An experienced church worker once called my attention to Article VIII, Section 14, of the Manual of The Mother Church, in which Mary Baker 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."

Man possesses unlimited spiritual supply because of his oneness with the source of all true supply, God. Therefore the prayerful endeavor to recognize and demonstrate this fact will enable each member of The Mother Church, as well as all other students of Christian Science, to subscribe for the periodicals. In fact, no student can afford to be without the wise counsel, the comfort, the information, and the inspiring testimonies of healing contained in them.

This By-Law from the Manual has encouraged me to carry a continuous subscription to the periodicals even during years when the financial picture appeared gloomy, Great was the value received when the articles and testimonies poured into the home, each one seemingly designed to meet my own particular need. Increased spiritual understanding, much of it gained through the study of the periodicals, resulted in numerous demonstrations that lifted the whole family into better home, school, and working conditions.

One small word which is not to be overlooked in this By-Law is "every." "It shall be the privilege and duty of every member" to subscribe, Mrs. Eddy says. Yet in homes where two or more of the family are members of The Mother Church often only one subscription for the periodicals is taken out. One Christian Scientist whose husband subscribed to the periodicals and had them sent to their home address, ordered her own subscription mailed to the city jail. Later the subscription was transferred to one in a state hospital, who reported that he and a number of other patients were enjoying it.

There are thousands of people all over the world who were once troubled, ill, and longed for love, who first learned through the periodicals that in the understanding of God as explained through, Christian Science lies surcease from all their woes. A recent Sentinel carried a letter from a Christian Scientist in Germany telling of the great comfort she had received from a Sentinel that was found in a rubbish pile during the time when our literature was not available in Germany.

On my way to have a wisdom tooth extracted one day, feeling great dread of the experience. I picked up a copy of The Christian Science Journal from the weeds near the bus stop. Its pages were rain-marked and dirty, but they still contained the truth, and one arresting statement made such an impression that I felt a physical adjustment taking place. Later the tooth was extracted so easily and quickly that I asked the nurse if teeth with such curved roots usually came out with so little difficulty. She replied emphatically that they did not. The tooth had formerly been impacted, but after several periods of Christian Science treatment if had righted itself and appeared above the gums, so that it could be removed without surgery. The testimonies from the Journal and Sentinel had been strong bulwarks during the working out of this problem.

Mrs. Eddy says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 111), "Leaving the seed of Truth to its own vitality, it propagates: the tares cannot hinder it." In each of the periodicals the seed of Truth has surely been planted, and that seed, sown under Mind's guidance by The Christian Science Publishing Society and the members of the church, does not fall upon barren ground. This is a constructive standpoint to remember when the distributing of the Christian Science literature is undertaken.

A practitioner was made happy one day when a ragged, hungry man came into the Reading Room, where she served as librarian, to ask for help in Christian Science, He had found a copy of the Sentinel on a bench in a near-by park and had seen in it some hope that the barrenness of his life could be exchanged for beauty and abundance. The practitioner had left the Sentinel on the park bench. The same Love that prompted the leaving of the Sentinel also guided the one who found it to where his need would be met.

With so many expressions of distrust and contention among nations being voiced through the whole world today by the press and the radio, every printed word that encourages men's thought to turn to God helps to nullify these evils and give a blessing. Healing has often come into homes through Christian Science periodicals which have been taken home from Sunday School by little children. Credit for a share in these healings surely goes to the loving members who had subscribed for them and then given them to the church.

"But I don't need to subscribe for the periodicals," a woman in need of help once said to a practitioner. "They give them to me free at the Reading Room." Our free literature has brought great blessings to countless persons, but there comes a time in the student's experience when it is his privilege to give back to another needy one the same good that he received without price. Jesus sometimes requested the one he healed to make some effort; for example, the man with the withered hand was asked to stretch forth his hand and the leper to go and show himself to the priest. Practitioners today can emulate Jesus' example by awakening their patients to the blessing that lies in giving. Where literature is supplied to the needy without price it is because other generous students have first paid for it, often at a real sacrifice.

Many students have tested the Preacher's counsel (Eccl.11:1), "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days." When they have cast what seemed literally to be their last crumb, they have found that the promise still holds, for blessings have been returned to them a hundredfold. Students need not fear to make severe sacrifices in support of their literature. Since social and economic difficulties will abate only as the Science of Christ pervade men's thinking, that mite is an excellent investment in lasting security—individual, national, and international. Our revered Leader tells us in verse 13 of "Christ and Christmas,"