In the Scriptures the word "lamp" is sometimes used to symbolize spiritual illumination. In one of the visions of Zechariah reference is made to seven lamps. It is generally understood that the numeral "seven" in many instances in the Bible indicates wholeness or completeness. In the light which Christian Science throws upon the Scriptures it is seen that the seven lamps and the two olive trees spoken of by Zechariah may be taken to prefigure the complete revelation of God.
In Revelation the two olive trees are definitely referred to as "two witnesses" having great power; and the Revelator figuratively describes the mental fermentation caused by their divinely inspired teachings. Previous to John's revelation Christ Jesus, in referring to his divine mission, had said, "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." Jesus could not, however, lift the scholastic theology of that time to a higher and more spiritual concept of God; and to the few disciples upon whom he depended to perpetuate his teachings, he could not impart all that he desired men to know about God, for even his disciples were not sufficiently grounded in the truth to receive so great a message. Jesus implied that this impartation should come in due time through the "Comforter," or "the Spirit of truth," who should teach all that he himself knew and had taught about God. In her poem "Christ and Christmas" (p. 15) Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, has penned these words:
"What the Beloved knew and taught,
Science repeats,
Through understanding, dearly sought,
With fierce heart-beats."
