Article August 4, 1928 Issue

Our Periodicals

EMMA M. MADSEN

Each student of Christian Science who is willing day by day to do some little service for our movement progresses out of materiality into the realm of spirituality. We may not be public practitioners of Christian Science or church officials immediately after we enlist to think rightly, but we can and should make constant effort to promote the welfare of the Cause. Every right move made by each of us helps to heal the world of inactivity and tends to produce harmonious movement in all that pertains to work in Christian Science, as well as in every branch of human endeavor.

One of the early and easy moves for new students to make is that of subscribing for our periodicals. In the Manual of The Mother Church (p. 44) Mrs. Eddy writes, "It shall be the privilege and duty of every member, who can afford it, to subscribe for the periodicals which are the organs of this Church; and it shall be the duty of the Directors to see that these periodicals are ably edited and kept abreast of the times." To "subscribe for" the periodicals means far more than to send in our names with the right subscription dues: it means to bear "witness unto the truth" each day, the truth which is presented by the Christian Science literature; it means to use the true ideas we receive from the periodicals. Another meaning of the word "subscribe" is "to give testimony." By showing forth the fruits of the Spirit in improved characters, putting off the "old man" and putting on the new, until we awake in His likeness, we can daily and hourly give testimony to the fact that Christian Science heals. Then we shall be able at the right time to give mental, audible, and written testimonies of healing through Christian Science.

Perhaps we are all more or less prone to think of the clause "who can afford it" as meaning whether or not we have the right amount of money needed to pay for the subscription. But this is not all, because a right motive should move us to do the right thing at the right time. According to Webster "afford" means, "to give forth; supply, yield," so, if we have an honest desire to yield our thinking to the divine will and to give out something to others which will supply their needs, then we shall be able to expend, in order to become regular subscribers for all our literature. And everyone can "afford" to do this, because each one can perceive the true idea which, when expressed, brings the needed supply.

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