Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/109

Rh Rev. -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." . . . Rev. xii. 5. "And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up unto God, and to his Throne." 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 so deprive Herod of his crown. The impersonation of the spiritual idea had a brief history in the earthly life of our Master; but "of his kingdom there shall be no end," for Christ, God's idea, will eventually rule all nations and ''peoples—imperatively, absolutely, finally—with Divine Science. This immaculate idea, represented first by man and last by woman'', will baptise with fire; and the fiery baptism will burn up the chaff of error with the fervent heat of Truth and Love, melting and purifying even the gold of human character.

The following extracts from Mrs. Eddy's writings indicate the magnitude of her claims, and her conception of her own exalted mission:

She says in Science and Health:

In the year 1866, I discovered the Science of Metaphysical Healing, and named it Christian Science. God had been graciously fitting me, during many years, for the reception of a final revelation of the absolute Principle of Scientific Mind-healing. . . . No human pen or tongue taught me the Science contained in this book. . . and neither tongue nor pen can ever overthrow it.

Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy says, continues the teachings of St. Paul.

On our subject, St. Paul first reasons upon the basis of what is seen, the effects of Truth on the material senses; thence, up to the Unseen, the testimony of spiritual sense; and right there he leaves the subject.

Just there, in the intermediate line of thought, is where the present writer found it, when she discovered Christian Science. And she has not left it, but continues the explanation of the power of Spirit up to its infinite meaning, its Allness.