Article September 15, 1917 Issue

The "Key to the Scriptures"

EDITH AZALIA ADAMS BAILEY

One who has not studied Christian Science as taught in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," is sometimes curious as to why this book should be called a key. One such seeker for truth eagerly searched through the pages of this book for the key, expecting to find a Bible concordance that would explain various Bible words and phrases. Coming in due course to the Glossary, a sense of disappointment was felt because this "Bible dictionary" seemed so meager in its scope by comparison with the preconceived idea of what an adequate "Key to the Scriptures" should embody. Serious study of the Christian Science textbook, however, showed it to be a veritable key which does unlock to the understanding many spiritual treasures of the Bible that formerly were unappreciated, and it does throw new and definite light on much more of which the true meaning was before only partially grasped.

Only those who have passed through a similar experience — and doubtless there are many such — can know the sense of joy and reassurance which comes in the midst of doubt when on the printed page in Science and Health is met the expression of many of the ideas already secretly held regarding the teaching of the Scriptures along various lines. The sense of gratitude almost overwhelms the reader in finding himself no longer isolated and alone in his beliefs, because he recognizes that all Christian Scientists must believe the same, in so far as they accept the Christian Science textbook as an exposition of the Bible.

The child in school begins his study of arithmetic as a portion of the training laid down in the curriculum. He has a textbook which states clearly the fundamental rules governing each step to be taken in working out the problems given. The child may not understand that arithmetic is included in the course to train his thought along mathematical lines. He may not understand why it is of any benefit to him personally or to anybody else to spend time and effort in learning and applying the rules to the problems assigned for the daily lesson ; yet with the truly childlike mind, unquestioning before the voice of authority, he sets to work to learn them and to put them into practice. He comes to reason out why he gets a certain result. Experience in the application of the principle taught in the textbook makes him expert in time, and given a problem at random, he is able without reference to the textbook to make use of the right rule to solve that particular problem.

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