The carpenter who would become a skillful artisan, but who uses only his hammer and saw, can nail shingles and saw planks; when, however, he gets jobs requiring skill and precision, he has to turn them over to his fellow workmen. He may have access to a shop full of sharp tools and a handbook telling him how to use them, but if he sticks only to his hammer and saw he remains a novice, while he might have become a master workman.

Every Christian Scientist is a builder. Whether he remains in the saw and hammer class or becomes a dexterous artisan rests with himself. At his disposal are a shop full of the finest tools ever made and a handbook telling him where to find them. The shop full of tools is the Bible and our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," replete with succinct statements of Truth; the handbook is our Concordance, which gives their page and line.

Many mistakenly regard a concordance merely as an index to which one may turn to find the context of a desired word; but it is much more than that, for it shows how often the author has used the word, in what connection it was used, and tells where to find it. It not only prints the word itself but gives each sentence, phrase, or grouping in which it appears.

Christian Scientists have been provided by Mrs. Eddy with a Concordance which includes in one or two volumes every word to be found in our textbook and her other writings. To the student unfamiliar with its pages it is an interesting book full of surprises, rich in information, and prolific in variety.

Our textbook elucidates the Science of Christianity and the art of its application. Dealing with the elements of reality, the truth of being, its range is so comprehensive that its appeal is universal. Its readers come from every walk of life, drawn by a wide range of motive, held by a conviction of the demonstrable truths it sets forth. Some there are who read it dutifully, others perfunctorily, and others studiously in search of some of the undiscovered personal messages with which it is replete. To all of these, as well as to those who read it for the healing of physical or mental ailments and for the relief of sorrow, distress, or adversity, frequent use of the Concordance is commended. To them it is not only a convenience but a necessity. Through it will be found new passages concordant with those priceless gems of Truth that have been their protection, their comfort, and their inspiration since they first learned of Christian Science.

Many students whose copies of Science and Health show signs of frequent reading have not yet learned how to use their Concordances intelligently. We may know the very message we need is there awaiting us, and we may recall a part of it, but it is hidden away in the lines of one of the pages of the textbook. If we remember but one prominent word, our Concordance will give the rest. When found, it may bring to our thought another truth akin to it, for our Leader's writings are joined in one great chain whose links extend back and forth through their pages, and whose continuity and relationship are to be traced readily through the Concordance. Hardly a pregnant sentence do they contain that has not in it some signal word or phrase hinting of other riches which may be easily located through the pages of our handbook.

Even those who know their textbook well and can recall by line and page their favorite passages without difficulty or delay do not always know what pleasure and profit await them through analyzing and dissecting such phrases or sentences.

Let us take, for example, the familiar passage on page 261 of our textbook: "Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts," and let us briefly assemble some of its correlated words as the Concordance supplies them. Taking first the word "endure" and its derivatives on page 148 of the Concordance, we find mentioned with it such helpful words and phrases as "energy," "mental powers," "labor," "immortal ideas,"—any of which, without being synonymous with the verb "endure," have been included by our Leader in the same sentence with it and will repay further Concordance research.

The word "energy" as used in connection with "endurance" leads on the same page of the Concordance to such uplifting subjects as "consecration of thought," "unlabored motion," and so on, which, if followed up in the Concordance, would in turn introduce other themes inviting thought and pointing the way to blessings.

A helpful practice which many of our people have adopted is to list key words from favorite passages, together with line and page, so that they can quickly read from the text the full passage. Such a condensed index is convenient for the pocket and desk, and may readily be compiled from the lines of the Concordance.

Other systems of Concordance study may be devised which will prove both interesting and informative, and which are applicable alike to the Bible and our Leader's writings. Whatever leads to a more thorough acquaintance with these is to be commended. The words of the Gospels are more enduring than the spheres, and we should welcome whatever will aid us to know them better. Jesus indicated their infinitude when he said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Many Bibles include a Concordance more or less comprehensive, but not comparable in size with the complete one our Leader authorized and supervised which, as its preface states, "contains every noun, verb, adjective, and adverb in Science and Health, together with certain pronouns, prepositions, and conjunctions, which were deemed of sufficient importance to be introduced" (see Compiler's preface).

A copy of the Concordance to our textbook is essential to the equipment of every Christian Science practitioner who would have his patients acquire for themselves an acquaintance with the healing messages spread throughout its pages. It is indispensable to the student who would progress beyond mediocrity in the application of its teachings. It furnishes material for improved testimonials, and whoever would contribute to our periodicals acceptably needs its pages for reference and confirmation. As essential as the time-table to the man making a stop-over journey by rail from coast to coast, so is the Concordance to the Reader in making up his Wednesday readings. By turning to the Concordance he finds at a glance all that Science and Health has said about his subject, and can make his selections intelligently.

The practitioner needing an apt and appealing word for his patient direct from the pen of our Leader can lift it from the Concordance and have it ready to hand to him. Or, if he prefers, he can select a number of references, setting down only the line and page of each, and give them to his patient to look up in the textbook for himself, after he leaves. If he is far enough along and wants some definite line of exploration which he may follow, the practitioner may commend him to study from his Concordance what it presents under such key words as "Life," "Truth," "Love," and other synonyms for God. If he is a thinker as well as a reader, he will turn to his textbook for amplification of the lines of his Concordance on these subjects, and will find enough to keep him profitably busy for a long time while adding to his scientific mental equipment. A Bible Concordance is equally useful for this purpose, both to the beginner and to the experienced worker.

The practitioner, advertised or otherwise, who has not consistently used his Concordance may be surprised to find how much helpful material is there which he may profitably use in his practice. Take, for example, the patient who comes to him lacking faith in God, faith in the treatment given, or faith in his own ability to help himself, who through years of incredulity has little faith left in anything, and yet wants every aid he can get to become more trustful and confident. The practitioner turns to the Concordance and there under the word "faith" he finds nearly three columns of references from which to choose several that will give his patient just what he needs. In case he wishes to examine related words, he will find them under the head of "trust" and its derivatives, or under "expectation" he will find something worth while to write down for the doubting patient to verify for himself.

The student who may be puzzled over some specific statement made somewhere at some time by Mrs. Eddy may have it made clear as day if he will turn to his Concordance and there examine what else she has given him on the same subject. If in his correspondence with a friend he wants an authoritative statement of Truth in support of what he is trying to elucidate, his Concordance will show him just where to find it.

Controversy may be instantly stilled when our Leader's exact words are forthcoming. Disputed questions of church and individual procedure as outlined in the Manual may be quickly decided by reference to the Concordance to Mrs. Eddy's other works, including the Church Manual and her poems.

Our Leader was as prolific in her use of words as she was careful in her choice of them. This characteristic became more marked as time went on, for up to the date of her last revision in 1910 she was endeavoring to give Science and Health a fuller and clearer elucidation of its original meaning. As these changes were made, they were entered in the latest edition of the Concordance. The authenticity of a disputed quotation may be established or refuted simply by reference to the Concordance of today. This is particularly important in view of what Mrs. Eddy said about her earlier writings (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 237): "What I wrote on Christian Science some twenty-five years ago I do not consider a precedent for a present student of this Science." So if you are in doubt about the validity of an alleged quotation, the pages of your Concordance will enlighten you, leaving no room for question.

In the year 1885 an index to leading subjects and phrases was bound in the rear of Science and Health. Mrs. Eddy, in her Preface to the first edition of 1903, said of it: "Neither it nor subsequent indices fully met the requirements of the students of our textbook. It finally became apparent that the only satisfactory way to meet this need was to prepare a complete Concordance, which should include all prominent words and phrases which the student may desire to find. I am confident that this work will fully meet his demands."

Her supervision and personal interest in its publication are shown by the many letters in the archives of The Mother Church addressed to her publisher, Mr. Armstrong, and to Mr. Conant, her faithful compiler. Some of the incidents and occurrences connected with the compilation and issuance of the book showed error's attempts to interfere with its appearance on the date named by our Leader. Printers' strikes, fires, and breakdown of machinery were some of the casualties that interfered, but they were all proved futile, and the Concordance appeared on the date fixed—another instance in the history of our movement where good work brought good results

Mrs. Eddy has given to humankind the tools whereby the most intricate and baffling tasks may be worked out. Those of her followers who still adhere to the saw and hammer method, confining their quotations to a few well-worn phrases and sentences when the whole wealth of the entire book is at their disposal, will do well to enlarge their mental and spiritual equipment through the study of their Concordances, that they may join the great company of those whose exposition of our Leader's teachings is lucid and convincing, based upon exact predications of Truth. These are they who forthwith heal and comfort their fellow man in sickness and distress. They know their Concordances.