Editorial April 18, 1908 Issue

THE STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES

Annie M. Knott

One of the most important religious movements of all time was inaugurated when in 1894 our revered Leader ordained the Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" as pastor of The Mother Church, and the intervening years have witnessed a study of the Bible by Christian Scientists such as was never before known. While it is true that there have been in the past many earnest and prayerful students of the Bible, the study of the Lesson-Sermons used in all Christian Science churches is quite unique. All Christian Scientists the world over are engaged upon the study of the same passages of Scripture at the same time, and these are illuminated for them by the selections from Science and Health. They are all "of one accord" and "in one mind," if not in one place, in their desire to know the truth. Our Leader has expressed the wish that the Bible from Genesis to Revelation shall be used in these Sermons, and a close study reveals the fact that new passages are constantly being used, although many which most clearly point to the life-giving Truth will ever be the more frequently employed, especially those passages which give the words and works of Christ Jesus.

Those who have had the great privilege of hearing Mrs. Eddy speak on the Bible, either in her public addresses or to her students, can but be grateful for the illumination which her words brought to them, and this illumination is shared in greater or less degree by all students of her works. On one occasion she said to some students that every part of the Bible contained wonderful spiritual lessons if we were ready to understand them, and she added, "It might almost be said of the Bible, that the most 'uncomely parts have have abundant comeliness.' " This was recalled not long after, in reading the story of Lot, which has a tragic lesson of the price to be paid for choosing the material before the spiritual.

In the study of the Lesson-Sermons we should remember that while certain passages which may seem obscure or even contradictory cannot and need not be separated from the context, it does not follow that at this stage of our growth we can understand the whole. Our Leader says that "scarcely a moiety, compared with the whole of the Scriptures and the Christian Science text-book, is yet assimilated spiritually by the most faithful seekers" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 317). This only shows what treasures of truth yet await the faithful seeker, but it is also well to remember that "mere speculation or superstition appropriates no part of the divine vesture" (Science and Health, p. 242); spiritual growth is what really unfolds the power of the Word to heal and save. In reading any passage which is not readily understood, it is well to ask ourselves whether it has any relation to the working out of our present problems. If it has, the lesson will appear in some degree; while greater growth will unfold more of the truth contained in the same text.

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