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A Statement by John W. Doorly
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Product Code: AStatementF
Manufacturer: The John Doorly Trust
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Booklet, 61 pages
Level:
SUBJECT(s):
Christian Science—Government and Ethics
RELATED RECORDINGS: none
SYNOPSIS: Every consecrated student of the Science of Christian Science must be aware of the evolution of the pure Science as it was discovered by John W. Doorly, CSB, after Mary Baker Eddy left us. This booklet presents the background that led to Doorly's excommunication from The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist (Boston, MA). It was circulated in 1945 to every practitioner listed in the Christian Science Journal. It consists of:
- An introduction to the situation.
- Doorly's understanding at that time of Mary Baker Eddy's statement "Divine metaphysics is now reduced to a system" (S&H 146:31), which led him to ask: Is Christian Science both Christian and scientific?
- Extracts from correspondence exchanged between Doorly and the Christian Science Board of Directors in Boston and the Ninth Church of Christ, Scientist, London.
- The conclusion of the correspondence (which was sent out later), is also incorporated in this booklet.
This document was designed to allow all Christian Scientists to consider the events that led up to Doorly's excommunication, and to learn of his work in the pure Science of Christian Science.
CONTENTS:
No Table of Contents
EXCERPT:
From John W. Doorly, A Statement by John W. Doorly, pp. 1–2.
As there has arisen a very serious situation with regard to my activities in the Christian Science Cause and as these activities have now occupied 42 years of my life, and as I have been honored by the respect and friendship of tens of thousands of Christian Scientists, I feel that it is incumbent on me to make a statement to those who for years have given me their support and confidence. Particularly is this statement necessary as during the past three years many distorted and false rumours about me and my character, also about my teaching and my attitude towards the Christian Science Church, have been maliciously and ignorantly circulated.
I became interested in Christian Science in 1902. I joined The Mother Church in 1904. In 1907 my name was accepted in The Christian Science Journal as a Practitioner. I was appointed a Christian Science Teacher in 1910. In 1914 I was appointed to the Lecture Board and remained a member of that Board until 1929. When I retired, at my own request, the Christian Science Board of Directors of that date wrote me a most appreciative letter thanking me for my services. My letter of resignation from the Board of Lectureship was published in the Christian Science Sentinel of May 25th, 1929. In 1918 I was appointed President of The Mother Church, being the second Englishman ever to hold this position.
In 1926 I was asked by the Christian Science Board of Directors to allow my name to be considered as First Reader of The Mother Church, being, I understand, the first non-American to be considered for that position. I declined this honor, as I felt my work was in England.
In 1929 I became convinced that I could best serve Christian Science by giving my exclusive time to a deeper and more exhaustive study of the Bible and of our Leader's writings. This, I was certain, was the way to better healing, which alone could prove to mankind the all-importance of Christian Science.
In my travels throughout our movement, all over the world, I had become more and more convinced that there were signs of great and growing danger to the future of Christian Science, due to the increasing tendency to substitute belief and religious sentiment for exact spiritual understanding and demonstration; also to a lax sense as to the "essentially democratic " government of The Mother Church (See My. 254:24). It was evident to me that nothing would meet this danger but a more definite and demonstrable understanding of Christian Science as revealed by our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy. This alone I felt sure would attract thinkers to our Churches, and would ensure the future development of Christian Science.
I therefore returned to England permanently with the fixed purpose of giving my entire time to the study of the Bible and of our Leader's writings and to the persistent effort to do better healing. I was convinced that we could never demonstrate Christian Science until we first understood it intelligently and scientifically. (See S&H 329:12).
As many of my friends will remember, I had lectured much on the synonymous terms for God as given in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, page 465, line 10; also on the days of creation as explained by our Leader in the chapter on Genesis in the textbook ; and on the distinct sevenfold aspect of the Lord's Prayer. All of these lectures had been submitted to and had been approved by the Christian Science Board of Directors of that date.
Eventually, through earnest prayer and constant study, and through the help of others (which I will not dwell upon here but to whom I shall give full acknowledgment in the right place and at the right time) I began to appreciate that our Leader had developed an absolutely scientific and divine metaphysical system of symbolizing the ideas of the infinite in perfect harmony, rhythm and order, whereby all men could learn, understand and demonstrate the things of God more effectually, more scientifically and more naturally than one could understand and demonstrate even such human subjects as mathematics, music, etc., etc., (See S&H 84:30–1). This system was finally revealed to her through a deep spiritual sense of Genesis and of the Apocalypse as depicted in the Key to the Scriptures. (See Ret. 37:16–20; S&H 546:18–22). The system was indicated in the Bible, but Mrs. Eddy climaxed it in her textbook as both divine and scientific. Consequently she has written, "Divine metaphysics is now reduced to a system, to a form comprehensible by and adapted to the thought of the age in which we live." (S&H 146:31–1).
Thus she forever removed religion from the realm of mysticism, blind faith and sentimental emotion, into the absolute realm of divine and scientific metaphysics.
Naturally my joy and that of my fellow-seekers over the small glimpse we had gained of "Science vast … the song of songs" (My. 354:22, 24) was great, and we mentally bowed in the deepest humility before the vastness, the certainty, the magnitude and the holiness of our Leader's life-work, Christian Science. Our grief and disappointment can be imagined when we discovered that although "the time for thinkers has come" (S&H vii:13), no progressive thinking was welcome to, or even allowed by, many of our fellow Christian Scientists. Indeed we faced a wave of the bitterest persecution and misrepresentation which, I am sorry to say, has been permitted and encouraged for the last three years.
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