America – Cradle For The Second Coming Of The
Christ
CHAPTER XIII
THE CONSTITUTION AND
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEXTBOOK
"Let the Word Have Free Course and
be Glorified."
 On
Tuesday, September 22, 1987, five days after the 200th anniversary of the
Constitution, a United States Appellate Court upheld Judge Thomas Penfield
Jackson's decision that the perpetual copyright, secured by the Boston
hierarchy on all editions of Science and Health, was offensively
unconstitutional. (For a copy of Judge Jackson's decision see
this author's If Mary Baker Eddy's Manual Were Obeyed, Third edition,
Appendix, p. 221.)
The Appellate Court's decision was a stunning victory for
the textbook, for Christian Science, for Mary Baker Eddy, and for the United
Christian Scientists, chaired by David James Nolan. Mr. Nolan had courageously
challenged the imprisonment, via copyright, of the Christian Science textbook.
We owe him much for his defense of Mrs. Eddy's textbook, a victory for the
United States Constitution.
In this victory we had a dual blessing; coming as it did on
the Constitution's 200th birthday, the textbook copyright decision was the
ultimate test of the United States Constitution, proving this venerable
document viable and vibrant.
In 1787 it took thirty-nine
signatures--sixteen delegates did not sign--to bring forth the Constitution
that insured "a more perfect union." These thirty-nine signatures provided for
the collective freedom of American citizens. A friend points out that "in 1906
it took the one lone signature of Mary Baker Eddy, in the textbook of
Christian Science, to provide for the universal
individual freedom for all mankind," which is found in that
textbook.
What would have happened if the copyright on Science and
Health had not been overturned? The Boston hierarchy would have retained, for
all time, the exclusive right to publish, to withhold from publication and even
to alter, all editions of Science and Health. Students who remember the years
when the copyright was in effect will recall that Mrs. Eddy's picture had been
removed from the current edition of Science and Health, which could be
purchased only through the church; early editions were entirely out of
print--and could not legally be reprinted without permission, which was
staunchly refused.
Today, thanks to the Appellate Court decision, Science and
Health is freely available. The first edition has been reprinted and in the
future all editions will be available on the Internet.
Through Mrs. Eddy's writings every individual on earth will
become aware that the kingdom of God--of Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life,
Truth, Love--is within his own consciousness, ensuring ultimate individual
freedom, spiritual understanding, and perpetual peace. How fitting that on the
Constitution's 200th anniversary the textbook was God's means of testing that
time-honored document to prove it sound, and capable of providing a secure
platform our textbook can stand on! How grateful Christian Scientists and all
Americans should be for this triumphant victory for the textbook--and the
Constitution!
The Deeds of Trust Speak for Mrs. Eddy
Today
The Court's decision, setting free the Christian Science
textbook, has brought us one step closer to having the courts of the land
recognize Mrs. Eddy's thirteen Deeds of Trust, which make her Church Manual
legally enforceable.
The epitome of Mary Baker Eddy's leadership is summed up in
ten of these 13 Deeds. Mrs. Eddy is not here today to speak for herself;
the Manual, because it is considered an ecclesiastical document, cannot
plead for her in a court of human law. All that is left to defend her are ten
current, contemporary, living, vital Deeds of Trust. Fortunately these Deeds of
Trust are self-speaking; through them Mrs. Eddy speaks today.
These ten Deeds of Trust each include the provision
that Mrs. Eddy gave the designated property to the church authorities with the
provision that the Manual's estoppel clauses be obeyed. When these Deeds
are brought to a court of law and vindicated, they will make the Church
Manual legally enforceable, fulfilling Mrs. Eddy's 1898 prophecy: "The
Manual will be regarded as law by law."
These legal instruments speak eloquently of Mary Baker
Eddy's capacity to lead her movement until the "final immersion of the human
consciousness in the infinite ocean of Love" is accomplished, and the curtain
is dropped on material man and mortality.
The Constitution governs the states; and the Manual,
with its estoppel clauses, governs the church. When the Manual is
obeyed it will bring to view the Church Universal and Triumphant,
the structure of Truth and Love, "the kingdom of God within" our consciousness.
This will usher in a new era of love and goodwill to all mankind, which Jesus
said would be the "Comforter"the second coming of the Christ.
Vindication of Mrs. Eddy's Deeds of
Trust Will Usher in a Renaissance
Today the possible solution to the church's problem
brightens the horizon. Mrs. Eddy's thirteen Deeds of Trust are being raised
from the tomb in which they have lain buried for over three quarters of a
century. As touched upon earlier, ten of these Deeds make obedience to
the Manual's estoppel clauses mandatory, terminating all centralized
material organization and central material Mother Church control.
(See this author's If Mary Baker Eddy's Manual Were Obeyed, pp.
205219 for copies of her Deeds of Trust.)
These Deeds speak for Mrs. Eddy
today. You and I cannot speak for her. But ten of the thirteen Deeds of Trust
can and do speak for her. They show Mrs. Eddy's divine leadership in perceiving
the danger looming for the Christian Science movement--the danger which has
brought the movement to the brink of extinction--and how she circumvented
this inexorable threat when she made obedience to the Manual legally
obligatory. Her Deeds of Trust will be upheld by the laws of the
land. Her prophecy that "the Manual will be recognized as law by law,"
will be vindicated. And the Christian Science movement will move into a
glorious renaissance.
"America, spiritually understood, will be seen as the
outward evidence of man's individual oneness with God [man's oneness with Mind,
Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love]. America in that sense is not a
nation defined by territorial boundaries, but is the spiritual idea of Mind
everywhere present. America typifies the yearning of the heart for spiritual
reality" (Herbert Eustace, Christian Science, Its "Clear Correct Teaching,"
p. 364).
The Hour Has Struck
At this hour, as we stand in the valley of decision, let us
recall Mrs. Eddy's grave warning that "never was there a more solemn and
imperious call than God makes to us all, right here, for fervent devotion and
absolute consecration to the greatest and holiest of all causes," namely, the
revelation of man's divinity, and the total unreality of evil.
She saw the hour had struck. Humanity is today witnessing the fulfillment of
Jesus' prophecy to St. John in the Book of Revelation, chapters 13 through 20,
where the myriad illusions of mortal discord are uncovered and are being dealt
with.
Regarding these illusions and the universal hypnotic
suggestions that seem to be in control, Mrs. Eddy writes, "The present apathy
as to the tendency of certain active yet unseen mental agencies will finally be
shocked into another extreme mortal mood,into human indignation" (S&H
570:4).
Think Of What We Have To Be Grateful
For!
St. Paul comforts us with, "We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).
How often have experiences that seemed harsh and cruel at
the time, eventuated in blessings that defy all human calculation. So it was
with America becoming the cradle for the second coming of the Christ. Think of
the 102 Pilgrims (over a third of them children) persecuted in their homeland.
Crowded into a small boat--106 feet bow to stern. Tossed on the wild and
furious Atlantic for sixty-six days. Thanking God for even the meager meals
they were able to prepare. Landing in the bitter cold of December. Greeted by a
frozen wilderness, uncertainty. Half of them dying of cold and starvation their
first winter. But what a blessing God poured out to humanity through their
faithfulness!
Think of the experiences of the Revolutionary War, the
terrible winter at Valley Forge, the long and arduous work of bringing forth
the United States Constitution with its Bill of Rights--these were in a certain
way all fraught with blessings infinite for the human race because of what
these experiences and deeds led to.
Again, think of Columbus who showed his divine motivation
when he told Queen Isabella: "It was the Lord who put it into my mind. I could
feel His hand upon me...the fact that the gospel must still be preached to so
many lands in such a short time--this is what convinces me."
Columbus showed obedience to Jesus' command, "Love thy
neighbor as thyself"his desire was to give not only to those of his own
persuasion, but to give to all mankind. He was familiar with the
Master's teaching that "all that the Father [Mind] hath is mine," even if it is
not visible at the moment. He glimpsed a universal sense of brotherhood. He
responded with a desire to give, out of the fullness of the kingdom of God that
reigned within his consciousness.
Columbus, the Pilgrims, the writers of the Declaration of
Independence, George Washington, the framers of the Constitution, Abraham
Lincoln, and other great leaders might not have known it, but since the
infinite kingdom of God was within them, the entire Bible was also within their
spiritual consciousness. This is true because, as we learn in Christian
Science, there is only one Mind, only one universal consciousness, and it is
our own individual Mind in which the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy's writings are
embodied.
The motive of these great leaders, in their dedication to
God, was to be an instrument, a transparency through which God could work out
His holy purpose. "He that is within me is greater than he that is in the
world" and He is making of the receptive thought an instrument, a transparency,
for His purpose. We must have the willingness to be used, knowing that "He
["the kingdom of God within"] performeth that which is given me to do." All
action is God's action, Mind's action. "Of mine own self I can do nothing" any
more than the image in the mirror can of its own self do anything.
"We glory in tribulations also," wrote St. Paul, "knowing
that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience, and experience,
hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost [the kingdom of God within our consciousness]
which is given unto us" (Rom. 5:35).
The Pilgrims, the patriots who fought the Revolutionary War,
the Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln with his Emancipation Proclamation, all
abounded in a steadfast faith in the power of a divine Providence to help them.
They knew that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen" (Heb. 11:01). Their confidence and fidelity anchored them in
living waters, which had great recompense of reward.
Triumphing in truth and keeping the faith individually and
collectively, we must overcome conflicting elements. If defeat seems to follow
victory, we know that "Truth cannot be lost; if not admitted today in its
fullness, the error that shuts it out will occasion such discord in sickness,
sin, etc., that future ages will point it out, and restore at length the fair
proportions and radical claims of Christian Science" (First edition of Science
and Health, p. 456).
With the dawning of the Science of Christianity upon human
thought, scientific religion is improving the morals of mankind. It is
destroying sin, disease, and death. When divine Love is understood as impartial
and universal it will form the coincidence of the human and
divine, and bring to light the kingdom of God that is latent within
your infinite, individual spiritual consciousness.
Christian Science is "rousing the dormant understanding from
material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration
of divine Science" (S&H 583:15). This will continue until Spirit, God, is
fully understood in millennial glory, and all humanity becomes aware of "a new
heaven and a new earth," where the tabernacle of the Mind that is Love, is with
men. Then shall we all know that the kingdom of God is our own Mind, our own
consciousness.
AMERICA book sections
Foreword | I |
II | III |
IV | V |
VI | VII |
VIII | IX |
X | XI |
XII | XIII |
Conclusion | Bibliography |
