ing, the whole truth. . . . Had wisdom characterised all His[1] sayings, He would not have prophesied His own death and thereby hastened it or caused it."[2] In other words, Jesus, by foretelling His crucifixion, created that thought, and the thought ultimately hastened His death. In a letter written about 1877, Mrs. Eddy again suggests that her mission completes that of the New Testament:
Lynn, March 11th.
My Dear Student:
I did not write the day your letter came, a belief was clouding the sunshine of Truth and it is not fair weather yet. But Harry, be of good cheer "behind the clouds the sun is still shining." I know the crucifixion of the one who presents Truth in its higher aspect will be this time through a bigger error, through mortal mind instead of its lower strata or matter, showing that the idea given of God this time is higher, clearer, and more permanent than before.[3] My dear companion and fellow-labourer in the Lord[4] is grappling stronger than did Peter with the enemy, he would cut off their hands and "ears"; you dear student, are doubtless praying for me—and so the Modern Law giver is upheld for a time. I shall go to work for the book as soon as I can think clearly for agony, or outside of the belief.
May the All Love hold and help you ever,
Your Teacher
M B G E.
In Retrospection and Introspection, Mrs. Eddy writes:
No person can take the individual place of the Virgin Mary. No person can compass or fulfil the individual mission of Jesus of Nazareth. No person can take the place of the author of Science and Health, the dis-
- ↑ Both this and other quotations in this article have been modified in later editions of Mrs. Eddy's hooks. The phrase above now stands: "This wisdom, which characterised his sayings did not prophesy his death and thereby hasten or permit it." The author thinks it hardly necessary, in what follows, to Indicate the various readings of the same quotation, but will content herself with naming the particular editions in which the phrases, as quoted, appear. When no edition is mentioned, the latest edition is to be understood.
- ↑ Miscellaneous Writings (1897), pp. 83 and 84.
- ↑ The italics are not Mrs. Eddy's.
- ↑ This is apparently a reference to Asa G. Eddy, her husband.
