After Mary Baker Eddy discovered Christian Science in 1866, she worked over many years to clarify the spiritual rules of healing inherent in its theology. Along the way, her students were the recipients of her clearer views, and wrote many valuable accounts of what she taught them.
In 1898 Mrs. Eddy conducted her last class in Christian Science; it was a special class by invitation. Sixty-eight were in attendance, all solidly based in Christian Science.
One of the students wrote the following about what the class learned, "first and last": "there was but one God, and consequently, there could be but one full reflection, which of course was the compound idea, man. She dwelt at length on the point that there could be but one full or complete reflection of one God, and that fact must be the basis for all scientific deduction. She indicated that only as her students grasped the fundamental fact that one God could have but one full reflection did they have the right basic sense of Christian Science, and know that there is no other starting point." Lyman P Powell, Mary Baker Eddy: A Life Size Portrait (Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1991), p. 195 . This idea is a basic teaching of Christian Science. It is not, however, easily comprehended by the human mind until one begins to experience the healing effect, through prayer, of understanding it.
