Readers

William P. McKenzie

Thought goes back to a spectacular gathering when Moses said to Israel, "This day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God," and from Ebal and Gerizim came in the loud voice of the Levites the curse upon disobedience and the blessings upon fidelity to God. Later on there must have been a gathering also when "Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death," reading or reciting his wonderful prophecy of good, ending with the promise, "Thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee." We think also of occasions when David and Solomon were readers, and leaders of public services, in the temple; and of a later date when the "book of the law of the Lord given by Moses" had become forgotten, and when the workmen of King Josiah were repairing the neglected temple and found the book of the law. The king heard the words of the law read to him and humbled himself and prayed, and later before a great gathering of his people "he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord." Then they all, king and priests and elders and people, made a covenant with God.

One more great occasion was after the return from captivity, when the people "gathered themselves together as one man," calling upon Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law, and he read to them "from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law." In Nehemiah it is recorded how other readers also took part in this work: "So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." At a date far distant from this occasion we find that this privilege of public reading of the law could be accepted by our Master, who, visiting Nazareth, where he had grown up, attended the synagogue as he was accustomed to do and stood up to read. They gave him the roll of the prophecy of Isaiah, and after reading he sat down. Then in gracious words at which the audience wondered, he declared the fulfillment of prophecy.

There is now a church whose services gird the world with the reading of Scripture and the explanation thereof in the gracious words of a book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." For Nazareth our Master could be interpreter in person, but for the world his interpretation must needs be explained as universal divine Science. This explanation is what the Christian Science textbook is giving to the world. It was written by the only one who could have given it to us, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.

Those who for a stated time hold office as Readers of Churches of Christ, Scientist, and branch societies of the movement, may review with interest antecedent history, as here briefly referred to. In the early church a lector was appointed to read lessons from Scripture; and in the Eastern church, under the name of anagnost, such an officer was ordained. When Mrs. Eddy made her ordination for The Church of Christ, Scientist, the pastor was not a person but the Bible and the Christian Science textbook. She says (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 382): "In 1895 I ordained that the Bible and 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,' the Christian Science textbook, be the pastor, on this planet, of all the churches of the Christian Science denomination." Hence the freedom of branch churches to choose by election the Readers, who retire from office at the end of a term, to be succeeded by other members of The Mother Church.

A reader is one who peruses with understanding the words of a book, or utters aloud what is written. His study of the text enables him to interpret its significance. One interesting thing in the services of the Christian Science movement is that in the churches the Readers read to readers, for during the week preceding the service very many in the audience have already perused and studied the lesson. Mrs. Eddy in Miscellany (p. 238) says: "Rightly to read and to practise the Scriptures, their spiritual sense must be discerned, understood, and demonstrated. ... Hence the revelation, discovery, and presentation of Christian Science—the Christ Science, or 'new tongue' of which St. Mark prophesied—became requisite in the divine order." It is no wonder, then, that the visitor to these services finds a sense of rest and peace in the atmosphere of loving reverence for God, where worshipers are found uniting faith in God with all-embracing good will to mankind. Such gatherings of those who are all "with one accord in one place" as seekers after God, illustrate what Samuel Longfellow writes regarding the church of God:—

Her priests are all God's faithful sons,
To serve the world raised up;
The pure in heart her baptized ones;
Love, her communion cup.

William P. McKenzie.

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"Arise, let us go hence"

September 28, 1918

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