Article September 28, 1918 Issue

The Lesson-Sermons

ROBERT NALL

It is not necessary to take a referendum of Christian Scientists to prove that progress in spiritual understanding, and therefore in demonstrating the truth, has been and is concurrent with diligent and conscientious study of the Lesson-Sermons. The evidence of this in every field is sufficient to sustain the statement. If there are students who are not availing themselves of these Lessons to the extent they should, then they are losing a priceless opportunity of learning to know God and spiritual law, and how to apply that law in meeting daily needs.

Sometimes one hears of young students who, not having really tested the value of the Lessons, and misled in the first flush of the new light by a demonstration which seems to have opened up a royal road to further achievement, are beguiled into the belief that the importance of the Lesson-Sermon is just a little overdrawn. This error is, in the usual course, followed by others in order to give it support; as for instance, that the Lessons being metaphysical are difficult, and can only be mentally grasped by the advanced and prepared thought, and that some of the subjects, especially those dealing with animal magnetism in its varied forms, seem to have little relation to the simple and beautiful teaching of Christian Science with its emphasis on that which is lovely and of good report. Such criticisms are obviously the result of ignorance and crude thinking; and sometimes there is mental lethargy, even in the case of older students. It must never be forgotten, however, that the subjects were chosen by Mrs. Eddy herself, and that the scientific method of preparing the Lessons was initiated by her. That wisdom, prescience, and a remarkable insight into the needs of humanity were thus manifested, finds indubitable evidence in the healing "signs" that everywhere follow these impersonal Sermons. In this respect they are unique; they are, indeed, the nearest approach to the spiritual fruitfulness of the discourses of Christ Jesus and the apostles that humanity has received.

It is superfluous to argue the point that the Lesson-Sermon is an essential part of the spiritual curriculum of every one who has enlisted to show by precept and example that Christian Science is the Christianity of Christ Jesus. The Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, from which they are prepared, are complementary; each is necessary to the other if the Science of Christianity is to be understood. The "canonical writings," to quote the phrase used in the "Explanatory Note" of The Christian Science Quarterly, are the books of Scripture accepted as the standard or rule of faith by the entire Christian church. And Christendom is indebted to Mrs. Eddy for having, by her discovery of Christian Science, given a greater impetus to the study of the Bible than has any other teacher of modern days. The Bible was her only textbook; and she has said that it "contains the recipe for all healing," and that its "central fact" "is the superiority of spiritual over physical power" (Science and Health, pp. 406 and 131). Matthew Arnold protested against the Bible being held up as a "talisman to be taken and used literally." Mrs. Eddy taught that the Bible has both a spiritual and a literal meaning, but she so far laid stress on the spiritual signification as to aver that without it the Scriptures "can do no more for mortals than can moonbeams to melt a river of ice" (Science and Health, p. 241). Nor would she have admitted for a moment that there was anything talismanic or magical about either the Bible or the Christian Science textbook. The treasures of Truth are there; but these must be diligently uncovered and used. In this connection Ruskin's advice to go to the author to get his meaning and not your own, and his symbolism of pickaxes and shovels that should be operated with vigor to unearth the gold of wisdom, will occur to many. Reward is always in the ratio of sincere effort and pure motive. Invariably the Christian Scientist finds that the Lesson-Sermons give him precisely that which is in harmony with the thought and purpose which he brings to bear upon them.

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