As two joined mountain peaks stand forth above the lowlands, so Mrs. Eddy, in benefiting mankind, may be said to present two points of divine inspiration, having a dual capacity for good, whose unity cannot be destroyed. To separate this unity would destroy both points; even to eliminate one would immediately affect the other. This dual capacity for good lies in the fact that Mrs. Eddy was the Founder as well as the Discoverer of Christian Science. "In the year 1866, I discovered the Christ Science or divine laws of Life, Truth, and Love, and named my discovery Christian Science," writes Mrs. Eddy on page 107 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Here she refers to the discovery of Christian Science, and to herself as the Discoverer; but at the time—1866— she had founded neither her movement nor her church.
Shortly after her discovery, through its application Mrs. Eddy began to heal the sick; and later, she taught one student, thus laying the first stones in her foundation work. She tested many plans for the future progress of the Christian Science movement, one of which was that it should have no organization. She found, however, that she must not build upon sand, but upon the rock, so that the storms of subtle evil suggestion could not wash her work away. Step by step, through the next forty-four years from the time of her first patient and student, through the establishment of the different activities of her church which help us to be loyal Christian Scientists, up to and past the launching of the great international newspaper, The Christian Science Monitor, she was founding her work. Each step was taken under divine guidance; and so it has been proved. She founded her church and its various activities; but seeing the possibility of schisms and their results, she warned her church members against them.
Mrs. Eddy's work as Founder is of the utmost importance, because it is the vehicle for her discovery. Without the activities which she established, her discovery would have been largely limited to her own sphere of influence. To bring this discovery to humanity, she must needs form or found her church. Without this foundation and its activities, the discovery might have been lost or obscured. The great Cause of Christian Science moves on, step by step, with a solid front; and there will never be a Leader of this movement, save Mrs. Eddy herself.
The error of statement that accepts Mrs. Eddy as the Discoverer of Christian Science, that accepts her writings in support of the Bible, whose inspired Word she refers to as "our sufficient guide to eternal Life" (Science and Health, p. 497), that acknowledges her as the Leader of this movement, but claims to have grown beyond her as the Founder of Christian Science, is one that would endeavor to destroy the discovery. This subtle error must not lodge in the student's thought. It would be just as permissible to accept the impossible position that Mrs. Eddy founded the Christian Science church and its activities, but did not discover Christian Science, as it would be to accept her as Discoverer but deny her as Founder. The two must not, indeed cannot, be separated. Well may the words of Christ Jesus be used as applying to the completed, rounded unity of Mrs. Eddy's work: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."
The destiny of the Christian Science movement is in God's hands; and His protection never fails. Any attack on it must fail because of the very falsity of its character. Its only effect is upon those who would endeavor to part this seamless garment of Discoverer and Founder. Mrs. Eddy was as certain regarding her work as Founder as that she was the Discoverer of Christian Science. Nearly thirty years ago she wrote what is now to be found in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 383): "In 1896 it goes without saying, preeminent over ignorance or envy, that Christian Science is founded by its discoverer, and built upon the rock of Christ. The elements of earth beat in vain against the immortal parapets of this Science. Erect and eternal, it will go on with the ages, go down the dim posterns of time unharmed, and on every battle-field rise higher in the estimation of thinkers and in the hearts of Christians." This prophecy is now being fulfilled; and The First Church of Christ, Scientist, with its branches, is daily becoming the church triumphant, founded to carry to the sick and sinning the blessings of the discovery of Christian Science.
