Article September 23, 1916 Issue

Thorough Study

GUSTAVUS S. PAINE

ON turning to Christian Science, whether or not one has known how to study before, one soon learns something of what it means to be a thorough student. Though it may frequently require no particular knowledge of Christian Science for a person to be instantly healed of some specific trouble, daily study is necessary afterward in order to keep well and to work out quickly any other problem which may present itself. Moreover, if one has not seemingly been able to turn to God so spontaneously and completely as to experience immediate healing, such a one certainly needs to study diligently in order to know how to turn wholly in the right direction. For all, indeed, who would know the truth careful and systematic study of the teachings of Christian Science is requisite to gain a real understanding of the practical operation of Principle in every activity of life.

For this systematic study the Leader of the Christian Science movement has provided everything necessary. The consecutive study of Science and Health in accordance with Mrs. Eddy's statement on page 559: "Read this book from beginning to end. Study it, ponder it," and the daily study of the Lesson-Sermons as given in the Quarterly, are of course equally important. Indispensable also is the careful consideration of all of Mrs. Eddy's other works, for surely the way to gain a practical understanding of Christian Science and its application in any given circumstance is to become familiar with all that its Discoverer and Founder has written for publication on the subject.

In our intensive and extensive study of all these works the concordances are of great value. A student of Christian Science, for example, who was acting as attendant in a Christian Science reading-room on Sunday afternoons, and frequently after a busy morning at church and Sunday school had found himself succumbing to a sense of drowsiness, decided one day to resist the temptation by looking up in Science and Health all the passages on "awake" and "watch." By the time these had been carefully read, studied, and compared with one another and with similar passages in the Bible, all sense of lethargy had vanished. From that day to this, moreover, about seven years, the overcoming has been complete. This relatively slight experience illustrates some of the limitless possibilities of study with the aid of the concordances, possibilities which are unfolding still more now that we have the concordance to Mrs. Eddy's writings, other than Science and Health.

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