Edward A Merritt, C.S.B.
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The
Mother Church,
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts
Christian Science brings a message of spiritual healing, and declares in its textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," that "the term Science, properly understood, refers only to the laws of God and to His government of the universe, inclusive of man" (p. 128). The literal interpretation of Christian Science is the Science of the Christ, Truth, or the exact demonstrable understanding of the truth; therefore Christian Science includes all science, and the application of science to religion is no doubt the most vital accomplishment in the progress of mankind.
Religion, according to the popular view, may be defined as the acts and forms through which men express their concepts of God and seek to commune with Him. But is this true religion? Do the organized actions of men constitute religion according to the standard of the Founder of Christianity? On the contrary, religion is a moral and spiritual fact. The apostle James said: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." The grandeur and reality of Christianity, then, can be understood and appreciated only through scientific revelation, which is spiritual and wholly apart from the testimony of the physical senses. Men and women today may be faithful to their religious beliefs, but they are not relieved thereby from suffering and distress. It is evident, therefore, that they have not found practical salvation. The great Wayshower, however, taught humanity how to obtain this salvation and made his own life the standard of Christian living and accomplishment.
Consider the simplicity of the teachings of Jesus. He makes two all-important demands upon his followers, namely, to preach and to heal. These are the witnesses of true Christianity.
They bear a certain relationship to each other, the healing being a proof of the preaching. Is not this what Christianity must express, — the proof that it is divine and at the same time practical? James saw the necessity of proving the word, and that to preach and not to heal did not profit a man. He said: "Faith without works is dead," "Shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works." He recognized that one may have a certain kind of so-called faith and still not accomplish much. He also knew that to demonstrate one's faith one must practice what he preaches.
The demand of this age is proof of the practical availability of every product of human effort. Human achievements are interesting and necessary waymarks in the progress of civilization. Greater efficiency in the performance of the affairs of daily life is attained by their use, but no one will contend that suffering, sickness, disease, or death have been made less prevalent because of them. Health, joy, and peace are not the products of human ingenuity and invention. That it may be uplifted, the race needs the knowledge of that Science which Jesus demonstrated when he cleansed the lepers, healed the sick, raised the dead. He gave his promise that those who seek and find the Father which he came to unfold to human understanding, shall do the works which he did, and even greater works.
If the evil conditions which Jesus came to destroy were legitimate and sent of God for some wise purpose, as is sometimes believed even in this enlightened period, how could Jesus have been about his Father's business when he destroyed these conditions? The fact is that the evils of sin and disease have no part in God's plan of the universe. They are the products and penalties of the false beliefs of the human or carnal mind. This so-called mind insists that disease, sin, sickness, accident, and death are real, and that it is not only natural but inevitable that humanity should accept them as a necessary part of experience. This so-called human mind would have us believe that disaster is unavoidable, and that it often pleases God to send calamities and distress upon His children. The Science of being informs us that these theories are not true. They are the dire penalties self-inflicted upon a race that has ignorantly worshiped its God.
Christian Science in its operation is always constructive. Its warfare is waged against false systems, but never against persons. Christian Scientists honor and respect those members of the medical profession who have broken away from many of their traditions and limitations. Within recent years it has been publicly announced that fear, anger, and worry bring disastrous effects upon the body mechanism, and explain many bodily impairments and diseases. (See Anoci-association, by George W. Crile and William E. Lower, p. 96.)
That the surgeon of today believes the mental cause produces a material effect is evident. He also believes the material effect may be relieved by the use of a drug or the knife. But surely he does not believe the mental cause may be relieved by a surgical operation. Sometimes the surgeon removes the physical appearance of disease by a surgical process, but he has not removed the mental cause when he assumes that the diseased condition may return. When it has been discovered that fear, anger, and worry are the mental cause of diseased bodily conditions manifested physically, of what avail is the knife upon the physical when the mental cause remains? There is today an available means by which fear, anger, and worry can be overcome and destroyed and the redemption of mankind accomplished.
The penalty for sin continues until sin is forsaken. Suppose for a moment that you become violently angry and it is outwardly manifested. It is self-evident that the rush of blood through the body will respond instantly to this mental mood. If, therefore, thinking evil in an angry mood is thus evidenced externally, what must be the internal condition of the body? The functions of the body respond instantly to such phases of human thought.
Do you think that the remedy should be applied to the cause which is mental rather than to the effect which is called material? What is the cause of such a physical experience? Regarding cause, Christian Science declares in Science and Health: "There is but one primal cause. Therefore there can be no effect from any other cause" (p. 207); and also, what the world is gradually admitting, that "cause does not exist in matter, in mortal mind, or in physical forms" (p. 262). Therefore Christian Science maintains that every abnormal or diseased condition is a false concept, a dream from which the sufferer needs to be aroused by understanding the nature of disease. Were this abnormal condition true, disease could not be healed.
What remedy does divine intelligence employ for human discords? What does infinite Mind do? It cannot possibly create a remedy which is not spiritual. The one remedy in every case is the understanding of divine Mind, for that which needs to be healed is an error of mortal belief, a false assumption about something that is true. The infinite Mind, or Truth, destroys all false beliefs, because Truth is, and Truth is eternally asserting itself through those who perceive its law and operation and apply its ever ready remedy.
When we survey the centuries that have elapsed since Jesus proved to the multitudes that his Christianity heals both the sick and the sinful, we find that spiritually dark indeed have been the ages since the primitive Christian church surrendered its spiritual basis of healing.
The message of healing which Christian Science brings to the world will be more fully understood and helpful to us when we learn something of its discovery and its Discoverer. In the year 1866 Christian Science was discovered by Mary Baker Eddy, a spiritually minded woman who came of a long line of God-fearing men and women whose enlarged sense of religious freedom had brought them to America in the early colonial days. Mrs. Eddy's discovery was unique in the annals of religious history. It involved spiritual or Mind healing, and gave to humanity the promise of health and joy. It heralds to the world a practical, scientific, and demonstrable Christianity, restoring to you and to me our birthright of dominion as sons of God.
The revelation of Christian Science came to Mrs. Eddy at a time when, as she relates, she was injured so seriously as to be entirely disabled. A physician was called. He found that he could do little more than relieve the pain and suffering, and could give her no hope of recovery. When she was left alone, with an abiding faith she sought comfort and help in her Bible. She read from the ninth chapter of Matthew, second verse, and as she read of the man sick of the palsy who was healed by Jesus, the spirit of Truth and Love, that divine influx of light, came to her and restored her to perfect health. She arose from her bed healed. It was the word of God which healed her. Her family and friends were filled with astonishment. They considered it supernatural and unexplainable. After this remarkable experience her life was devoted with untiring love and unceasing labor to developing and presenting her discovery to the world. She continued to search the Scriptures until the Science of her discovery was fully revealed to her. Commanding the respect and gratitude of a multitude of people redeemed from unspeakable woe, the Founder and Leader of this great movement remained personally with us for almost fifty years, to see the fruitage of her labors. The year 1916 marked the jubilee year, the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of Christian Science. Its growth astonishes the world, and the adherents of Christian Science can today be found throughout the nations of the earth.
Mrs. Eddy taught Christian Science and gave its truth to the world. She recognized the necessity of providing an organized church which would, as she declared, "reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing" (Manual of The Mother Church, p. 17). Therefore The Church of Christ, Scientist, was established for the purpose of presenting to the world in an orderly and authoritative manner the teachings of this Science. It is interesting to note that Christian Science defines Church as "the structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle" (Science and Health, p. 583).
All Christian denominations base their teachings, creeds, and rituals upon the Scriptures. When Jesus "went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom," and healing the sick, he revealed God to men, not as a corporeal being, but as Spirit, or Truth. Jesus proved what Truth could do for mankind. He went to the Father, the divine Mind, for understanding, inspiration, and guidance, for the power to heal. He taught his followers that his Father was their Father, and was the unfailing God of all mankind. He knew that those who followed him understandingly would demonstrate this teaching with power and confidence, and he said to them plainly that their ministry should not be divided, but that they should uphold their preaching with the practice of healing, or, as he expressed it, "with signs following."
We ask, not offensively but inquiringly, Why is it that the religious sects of today are preaching the gospel unaccompanied by healing through the power of Spirit? How can they illustrate the teaching of the Christ without the signs which Jesus declared should follow them who believe, or understand? The Scriptures have not changed, the power of the Christ has not changed, neither has the world's belief in sickness and sin. There are as many devils, or evils, to cast out today as when Jesus "went about all Galilee."
The Scriptures, the Old Testament as well as the New, abound in evidences of spiritual healing. Christians naturally turn to the inspired Word of God for instruction, for enlightenment, and spiritual understanding, and for the spiritual interpretation of creation, or the beginning of existence.
In the first chapter of Genesis we read, to begin with, that "God created the heaven and the earth." Also the statement is made that "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him." This first chapter of Genesis is termed the Elohistic record of spiritual creation which God saw and pronounced "very good." Everything was created, or unfolded, spiritually, that is, as an idea or expression of Mind, — every living creature, every plant, herb, tree, and flower, and finally man, existed as an image of thought embraced in the divine consciousness.
It was not necessary for God to do His work over again. His work was finished for all eternity; it showed the real substance to be spiritual; it was perfect, harmonious. The man created by God is the spiritual man, not the imperfect so-called mortal. Let us consider man. Christian Science teaches in its textbook that "spiritual man is the image or idea of God, an idea which cannot be lost nor separated from its divine Principle" (Science and Health, p. 303). Therefore man expresses health, happiness, purity; he is full of joy, peace, and love; he manifests all the attributes of Deity. Bearing in mind the spiritual creation as given in the first chapter of Genesis, we will consider the second chapter, which is termed the Jehovistic record. It says another kind of man, a mortal man, was created by the Lord God from "the dust of the ground." This mortal has qualities which are opposed to those of the man whom God created, the man made in His image. As the Science of Christianity becomes apparent, the false sense of creation and the false concept disappear.
Suppose I have several counterfeit bills, and after telling of their spurious nature offer them to each of you. How many would take them? Some might look at them to be satisfied that they were different from the genuine. Indeed, some might think they had the exact appearance of a genuine bill. Examine the counterfeit bills as much as you desire. What is their substance as compared to the genuine? The paper apparently has the same texture; the ink looks the same; the design to the casual observer is identical with the genuine. Now the question arises, Who made them and where did they come from? The inducement to make them, hedged about with fear of detection, sprang from unrighteousness. The motive was fraudulent and without any rights, and was of no value. The counterfeit was not made according to law, and the government would instantly repudiate them. The only way a counterfeit can ever deceive any one is by its false standard of value, which appears to be real.
Take this illustration of the genuine and the counterfeit into the realm of thought and ascertain whether anything unlike Spirit can enter there. Can God, who is infinite good, have anything to do with evil, or with a counterfeit of His creation? Can the government of Spirit uphold the false, spurious belief? The falsity would be a negation, darkness, which when brought into the presence of light would disappear into native nothingness. The light of Truth dispels false sense, darkness; and the truth, the coming of the Christ, the right idea, awakens man's consciousness to the Science of being.
In The Christian Science Monitor appeared this terse statement: "The only truth there is about a lie, is the truth which the lie is about."
Christian Science adopts and interprets the first record of creation, found in the first chapter of Genesis, and bases all of its conclusions upon the premise of this record, — that God is the "great First Cause" of all that is real and eternal. By this premise, divine Science reveals that God is one and supreme, the all-inclusive entity, and according to John this one God is Spirit, is Love, and is All-in-all. Christian Science reveals God as the divine Principle or law of the universe. He is the one infinite intelligence, wisdom, divine Mind. He is the one infinite consciousness, Being, the creator, origin, source of all reality. He is infinite good, and is the only power, strength, activity, law, and government. He is Life, Truth, Love, and bears no more relation to the sorrows, sickness, and distress of human experience than the principle of mathematics bears to the errors in a mathematical problem.
Because God is the only source, man could not originate elsewhere; therefore man is the offspring of Spirit. Because God is the only presence, He is present to the universe, including man, as its source of all Truth, wisdom, intelligence, and Life. He is therefore ever present to man as good, as health, as power, law, government, and the source of his supply, and as his real substance. He cannot be present to the consciousness of the real man as corporeality, material personality, matter, sin, disease, evil, for these have no part in a God who is Spirit and Love. But He is present to man as the only power that is available to release and redeem him from evil. The reason that evil is not true is because God never made evil, hence He never made it present to man, and its seeming presence in human experience constitutes the Adam-dream, or the unreality of the so-called mortal life.
The divine Mind promises to mankind life as well as intelligence. It promises to mankind health, because it is the Principle of his being. It promises to mankind pure and harmonious existence, with the assurance that all which accords with truth, mercy, justice, and adequate supply of all his needs, shall be his rightful inheritance.
Mrs. Eddy was imbued with moral courage to challenge the world with the statement that God is not corporeal, but is divine Principle, Life, Truth, Love. She has given the world a concise statement which epitomizes the facts of being, and which, when understood, eliminates all mystery from Christianity. This scientific statement of being is as follows: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual" (Science and Health, p. 468). These fundamental facts of being reveal man's relation to God, provide a spiritual basis, and show that man's real nature depends upon God. Anything which is not spiritual is the counterfeit of the true.
Christian Science reveals to us that the image and likeness of God is spiritual, because God is Spirit. In the eighth chapter of Romans we read: "To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." Spiritual man is defined humanly as a man thinking spiritually, thinking life and thinking peace. Since God is All-in-all, then He is the only Mind, and man must think according to that Mind, or his thoughts do not really constitute thinking. Moreover, man reflects the qualities, the substance, the life, the intelligence, the Mind which is God. He reflects the peace, the joy, the wholesome realization of health and happiness. He reflects the one divine intelligence, therefore man thinks righteous, good, pure, healthful, loving thoughts, as Paul says, "bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ," and yielding himself the servant, not of sin unto destruction, but of righteousness unto life everlasting.
You will agree with me that no one can learn the science of anything without intelligent thinking or investigation. Divine Science is the word of God; it is not the outcome of man-made material theories and beliefs. It is the truth, and we cannot fail to observe that this truth is in exact accord with the divine law of good, and is as unchangeable as is the science of numbers. By this is meant that the highest human concept of that which is exact and true is presented in the science of numbers, or of mathematics. Students of mathematics accept its principle as the basis upon which to solve their problems. In mathematics the principle does not change, and in order to be solved the problem must be worked out according to its unvarying rule of principle. No one hopes to change the principle of mathematics to suit his own convenience, but rather does he know that the right solution of every problem depends upon the right understanding and right application of the positive rule.
The working of any problem demands fidelity and consecration to the principle and rule. God as Principle, "the great First Cause," is immutable. His rules are not movable; they are eternally established.
So when one contemplates the solution of the problems of life according to Principle, he readily recognizes that he cannot solve the problem by entertaining the belief of sin, disease, and death. Every human being on earth encounters difficulties in his daily life. Christian Science shows him that these difficulties are largely due to his own wrong thinking. Christian Science comes with that sublime and irrefutable assertion, based upon Scriptural authority, that Life is eternal. It is not absorbed in matter, and never ends. It shows him that Life can never be demonstrated by belief in hatred, malice, fear, or revenge, which are procuring causes of sickness, sin, and death.
There are approximately two hundred different Christian religious sects or denominations, all claiming to be founded upon the teachings of Christ Jesus. These sects or denominations differ wholly or in part on the question of What is the Christ? That the whole of Christendom would be united, were a common understanding reached, is easily seen.
Christian Science declares and demonstrates the fact that the terms Jesus and Christ are not synonymous, but that the term Christ is more in the nature of a title, as expressed in the words of Jesus the Christ, or, broadly interpreted, Jesus the divinely anointed, — the son or expression of God, his divine spiritual Father or Principle.
Christian Science not only acknowledges the divinity of the Christ, but seeks without ceasing to demonstrate that divinity in human affairs. It would utterly fail in its mission if it did not acknowledge and demonstrate that it is Mind, or Spirit, which was in Christ Jesus that heals the sick and reforms the sinner. This divine Spirit with which he was endowed without measure was the Christ, the element of the Messiahship, which made him the Wayshower. Christian Science thus presents the Christ as the divine Savior, the representative of God to humanity. To be divine is to partake of the nature of Deity. Hence the Christ was the divinity of the man Jesus, voicing God's spiritual message to human consciousness.
The definition of the Christ given in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, is clear and comprehensive, and is as follows: "The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error" (p. 583). Think of it for a moment! This divine manifestation of God comes to you in the flesh, and is the way of salvation from disease, pain, or suffering; in fact from everything which is not Godlike. Mrs. Eddy tells us how to find Christ. She says, that "mortals need only turn from sin and lose sight of mortal selfhood to find Christ, the real man and his relation to God, and to recognize the divine sonship" (p. 316).
It was the devout spiritual consciousness of its followers that made Christianity a vital force in the first century, and the same spiritual devotion must characterize it today if it is to be, not a dead letter, but a living reality in our lives. "The true worshippers," said Jesus, "shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth."
With such a record of healing as Jesus left, it is very evident that his work was based upon divine Principle. He demonstrated with scientific accuracy the Science of healing. Wherever he applied the spiritual law, the same result, healing, followed without a single failure. Did Jesus heal according to God's law? Did he understand and demonstrate the Science of healing? Mortals may claim that there are many methods and systems of healing, but Christian Science reveals the Principle and rule of the healing practiced by Jesus and explains its conformity to spiritual law. This law of spiritual healing is under the government of the infinite power which controls the universe, including man, and in proportion, as it is understood, its operation will transform the race from dependence upon matter and material means to spiritual activity.
Now the law of God is not something remote or distant, nor of some particular time of history. It was revealed because it must ultimately be available to every one at all times and in all places. It bears the same relationship to us today as it did to the early Christians. Is it wrong then to expect to heal by spiritual means? Is it wrong to follow the example of Jesus in healing spiritually? How can we claim the promise, "greater works than these shall he do," if we do not believe in spiritual healing now and become willing to take the first steps today toward the goal Jesus set? It is clear that it is only a blind resistance and material belief that closes the door of thought upon the great spiritual possibilities revealed, and in a measure now demonstrated, in Christian Science.
The achievements of Christian Science have answered successfully the objections and misrepresentations of the religious world and have corrected and explained the operations of other so-called healing systems. Christian Science extends to all alike the privilege of accepting and proving it for the healing of every form of sin and disease.
No one in search of freedom from sin, sickness, or error can afford to pass by the portals of Christian Science. Christian Science, as the Comforter, comes to this generation hard pressed in the turmoil of human experience, and explains what Jesus did for those who "labour and are heavy laden."
It is freely acknowledged today that the sick and those oppressed by sin and sorrow have been healed and made whole by Christian Science. Christian Science practice has also proved in many well authenticated instances that spiritual healing is possible where material remedies have failed. The understanding of Christian Science gives to the business man a better control over his affairs, a more reasonable attitude toward his employees, a more efficient and satisfactory method of doing business, and naturally better results follow. It eliminates the sense of fear or worry, it gives to him sound and good judgment, and brings relief from the mesmeric influence of wrong in the world's present day methods of business. Christian Science keeps the Principle of good ever before man. Out of its bountiful supply it gives wisdom, sagacity, trustworthiness, joy, and peace. The divine protection comes commensurately with dependence upon the truth about God, man, and the universe. At your very door is the means of relinquishing all false beliefs about your health, your business, your home, and your everyday attitude toward the world in general.
Suppose all Christendom were willing and able to accept and obey the injunction of Jesus to his followers to go "into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," also that to "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers . . . cast out devils," what would become of sin and where could it abide? It not only would not thrive, but it would cease. If sin ceased it would not act as a seeming cause for disease, suffering, and death. Therefore Christian Science urges upon mankind the abandonment of sin and the relinquishment of the belief in the material senses. It teaches them how to change their ideals and remove their sensual, sick, and selfish thoughts, all of which evolve physical disorders.
Let us consider the average man, who has not only subscribed to the good in human activity, but has reaped some portion of sin's harvest, and is now laboring with some form of sickness and disease. He may believe that he has a disease pronounced incurable by human means; if he also believes as a result of his past religious experience that it is ordained of God, his condition is naturally hopeless. Moments of despair regarding the outcome of his disease will come to that man. He may turn for relief to medicine, hygiene, drugs, or surgery, and exhaust their possibilities without finding relief. When hope has fled and doom stares him in the face, he does not reject the possibility that God can help him in his dire distress. At this stage of his experience he is more ready to depend upon God, to look to Him, first for health; then as the truth dawns on his consciousness he sees possibilities for greater progress, for life and happiness. Faith in the power of God becomes strengthened by affirmations of Truth. He gains confidence, and is given an enlarged idea of the healing power of the truth, wherein he is able to say with some degree of understanding, "Thy will be done." Then come the fruits of his new-born faith.
He gains an understanding of the Christ and applies his understanding scientifically to the removal of fear and wrong belief. His belief will be corrected, and that which he believed to be incurable will melt into its native nothingness before the light of Truth, as darkness flees before the light, — before "the brightness of his coming."
One is usually surprised and incredulous when he hears for the first time of spiritual healing being practiced today, or when he is confronted by its evidence. It is difficult for him to comprehend how the healing of the sick can be done upon a spiritual basis without the use of drugs or material remedies; but "why should it be thought a thing incredible" that God should heal the sick? Surely it is not an unpardonable sin that God should be asked to heal the sick. The law of immutable Truth does not admit of being powerful in one instance and not in another.
God proclaimed to Israel, "Ye shall serve the Lord your God . . . and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee." He did not classify disease as curable and incurable, or exclude any so-called forms of disease.
About the year 1885 Mrs. Eddy wrote: "Christian Science has healed more intemperance, licentiousness, sin, and sickness within the past eighteen years, than was ever done by the united power of creeds." Fifteen years later (1900) it was stated that "nearly two millions of instances of healing through Christian Science have been based on this scientific fact and attest to its verity." One could scarcely hope to estimate the number of these instances of healing today, but suffice it to say, the hope of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science is being rapidly fulfilled.
Those who have adopted Christian Science know well that they could not have been coerced into accepting its teaching through any undue influence, enthusiasm, or argument of others. They also know that as soon as they have begun to enjoy its fruits they would not part with a single ray of the light of understanding which it is their privilege to have. They have learned to love God by understanding what God is.
Jesus said, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." Jesus advised his followers to pray. He set the example to them and went apart to pray. He also gave to them that wonderful prayer which covers all human needs, — the Lord's Prayer, — and which is spiritually interpreted in Christian Science.
We learn in Christian Science that the power, substance, action, and law of God exist now, as they have always existed, and need only to be realized intelligently. So as humanity reaches out in thought and touches the divine, it accepts the right idea of God and learns to pray as Jesus prayed when he said: "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always." His prayer was with such confidence and trust that it was answered.
Our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, has already reached thousands of homes, where it is teaching the way of righteousness and peace, and has established health and joy in place of sickness and sorrow. The last one hundred pages of this book tell of those who have been healed of divers diseases, including rheumatism, cancer, consumption, tumor, eczema, and of every known ill to which flesh is heir. Among them were those who had been healed by reading and rereading Science and Health with increasing understanding and with unquestionable and satisfactory results. These results did not come through any miraculous phenomena, but from changing the thought of the reader and replacing false human beliefs with the true understanding of God and man. Did you ever know of any book ever before published, aside from the Bible, the perusal of which could perform such wonderful healing?
This book, Science and Health, carefully studied, has healed practically every ailment and disabled condition. It harmonizes the many seemingly conflicting statements of Scripture. Many who were atheists and agnostics have been made humble followers of the Master through its ministrations, and are now searching the Scriptures for the understanding of the Christ. I will mention, according to the captions of its chapters, what this textbook will reveal to you: —
It reveals scientifically the prayer of the Master and tells us how to pray. It illumines the doctrines of the atonement, whereby man expresses his unity with Truth and Love, and tells of the spiritual Eucharist whereby man communes with the one omnipresent God. It tells of the marriage covenants and relationship. It discloses the erroneous nature of spiritualism; it unmasks mesmerism and hypnotism and the error of animal magnetism. It tells not only of the discovery of Christian Science and its relation to the Scriptures, but it brings out the points at issue with theology and medicine; it points out the falsities of physiology, leads thought in the footsteps of truth, explains spiritual causation and creation, teaches the Science of being and the demonstration of the Christ. It answers intelligently all fair questions, goes at length into Christian Science practice and teaching, and then epitomizes the whole teaching of Christian Science in the form of questions and answers in the chapter Recapitulation, concluding this chapter with the religious tenets or important points of Christian Science.
Moreover, the textbook gives a scientific rendition of Genesis and unfolds the larger sense of the Apocalypse. It gives in its Glossary the spiritual version for the material definition of important Scriptural words, and finishes its pages with a chapter entitled Fruitage, containing well authenticated testimony to its successful ministration. This remarkable book interprets to all classes of thinkers and from every standpoint of the human mind the relation between God and man.
Mrs. Eddy's announcement of the title of the textbook startled Bible students. It is indeed the "Key to the Scriptures," because it unlocks the scientific understanding of the Bible and teaches the world how to read and study it intelligently. Where others use their commentaries and helps to Bible study, Christian Scientists use this textbook, and find that it is the key to the greater treasure house of divine wisdom and understanding.
Christian Science leads the thoughts of men to a more satisfying life, and brings assurance of divine guidance and offers to the world spiritual healing. It establishes that trust and confidence which ultimately enables men to realize the "peace of God, which passeth all understanding."
[Published in pamphlet form by The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1917.]