Editorial September 28, 1918 Issue

The Holy Scriptures

Annie M. Knott

In the early days of the Christian Science movement the baseless criticism was often heard that Mrs. Eddy's teachings had turned people away from the Bible. Nothing could be farther from the fact than such an assumption, for instead of such a condition resulting from the healing work of Christian Science, people who had never before cared to read the Bible devoted all their spare time to its study, and this is now very generally known. There is, however, another point to be considered, namely, that in their eagerness to know more of the Bible and to gain help therefrom, there has been a tendency to seek information from others who were more or less advanced in the understanding of this Science and thus to depend to some extent upon personal opinion instead of the inspiration which gave to the world the Scriptures, where we find enshrined the holiest experiences of Truth-seekers in all ages, many of whom rose in large measure to the realization of the Beatitude, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."

On page 317 of "Miscellaneous Writings" Mrs. Eddy says: "Scarcely a moiety, compared with the whole of the Scriptures and the Christian Science textbook, is yet assimilated spiritually by the most faithful seekers; yet this assimilation is indispensable to the progress of every Christian Scientist." So rich is the Bible in spiritual truth that we can go to it again and again and take from its teachings and from the experiences of the holy men of old as much of the pure gold of inspiration as we are prepared to receive; and when we go again, after having put into practice the truth thus gained, we find even more of the truth whose price is "above rubies."

We may well ask ourselves what we are seeking when we take up the study of the Bible, for in Paul's day there were some whose interpretation did but "corrupt the word of God;" and he tells of those to whom his teachings were as "the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life." If we attempt to interpret the inspired word materially, we shall miss its meaning; yet the spiritual interpretation gained through a sincere desire to know God and man better will dispel the darkness of material belief and overcome in the ratio of our understanding the difficulties and trials of human experience. On page 363 of "Miscellaneous Writings" Mrs. Eddy has this to say: "The Bible is the learned man's masterpiece, the ignorant man's dictionary, the wise man's directory." To this she adds, "I foresee and foresay that every advancing epoch of Truth will be characterized by a more spiritual apprehension of the Scriptures, that will show their marked consonance with the textbook of Christian Science Mind-healing, 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.' Interpreting the Word in the 'new tongue,' whereby the sick are healed naturally evokes new paraphrase from the world of letters."

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