The following represent a reproduction of the major portion of the article "What Did Mrs. Eddy Say" by Paul R. Smillie

 

UNPUBLISHED QUOTES OF MRS. EDDY'S ABOUT HERSELF

 

Mrs. Eddy wrote, "The united plans of the evildoers is to cause the beginners either in lecturing or teaching or in our periodicals to keep Mrs. Eddy as she is (what God knows of her and revealed to Christ Jesus) out of sight. . . ." (Divinity Course & General Collectanea p.109) She tells us that God revealed her identity to Jesus and he knew about her before she appeared humanly. It is evident then, that the woman with the leaven (Luke 13:21), the woman with the lost coin (Luke 15:8,9), and the message of Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation, apply solely to Mrs. Eddy. Did she make more explicit statements? Yes.

 

Judge Hanna, CSD, when editor of the periodicals, wrote an article entitled Isaiah's Vision for the Journal about Mrs. Eddy fulfilling Bible prophecy. Mrs. Eddy acknowledged that the 54th chapter of Isaiah and other prophecies applied to herself. Her letters in response follow. The full article is in Bliss Knapp's book, Destiny of The Mother Church.

 

"I have read your article 'tis wonderful, sound, lawyer-like in argument. Please if you cast this bread on the water add the bit enclosed after fixing it to your liking. . . .'We know there is but one God, one Christ Jesus, and one mother of Jesus. But we deem it no infringement to regard the fulfillment of Scripture as indicated at the present period, and named therein, a self-evident proof thereof - not confined to personality but the works which declare the Word.'" (MBE to Hanna, 6/10/1898) (Bold type has been used throughout this article for emphasis.)

 

A little later Mrs. Eddy wrote to him: "The time has not yet come in which to say the wonderful things you have written in proof read by me today, unless you qualify it. Now you may hold your ground as therein, but do not say blandly that I represent the second appearing of Christ. That assertion will array mortal mind against us, and M.A.M. has been putting it into your mind to say it, and the infinite Love has inspired you to say it. Now be wiser than a serpent. Throw out your truths not as affirmations or protestations, but as suggestions. Then catch your fish, and make the wrath of man praise Him." (MBE to Hanna, June 18, 1898)

 

On June 22, 1898 she again wrote to Judge Hanna, "Your vision article is too grand, true, to be tampered with. I ventured to send for it to see if it cannot be held together and be the leader, I want it where all will catch sight of it."

 

The following statements made by Judge Hanna in that article were commended by Mrs. Eddy: "Must the 'Spirit of Truth,' or the 'Comforter,' that Jesus said should come be personalized or individualized? Undoubtedly. There could be no fulfillment of prophecy otherwise.

 

"What, then, in the Christian Science estimate, is the second-coming? First appeared the person or individual. Then followed the works. Who is the personality or individuality manifesting the second-coming? The answer of every true Christian Scientist will be: The person or individual who has done, and is doing, the works, in a sense above and beyond that of the average of those, even, who are addressing themselves to the task of regenerating the race. Is there one such? Christian Scientists unhesitatingly answer, Yes. The Reverend Mary Baker Eddy. . . . By common belief of all Christians, Christ Jesus represented the malehood of God. Is it not reasonable to assume that a full or completed revelation includes God's female-hood? If God is male only, it seems that He would embrace within Himself but a half of Being or Individuality; and it would be impossible to reconcile such a conception with His own declaration in Genesis that out of His self-hood He created 'male and female.' . . . Must the Woman of the Apocalypse be personalized or individualized to mankind? By every principle of logical sequence in Biblical prophecy, Yes. . . . In so far as these evidences are being now brought into view through Christian Science, may it not be consistently claimed that the second-coming is here; and in so far as a single Woman has been the instrument of bringing these evidences into view, may it not be consistently claimed that she is the personal representative of that second-coming? Is there anything far-fetched or unreasonable in this?" This material is also contained in my biography on Mrs. Eddy, Mary Baker Eddy: The Prophetic and Historical Perspective, pp.64-75 and also in Mr. Knapp's book.

 

Just as Jesus is not literally a four-legged lamb, yet he is still referred to as the Lamb of God, the Christ which he demonstrated and not improperly so, because this is a symbol of the Christ in Bible prophecy. The woman standing in the sun of Revelation 12 is a Biblical symbol of someone who would reveal the truth about every idea of God, generic man. Just as the Pharisees of old rejected Jesus' right to fulfill Bible prophecy, so the Pharisees of today reject Mrs. Eddy's right to fulfill Bible prophecy.

 

Victoria Sargent, CSD, said to Mrs. Eddy, "'My students recognize you to be God's witness and mouthpiece. They are convinced that God is guiding you in this work which you are carrying on for the cause of Christian Science. They feel that you fulfill the prophecies of the Scriptures - that you represent the God-crowned woman mentioned in the Apocalypse.' Mrs. Eddy was quick to respond to these sentiments, pointing her finger upward, she said, 'That is from above.'" (A Biographical Sketch of Victoria M. Sargent, C.S.D, p.12) Caroline D. Noyes, CSD, wrote, "One distinguishing feature in Mrs. Eddy's students and loyal followers or of her faithful Normal teachers, they always recognized and have always done so, the fact that Mrs. Eddy was the woman St. John prophesies of in Revelation XII. . . ." (Misc. Documents p.227) Also, in a letter written by Mrs. Eddy to Mr. and Mrs. Miller, May 27, 1902: "Today, it is a marvel to me that God chose me' for this mission, and that my lifework was the theme of ancient prophecy and I the scribe of His infinite way of salvation!" Elizabeth Earl Jones, CSB, wrote, "In the early days, and even in 1897 when I took up Christian Science, people who did not see Mrs. Eddy in her place in history and prophecy were not considered clear Christian Scientists."

 

Miss Jones continues, "In fact, each passing year but impresses this fact more firmly - that Mary Baker Eddy is the 'Woman' of Bible prophecy, just as surely as Christ Jesus is the 'Man' of Bible prophecy. When I first wrote to Mrs. Eddy I always told her what I saw her to be - The Woman in the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse, God's Chosen Messenger of the Second Coming of Christ, Truth to humanity. Mrs. Eddy replied in her own handwriting, 'What your dear letter means to me is impossible to say. Your mental state is dearest of it all. You seem to be full of blessedness. May the dear God crown your life with his loving kindness.' Mrs. Eddy was grateful to anyone who recognized her as God's Chosen Messenger of the Second Coming of Christ in Christian Science. She did not rebuke me, she praised me, and thanked me. Mrs. Laura Sargent [the closest woman to Mrs. Eddy] told me that Mrs. Eddy always loved to get my letters." There are hundreds of such statements by Mrs. Eddy but they have been kept from the field, though not by the Board of Directors.

 

Mrs. Eddy wrote, "Prophecy is but history written in advance. The beloved disciple of Jesus on the Island of Patmos, from the spiritual heights of revelation, foresaw human history and recorded the events of these 'latter days.' He did not leave the ages comfortless. He saw the final readjustment of all things, and in this vision he saw symbolically the crown of power and revelation placed upon the head of womanhood." ("Woman's Hour," Essays on Christian Science Ascribed to Mary Baker Eddy, p. 67)

 

We have read Mrs. Eddy's own quotes on this subject, but why do a few continue to loudly protest against Mrs. Eddy's own view of herself? Mrs. Eddy answered this question: "The united plans of the evildoers is to cause the beginners either in lecturing or teaching or in our periodicals to keep Mrs. Eddy as she is (what God knows of her and revealed to Christ Jesus) out of sight; and to keep her as she is not (just another white-haired old lady) constantly before the public. This kills two birds with one stone. It darkens the spiritual sense of students and misguides the public. Why? Because it mistakes the idea of the divine Principle that you are trying to demonstrate and hides it from the sense of the people." (DCC p.109) This tells us why our movement has deteriorated and our churches and Sunday Schools are empty and why the healing work isn't as successful as it once was. According to Mrs. Eddy, we can thank those who have worked among us to keep the legitimate statements of her own view of herself from us and given us false information about her. Mrs. Eddy wrote to a student, "My students are doing more for, and against, - C.S. - than any others can do. They are the greatest sinners on earth when they injure it; and are doing more good than all others when they do the best they know how." (S.L. p.29)

 

Mrs. Eddy wrote to First Church, Eau Claire, Wisconsin on July 15, 1899, "Your brief, brave, tender lines of loyalty are reassuring to the woman in the wilderness." (CSJ Vol. 32 p.348) She referred to herself many times in her letters as the woman in the wilderness (Rev. 12:6). This is the same woman in Rev. 12:1. Revelation says she had a place prepared of God. What can this place be but her place in Bible prophecy? That is her protection and her own students have deprived her of it. Isn't it interesting that Mr. Johnson and the intellectuals had access to all of this information in the Archives, but in fact tell the field that accepting Mrs. Eddy's view of herself is deification and personality worship. The field has to decide who to follow, Mr. Johnson and the intellectuals or Mary Baker Eddy. Read the Journal article, "Who and What is Right?" It spoke to the entire world in November 1885 about this issue of Mrs. Eddy's place. (See inside back cover of this article.)

 

Elizabeth Earl Jones, CSB, also wrote, "During 1889 some of Mrs. Eddy's students wanted to announce to the world that Mrs. Eddy was the Woman of Bible prophecy. Mrs. Eddy said, 'No, the world is not ready for this now, but in another fifty years they will be ready.'" In 1938, some fifty years later, the editors and associate editors of the periodicals began to work on the question of Mrs. Eddy's place in Bible prophecy. They presented 57 typewritten pages of proof that Mrs. Eddy considered herself the Woman of prophecy. These were put in concise form as the Six Points brought out in the statement, "Mrs. Eddy's Place," in the June 5, 1943 Sentinel and the July 1943 Journal. Miss Jones further wrote, "Mrs. Eddy recognized herself to be the woman of Bible prophecy, so members of her household have told me."

 

Mrs. Eddy said God revealed to Jesus the truth about herself (p.1, ¶1). There are marvelous Old Testament prophecies that Jesus understood concerning himself and concerning Mrs. Eddy. But what of Jesus' prophecies about the future? Jesus said his church would be built, in the future, but by whom? The book of Revelation records, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John." (Rev. 1:1) Jesus Christ spoke of the little book in Revelation 10 which Mrs. Eddy tells us is Science and Health. Both Daniel (Dan. 12:4,9) and John the Beloved (Rev. 10:1-4) saw the Open Book, Science and Health, and neither was allowed to write it. God knew the exact point in history when this was to be done. You will not believe this but some Christian Scientists think God knows nothing about history. Jesus also spoke of the "reed like unto a rod" of Revelation 11 - the Manual of TMC. Would he reveal these things but not reveal the one who would accomplish them? He wrote that the Dragon, the greatest subtlety of evil, would be uncovered, but by whom? He clearly foresaw the Comforter, divine Science, was coming and that it would teach all things. But some Christian Scientists infer Jesus was not spiritually minded enough to know who was to accomplish this monumental work. But our Leader says God did reveal her identity to Jesus.

 

Christian Scientists have been made to ridicule the idea that Christian Science or Mary Baker Eddy have anything to do with Bible prophecy. Mrs. Eddy said, "Prophecy is but history written in advance." (Essays p. 67) If Mary Baker Eddy was not prophesied, then Christian Science has no divine origin. Isn't this what the enemy is saying? If it is the second coming as our Leader says it is, then Jesus must have prophesied her identity just as the human appearing and transparency for the first coming, Christianity, was prophesied by the Old Testament prophets.

 

Our Leader tells us that genuine Christianity was lost about the year 325 A.D. because of the "ignoble conduct" with which Jesus was treated by his disciples. ('02 18:25) In 325 A.D., the Book of Barnabas was removed from the canonical writings of the Christian Church. It gives the lovely accounts of the places in the Old Testament which prophesied of Jesus' true place. History repeats itself and mortal mind never seems to learn.

 

Mrs. Eddy wrote, "Whoever opens most the eyes of the children of men to see aright and to understand aright that IDEA ON EARTH that has best and clearest reflected by word or deed the divine Principle of man and the universe, will accomplish most for himself and mankind in the direction of all that is good and true." (DCC p.109) She said, "There is too much looking backward two thousand years. They will find that there is a Way here in Concord as well as in Palestine." (James F. Gilman, Recollections of Mary Baker Eddy, p.81)

 

Our Leader wrote, "Every loyal Scientist understands that the second coming of Christ is the next higher, hence, more spiritual revelation of God's character. The Christian era presented the first tangible idea of God's character by its inspired man, Jesus. The era of Christian Science ushers in through woman the second appearing of His character and this from the necessity of His nature as the Father and Mother of all, the creator, even the complete and ever-present idea of God. Therefore, this era comes not through Jesus but through Mary, the type of womanhood and mother of its first and forever appearing which divine Science alone can give." (Essays on Christian Science Ascribed to Mary Baker Eddy, p.147)

 

Mrs. Eddy wrote, "I have been made the way-shower." (DCC p.5) And, "Jesus was the Way-shower, the Christ with him, and if he had not been, where would we be? He showed the way as the masculine idea of Principle, then woman took it up at that point - the ascending thought in the scale - and is showing the way, thus representing the male and female Principle (the male and female of God's creating). Is there anything in the world of more importance than holding up the hands of the way-shower? No. If they had all done that with Jesus, we would be in the millennium." (DCC p.23) And, "He alone ascends the hill of Christian Science who follows the Way-shower, the spiritual presence and idea of God." (Mis. 328:21-23) Again Mrs. Eddy says, "Christ was 'the way;' since Life and Truth were the way that gave us, through a human person, a spiritual revelation of man's possible earthly development." (Mis. 75:2) See also '01 31:11-12; Un. 51:14, '02 14:17-22.

 

Mrs. Eddy says, "Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that ever trod the globe." (S&H 313:23-24) If Mrs. Eddy had wished to say Jesus was the most scientific individual ever on earth, she would have said "who" and not "that" because "that" refers back to man as male, while "who" would have referred back to Jesus as the most scientific individual. So who is the most scientific individual "that ever trod the globe"? 

 

PUBLISHED QUOTES OF MRS. EDDY'S ABOUT HERSELF

 

You have now read some of the unpublished statements of Mrs. Eddy to early workers -accounts of her view of herself. There is a lie circulating that Mrs. Eddy had an earlier and a later teaching on this subject of her place. If this were true, it would indicate that Christian Science is not based in revelation. What did she say in her published works, and are they consistent with her statements already presented?

 

Revelation xii:1 "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." In the explanation immediately following is the marginal heading, "True estimate of God's messenger." Generic man is not a messenger. Speaking of the kingdom of heaven in man, she then says, "This goal is never reached while we . . . entertain a false estimate of anyone whom God has appointed to voice His Word," (S&H 560:15-17), - a "false estimate" of the "messenger" of Rev. 12:1.

 

"The twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse, or Revelation of St. John, has a special suggestiveness in connection with the nineteenth century . . . the distinctive feature [the woman] has reference to the present age." (S&H 559:32)

 

"It is authentically said that one expositor of Daniel's dates fixed the year 1866 or 1867 for the return of Christ - the return of the spiritual idea to the material earth or antipode of heaven. It is a marked coincidence that those dates were the first two years of my discovery of Christian Science." (My. 181:27)

 

"And she [the woman] being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. . . . And she brought forth a man child." (Rev. 12:2,5) Generic man is never "pained." "The Revelator saw also the spiritual ideal as a woman clothed in light, a bride coming down from heaven, wedded to the Lamb of Love." (S&H 561:10-13)

 

"The Scriptural metaphors, - of the woman in travail, the great red dragon that stood ready to devour the child as soon as it was born . . . are type and shadow of this hour." (Mis. 253:16) "To one 'born of the flesh,' however, divine Science must be a discovery. Woman must give it birth." (Ret. 26:22-23) On page 39 of Miscellaneous Writings, she tells us that she had been "all her years in giving it birth." In her poem she says, "Keep Thou my child on upward wing tonight." Generic man is never "in travail."

 

"Do the children of this period dream of the spiritual Mother's sore travail, through the long night, that has opened their eyes to the light of Christian Science?" (Mis. 253:27-29) "Thus must the Mother in Israel give all her hours to those first sacred tasks, till her children can walk steadfastly in wisdom's ways." (Ret. 90:22)

 

"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel. . . Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth; then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel." (Micah 5:2,3) Mrs. Eddy writes of those who would follow Jacob's example as being called the Children of Israel. She then states that these men and women were to use this name, ". . . until the Messiah [Christ Jesus born in Bethlehem] should rename them [as Christians]. If these children should go astray, and forget that Life is God, good, and that good is not in elements which are not spiritual, - thus losing the divine power which heals the sick and sinning, - they were to be brought back through great tribulation, to be renamed in Christian Science [by the woman in travail of Micah 5 and Rev. 12] and led to deny material sense, or mind in matter, even as the gospel teaches." (S&H 309:12) "Christendom will be classified as Christian Scientists." (Pul. 22:14) In her own words, this is a fulfillment of Micah 5:2,3.

 

"And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God. . . ." (Rev. 12:6) "Others could not take her place, even if willing so to do." (S&H 464:9) Until she left us, Mrs. Eddy referred to herself in her letters as "the woman in the wilderness." "Your brief, brave, tender lines of loyalty are reassuring to the woman in the wilderness." (CSJ, Vol 32 p.348) The woman in the wilderness is the same woman as the woman in Rev. 12:1.

 

"As Elias presented the idea of the fatherhood of God, which Jesus afterwards manifested, so the Revelator completed this figure with woman, typifying the spiritual idea of God's motherhood." (S&H 562:3-7)

 

"Do you love that which represents God most, His highest idea as seen to-day? No! Then you would hate Jesus if you saw him personally, and knew your right obligations towards him." (Mis. 336:8-11) "Again, without a correct sense of its highest visible idea, we can never understand the divine Principle." (S&H 560:17)

 

"The woman in the Apocalypse symbolizes generic man, the spiritual idea of God; she illustrates. . . .The spiritual idea is clad with the radiance of spiritual Truth, and matter is put under her feet." (S&H 561:22-27)

 

Mrs. Eddy wrote to Calvin Frye, "The first experience of mine in entering upon the discovery of Christian Science was the entire stoppage of the periods that are believed to be concurrent with the moon. Hence that saying of the Revelator of the spiritual idea, 'The moon was under her feet.'" (DCC p.109)

 

"Led on by the grossest element of mortal mind, Herod decreed the death of every male child in order that the man Jesus, the masculine representative of the spiritual idea, might never hold sway and deprive Herod of his crown. . . This immaculate idea, represented first by man and, according to the Revelator, last by woman. . . ." (S&H 565:9-19)

 

"The dragon that was wroth with the woman, and stood ready 'to devour the child as soon as it was born,' was the vision of envy, sensuality, and malice, ready to devour the idea of Truth. But the beast bowed before the Lamb: it was supposed to have fought the manhood of God, that Jesus represented, but it fell before the womanhood of God, that presented the highest ideal of Love." (Hea. 10:1-8) So who represented the womanhood of God?

 

"The ideal man corresponds to creation, to intelligence, and to Truth. The ideal woman corresponds to Life and to Love. In divine Science, we have not as much authority for considering God masculine, as we have for considering Him feminine, for Love imparts the clearest idea of Deity." (S&H 517:8)

 

"'And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven. . . and he had in his hand a little book open . . . Rev. 10' Did this same book contain the revelation of divine Science. . . .Take divine Science. Read this book from beginning to end." (S&H 558:3-6; 559:1-2, 20-21)

 

"Jesus bade his disciples beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, which he defined as human doctrines. His parable of the 'leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened,' impels the inference that the spiritual leaven signifies the Science of Christ and its spiritual interpretation, - an inference far above the merely ecclesiastical and formal applications of the illustration. Did not this parable point a moral with a prophecy, foretelling the second appearing in the flesh of the Christ, Truth, hidden in sacred secrecy from the visible world?" (S&H 117:29-9) "We follow Truth only as we follow truly, meekly, patiently, spiritually, blessing saint and sinner with the leaven of divine Love which woman has put into Christendom and medicine." (My. 4:10) "Like the leaven that a certain woman hid in three measures of meal, the Science of God and the spiritual idea, named in this century Christian Science, is leavening the lump of human thought, until the whole shall be leavened and all materialism disappear." (Mis. 166:22-26)

 

"The second appearing of Jesus is, unquestionably, the spiritual advent of the advancing idea of God, as in Christian Science." (Ret. 70:20)

 

"Bruise the head of this serpent, as Truth and 'the woman' are doing in Christian Science, and it stings your heel, rears its crest proudly, and goes on saying, 'Am I not myself? Am I not mind and matter, person and thing?'" (Un. 45:3-7)

 

"And what of the hope of that parent [the spiritual Mother] whose children rise up against her. . . .The victim of mad ambition that saith, 'This is the heir: come, let us kill [her], that the inheritance may be ours,' goes on to learn that he must at last kill this evil in 'self' in order to gain the kingdom of God. Envy, the great red dragon of this hour, would obscure the light of Science, take away a third part of the stars from the spiritual heavens, and cast them to the earth." (Mis. 254:10-20)

 

WHEN AND WHY TRUTH BECAME OBSCURED 

 

All of the quotes you have read show conclusively that Mrs. Eddy understood herself to be the woman of prophecy. How then have we reached the present confusion in regards to this important point, which she says more than anything else affects the success of Christian Science? "For the world to understand me in my true light and life would do more for our Cause than aught else could." (Mrs. Eddy to Kimball, 1893)

 

To find the beginning of the attempt to obscure the truth about her, which has never been healed, let us go back to the period of 1898. Judge Septimus J. Hanna was editor of the Christian Science periodicals. Through his study, he became convinced that Mrs. Eddy fulfilled Chapter 54 of Isaiah, and wrote an article, Isaiah's Vision, for the periodicals on this subject (included now in Knapp's book, Destiny). On page one of this work, you read his letters to Mrs. Eddy and her replies to his article. Mrs. Eddy saw clearly that Judge Hanna's work was inspired by God but she also saw that animal magnetism was leading him into a move that would have sprung a trap set for her, so she delayed the publication of this article and her wisdom was rewarded.

 

Mrs. Josephine Woodbury, a former student of Mrs. Eddy's, and a woman always desiring to be greatest, motivated by envy, brought a lawsuit against Mrs. Eddy for $150,000 dollars, claiming that Mrs. Eddy's reference to the woman on the scarlet beast in Revelation 17 in her address for Communion, June 4, 1899 (My. 124-131) was a direct reference to Mrs. Woodbury. In her suit, Mrs. Woodbury also stated that Mrs. Eddy claimed herself to be the Woman in the Apocalypse and that Science and Health was divinely inspired. Mrs. Eddy's lawyers had these two sections of the suit deleted because they were not germane to the case. However, the public was more interested in these two points than the one about Mrs. Woodbury. Mrs. Woodbury knew that if Mrs. Eddy or any of her students answered in court that she was indeed the Woman in the Apocalypse, then it could be claimed that Mrs. Eddy could very well have been referring to Mrs. Woodbury as the Babylonish Woman in the Apocalypse.

 

When Mrs. Eddy's students were put on the stand to testify for Mrs. Eddy, they were asked, "Do you believe Mrs. Eddy to be the God crowned woman in Revelation and does she teach this?" If just one of them had answered "Yes," Mrs. Eddy would have lost this lawsuit. Two of her students answered carefully, Judge Hanna, who had written the article commended by Mrs. Eddy about her place in Bible prophecy, and Ira O. Knapp. Judge Hanna answered, "I really cannot say." Ira Knapp was asked, ". . . did you know that it was a part of the belief of the people to whom that message [My. 124-131] was being read, that the author of the message was, herself, a person referred to in the Book of Revelation?" Mr. Knapp answered, "I did not." Mr. Knapp merely said he didn't know it was "a part of the belief of the people to whom th[e] message" was given. He was then asked, "Didn't you then know it to be a part of Mrs. Eddy's teaching, and the belief of the people assembled in the church of that day, that she is what the Book of Revelation calls the 'woman clothed with the sun. . ."? Mr. Knapp answered, "I do not know." He didn't say he disbelieved the statement.

 

Both Judge Hanna and Ira Knapp knew what Mrs. Eddy had taught them about her place but they could not say so in court. From that time to this there has been ignorant and deliberate confusion over this issue. Two weeks prior to the court convening on this issue, Mrs. Eddy told the national press that Christ Jesus and Christian Science are the two witnesses. Mrs. Eddy knew what the charges against her would be in two weeks and she could not say she fulfilled prophecy and she also knew that the world would not accept her as the second witness. To protect herself, she said Christian Science was the second witness. Mrs. Eddy wrote, "The word martyr, from the Greek, means witness; but those who testified for Truth were so often persecuted unto death, that at length the word martyr was narrowed in its significance and so has come always to mean one who suffers for his convictions." (S&H 134:4-8) Christian Science does not suffer - a martyr or witness does, i.e. Jesus and Mrs. Eddy. Mrs. Eddy wrote, "The old and recurring martyrdom of God's best witnesses is the infirmity of evil, the modus operandi of human error, carnality, opposition to God and His power in man." ('02 10:24-27)

 

All of the confusion today about this issue stems from the Woodbury case. Some Christian Scientists will not accept Mrs. Eddy as the second witness, and her statements concerning her place in Bible prophecy. But any Christian Scientist who wants to find out what Mrs. Eddy thought, without turning to a person to tell them, would find that Mrs. Eddy makes it all very clear in her writings. You have already read these on pp.1-7.

 

Mrs. Woodbury's suit was animal magnetism's attempt to deprive Mrs. Eddy of her place and thus trick the field into believing that Mrs. Eddy was no different than any of her students. In this atmosphere, Mrs. Woodbury felt she had a chance to take over. If it was true, that Mrs. Eddy did not fulfill prophecy, then she could not be the revelator, and Christian Science could not be the revelation, the Comforter long promised by Jesus.

 

Too much is made of Mr. Kimball's statement to the press that Mrs. Eddy did not consider herself to be the woman of prophecy, nor teach that she was. Mr. Kimball was speaking for Mrs. Eddy to the press after the Woodbury suit, but he did not answer with Mrs. Eddy's words, and had Mrs. Eddy then corrected Mr. Kimball, she could have been tried for perjury, as could all of her students who testified. Mr. Kimball thought he was protecting Mrs. Eddy by so answering, but his statement has since been claimed to be the truth of Mrs. Eddy's view of herself. As you have already read, it is exactly the opposite of her view of herself, but many Scientists would rather believe Mr. Kimball than Mrs. Eddy, a terrible disservice to Mr. Kimball and Mrs. Eddy.

 

Another distortion of the facts that has circulated since that time among Christian Scientists, is that Mrs. Eddy claimed not to be the woman of prophecy when she wrote her non-CS lawyers, that a little old white haired lady couldn't be the woman God-crowned. Would any Christian Scientist claim that their identity is best expressed when they are elderly? Hardly! Mrs. Eddy didn't see herself as elderly but she knew the non-CS lawyers did and her statement to them quieted their confused thoughts. She needed them to be clear-minded, not disturbed by these statements of Woodbury.

 

And there is still another distortion from that time that is held as proving Mrs. Eddy was not the woman of Bible prophecy. Remember that she had to protect herself in this lawsuit and she wrote very adroitly: ". . . Does not the modern artist, with pencil, brush or chisel, portray a woman crowned with youth, brow sparkling with stars, feet treading upon the dragon, who has subdued the earth - as the woman vividly delineated in the Revelator's vision? Yes, for such was in St. John's concept and such is Jesus' type and such it will be seen after the fulfillment of many days. Today our forms and identifications are but types and shadows of the individual substance and soul of man or woman." (Authority, p.165) Speaking of the woman in Revelation 12, Mrs. Eddy says she is ". . . type and shadow of this hour," her time. (Mis. 253:20) In Mrs. Eddy's former statement above, she appears to be saying that it cannot be manifested humanly. But she is not saying this. To St. John, it was a "concept," as he was the scribe, but its 'type' was understood by Jesus, the one who gave John the revelation. Remember, she said God revealed her identity, the type of Rev. 12, to Jesus (p.1, ¶1 of this article). Mrs. Eddy continues, "I never taught or thought that I was the woman referred to in the dim distance of St. John's period, nor that the Babylonish woman can be identified or individualized in our time. I have rebuked such a thought and written of this [latter] woman not as an individual but as lust." (Authority, p.165) But what did Mrs. Eddy say of this former woman? She says it was "type and shadow" of her time and that she represented John's concept. John did not refer to the woman as a type because he saw the woman as a concept, but Jesus did see that type. St. John did not see the "type," the individual identity of the woman, as Jesus did. Mrs. Eddy couldn't teach that John was able to see her, because John saw only a "concept" while she could say Jesus was able to see her because he saw the "type." The Apocalypse is the revelation of Jesus Christ, not of John. Notice she also states that she rebuked the thought that the Babylonish woman could be individualized in her time, but she never stated that the woman in the Apocalypse could never be individualized in her time. The quotes on pp.1-7 reveal this woman has been individualized.

 

Has this ignorance concerning Mrs. Eddy's place given the movement any problems? In her 1898 Class, she stated, "I could not have avoided telling you that when my students become blinded to me as the one through whom Truth has come in this age, they go straight down. I would have had to tell you." (WKMBE II p.54) The present edition says, "they miss the path," but the original statement was, "they go straight down." Hasn't our entire movement gone straight down?

 

And so it was that the case was thrown out of court because there was no proof of Mrs. Woodbury's claim that Mrs. Eddy referred to Mrs. Woodbury as the Scarlet Woman. But the entire trial was extremely damaging to Christian Science and has been ever since.

 

There is a further interesting note concerning the material Judge Hanna and Mrs. Eddy put together concerning the 54th chapter of Isaiah. This article of Judge Hanna's was put into my biography on Mrs. Eddy and sent to the field several years ago. Judge Hanna's will stipulated that his material was never to be placed in the Archives of TMC. It therefore remained in private hands. In responding to inquirers about the material of Judge Hanna's that I included in my book, Mary Baker Eddy: The Prophetic and Historical Perspective, the Archives of TMC under the letterhead of the Board of Directors wrote concerning this material:

 

"The excerpt itself contains detached passages from several 1898 letters by Mrs. Eddy, one of which appears to give Hanna permission to publish in full the article headed 'Editors Table.' However, this is not actually the case. When Mrs. Eddy wrote Hanna, 'Your vision article is too grand, true, to be tampered with,' she was referring not to his own article but to an 1838 article written in the form of a 'vision' and entitled 'The Church in the Wilderness' by Rev. Gardiner Spring. . . . At no time did she give Hanna permission to publish the whole article as he had written it. . . .It would be all too easy for misguided students to misrepresent her point of view by taking sentences or passages out of their context, . . . .The full Hanna article was never published - not merely for the legal reason he gave but also because of profound spiritual developments in our Leader's own point of view as represented in her later writings."

 

The above letter hatched from the Archives of TMC was a total fabrication and I will tell you why I know this to be so. It may also be one of the reasons Mr. Johnson was removed as archivist of TMC.

 

Mr. James Worley, deceased, owned all of the Judge Hanna library. When my book on Mrs. Eddy's place in prophecy came out, he stated to me that my material was an exact copy of the original material he had from Judge Hanna. And for your information, Mr. Knapp's book contains this same correct material. Mr. Worley contacted the Archives and told them that they were wrong and had no right to make the false statements quoted above, because they did not even have the Hanna material. The subordinates in the Archives apologized to Mr. Worley, while I was told Mr. Johnson was more than angry, but that he did not send out any more such false statements. Mr. Worley also wrote the Board of Directors concerning this fabrication and they were aware of what the Archives had done and that these misstatements had been put out under the letterhead of the Board of Directors.

 

The intellectuals try to tell us that there are earlier and later views Mrs. Eddy had of herself, that at one time she saw her place in prophecy and a later view that she repudiated this fact, as the Archive letter states, "because of profound spiritual developments in our Leader's own point of view as represented in her later writings." Mrs. Eddy never considered proper recognition of her place as being deification and personality worship. If there are earlier and later teachings of Mrs. Eddy's on this subject, then Christian Science is not a revelation, therefore subject to change. What is really being said here is that the earlier view of Mrs. Eddy concerns the old view of Christian Science and the old Christian Science church, while the later view of Mrs. Eddy is for the new view of Christian Science and the new church and new movement. But who is to be the leader of this new church?

 

Our Leader said, "It is up to the students to protect that demonstration [the building of The Mother Church] - from the enemy within our gates." (DCC p.198) The attempt is to destroy Mrs. Eddy's place, hence her church, and in its place to form a "new church" and a "new movement." Is this the motive of the intellectuals? Some Christian Scientists are still following the envy and deception of Mrs. Woodbury but not the meekness and love of Mrs. Eddy.

 

This incident gives an insight into why there is such resistance to the Knapp book. The Mother Church intellectuals know all of the facts surrounding the Woodbury suit and the Judge Hanna material. They know the reason Mr. Kimball had to make the statement he made to the press, why Mrs. Eddy said what she said to the lawyers, why Hanna and Knapp answered as they did in court, and yet the intellectuals still attempt to tell us their own statements are meaningful and support their contention that Mrs. Eddy is not the woman of prophecy. What is their purpose?

 

Mrs. Woodbury's attempt to take over the leadership of the church by diminishing the importance of Mrs. Eddy was done by attempting to deprive Mrs. Eddy of her God-given place in prophecy, to ridicule her in the press. Mrs. Woodbury sowed confusion concerning Mrs. Eddy's place and forced Mrs. Eddy's students to tell the public she was not the woman of prophecy. What has animal magnetism done with these lies: 1. Obscured genuine Christian Science. 2. Hindered Christian Science healing. 3. Held the church and Christian Science up to ridicule. 4. Produced a lack of love, gratitude and respect for Mrs. Eddy and hence a severe loss of membership. 5. Engendered a philosophy about Christian Science.

 

Are the intellectuals really upset by the Knapp book as it stands or are they upset about the Hanna material included as a chapter in Mr. Knapp's book? This chapter refutes all of their claims that if we accept Mrs. Eddy's place in prophecy, we are guilty of deification and personality worship. These men have had access to the Archives with its incredible amount of information supporting Mrs. Eddy's view of herself and her place in prophecy, and yet they have given the field information to the contrary. Is this what the Board of Directors found out and is this why the intellectuals were removed from their positions in Boston? When the Carpenter Foundation was closed in June, 1973, four semi-trailer truckloads of material were delivered to the Archives, including numerous collected statements of early workers about their experiences with Mrs. Eddy and their acknowledgment of her view of her place in prophecy. Where is all of this material? Where are the 57 pages of typewritten evidence that went into the Six Points in "Mrs. Eddy's Place," published in 1943? As recently as a year ago, inquirers were told there never was any such material, but only a few snippets of paper that were inconclusive. See p.20, ¶5 bold type, of this article. A friend of mine on two separate occasions saw the 57 pages of typewritten evidence in the Archives. The field must demand to see these 57 pages!!

 

If pp. 1-7 contain the published and unpublished views of Mrs. Eddy concerning herself, then the statement that to recognize her place is deification and personality worship is a fraud. What is going on here? Is there an attempt to start a new religion, a new movement and a new church because there is a rejection of Mrs. Eddy's church, Mrs. Eddy's Science and Mrs. Eddy's view of herself? Since the intellectuals left Boston, The Board of Directors have had unrestricted access to the Archives and have been able to read the truth for themselves. Is someone afraid you will find out what the Board of Directors have found out? Read Mr. Knapp's book for yourself and see if it contradicts any of Mrs. Eddy's statements on pages 1-7 of this work. 

 

Paul R. Smillie, November 6, 1991

 

For copies of this article, as well as Paul Smillie's biography on Mrs. Eddy, please write:

The Gethsemane Foundation, P. O. Box 583, St. Maries, ID 83861 or call (208) 245-4442

 

 

STATEMENTS OF WELL KNOWN WORKERS ABOUT MRS. EDDY'S PLACE

 

In 1970 I spoke to Roy Garrett Watson, CSB, about his understanding of Mrs. Eddy's place in prophecy. He said that he definitely understood that Mrs. Eddy was the woman of Bible prophecy and that he had been taught this by his teacher Adam Dickey, CSD, a member of Mrs. Eddy's household. I also had a three hour discussion on this subject with Geith Plimmer, CS, of London, England, who clearly understood Mrs. Eddy's place in Bible prophecy. If I were to name all of those who saw Mrs. Eddy's place in prophecy, the list would fill up this entire page and more. In Mrs. Eddy's day, no one was considered a clear student of Christian Science who did not see this point. The only important view of Mrs. Eddy's place in prophecy is from her own mouth or pen and while this has been presented irrefutably in the preceding pages, still many Christian Scientists would like to hear from a CSB on this issue.

 

Board of Directors of 1972: "Mrs. Eddy knew herself to be a God-appointed messenger. There is no better way for anyone to become acquainted with both the message and the messenger than to read her own writings, taking careful note not only of what her message is, but of the many things she has to say of herself - of what manner of woman the messenger is." We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, Series IV, Foreword

 

Irving Tomlinson, CSB, lived in Mrs. Eddy's home: ". . . Mary Baker Eddy was thoroughly cognizant of her God-ordained appointment." (12 Years p.215) "Jesus manifested the 'first coming' of the Christ to mankind, and Mary Baker Eddy's discovery of Christian Science (the Comforter) has completely fulfilled the Biblical prophecy of the 'second coming.'. . . . Just as Jesus in the 'first coming' revealed the fatherhood of God, so Mrs. Eddy in the 'second coming' of the Christ revealed the motherhood of God.'" (12 Years, p.214) "This primal cause, as clearly indicated, includes fatherhood and motherhood, the masculine and feminine states of consciousness which are typified by the two witnesses, Christ and Christian Science, Christ being made manifest through the manhood of Jesus and Christian Science through the womanhood of Mary Baker Eddy. It is significant that according to Hebrew law at least two witnesses were required to establish a fact." (12 Yrs., p.216)

 

Elizabeth Earl Jones, CSB, close to Mrs. Eddy: "Those dear misguided ones, who are beginning to condemn and discredit those today who do recognize and affirm our beloved Leader to be the fulfillment of the 'Woman' whom the prophets and Christ Jesus foretold in connection with the full and final appearing of Christ, are their own worst enemies, for to deny Mrs. Eddy's God-appointed mission, leads to losing sight of pure Christian Science. If such darkness were to spread over the field, the healing work would be lost." (Elizabeth E. Jones Memoirs, p.3)

 

Clara Shannon, CSD, lived in Mrs. Eddy's home: "We find her [MBE] appearing in bodily existence; she . . . was born in the usual mode of human generation, as accepted by the world today. This was 'the second appearing in the flesh of the Christ, Truth, hidden in sacred secrecy from the visible world.' (S&H 118:7)" (Golden Memories p.1)

 

Julia Michael Johnston, CSB: "In the depths of her consciousness Mrs. Eddy knew that in her discovery of Christian Science was fulfilled the Bible prophecy of a woman who would bring forth a man child to rule all nations with the power of God (Revelation 12:5) . . . . the woman divinely foretold fulfilled her mission." (MBE: Her Mission and Triumph, 1st ed., p.183) "The prophecy of the Master to St. John recorded in the twelfth chapter of Revelation augured further coming of the impersonal Christ, Truth, in its full import. The time appointed for this sacred event arrived in the nineteenth century when the Christ Science was revealed." ("Her Fulfillment of Prophecy," Mary Baker Eddy: A Centennial Appreciation p.1)

 

Joseph Armstrong, CSD, who knew MBE: "She alone, God's chosen and anointed one, deserves the credit of this mighty victory for mind's supremacy. . . ." (The Mother Church, p.iv)

 

Daisette D. S. McKenzie, CSB, who knew MBE: "In a letter written in 1899, our Leader wrote: 'All the people need to love and adopt Christian Science, is a true sense of its founder. In proportion as they have found it, will our Cause advance.' . . . Perhaps we sometimes read Science and Health without a thought of the author. May we not rather realize that we are not only reading the word of God, but that our communion with Him is through the message written by His chosen scribe? . . . .'It was not myself, but the divine power of Truth and Love, infinitely above me, which dictated Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.' The prophecy of the Apocalypse was fulfilled - a woman had brought forth a child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, unchanging Principle." (WKMBE I, pp.40-43)

 

George Wendell Adams, CSB, who knew MBE: "Several members of the class rose to their feet and humbly paid grateful tribute to the one whom God had appointed to voice His Word." (WKMBE  II, p.34)

 

Annie M Knott, CSD, who knew MBE: ". . . and with her usual splendid dignity and yet great humility, she referred to herself as the transparency through which the light of Truth had come to our age. . . ." (WKMBE III, p.88)

 

Clara Knox McKee, CSD, who knew MBE: "Of the ideal woman it is said in Proverbs 31:26: 'She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.' This certainly is descriptive of our beloved Leader and friend, Mary Baker Eddy." (WKMBE II, p.75)

 

Paul Stark Seeley, CSB: "Hers was the God-ordered mission - symbolized in Revelation as a woman clothed with the sun, the radiance of spiritual truth - inspired by deific Mind to proclaim the message which, Christ Jesus said, 'will guide you into all truth.'" (Mary Baker Eddy: A Centennial Appreciation p.45) "Micah and Zechariah foresaw that two messengers would appear to further and fulfill this divine purpose. The first, Christ Jesus, by the spoken word and mighty proofs of the healing power of God's Word. . . .That the divine purpose demanded a subsequent revelation of truth the Master made clear in these prophetic words: 'I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.' John, in the twelfth chapter of Revelation, reiterates Micah's prophecy that she who travaileth shall bring forth that revelation of eternal truth which shall rule all peoples. . . .Christ Jesus, the first of Truth's great messengers to mankind, foretold by the prophets, spake to men as no man had ever spoken. . . Mrs. Eddy, who had made his teachings her own, through years of of study, prayer, and self-immolation, became qualified to be the subsequent messenger of Truth, foreseen by the prophets, . . . ." (Mary Baker Eddy: A Centennial Appreciation p.39-44)

 

Elizabeth Glass Barlow, CSB: "She too had been commissioned of God to speak." (Mary Baker Eddy: A Centennial Appreciation p.60)

 

Frances Thurber Seal, CSB: "And in every place where the Christ healing is known, the name of Mary Baker Eddy is loved and honored by the learned and by the simple peasants. Her place as God's Revelator to this age, and as the Leader of the Christian Science movement, is accepted." (Christian Science in Germany, pp.81-82)

 

Dr. John M. Tutt, CSB: "There was a strong element of prophecy in Christ Jesus' parable of the kingdom of heaven likened to "leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.' . . .The leaven of Spirit is the influence Mrs. Eddy hid in the measure of meal called material medicine." (Mary Baker Eddy: A Centennial Appreciation pp.99-100)

 

L. Ivimy Gwalter, CSB: "[Prophecy] comes to glorious fulfillment in the advent of Mary Baker Eddy, who, in her fulfillment of prophecy, typifies the spiritual idea symbolized by the woman in the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse. . . .Mrs. Eddy's discovery was not the product of human reason but of divine revelation. She speaks of herself as a scribe whose orders came from heaven (see Miscellaneous Writings, p 311). But she was more than a person transcribing a heavenly message. Her spiritual stature transcends mortal measurement. She is one with the revelation; through her the revelation speaks." (Mary Baker Eddy: A Centennial Appreciation, pp.109-110)

 

Sue Harper Mims, CSD, who knew MBE: Mrs. Mims stated to Mrs. Eddy that she was "God's messenger today." She also said, "There is not a day of my life that I do not declare at least once, often twice, that malicious animal magnetism cannot blind me to her. We must fix our gaze on Principle, think of God, and yet we must recognize who she is." (WKMBE II, p.55)

 

Bliss Knapp, CSB, who knew Mrs. Eddy: ". . . Mrs. Eddy, in her human experience, represented the woman of the Apocalypse, for as Mrs. Eddy states in Science and Health (p.565) the Christ-idea was 'represented first by man and, according to the Revelator, last by woman. . . ." (WKMBE I, p.57)

 

George Shaw Cook, CSB: "There is abundant evidence in her published works that Mrs. Eddy recognized herself to be the one chosen of God to bring to mankind, in this age, the Comforter promised by Jesus. . . .That Mrs. Eddy believed the 'woman clothed with the sun' (Revelation 12:1) to symbolize the spiritual idea of God is indicated by what she says on page 561 of Science and Health: 'The woman in the Apocalypse symbolizes generic man, the spiritual idea of God; she illustrates the coincidence of God and man as the divine Principle and divine idea.' But it is also evident from this and other passages in the textbook and her other writings that she understood herself to be the one who was commissioned by God to reveal to this age and to future ages the spiritual idea or Christ-ideal which was typified by the woman in the Apocalypse. (See Science and Health 565:13-22) Therefore, Christian Scientists regard their beloved Leader not only as the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, but as the God-appointed revelator of Christ, Truth." ("Revelation and Revelator," CS Journal August 1938, p.278)

 

Albert F. Gilmore, CSB: "Her works furnish positive proof of her position as the revelator - the woman representative - of the Christ in this age, through whom the prophecy of the 'second coming' is fulfilled. . . There is abundant proof that Mrs. Eddy was aware of her unique work in relation to revelation. . . . Convinced that her discovery, Christian Science, is the leaven of Truth, she could scarcely fail to recognize the spiritual position of its Discoverer...." (CS Journal November 1939, p.407)

 

Dr. John M. Tutt, CSB: "Our Leader's place in prophecy is now her place in history." (Annual Meeting 1964,Tuesday Evening Meeting)

 

W. Stuart Booth, CSB: "Evidently, however, the Revelator was led to show that, as the Christ, Truth, had been presented by the man Jesus, who taught the fatherhood of God, so the motherhood of God should be presented by a woman. . . . Early issues of The Christian Science Journal when she was its Editor and later when she watched and supervised its contents, carry definite statements which indicate that Mrs. Eddy's place in Scriptural prophecy was apprehended and appreciated by her and her faithful followers. In April, 1938, The Christian Science Board of Directors, after fully considering this important subject, appointed a committee of six to ascertain what Mrs. Eddy considered herself to be in the light of Scriptural prophecies. The committee was composed of editors and former editors of The Christian Science Journal, Sentinel and Heralds. In addition to all our Leader's published writings, the committee was furnished from the archives of The Mother Church important pertinent statements by Mrs. Eddy, which, however, she had decided should not be published. After carefully and prayerfully considering the subject the committee unanimously arrived at certain conclusions which were submitted to the Directors." (CS Sentinel, November 2, 1946, p.1893)

 

Mary Stewart, CSB, who knew Mrs. Eddy: "Only as we recognize the revelator can we understand and obey the revelation. As the prophecies of Jesus and of John were fulfilled through her, so must we, her followers, do our part in fulfilling her prediction for the twentieth century (Pulpit and Press, p.22). " (WKMBE II, p.64) 

 

On December 1, 1906, Mrs. Eddy wrote to Bliss Knapp:

 

My beloved Student: I call you mine conscientiously for God has given you to me and sometime the world will know this better even than it now does. 

 

Lovingly yours,

 

Mary Baker Eddy