Let Him do the work

 On page 129 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy writes of the "reformatory mission" of [divine] Science. This aligns with a sentiment pronounced publicly by Mary M. B. Glover (as she was at that time known) in the Lynn Transcript of January 20, 1872:

"Well knowing as I do that God hath bidden me, I shall steadfastly adhere to my purpose to benefit my suffering fellow beings, even though it be amid the most malignant misrepresentation and persecution" (p. 99 Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer (Amplified Edition) by Yvonne Cache von Fettweis and Robert Townsend Warneck).

A beautiful example of this beautiful purpose on page 83 (ibid). The date was 1868. A "raving maniac" had escaped from a "mad-house" and had threatened her with a chair. She "looked upward", whereupon "he dropped the chair, and asked if [she] had something to say to him". The account continues:

"I said I had, all from the spiritual side, 'The first thing is you have no disease of the brain; you need never have been in the insane hospital.' Then came the comfort and relief, and the poor maniac fell on his knees before me; he was cured" (ibid, p. 83-84). Readers here will enjoy reading the paragraphs that follow this account, where Eddy speaks of the "anointing of Truth like the dew or the gentle rain, coming upon that poor, agonized brain" (p. 84).

Mrs. Eddy never claimed those healing works as being the result of her own ability. Indeed, when asked "if she could restore the blind--She replied no, but God could, if we would let Him do the work" (p. 109).

This is much to ponder from this book.

Julie Swannell

Looking up

In my last blog I recorded Mrs. Eddy as having said, “I looked upward.” I believe I have read this statement or one like it in at least one part of our book under discussion, Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer by von Fettweis and Warneck.

Then I noticed that Jesus was also recorded as having looked up to heaven. See Mark 7:34, 6:41 and Matthew 14:19 with Luke 9:16*. The last was at the feeding of the 5,000 men + women and children – “And looking up to heaven, he blessed…” I am sure some of the other biographies of Mary Baker Eddy record her doing so.

How both Jesus and Mary Baker blessed, through their looking up and away from matter to the healing Christ.

One of the remarkable things in the book is the number of times we read of Mrs. Eddy being busy revising her book Science and Health. On page 206: “Mrs. Eddy devoted herself throughout 1902 to reading the new revision from beginning to end. As a result, she corrected and standardized the capitalization of words relating to God, removed repetitious sentences and paragraphs and added a little new material.”**

Indeed, she wrote to Albert F. Conant, who was compiling a Concordance to her book, “My ‘last changes of Science and Health’ may continue so long as I read the book!” (p. 206).

Page 208 contains a facsimile of Science & Health’s page 232. The compositor at the printing house would have to decipher her many hand-written revisions. A challenge to any typist too. I was one, and my husband was a compositor.

On page 210, there is a paragraph (in a letter from Mary Baker Eddy to a practitioner) which perhaps paraphrases the purpose of her book:

“Demonstration is the whole of Christian Science, nothing else proves it, nothing else will save it and continue it with us. God has said this—and Christ Jesus has proved it.”

 Joyce Voysey

*And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.
(Mark 7:34)

And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
(Mark 6:41)

And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
(Matt. 14:19)

Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude.
(Luke 9:16)

**Ed. I found this in the MBE Library at https://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/research/the-140th-anniversary-of-science-and-health/

"Since the first edition, Science and Health—retitled Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures in 1883—went through more than 400 revisions, ranging from minor changes to major reworkings of the text. Eddy constantly reshaped and refined its message, striving to make her textbook on healing clearer and stronger."

Resident physician

At a recent testimony meeting, a friend shared Mary Baker Eddy’s raising of Calvin Frye from death.

I subsequently decided to look up all the references to Mr. Frye in our book Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer by von Fettweis and Warneck. After resisting the work for a while, I found the task was actually easy – there is an alphabetical index at the back of the book and Calvin Frye’s entries appear on page 607.

In the book, Mr. Frye (1845-1917) is generally referred to as Eddy’s “personal secretary” (e.g. p. 52) a position demanding discipline, diligence, energy, attention to detail, trustworthiness, and a deep love of the cause of Christian Science. He served in this role from 1882 to 1910 (p. 446).

But, of special interest to me was Mrs. Eddy’s reference (in a 1903 letter to the Christian Science Board of Directors) to Mr. Frye as “resident physician at our College on Columbus Avenue, Boston”, one who had “stood by [her] side to help [the Cause of Christian Science] 21 years” and “one of its oldest actors and faithful laborers in the vineyard of our Lord” (p. 447).

The term “resident physician” I had not heard before.

The book also shares several distinct healings of Calvin Frye during his time with Mrs. Eddy. I’ll try to gather them up here.

1891

An occurrence was witnessed and recounted by Eddy’s student Captain Eastaman to Arthur Maxfield. Maxfield related that after ushering Eastaman into Eddy’s house, Frye lost his footing and “suddenly pitched head first to the foot of the stairs, apparently with a broken neck caused by the fall” (p. 168).

Aroused by the noise, Mrs. Eddy appeared at the “head of the stairs and said what is the matter?” She thrice instructed him to “get up”. He did. “Calvin Frye’s diaries show that his daily work for Mrs. Eddy went on completely uninterrupted and unhampered by this incident” (ibid).

1903

John Salchow writes: “It was my privilege to witness a healing at Pleasant View in 1903 which was the result of Mrs. Eddy’s own understanding of the truth” (p. 365). Salchow’s sister (Mrs. Eddy’s maid at the time) had found Mr. Frye dead. Salchow checked and saw Frye “crumpled up at his desk”. Shortly, Mrs. Eddy came to Frye’s room and asked “over and over again, ‘Calvin, do you hear me?’” Finally, after about five minutes (according to Salchow’s recollection) Calvin replied faintly, “Yes, Mother, I hear you.”

1905

One evening, “George Kinter, a worker in Mrs. Eddy’s home”* was instructed by Eddy to see why Frye had not responded to her call. “George found [Frye] slumped in a chair…. he had no pulse, he was stone cold—and rigid.” When Mrs. Eddy was “informed of this, [she] came immediately to the bedroom and began at once to treat him, … [She] continually denied the error and declared the Truth with such vehemence and eloquence for a full hour, as I never had heard on any other occasion…” (p. 256).

The report continues: “After an hour, Calvin moved a little and then spoke in very low tones: ‘Don’t call me back. Let me go, I am so tired.’ To which Mrs. Eddy replied, ‘Oh, Yes, -- We shall persist in calling you back, for you have not been away. You have only been dreaming…’” (p. 257).

Date not identified

Clara Shannon recorded a different incident involving Calvin Frye. When Ms. Shannon went to his room, she “saw him lying on his back on the carpet, apparently lifeless” (p. 363). Mrs. Eddy came as soon as she was told about it. Shannon recalled the “tenderness” and “expressions of love” uttered by Eddy, as well as her “severe” rebuke of “the error that seemed to be attacking him” in her rousing metaphysical treatment.

 Shannon recounts that to her plea “Oh, Mother! Couldn’t you let him sit down a few minutes?” Mrs. Eddy replied: “No, if he sits down he may not waken again—he must be aroused—we mustn’t let him die—he is not quite awake yet!” (pp. 363-4). Soon, Mrs. Eddy made him laugh heartily, before telling him to “go back to his room and his ‘watch’” (ibid).

The postludes to this experience seem especially important:

1.     “[Mrs. Eddy] explained to me [Clara Shannon] that when you speak the truth to anyone, if the truth you speak causes him to laugh, cry, or get angry, you have reached the thought that needed correction” (ibid).

2.     Miss Shannon later asked Calvin what he was doing when they thought he was dead. “He replied at once, ‘I was in the pantry, eating custard pie’” (p. 364).

Nov. 9, 1908

Irving Tomlinson related an incident when three students “strove to restore” Calvin Frye, who was “unconscious and apparently in a death stupor” (p. 366). Mrs. Eddy had her students bring him to her, sensing the urgency. She “commanded [him], with the voice of authority, to awaken from his false dream. At first she met with no response, but this did not discourage her. She redoubled her efforts and fairly shouted to him her command that he awake. In a few moments he gave evidence of life, partly opened his eyes, and slightly moved his head. Seeking to rouse him, Mrs. Eddy said, ‘Calvin, don’t commit self-murder.’ He replied ‘I don’t want to live.’

“‘Disappoint your enemies and live,’ she commanded. ‘Say that you do want to stay and help me.’

“Then he took his first stand and answered, ‘Yes, I will stay.’”

The account relates his full restoration.

Our book identifies this account as appearing in Irving Tomlinson’s Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy: Amplified Edition, pp. 64-66; corroborated in Adam Dickey, Memoirs, pp. 107-112. (See p. 367.)

I love how the patient – Mr. Frye – was empowered to make the choice to live.

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
(Deut. 30:19)

Julie Swannell

 

*George Kinter was employed by Mrs. Eddy to “assist Mr. Frye” who, she told him “had too much to do”!! (p. 466).

The healing of the nations

 I found a special treasure: Mary Baker Eddy talking about the 91^st Psalm. It begins on page 192 of Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer by Yvonne Cache von Fettweis and Robert Townsend Warneck. The substance was given in an address at a meeting of church members in Concord. She said she considered Psalm 91 to be one of foundations of the Christian Science religion. She said that it “contains more practical theological and pathological truth than any other collection of the same number of words in human language except the Sermon on the Mount of the great Galilean and hillside Teacher.”

The book’s account finishes near the end of page 193 with:

1.     The secret place of the Most High is spiritual Love.

2.     The way thereunto is Christ Truth, but the way to find this Way is:

1)               The knowledge of God.

2)               The understanding of God.

I have read up to the end of Chapter 14, now I need to go back to Chapter 6, Teacher, counselor, author, to see what I have marked for possible comment.

Page 118-9. “Mrs. Eddy saw great danger in what she later described as “the mistake of believing in mental healing, claiming full faith in the divine Principle, and saying, ‘I am a Christian Scientist,’ while doing unto others what we would resist to the hilt if done unto ourselves.’”

Page 131. The healing of Warren Choate: Mrs. Eddy healed Warren after his mother had failed. Mrs. Choate asked how Mrs. Eddy had treated her son.

Mrs. Eddy’s reply:

“The only thought I had was “Warren Choate, your mother governs here with the Truth.”
Mrs. Choate, you don’t govern that child morally when he is well, so you can’t heal him when he is ill. You have done all that could be done except that you had neglected to handle the moral question, and this must be handled in every case whether it be an adult or a small child. You never made him mind, and if you give him a command you don’t insist upon his carrying it out.”

Surely a huge lesson to parents.

Page 170. Rules based on the law of God. Mrs. Eddy wrote rules for the government of her church including its branches. We now have them in The Manual of The Mother Church. Mrs. said that if the members obeyed these rules, their human opinions would have no place and consequently could not inhibit their love for one another.

When I read this: “Meekness was a quality Mrs. Eddy especially valued. She taught that it is essential in the healing practice” (p. 184), I thought of all the meek practitioners and teachers of Christian Science living in the United States of America. It comforted me somewhat about the current state of affairs in that blessed country. Blessed because it is where Christian Science was presented to mankind through the work of Mary Baker Eddy, a citizen of that country.

Meekness and timidity are not equal.

Page 188 tells us that Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896 comprised almost all of her contributions to the Journal. What a treasure, as we students all know.

I love the way Chapter 14 finishes (p. 194):

“The book of Genesis in the Bible says that God gives man dominion “over all the earth”. Mrs. Eddy shared the revelation she received from divine Mind in her book Science and Health so that her own age, and ages to come, could demonstrate that dominion through Christian healing. After that, God led her to found a Church based on that revelation and to structure The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in such a way that its activities could bring about “the healing of the nations.””

Joyce Voysey

Moral and mental aspects of healing

A couple of points from my reading of Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer by von Fettweis and Warneck.

THE MORAL ASPECT

Chapter Moral Science (p.  81). The moral aspect of Mrs. Eddy’s system or “science” set it apart from all other healing methods. She saw it as the most important part. In the book, this is illustrated by this report from the Boston Traveller in 1900.

. . . Remarkable as was the man’s physical healing, even more remarkable was the transformation in his thought and life. His wife told Mrs. [Glover] a few days later that she had never before seen him [hug] his children as other fathers did, but on the night of his recovery he called them to him, and taking them in his arms he told them that he loved them; and with tears rolling down his cheeks he said to his wife, “I am going to be a better man.” It is not strange that the happy wife said to Mrs. [Glover], “Oh, how I thank you for restoring my husband to health, but more than all, I am grateful for what you have done for him morally and spiritually.”

The physical healing was of enteritis and bowel stoppage.

In a similar vein we have Samuel Putnam Bancroft (pp. 87-88) writing in 1870:

Mrs. [Glover] did not claim to be a teacher of religion, however, but of a method of healing the sick without the use of medicine. That was what induced us to study with her. The object of some was to regain health; of others, to commercialize the knowledge acquired. They considered it a sound business proposition. Her religious views, while not concealed, were not capitalized. Later, we learned that our success or failure in healing depended on the purity of our lives, as well as on the instruction she gave us.

Advice to possible students: Don’t come into it for the money! Although, at that stage of Mrs. Eddy’s experience she needed to get her message out.

Bancroft again on page 88. He asked how they should metaphysically view the process of teaching. In part she wrote:

When I teach science it is not woman that addresses man, it the principle and soul bringing out its idea. . . My scholars may learn from me what they could not learn from the same words if uttered by another with less wisdom than even my “grain of mustard seed,” hence, it is not the words, but the amount of soul that comes forth to destroy error.

I feel that this could, to a lesser degree, apply to Christian Science lectures.

I had wondered if the Puritan angle would be carried on through the book, but I do not think so.

HEALING OF INSANITY

There was another item I wanted to comment on: the healing by Mrs. Eddy of an insane man. She explained (in part):

He took a chair, and poised it, but I looked upward and he dropped the chair, and asked if I had something to say to him. I said I had, all from the spiritual side, “The first thing is you have no disease of the brain; you need never have been in the insane hospital” (pp. 83-4).

I was taken with the phrase “disease of the brain.” I reasoned that there are other conditions which could be classified as such – dementia, amnesia. The internet tells me that in 2019, one in every eight people in the world live with a mental disorder, with anxiety, depression.

From the Christian Science viewpoint is not every physical disorder a claim of mental disorder?

I typed a few statements of Truth about brain:

•     Brain is not mind. Mortal mind is not intelligence. Only Mind is mind.
•      Any info coming from brain is false. It is brain that sees a deranged mind.
•       All disease emanates from brain which is the theoretical mind in matter.
•       Brain is matter. Matter is no thing.

Joyce Voysey

Practical Christian Science

I read the Introduction to Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer (MBE:CH)  by Yvonne Caché von Fettweis and Robert Townsend Warneck (Amplified Edition) a few days ago. This morning, in Prelude, I am delighted to have presented to me a definition of a Puritan (maybe especially, one living in the USA).

But first of all, the writers point out how Puritanism influenced Mary Baker Eddy’s religious experience – “how she thought and lived, how she sought, drew near to, and understood God. This Puritan approach to God was a motivating force behind both her private and public life” (page 15).

Then the writers point out that we must discard our vision of the stereotypical Puritan of rigid extremism.

We read that “‘practicality’ gives a clearer, more precise picture of the Puritan, for whom fulfilling one’s duty to God was the whole purpose of existence. Nothing was more important. Every detail of one’s life could be dealt with correctly only through discernment of the divine will, and this discernment was not to be determined intellectually, but received directly from God Himself through spiritual communion” (ibid pages 15-16).

This reminded me of book I have just finished reading, The Hour of Sunlight, by Sami Al Jundi and Jen Marlowe. Sami is a Palestinian living in the Old City of Jerusalem. I found similarities with the Puritan way of living and the way Sami’s family lived their lives. Incidentally, both of Sami’s parents were blind: he and his siblings were their “eyes” when they went out of the house. Now this is interesting. I cannot find any passages which I can quote to illustrate that impression. I guess one really has to read the book.

Then, back to MBE:CH, on that same page 16, there is a paragraph which talks about religion being both an Art and a Trade.

About trade: “a Trade is not learned by words, but by experience: and a man hath learned a Trade, not when he can talk of it, but when he can work according to his Trade” (Englishman Richard Sibbes, a seventeenth century Puritan preacher). The writers of our book comment that “it would be hard to find a better description than this of Mary Baker Eddy’s expectation for Christian Science and its adherents.”

I move to the present to tell of a man who has just recently been the recipient of an AOM for service to the aeronautical engineering industry.

It started when he built a small light plane while attending university to learn civil engineering. The plane flew and served him for many years. Meantime, he extended his university tenure to aeronautical engineering. That done, he started to build a business. This grew to employ around 40 engineers. They mostly came directly from universities and received outstanding instruction and guidance. Now well established, he saw a need for a certain type of plane especially designed for Australian conditions. He designed it (no doubt giving his employees great experience). And he built it himself! This is no small light plane but a 10-seater.

I hope the reader can see my point about this man’s Trade. Practicality indeed!

All that and I am only on the second page of Prelude!

Joyce Voysey

Ed. I note that the word "practical" appears 74 times in the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. Some of these references come from readers who attest to the practicality of Christian Science in their lives.

Touching lives by our spirituality

 As I open my copy of Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer (Amplified Edition) by Yvonne Cache von Fettweis and Robert Townsend Warneck this morning, I like what it says on the very first page: "Many historical records related to Mary Baker Eddy's life, including those used in this biography, are held at The Mary Baker Eddy Library in Boston, Massachusetts. The Library's collections are available for public research."

While I have not visited the MBE Library in person, its rich resources are freely available online at https://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/  and anyone can ask questions if they can't find answers already on the site. 

So, it's reassuring that our book this month has used those resources in its compilation.

I was interested to read the quotes from Phillips Brooks* and Mary Baker Eddy on the following page, and I wondered about Mr. Brooks. Wikipedia gives this brief summary: "Phillips Brooks was an American Episcopal clergyman and author, long the Rector of Boston's Trinity Church..." He is also mentioned in a post on The Mary Baker Eddy Library's site about WWII internees in Hong Kong because he wrote the words to the hymn "O little town of Bethlehem" which some internees had hand-copied for their church services during that harrowing time. (See A Remarkable Story of Persistence.) Readers will enjoy reading this.

Here are the two quotes which appear on one of the unnumbered early pages of our book:

God has not given us vast learning to solve all the problems, or unfailing wisdom to direct all the wanderings of our brothers' lives; but He has given to every one of us the power to be spiritual, and by our spirituality to lift and enlarge and enlighten the lives we touch. -- Phillips Brooks

The secret of my life is in the above. -- Mary Baker Eddy

Let us now open our hearts to that "power to be spiritual" as we read this volume about Mary Baker Eddy and how her life's work has touched and blessed so many lives, then and now.

Julie Swannell

* A search under "Phillips Brooks" on https://jsh.christianscience.com/console yields 270 results! He was a very much respected and quoted theologian. One article which mentions Brooks is "The next 90 years" by Mark Swinney (See Christian Science Sentinel 27th December 2010. If you don't have access to jsh-online, feel free to call your local Christian Science Reading Room to access this article for you.)

On that day

 Gosh, we've almost run out of May and I'm only just coming to grips with Zechariah!

Many commentators believe that these later chapters (9-14) were written at a much later date by a different author. There is certainly a change of tone, and the material is no longer about rebuilding. 

Here are some passages I found of interest as these people learn once more (following their long exile) how to live together as people of the one God.

1. Zech 9: 9-10 prophesies a new king who brings peace for this war-ridden part of the world: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey... he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the end of the earth." (NRSV). It also anticipates the events described in Mark 11:1-11 where Jesus rides a colt (KJV has ass) as he enters Jerusalem. 

2. Zech 9:12 "...I will restore to you double." This reminds me of Bible stories where what was apparently lost was restored, e.g. Job, Ruth, and the man with the withered hand which was "restored whole, like as the other" (Matt 12: 13).  

3. Zech 9: 16 "...the Lord their God will save them for they are the flock of his people; for like jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land..." The references to sheep and shepherds would have resonated with these people. The "shining" image reminds me of Matt 5: 16 where Jesus instructs his listeners to let their light "so shine before men, that they may see [their] good works, and glorify [their] Father which is in heaven".  

4. Zech 10: 10 "I will bring them home from the land of Egypt, and gather them from Assyria; I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon... This reminds me of Jesus' parable of the prodigal son's coming home. It also echoes other prophetic voices, like Isa. 43: 6. 

Chapter 11 condemns the "worthless shepherd who deserts the flock" (v. 17 NRSVUE), the shepherd "who does not care for the perishing, or seek the wandering, or heal the maimed, or nourish the healthy..." (v. 16 ibid).

Chapter 12 uses imagery (horses again) to describe turmoil in Jerusalem. The repeated phrase "on that day" or "the day of the Lord", says the SBL Study Bible, "does not refer to end-time events...[but] ... draws upon a rich tapestry of images to describe divine justice" (p. 1310). We are reminded here that unlike pagan peoples who would perhaps blame their gods for their difficulties, these people had learned that the one God was their refuge; they had but to remember Him in their troubles. Verse 8 assures the people that "the Lord will shield the inhabitants of Jerusalem".

Chapter 13 introduces the idea of cleansing from idolatry, sin and impurity. Verse 1 reads: "On that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity" (NRSVUE). 

Chapter 14 seems to prophesy overturning. The phrase "on that day" predominates the text. Some of the events include: "continuous day...not day and not night" (v. 7); "the Lord will be one and his name one" (v. 9); and "Jerusalem shall abide in security" (v. 11).

As I've been reviewing these chapters, I've been thinking I should look up the Glossary definitions of Jerusalem and Day in Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Preceding these and other definitions Eddy writes: "In Christian Science we learn that the substitution of the spiritual for the material definition of a Scriptural word often elucidates the meaning of the inspired writer. On this account this chapter is added. It contains the metaphysical interpretation of Bible terms, giving their spiritual sense, which is also their original meaning" (p. 579).

p. 584 Day. The irradiance of Life; light, the spiritual idea of Truth and Love.

"And the evening and the morning were the first day." (Genesis i. 5.) The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded. This unfolding is God's day, and "there shall be no night there."

p. 589 Jerusalem. Mortal belief and knowledge obtained from the five corporeal senses; the pride of power and the power of pride; sensuality; envy; oppression; tyranny. Home, heaven.

A nice place to conclude our study.

Julie Swannell

A perfect fit

Well.  Not an easy assignment this.

I’m going to repeat what the Harper Collins Study Bible has, under the heading Date, Authorship, and Context:

   The book of Zechariah is generally agreed to have been written by more than one hand.  The eight visions and prophetic oracles that make up chs. 1-8 begin with the date October/November 520 B.C.E.  There seems no reason to question this chronological framework, nor for that matter the attribution of the first part of the book to one “Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo.”  According to Zech 7.1, his work continued until 518 B.C.E., which means that he functioned significantly longer than the five months during the year 520 in which Haggai worked.  The two prophets shared the same mission, namely, to advocate the reconstruction of the temple in Jerusalem. 

   The Judean exiles had returned from their Babylonian captivity after 539 B.C.E, armed with the so-called edict of Cyrus (Ezra 6.3-5), which permitted them to rebuild the holy sanctuary in Jerusalem.  Perhaps they were guided as well by the visionary plan of restoration put forth in Ezek. 40-48, certainly they were animated by the stunning promises of the great prophet of the exile, the author of Isa 40-55 (Second Isaiah).  Reconstruction work began rather quickly under Sheshbazzar, the governor of Judah appointed by the Persians; but then for unknown reasons it stopped (see Ezra 5.13-10).  More than a decade later, during the tension stirred up throughout the Persian Empire by the accession of Darius I in 522 B.C.E., first Haggai, then Zechariah sprang into prophetic action.  They stressed the importance of rebuilding the temple so that the elect and restored community of Judah could enjoy the God-given provisions for right relationship and right worship that were to be centred there.  Apparently, their words were heeded, for the temple was completed and rededicated just a few years after the end of their ministries, in 516/5 B.C.E. (see Ezra 6.15). 

I have been interested in the building of the temple and thought about the corner stone, the chief corner stone, and the keystone. 

I found under JSH-Online an article, The Temple by E.A.E. in the July 1904 Christian Science Journal. 

It was amazing, in that the pieces of marble were shaped where they were mined, and, when added to the wall, fitted exactly.  However, there was one piece which just didn’t seem to fit anywhere.  This was The Stone That the Builders Rejected*.  It was rejected right up to the last stone. The keystone at the head of the arch, was needed, and the rejected stone just fitted the bill! 

Thomas Leishman finished his October 1970 Christian Science Journal article (one of a series) on Haggai and Zechariah with this: 

   It is Zechariah who stresses the hopes of his people concerning the coming of the Messiah—termed the "BRANCH" (Zech. 3:8; 6:12) here as in other Biblical passages (Isa. 4:2; 11:1: Jer. 23:5; 33:15). John, in Revelation, apparently attributed great significance to the visions in Zechariah, especially the candlestick and the two olive trees (compare Zech. 4:11-14 and Rev. 11:3, 4).

   Moreover, Zechariah joyously affirmed the coming of the Messianic age, in which promise of prosperity, safety, and the restoration of true religion would be fulfilled: "Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth ; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain" (Zech. 8:3).

Joyce Voysey

Ed. For those who may not yet have a subscription to JSH-online, any Christian Science Reading Room will help you with a copy of the articles mentioned. It's well worth it: they give excellent context to our subject. Thank you to Joyce for her very helpful research. 

* See Matt. 21: 42, Mark 12: 10 and Luke 20:17. Also Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures p. 139: 22.

Nation-building or any reconstruction project.

 There are 14 chapters in Zechariah. One would think it would be easy to read them through in the space of a month, but I still have not done it! What is the problem?

I have no excuse except that I got stuck with the text's apparent density and my dim ability to comprehend its relevance.

So - last night I grabbed one of my study Bibles, The New Oxford Annotated Bible, New Revised Standard Version (5th edition) and took it to bed with me along with a little pencil to mark helpful passages in the commentary at the foot of each page. Oh, what a revelation! (I wonder why it has taken me so long to think about doing this study with this tool.) I quickly reached chapter 10 before falling into a sound sleep. ☺

I'm not sure where to begin now. There is much to share. 

We'll start with the context of this book: the temple of King Solomon (completed in 957BCE) was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon in 586BCE - see II Kings 25:8-21.

Nearly 70 years later, "Zechariah was active in ... 520BCE and 518BCE... early in the reign of the Persian emperor Darius (522-486BCE) and before the rededication of the Temple [new] in 515."

For context, I note that the great Greek philosopher Socrates lived about a century later (c. 470-399BCC), and subsequently Alexander the Great conquered the land of Israel (333/331BCE).

Zechariah's story begins just prior to the laying of the new (second) Temple's foundation stone. Zech. 8: 9 says "Thus says the Lord of hosts: Let your hands be strong--you that have recently been hearing these words from the mouths of the prophets who were present when the foundation was laid for the rebuilding of the temple, the house of the Lord of hosts" (NRSV).

It continues with a re-assuring promise: "For there shall be a sowing of peace; the vine shall yield its fruit, the ground shall give its produce, and the skies shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. ...and you shall be a blessing. Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong" (ibid vv.12, 13). 

But let's now backtrack to what the NRSV calls the book's "oracles", or authoritative messages. These were sometimes obscure or ambiguous. Zechariah gives us 8 "truly distinctive" visions or oracles, which "move beyond ordinary reality" and which are intended to "explain the ways in which God is working ... on behalf of the newly restored community (NRSV commentary, p. 1357). 

Zech 1: 8-17, first oracle: divine horsemen patrol the earth (multicoloured horses grazing among the myrtle trees) - perhaps signifying "peace over all the earth" (NRSV commentary). Verse 8 asks: "how long"? The NRSV commentary suggest that this may refer to "an unfortunate period of time". Have I ever asked "How long, God?"

Zech 1: 18-21, second oracle: four horns and four smiths - perhaps "the totality of nations that destroyed Israel" (ibid), therefore signifying the enemy. 

Zech. 2: 1-13, third oracle: a surveyor measures Jerusalem - the rebuilding of the nation proceeds, and God is a "wall of fire all around it ... and the glory within it".

Zech 3: 1-10, fourth oracle: Joshua and Satan - Satan is the accuser but God rebukes his suggestions. I love how God says to Joshua, who is the high priest: "See I have taken your guilt away" (3:4). The accuser is cast down! And not only is his filthy garment removed, he is now re-clothed in innocence! Complete purification.

Zech 4: 1-14, fifth oracle: a lampstand and two olive trees. I love the image of the two olive trees (vv. 11-14), representing "the two anointed ones". Two witnesses. Two who give us the good oil, the truth, possibly Joshua and Zerubbabel, but readers may think of two books which stand firm in fuelling God's promises.

In this vision, the angel message explains what's really happening during the building process: "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel [the governor]: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts" (4:6). 

By the way, in v. 7, it is Zerubbabel who shall "bring out the top stone". Later he also lays the foundation (v. 9). Now, I always thought the foundation stone was at ground level, but the NRSV seems to indicate that in this case it is the top stone of the Temple, and that this stone would have come from the previous temple. Is the text indicating two different stones perhaps?

Zech 5: 1-4, sixth oracle: a  flying scroll - "represents God's covenant-based justice" (NRSV p. 1361) in the face of "the curse" (v. 3). The scroll is approx. 30' long (9m) and 15' wide! NRSV commentary notes that this scroll may have looked like a flying carpet! Spirit's message is unmistakable. 

Zech 5: 5-11, seventh oracle: a woman in a basket - representing wickedness + two women with wings. These are "not cherubim, which were male" (NRSV commentary). Wickedness = Babylon. By the way, the KJV uses the word ephah (an ancient Hebrew dry measure of about 40 litres) indicating an ephah-sized vessel filled with sin. KJV then speaks about a talent of lead.  This refers to the basket's lead cover, which, when removed, revealed the two women with wings. Gosh!

Zech 6:1-8, eighth oracle: four chariots - multicoloured horses again but this time with chariots going out in four directions, which "represent military might and dominion...with the winds as the deity's agents" (ibid). 

An interesting observation is that the Hebrew verb for "go out", sometimes translated "come out" or "go forth" or "went forth" appears multiple times, depending on the translation in these verses. You might see how many you can find and ponder the meaning. Perhaps this indicates movement, action.

Maybe I will stop here. That's a lot to absorb. But there's a lot more that I find I love in Zechariah, and which I didn't know was right here.

Julie Swannell

 

What am I prioritising?

I was interested in Zechariah 1:1 and 7 where Zechariah gives us the exact year of events as occurring during "the second year of Darius". 

Who was Darius? When did he reign? What nation did he govern?

As we research this month's book, it's become obvious that Haggai and Zechariah go together and so the following answers to our questions make sense.

One commentator offers this: "In the second year of King Darius of Persia (520BC), God used a man named Haggai to urge the people to prioritize rebuilding the temple as a symbol of the immediate presence of the Lord among them. The people obeyed the prophetic message and resumed work on the building project" (https://thebiblesays.com/en/commentary/zec+1:1). (Other sources suggest that 520BC may not be quite right, but I think we are in the vicinity.) 

By the way, I'm not quite sure yet how the two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, go together - that will require more study! 

In the meantime, this prompts some questions: 

1. Have I ever had an urgent message to take action of some sort? Have I heeded it or have I procrastinated, allowing other concerns to take precedence? (I am reminded of the Scripture: "...be instant in season, out of season..." (II Tim. 4:2))
   
2. In 2025, what am I prioritizing? How is that working out? (Hmm. Now I'm thinking about the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus instructed us to: "...seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matt. 6:33))
   
   
3. Do we need a symbol of the immediate presence of God? (symbol: a thing that represents or stands for something else; a token; a shape or sign)

Julie Swannell

King Uzziah

Isaiah chapter 6 appears in this week's Christian Science Bible Lesson. the chapter begins by telling us that the prophet Isaiah began his work in the year that King Uzziah of Judah died. That year was 739BC.

Who was Uzziah and was he connected to the prophet Zechariah who we are learning about this month?

Second Chronicles 26 informs us that Uzziah became king at the age of 16 and subsequently successfully reigned in Jerusalem for 52 years! 

His mother's name was Jekoliah (v. 3) and "he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord" (v. 4). Moreover "He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God"(v. 5 NIV).

How interesting to make these connections!

Further along in this chapter is one of my most favourite Bible verses:

v. 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!" (Isa. 6: 8).

Julie Swannell

 

Discouraged? "The Lord will give thee peace."

A quick review of articles mentioning the word “discouragement” in recent editions of The Christian Science Monitor include stories on church, politics, sport, and home. Murr Brewster’s hilarious April 16, 2025 story about hiding behind her undiscouraged hedge, includes this graphic paragraph:

The big side yard was bordered on two sides by a sprawling laurel hedge with Godzilla’s own ambition. It didn’t grow so much as it reared up. I caught one neighbor pouring used motor oil underneath the hedge, but that did nothing to discourage the thing. Within a year it was a threat to migrating geese.

But, discouragement is not usually funny. It can become entrenched, and it can show up at inconvenient times. It may need some wrestling to be replaced by hope and encouragement.

The prophet Zechariah had the tough job of encouraging a discouraged nation. How did he do it? My KJV study Bible’s book of Zechariah opens with this telling paragraph

               Zechariah prophesied to a group of discouraged Israelites, announcing that it was a new day for God’s chosen people. He sought to inspire those who had returned from captivity to rebuild the temple and rededicate their lives to the Lord. The message of encouragement involved surrealistic visions and vivid poetic images, focused on a reversal of God’s judgment, and called for a reversal of the people’s behavior.

Zechariah knew the way forward wasn’t going to be easy. It would require work, diligent work involving a reassessment of how people conducted their everyday lives.

Chapter One sets the pace:

v. 3 “… ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.’…”

v. 8 “In a vision during the night, I saw a man sitting on a red horse that was standing among some myrtle trees in a small valley. Behind him were riders on red, brown, and white horses.

v. 9     I asked the angel who was talking with me “My lord, what do these horses mean?”

v. 10    The rider standing among the myrtle trees then explained, “They are the ones the Lord has sent out to patrol the earth.”

v. 11     Then the other riders reported to the angel of the Lord, who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have been patrolling the earth, and the whole earth is at peace.”

v. 16    …“My Temple will be rebuilt…”

v. 18    Then I looked up and saw four animal horns.

v. 19    What are these? I asked the angel who was talking with me. He replied, “These horns represent the nations that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

Those words are quite encouraging. Angel messages always are.

One writer has shared the following:

Discouragement should never be admitted into consciousness on any pretext. It is never a part of good and can never be made to serve any legitimate end. It is always a harbinger of evil and never a messenger of good, and for that reason it should not be listened to or believed in by anyone who places his trust in the triumph of good. James Noble Hatch, The Christian Science Journal March 1918 “Overcoming Discouragement”

James Montgomery’s words from hymns 77, 78 touch the heart of the matter:

Place on the Lord reliance; / My heart, with courage wait; / His truth be thine affiance, / When faint and desolate: / His might thy heart shall strengthen, / His love thy joy increase; / Thy day shall mercy lengthen: / The Lord will give thee peace.
(Christian Science Hymnal 77:2)

Julie Swannell

The volume turned up

Take yourself to 500 years before Christ Jesus' sojourn on earth.

King Cyrus of Persia has granted the captive Israelites permission to return to Judah (538BC). 

A commentator writes: "The chosen people had just come through one of the worst experiences possible in the ancient world. Their homeland was devastated by invading armies, their capital city and temple were plundered and flattened, many of their people and leaders were killed, and most of the rest were carried off into pagan lands. The returnees who made the long trek back to Judah were faced with the challenge of re-establishing Jerusalem and the temple." (The book of Ezra gives some background.)

The commentator continues: "The remnant that came out of the captivity was the only hope for the future of Israel. Based on the track record of previous generations, strong language would be necessary to penetrate the stubborn shoulders, closed ears, and rock-hard hearts of God's people... Poetry served this purpose well because it allowed for language with the volume turned up."

"Zechariah used a mix of genres. His sermons, poetry, and oracles of judgment and salvation were typical of the prophetic genre. But his visions had similarities with apocalyptic literature, like Daniel."  Holman KJV Study Bible

I'm looking forward to finding out more about this prophet, his message, and his method of communication.

Julie Swannell

"...life is not lost; its influence remains..."

As I write, Easter Monday is almost over and with it news of the passing of Pope Francis. 

The Christian Science Monitor published this: 

The first Latin American pontiff, he was celebrated for his humble style and concern for the poor, but alienated conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change. From his first greeting as pope of a simple “Good evening” to his embrace of refugees and the downtrodden, the Argentine-born pope signaled a different tone for the papacy, stressing humility over hubris for a Catholic Church beset by scandal and accusations of indifference. –AP

It may be timely to reprint the tribute paid by Mary Baker Eddy on the passing of Pope Leo XIII in 1903:

ON THE DEATH OF POPE LEO XIII, JULY 20, 1903

The sad, sudden announcement of the decease of Pope Leo XIII, touches the heart and will move the pen of millions. The intellectual, moral, and religious energy of this illustrious pontiff have animated the Church of Rome for one quarter of a century. The august ruler of two hundred and fifty million human beings has now passed through the shadow of death into the great forever. The court of the Vatican mourns him; his relatives shed “the unavailing tear.” He is the loved and lost of many millions. I sympathize with those who mourn, but rejoice in knowing our dear God comforts such with the blessed assurance that life is not lost; its influence remains in the minds of men, and divine Love holds its substance safe in the certainty of immortality. “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” (John 1 : 4.)
(My. 294:22–7)

The Easter message of resurrection is particularly relevant. Mrs. Eddy wrote: 

I love the Easter service: it speaks to me of Life, and not of death. Let us do our work; then we shall have part in his resurrection.(Mis. 180:16–19)

And from Scripture:

And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
(Acts 4:33)

What a comforting message.

Julie Swannell

The deep significance of the blood of Christ

When I came to the following passage in Mary Baker Eddy’s Prose Works (other than Science and Health), the thought came that we do not have to find the word Easter to be able to speak about the idea of Easter. Could it be that the whole story of the New Testament, of Jesus the Christ, is the Easter story? Here’s the passage:

The blood of Christ speaketh better things than that of Abel. The real atonement — so infinitely beyond the heathen conception that God requires human blood to propitiate His justice and bring His mercy — needs to be understood. The real blood or Life of Spirit is not yet discerned. Love bruised and bleeding, yet mounting to the throne of glory in purity and peace, over the steps of uplifted humanity, — this is the deep significance of the blood of Christ. Nameless woe, everlasting victories, are the blood, the vital currents of Christ Jesus’ life, purchasing the freedom of mortals from sin and death.

This blood of Jesus is everything to human hope and faith. Without it, how poor the precedents of Christianity! What manner of Science were Christian Science without the power to demonstrate the Principle of such Life; and what hope have mortals but through deep humility and adoration to reach the understanding of this Principle! When human struggles cease, and mortals yield lovingly to the purpose of divine Love, there will be no more sickness, sorrow, sin, and death. He who pointed the way of Life conquered also the drear subtlety of death.

It was not to appease the wrath of God, but to show the allness of Love and the nothingness of hate, sin, and death, that Jesus suffered. He lived that we also might live. He suffered, to show mortals the awful price paid by sin, and how to avoid paying it. He atoned for the terrible unreality of a supposed existence apart from God. He suffered because of the shocking human idolatry that presupposes Life, substance, Soul, and intelligence in matter, — which is the antipode of God, and yet governs mankind. The glorious truth of being — namely, that God is the only Mind, Life, substance, Soul — needs no reconciliation with God, for it is one with Him now and forever.
No and Yes, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 34:18–23 (np)

 I find now that the Easter theme begins at the outset of the Essay Is There no Sacrificial Atonement – see page 33 which opens with: “Self-sacrifice is the highway to heaven.” [Ed. Readers are encouraged to read the entire article/sermon.]

So. I wonder where this line of reasoning will take me.

By the way, isn’t this a wonderful truth?—

The glory of human life is in overcoming sickness, sin, and death.  (No and Yes 33:23-24)

I should add that so far I have only gained a tiny bit in the understanding of Mrs. Eddy teaching in this passage.

Joyce Voysey

Dawn

Our April topic is "Easter messages - especially from the New Testament" and it made me wonder where the name Easter comes from. This is from Britannica:

There is now widespread consensus that the word derives from the Christian designation of Easter week as in albis, a Latin phrase that was understood as the plural of alba (“dawn”) and became eostarum in Old High German, the precursor of the modern German and English term. The Latin and Greek Pascha (“Passover”) provides the root for Pâques, the French word for Easter. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Easter-holiday

Dawn is a lovely way to think about Easter.

I decided to open my Bible to John. My eyes fell upon John 12:42 which records that many of the chief rulers believed Jesus but were too afraid to go public.

Chapter 12 reports on Jesus’ visit to siblings Mary, Martha and Lazarus in Bethany followed by his “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem where he announces that “the hour is come” (v. 23).

John 12: 37-43 (KJV) explains the scene:

But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:

That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?

Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,

He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.

Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:

For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. [emphasis added] 

The Message (Eugene Petersen) paraphrases verses 42 and 43:

On the other hand, a considerable number from the ranks of the leaders did believe. But because of the Pharisees, they didn't come out in the open with it. They were afraid of getting kicked out of the meeting place. When push came to shove they cared more for human approval than for God's glory. 

The truth of what Jesus had spoken and demonstrated had dawned on their thought, but the pull of world opinions was apparently a force they failed to resist.

Julie Swannell