satisfied on that count – Unity of Good was first published in 1887.

Oh dear!  I have been telling fibs!  The book I carry around (see recent blog post) is Mrs. Eddy’s No and Yes.  The sentiments are the same however, about Unity of Good.  And I do have a booklet-type copy of it as well.

Joyce Voysey

Clara Louise Burnham - author of "Jewel" and "The Right Princess"

Book club for November – Unity of Good by Mary Baker Eddy

I know this is a wonderful book – I carry a booklet-type copy in my purse.  It is such a comfort to have it always there, especially when one is doing some waiting in the car or elsewhere.  It is looking somewhat battered, but still holds its truths secure.

The little book Jewel (author Clara Louise Burnham) often comes to mind when I think of Unity of Good.  It is a long time since I read Jewel and the story is not fresh in memory, but I do remember that a young engaged (I think) couple said how much they appreciated Unity of Good, which, I had the impression, was then fresh off the press.  Perhaps this is not so, because I see that it was first copyrighted in 1897.  (However, the story could be set earlier, couldn’t it?  After all, it is fiction.)

I think my wonder at first reading that little episode was that such a young couple would appreciate the truth so well, and what a blessing that would be on the coming marriage.  I was a fairly new student of Christian Science at that time.

The copy of Jewel, which I read on loan, was much loved and worn.  No doubt the child in the family had loved it very much.

I have just ordered a copy for myself through the Internet.

Some delving on the Internet has told me that Jewel was published in 1903.  There is a whole page on Clara Louise Burnham on the Mary Baker Eddy Library site.  Here are some excerpts:

Burnham, a Christian Scientist, sent an advance copy of The Right Princess to Mary Baker Eddy, which Eddy enjoyed reading, saying that the novel was “a rare production in the line of fiction.” [L08337] Eddy praised The Right Princess and Jewel in private and in public. After receiving a copy of Jewel, she sent copies to her cousin Hon. Henry Moore Baker—a New Hampshire lawyer and politician—and to Edward Augustus Jenks—a local poet. Eddy reported to Burnham that both men “were pleased with it.” [L08340]

The Christian Science Sentinel printed an announcement by Eddy praising The Right Princess. Eddy said of Burnham: “The author dissects character with the skill of a metaphysical surgeon: she uses the knife and leaves the patient healed. She has portrayed a Christian Scientist with simplicity and candor: her pen is the pencil of an artist.” (“Question Answered,” October 2, 1902, p. 72)

Eddy’s endorsement of The Right Princess and her reconsideration of that endorsement meant that she also had to reconsider the role of The Christian Science Publishing Society in advertising and selling such literature. On September 25, 1902 she sent a telegram to Burnham saying “God has spoken and this, it is not right for Christian Science press to advertise fiction in any form.” [L09170] Simultaneously Eddy also made an amendment to the Church Manual By-Law “Rule of Conduct” (now Article XXV, Section 7), adding the sentence “Novels shall neither be advertised nor sold by the Christian Science Publishing Society.” This sentence was published in the 27th and 28th editions of the Church Manual (both 1902).

Joyce Voysey