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Volume 13, Number 4
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November 2004
the spiritual idea will be understood." (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 570)
"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. "And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." —
Christ Jesus
This issue of The Christian Science Standard includes material published in previous Standards that were edited by Stanley C. Larkin. FROM MARY BAKER EDDY In addition to the illustrations in Mary Baker Eddy's book, Christ and Christmas,1 there are four prophetic pictures that are of great significance to Christian Scientists and the world. Three of the pictures were drawn by James F. Gilman under the direction of Mary Baker Eddy, and the fourth is a stained glass window in the original Mother Church edifice. Copies of these pictures and the window can be found in the insert enclosed in this Standard. [1"Advanced scientific students are ready for 'Christ and Christmas'; but those are a minority of its readers, . . ." Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 308.] The first three pictures (plates) are of "Truth's fane," the original edifice of The Mother Church, referred to by Mrs. Eddy in the last verse of Christ and Christmas: Truth's fane can dim; Eternal swells Christ's music-tone, In heaven's hymn. The fourth picture, the "Woman God-crowned" prophesied by Christ Jesus in Revelation 12:1, was proposed by Mrs. Eddy as the subject of a window which she had placed in a prominent position in the original Mother Church. "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." These four pictures have deep spiritual meaning and are important messages from our Leader. They bring out the answer to the "momentous questions that are now agitating the world," that is, Mrs. Eddy's place in Bible prophecy as the representative in the flesh of the second coming of Christ, and the consequences of not accepting that spiritual truth. In 1890, Mary Baker Eddy had the following notice placed in The Christian Science Journal: "Mr. Editor: — The late articles referring to me in July issue of the JOURNAL, contain presentiments that I object to having uttered or written now in regard to myself. God alone appoints the befitting path and place for each of His children; and mankind should wait on Him, and let the ages declare judgment. It is my impression that at least a half century will pass away before man is permitted to render his public verdict on some of the momentous questions that are now agitating the world." (The Christian Science Journal, August 1890, Vol. VIII, p. 193; emphasis added.) A PROPHETIC PICTURE AND LETTER TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS PLATE A In 1897, Mary Baker Eddy gave a prophetic picture and an accompanying letter to her Christian Science Board of Directors. The picture is titled, "The Mother Church or Prayer in Stone." The letter reads as follows: Pleasant View To the Board of Christian Science Directors: — Mr. Ira O. Knapp C.S.D. My beloved Students, Accept from your teacher and former pastor a trifling memento of her affection, that derives its sole value from the associations connected therewith. This silent picture can speak from your walls of one conquest. But may the better trophy of our victories, be each one of our lives gathered into one signal, for future history to float over this church. (Emphasis added.) With love, Mother Plate Title: The Mother Church or Prayer in Stone.2 [2This picture and letter can be found in Lyman P. Powell's biography, Mary Baker Eddy, A Life Size Portrait (Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society), 1930 edition, p. 196 (letter) and p. 198 (plate without young girl in sky); 1950 edition (red cover edition), p. 30 (plate with young girl) and p. 191 (letter); 1991 edition, p. 33 (plate with young girl but without title), p. 206 (letter).] This picture shows the stately original edifice of The Mother Church, "Truth's fane," as it appeared in 1897 with the addition of a reflecting pool in the foreground. In the beam of light from the morning star is a little child with hands pressed together in prayer, gazing upward at the source of light. The time of year appears to be autumn, and the atmosphere is quiet sacredness. Suggested Theme: The "one conquest" or completed church edifice. This is the picture Mrs. Eddy sent to the Directors with the prophetic covering letter quoted above. Although this picture's covering letter refers to "one signal," the signal is absent from the picture. There is nothing floating over the church in this picture. There is only a clouded vacant area where a banner or standard bearing a "one signal" device could be floated. Over the apartment buildings adjacent to the church there is an image of a child in prayer. It is not "floating" over the church so it is not the "one signal." The words "from your walls" meant that Mrs. Eddy expected her letter and picture not to be filed away but to be hung where it "can speak" — even though it is a "silent picture." This picture was framed with the letter and was to be hung on a wall in the Board offices. The picture's importance arises almost entirely from the opportunity it gave Mrs. Eddy to prophesy what she did in the covering letter. The focus of Mrs. Eddy's letter is the gathering or mass conversion of Christendom to Christian Science. The accompanying picture illustrates "one conquest" which was the completion of the original Mother Church edifice, and the beginning of the mass conversion in her day. This was the period in which she wrote, "It [the church] is growing wonderfully. It will embrace all the churches one by one . . ." (Mary Baker Eddy, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 342:20-22) The surge in the number of adherents to Christian Science continued through the 1920s. This was brought about by the recognition of Mrs. Eddy as the second appearing of Christ in the flesh. This is beautifully illustrated in another picture, which we will discuss on page 8 of this Standard. IN WRITING HER LETTER TO THE BOARD Mrs. Eddy uses the terms "trophy" and "sign [signal]" in her "one signal" letter, previously quoted, which specially associates the meaning of the letter with the victory of Constantine. According to church history3 Christ Jesus guided and protected the troops of the Roman Emperor Constantine to an unprecedented victory by means of a "salutary symbol," or sign. The miracle victory occurred at the battle of Milvian Bridge in A.D. 312 when Constantine, who was outnumbered 10 to 1, defeated Maxentius, the usurper to his throne, by having his army raise the Christ sign.4 According to Constantine's account to Eusebius, a noted church historian and personal friend, Constantine prayed to God for strength and guidance prior to the battle: He said that about noon, when the day was already beginning to decline, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens with the 'Chi Rho' monogram of Christ, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, In Hoc Signo Vinces [in this sign you will be victorious]. At this sight he himself was struck with amazement, and his whole army also, which followed him on this expedition, and witnessed the miracle.
3A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Volume I, Eusebius, (Oxford: Parker and Company, 1890), pp. 490-493; and John S. C. Abbott, D.D., The History of Christianity (Boston: B. B. Russell, 1872), pp. 305-307. When Mrs. Annie M. Knott, C.S.D., was asked by Mrs. Eddy to begin holding public services and preaching sermons, Mrs. Eddy recommended studying several books, one of which was The History of Christianity by John S. C. Abbott, D.D. 4Note that Eusebius, in his writings, refers to this sign as a "trophy of victory" and the "victorious trophy," "the salutary sign," "the most marvelous sign appeared to him from heaven ... the trophy of the cross of light," "the symbol of the Saviour's name," "the sign was the trophy of that victory . . . ," "the sign of salvation." 5 Eusebius, op. cit., p. 490.
Constantine had this victory sign, In Hoc Signo Vinces — in this sign you will be victorious — put on his banners and on the helmets and shields of all his soldiers. He and his army understood that Christ Jesus led them in this battle through his sign or signal, and this has been accepted in church history as a victory by and for Christ and resulted in the conversion of the Roman empire to Christianity. Paintings of this scene show Constantine, surrounded by his troops, kneeling before this sign in the sky. Just as Christ Jesus led Constantine in a battle which threatened sure defeat because of the great odds against him, so Christian Scientists have Christ Mary leading them in a greater warfare with even greater odds. Referring to "future history" in her letter, Mrs. Eddy does not say "your lives," but "our lives," — which includes herself leading her followers in battle against the dragon of antichrist. The great church victories of the future are to be led by her — How? By recognizing her as the important "one signal" — the victory signal of the dual Christ, the morning star and its beam of light shown throughout Christ and Christmas and in plate B (to be discussed on page 8). Mrs. Eddy foresaw that the dual Christ would be understood in a future dispensation, that is, at the earliest time when thought was prepared to receive it. That time came in the 1990s when it was proclaimed publicly in The Christian Science Standard by Stanley C. Larkin.6 [6"The dispensation of the Second Advent is taken to its final development in the 1990s where Mrs. Eddy is the dual, or two-in-one, Christ, encompassing the man, [Christ Jesus]." See The Christian Science Standard, Vol. 5, No. 2, Apr. 1994, p. 8. Copies available upon request.] "Each one of our lives gathered" means that her followers join with her in recognizing the "signal" as representing the dual, or two-in-one Christ, Christ Mary, just as Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, "The Lamb's wife presents the unity of male and female as no longer two wedded individuals, but as two individual natures in one; . . ." (S&H 577:4) FROM MARY BAKER EDDY COME TO LIGHT In 1961 it was learned that two pictures which appear in Bliss Knapp's book, The Destiny of The Mother Church7, were prepared by Mrs. Eddy and James Gilman for her book Christ and Christmas. After the pictures were finished, Mrs. Eddy decided that the time was too early for the public revelation of her message. Several options were open to her as how to dispose of the pictures so that at the right time in the future these two pictures would find their proper way down "the posterns of time" to that point where their deep spiritual meaning and message would bring the greatest light. [7Bliss Knapp, The Destiny of The Mother Church (Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society), authorized edition of 1991, suppressed edition of 1947.] Mrs. Eddy gave the two pictures to her house companion and student, Miss Clara M. S. Shannon, C.S.D., of Montreal, who about 1905 departed for London, England, to practice and teach Christian Science there. Although Miss Shannon recognized Mrs. Eddy as the Woman of prophecy, as did many others in that time, yet giving the pictures to her would not seem a humanly logical step for their future mission. When Bliss Knapp was on a lecture tour in London around 1920, Miss Shannon gave him the originals of the two pictures, "The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist," and "The Shadow of a Great Rock." Was not this another step forward in the progress of these two pictures in moving toward the time of preparation — new dispensation — for that "public verdict"8? And was not the 1991 publication of Destiny the vehicle for these two pictures, originally intended for Christ and Christmas, a revelation to a now ready public? [8See Mrs. Eddy's note to the editor of The Christian Science Journal, August 1890, p. 3 of this Standard.] What is the correlation between the "silent" picture Mrs. Eddy sent the Directors and the two pictures she gave Miss Shannon? With the publication of Destiny in 1991, the two pictures have now returned to complete the "silent picture," that was to "speak from [their] walls." Clearly, two victories are mentioned in that letter to the Board. One is the recognition of her place in prophecy through her publication of Christ and Christmas, when there were seemingly insurmountable obstacles to the construction of the original Mother Church edifice. The trophy of that victory was the edifice. The next and future victory depends upon our gathering under the "one signal" to defeat the dragon of antichrist. The next two plates, which were prepared for Christ and Christmas, and were not used because they were too advanced for public acceptance in 1897, still have to be accepted and understood for individual and universal salvation. Plate Title: The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist9 [9This picture can be found in The Destiny of The Mother Church by Bliss Knapp, authorized edition of 1991, p. 236; suppressed edition of 1947, p. 202.] The picture depicts the "two anointed ones" in the upper left-hand corner, — Christ Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy, - "These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth." (Zechariah 4:14) The "two anointed ones" are the "one signal" floating over Mrs. Eddy's church. The view of the church is the same as in the plate Mrs. Eddy sent the Directors, plate A, with the same reflecting pool and the little child in the beam of light. However, in contrast to that plate, the mood is radiant, the atmosphere is sunny and cheery, the season is springtime, with awnings on the windows. Floating over the church is the "one signal," - Christ Jesus and Christ Mary, dressed in the splendid wedding clothes of the "marriage of the Lamb." Christ Mary is a beautiful young, holy woman wearing a rich gown and a bridal veil. The Morning Star sits on her head shining by its own brilliance and identifying her. Jesus is wearing a princely garment with decorative trim at the neck. They are half-turned toward each other and are looking at the church. This plate, as in plate A, has a little child with hands pressed together in prayer gazing upward to the source of light. The child links this picture which has the "one signal" with plate A which does not have the "one signal." Suggested Theme: Gathering into "one signal" under the leadership of Christ Mary brings victory over the dragon's flood portrayed in plate C, which was meant to drown the Cause and the church. (Plate C will be discussed on page 10.) Pertinent Text: Science and Health 577:4 and 565:18-19, and Mrs. Eddy's 1897 transmittal letter to the Directors of The Mother Church. The Lamb's wife presents the unity of male and female as no longer two wedded individuals, but as two individual natures in one; and this compounded spiritual individuality reflects God as Father-Mother, not as a corporeal being. In this divinely united spiritual consciousness, there is no impediment to eternal bliss, — to the perfectibility of God's creation. (S&H 577:4) Because Mrs. Eddy had this plate made by the artist of Christ and Christmas, it is, therefore, her own message to her followers in "future history." There was no reason for Mrs. Eddy to have this plate made except as a statement about herself as the bride of Christ Jesus and necessarily his contemporary. The bridal veil establishes her identity as the "Lamb's wife" in Science and Health 577:4, where Mrs. Eddy says they are two individual natures in one and not two separate individuals. It is a message of prophecy in that it is the "signal of victory" that she predicted would be forthcoming whereby she would lead her followers victoriously in battle with antichrist for the acceptance of her duality by Christendom. Her prediction of victory was made in her letter to the Directors which accompanied plate A. This picture shows the church in a secure state, the representatives of the "two anointed ones" portrayed as floating over the church in a manner such as the "signal" or "trophy of victory" was floated over the army of Constantine. It is a sign of salvation. The destiny of the great Temple at Jerusalem was conditional. The destiny of The Mother Church in Boston is also conditional. If the officers and members fail to recognize the meaning of this picture and the next one, plate C, they reject the headstone with the same unfortunate results. This was the destiny of the Temple at Jerusalem! If the conditions are present today in Boston that were present in Jerusalem at the time of the rejection of Jesus, the headstone, - which rejection brought about the "fall" of the Temple - the same "fall" will occur in Boston. That is, if the followers of Mary Baker Eddy fail to understand her as she presented herself in her writings, in Christ and Christmas, and in these pictures, they will reject her by default every bit as much as "the chief priests and elders of the people" rejected Jesus in his day, the inevitable result being that the headstone will become the smiting-stone. It should be remembered that the smiting stone did not just strike the Temple in A.D. 70, it struck the entire city of Jerusalem and all the region round about and leveled it to the ground. Plate Title: "The Shadow of a Great Rock."10 Isaiah 32:2 [10This plate is the frontispiece in Destiny in both the suppressed edition of 1947 and the authorized edition of 1991.] This picture shows the original Mother Church edifice being beaten upon in a storm. The street is flooded with water. It is night. A strong light from the morning star is shining directly on the church, and in the light a white dove is descending with an olive branch of peace. A radiant, holy glow issues from the light at the church entrance, but every window is dark. Suggested Theme: The victory of the church, preceding the dispensational shift of the 1990s, withstanding all storms.11 (Rev. 12:15-17) And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Rev. 12:15-17) Scriptural Text for Plate C: "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock." (Matt. 7:25) This picture of the church in the dark hours with only a light at the church entrance and with no light in the windows shows the sad state of the church in the present period because of the failure to recognize the "one signal" - the two-in-one Christ, Christ Mary. The descending white dove is a "symbol of divine Science." (S&H 584:26) THAT IS, UPON THE RECOGNITION OF THE TWO-IN-ONE CHRIST This picture shows the original edifice of The Mother Church in Boston buffeted by a storm, representing conflicts both external and internal severe enough to bring about a "fall." The inscription quotes the words of Jesus: "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock." (Matt. 7:25) What is this protective "rock" or force which will save the church? A cross-reference Bible connects the "rock" to that "stone" in Zechariah 4:7, which verse reads: "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it." By definition a "headstone" is "the principal stone in a foundation" — Webster. (Scofield Reference Bible, Original Ed.: New York, 1909, page 968.) People were willing to give Jesus prominence and high position, just as people today are willing to accord to Mrs. Eddy prominence and distinction. What they could not bring themselves to do in the days of the Master was to acknowledge him as "the Christ, the Son of the living God." To his immediate disciples, however, Jesus was not the return of John the Baptist, or of some other great prophet; nor was he merely a distinguished religious leader. They saw him as an identity which the chief priests and elders of the Temple were not able to see, - an identity fulfilling prophecy as the first representative of "Christ the BRANCH."12 By seeing him as such, they were acknowledging the headstone, or "rock," on which the Christian church was to be built. [12Scofield Reference Bible, Original Ed.: New York, 1909, pp. 716-717, note no.1. See also, Standard, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 7-9. Copies available upon request.] Just as Jesus' disciples saw his Christ-identity which the chief priests and elders of the Temple were not able to see, so Mrs. Eddy's disciples have to see her identity as the second representative of "Christ the BRANCH. Thus we see the meaning of the inscription to this picture from Matthew 7:25: "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock" — the recognition of the two-in-one Christ, Christ Mary. This acknowledgment and recognition of Mary Baker Eddy's place in the hearts of the members of her church is vital. Each life must be gathered into the "one signal" mandated by Mrs. Eddy in her 1897 transmittal letter to the Board of Directors. THE "WOMAN GOD-CROWNED" Stained Glass Window Title: Woman God-crowned.13 [13Joseph Armstrong, The Mother Church (Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1937), pp. 58-59 — picture plates.] Pertinent Text: Science and Health 565:18-19; 560:16-19; and Rev. 12:1. According to Christ Jesus' revelation to St. John, the second appearing of Christ was to be a woman as described in Revelation 12. Mrs. Eddy confirms this in Science and Health where she writes, "This immaculate idea, [Christ, the spiritual idea] represented first by man [Jesus] and, according to the Revelator, last by woman [the woman described in Revelation 12]. . . ." (S&H 565:18-19) And in her spiritual interpretation of Revelation 12:1, writing of the woman with "a crown of twelve stars," Mrs. Eddy tells us of the importance of entertaining a true "estimate of anyone whom God has appointed to voice His Word. Again, without a correct sense of its highest visible idea, we can never understand the divine Principle." (S&H 560:16-19; emphasis added.) In the original edifice of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, on either side of the Readers' platform, are two of the stained glass windows that Mary Baker Eddy proposed for a specific place in her church. To the left of the platform is the window depicting the first appearing of Christ in the flesh, — Jesus, after the resurrection, titled "Mary First at the Resurrection." To the right of the platform is the window titled "Woman God-crowned." Joseph Armstrong, in his book, The Mother Church, provides insightful background on four windows in the original Mother Church, including the "Woman God-crowned." The four windows in the sides of the auditorium, representing subjects proposed by our teacher and mother, offer much food for thought. That of the Madonna and Jesus shows us woman's thought of God as the Father of all mankind, although expressed as yet in a feeble way. The next portrays woman anointing Jesus as the ideal man, who now expresses the thought of God's fatherhood in a still higher degree. "Mary First at the Resurrection" signifies that woman is first to perceive the risen man, — that is, to recognize man as above and beyond what are called death and materiality. She has now faintly seen that man is spiritual, and Jesus gives her this message: "I ascend to my Father, and your Father," thus indicating the Master's recognition of her thought. The following letters, sent to Mrs. Eddy, were forwarded by her for publication in The Christian Science Journal; they appeared in the March 1904 issue. Boston January 21, 1904. Click here to read the citations from the fifth section of the 1904 Lesson-Sermon on "Love" referred to in these letters. Equivalent to Peter's confession of Jesus as Christ, there was, in 1884, a recognition and public acknowledgment of Mary Baker Eddy as the second appearing of Christ "in the flesh"15 by Ira Knapp, one of her most trusted and loyal students. [15Science and Health, p.118:6] When Mr. [Ira] Knapp first took class instruction in Christian Science, the chapter on the Apocalypse had not yet appeared in Science and Health; but Mrs. Eddy explained the twelfth chapter of Revelation to the class. Her explanation must have conveyed a profound meaning to those students, for although Mrs. Eddy made no reference to herself personally, Mr. Knapp exclaimed, "Thou art the Woman!" She turned to him and gave him a sweet smile, and did not rebuke him. What is it that hinders Christian Scientists from receiving the new name of Christ? It is not persons or organizations. It is antichrist, as described by St. John: Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. ... Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is an antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: [but] he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. (I John 2:18, 22, 23) It is a characteristic of "the last time" that some of the followers of Christ will misunderstand and "deny" Christ. On this subject our Leader says, "Ignorance of the divine idea betrays at once a greater ignorance of the divine Principle of the idea...." (S&H 560:30-31) She also states, "This immaculate idea [Christ, the divine idea], represented first by man and, according to the Revelator, last by woman, will baptize with fire; . . . (S&H 565:18) St. John warns against denying the highest visible idea: Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. (I John 4:1-3) Just as the Christian church is built on Jesus' statement "On this rock I will build my church," so the Christian Science church cannot survive without the "confession of the true Messiah." (S&H 138:1-5) Christendom has entered a new era in which a higher concept of Christ as revealed to St. John in Revelation as the woman "God-crowned," — the Lamb's wife, "two individual natures in one," — can be understood and accepted. There has to be an awakening and a reformation among the ranks of Christian Scientists. To this end, we are urging Christian Scientists to rally under the "one signal" to restore the recognition and acceptance of Mrs. Eddy's place in Bible prophecy as the second appearing of Christ — the two-in-one Christ — and to restore her teachings. Mary Baker Eddy had these prophetic pictures prepared for our day, and it is now our responsibility to take them as a mandate from our Leader to once again float the "one signal" — the recognition of the two-in-one Christ — over her church. |
