Several friends have reached out to ask me if I have any thoughts about how Mary Baker Eddy might have responded to our current conflicts. What would she have thought about all that’s going on right now in our nation and our world?
I think it might be helpful to remember that Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910) lived through tumultuous times, too. When she was born, slavery was still legal in this country, and by the time she died women still didn’t have the right to vote. During her lifetime there was the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, the Teapot Dome Scandal, the Trail of Tears, the assassinations of presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley, and the arrival of “Yellow Journalism.” Tensions were building around the world at the time of her death, and within just a few years after she died, WWI began. I don’t think she’d be surprised by anything that’s happening today. In fact, I believe she was preparing us to meet the challenges of today with her work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.
Below, I’m going to type in 15 quotes from Science and Health that have been helpful to me as I’ve prayed about current events. These are quotes that bolster my courage, give me guidance in my actions and words, and give me hope. I jotted down these quotes as I was reading through the book a year ago, and I didn’t put down page numbers. I’ll leave that to you.
1) “Mortals must find refuge in Truth in order to escape the error of these latter days.”
2) “Tyranny, intolerance, and bloodshed, wherever found, arise from the belief that the infinite is formed after the pattern of mortal personality, passion, and impulse.”
3) “Error or any kind cannot hide from the law of God.”
4) “Though error hides behind a lie and excuses guilt, guilt cannot forever be concealed. Truth, through her eternal laws, unveils error. Truth causes sin to betray itself…Even the disposition to excuse guilt or to conceal it is punished. The avoidance of justice and denial of Truth tend to perpetuate sin, invoke crime, jeopardize self-control, and mock divine mercy.”
5) “Covering iniquity will prevent prosperity and the ultimate triumph of any cause.”
6) “Ignorance, subtlety, or false charity does not forever conceal error; evil will in time disclose and punish itself.”
7) “It requires courage to utter truth; for the higher Truth lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until its inarticulate sound is forever silence in oblivion.”
8 ) “Neither sympathy nor society should ever tempt us to cherish error in any form, and certainly we should not be error’s advocate.”
9) “Obedience to Truth gives man power and strength.”
10) “Truth, Life, and Love are the only legitimate and eternal demands on man.”
11) “Your influence for good depends upon the weight you throw into the right scale. The good you do and embody gives you the only power obtainable.”
12) “No power can withstand divine Love.”
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13) “Christian Scientists must live under the constant pressure of the apostolic command to come out from the material world and be separate. They must renounce aggression, oppression, and the pride of power. Christianity, with the crown of Love upon her brow, must be their queen of life.”
14) “At all times and under all circumstances, overcome evil with good.”
15) “Love must triumph over hate.”
And okay, I’ve got to bring in one more:
“During this final conflict, wicked minds will endeavor to find means by which to accomplish more evil; but those who discern Christian Science will hold crime in check. They will aid in the ejection of error. They will maintain law and order, and cheerfully await the certainty of ultimate perfection.”
Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 97
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 