Doesn’t Mrs. Eddy discourage assembling for discussion?
This question often arises in conjunction with a reference in her book, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 156. The following is some of what we learned from our discussion on this subject with the research department of The Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity: This brief comment has often been misunderstood today because the context is missing in the published writings. Mary Baker Eddy wrote it in response to her concerns with the activity of the Christian Science Congress. This is a group that had been meeting to present papers on topics of Christian Science, and it appeared to be offering a speaking platform for very inexperienced Christian Scientists who spoke as if they had authority. Her concern was not about Christian Scientists assembling themselves, as she had no problem with Christian Science Associations assembling themselves. Nor was the problem about not listening to each other, as she had no problem with the giving of public testimonies. Indeed, the difficulty
