Article August 9, 1919 Issue

Our Textbooks

MARY C. HOLDEN

In conversation with an eminent lawyer who was a visitor in our city and who is a devout student of the Bible, I learned that he had that Sunday morning attended his former church and was invited into the Bible Class, which he had previously taught for some years. During the course of the lesson a question came up for discussion that seemed to cause much confusion; no one could find the answer. It developed that the teacher of the class had searched many commentaries on the Bible without results, and finally went to a Jewish rabbi for information. The visitor said: "I always depend upon the Bible alone for my information and interpretation. Hand me the Bible and I will find the answer." He turned back a few pages from the lesson text, and there found for the class the full information needed. When he repeated the incident to me I remarked that Christian Scientists also depend upon the sacred pages of the Bible for their information and instruction in all things. He replied, "You depend upon Mrs. Eddy's interpretation of the Bible."

This little conversation caused me to think more scientifically than I had ever thought before along the line of textbooks, and especially of our textbooks and their relation one with the other. The first thought came clearly that Mrs. Eddy most certainly discovered the Science of Christianity, for on page 107 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she says, "In the year 1866, I discovered the Christ Science or divine laws of Life, Truth, and Love, and named my discovery Christian Science;" and also on page 126 of the same textbook she writes: "The Bible has been my only authority. I have had no other guide in 'the straight and narrow way' of Truth."

To elucidate this truth that was rediscovered from the sacred pages of the Bible, and to make it available to a weary, waiting world, Mrs. Eddy must have realized that as other students of other sciences adhere to their textbooks for information and instruction to demonstrate their fundamentals successfully, so a seeker of the Christ Science, or Christian Science, must adhere to his textbook, and Mrs. Eddy's other writings, in order to understand and demonstrate the truths of the Bible. So many people form an opinion without investigation that many think the name Christian Science is just a play on words, and they cannot understand, because of their lack of investigation, that students of Christian Science accept Mrs. Eddy's interpretation of the Bible because they are thereby enabled to perform the works that the followers of Christ Jesus are commanded to do. The Bible and Science and Health cannot be separated, and this grand fact stands out more clearly to me each time I listen to the words of the Explanatory Note read from the Quarterly on Sunday, and which begins with the statement that "the Bible and the Christian Science textbook are our only preachers." Because of Mrs. Eddy's discovery of the fundamentals of Christ's Christianity, it is necessary for those who would utilize this knowledge in their own behalf to accept the Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" as their textbooks.

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"Taught of God"
August 9, 1919
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