Article August 23, 1924 Issue

The Master Key

LILIA WITHERBY

"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy not only affords a key to unlock the hitherto veiled meaning of Biblical truths, but also gives the understanding whereby all the seemingly baffling problems of everyday life may be satisfactorily solved. One has only to glance over the list of subjects in the Christian Science Quarterly selected for the weekly lessons—which are composed of references from the Bible and Science and Health—to perceive that they cover all the questions which confront every thoughtful person in seeking a solution of the great spiritual facts of being. Like many others, the writer spent weary years seeking in the mazes of materia medica and scholastic theology for health of body and peace of mind. The first reading of Science and Health brought health and vigor to her; the continued study of it, together with the Bible, has brought emancipation from many of the vagaries of human belief and given a satisfying and practical religion.

In a visit paid some years ago to the famous maze at Hampton Court, the writer was afforded a striking illustration of this experience. In this maze one may wander for an indefinite time and yet make no progress, repeatedly covering the same ground. In a small tower is stationed a man who holds the key or solution for the finding of one's way out of the maze; and this key is available to all. The instructions are so simple that a child can follow them and find himself almost immediately out of the maze. Similarly, the clear, concise statements of Christian Science have been the means of extricating thousands who have wandered long and blindly in the mazes of materiality, whose paths lead nowhere. If, after one has accepted Christian Science, entire freedom is not at once experienced, the fault is not in the key, but in the use of it.

To use another illustration: the writer on one occasion failed to open a door by means of a key which had been proved many times to be the right one. There seemed to be some unexplainable resistance in the lock. Another occupant of the house opened the door with the same key without any difficulty whatever, remarking, as he did so, that experience had taught him how to overcome the seeming resistance. In Science and Health (p. 99) Mrs. Eddy says: "Truth has furnished the key to the kingdom, and with this key Christian Science has opened the door of the human understanding. None may pick the lock nor enter by some other door."

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