I found a special treasure: Mary Baker Eddy talking about the 91st 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
Meekness and timidity are different, as you say. Timidity, to me, is fearfulness, while meekness is boldness because the individual is leaving the work to God. That's how I see the difference.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the intriguing post.