Article July 18, 1908 Issue

STUDYING CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

WILHELM SEGERBLOM.

IT has been said that Christian Science cannot be studied and comprehended intellectually, as can mathematics or a physical science, and it is true that this great subject, the Science of being, can be apprehended and understood only through humility, honesty of purpose, purity of thought, and a deep desire to know God better,—a requirement which has been expressed by one thus: "What we need is not so much the educated head as the educated heart."

The following illustration may show more clearly the difference between the study of Christian Science and the study of other subjects. In the ordinary text-book of mathematics the student often finds sample problems worked out in the text to illustrate the particular law or phase of mathematical thought under consideration. These are followed by numerous problems of a similar nature, which he proceeds to solve along the line of the samples just given. When he has solved all these he considers himself master of that basic law or rule, and he proceeds to the study of the next one. In many cases, however, the student has simply been following the patterns mechanically, without really understanding the principle involved; the test of his complete mental grasp of the basic law comes later, when he tries to apply it in more complicated problems. If he be not watchful, the satisfaction of the parrot nature of mortals, gained from the mechanical solving of the problems in the text, may easily be mistaken for a working knowledge of the subject.

The main difference between the study of mathematics and the study of Christian Science is this: the student of the former finds all his representative problems given him in the book, but the student of the latter, in his study of the Christian Science text-book, while finding the Principle of being elucidated therein, learns that the problems to which he must apply it are all in himself, that is, in his own thought. This marked difference may be so unlooked for and novel to the intellectually trained mind that he fails to grasp its significance, and not bringing forth the fruits meet for repentance, he lays aside the Christian Science text-book with the thought that there is nothing in it.

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