The Christian Science textbook, of which Mary Baker Eddy is the author, has well been named "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Not only do the inspired pages of this volume show the relation of mental and physical health to the Science of Christianity, but they contain a veritable key to the spiritual interpretation of Holy Writ which unlocks treasures hid from unnumbered thousands of un-illumined human hearts.

Consider, for example, the light which Mrs. Eddy throws on this statement from the book of Revelation (21:9), "And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." Under the marginal reference "Vials of wrath and consolation," we read (Science and Health, p. 574), "The beauty of this text is, that the sum total of human misery, represented by the seven angelic vials full of seven plagues, has full compensation in the law of Love." Then the inspired author continues, "Note this,—that the very message, or swift-winged thought, which poured forth hatred and torment, brought also the experience which at last lifted the seer to behold the great city, the four equal sides of which were heaven-bestowed and heaven-bestowing."

What a message of strength and comfort is this! In the darkness of some tribulation, who has not longed to find a silver lining for the cloud? Who has not uttered again and again the unavailing "Why?" when a burden has seemed unjust and unendurable? But, according to our Leader's interpretation of John's revelation, these difficult experiences are testing times which should lift one above the discords of sense testimony and lead thought to the very kingdom of heaven, of harmony, itself.

Mrs. Eddy assures us in a continuation of her interpretation, "The very circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares." But some sufferer may ask: How can this be? How can this pain with which I am wrestling possibly prove to be an angel, or a blessing? Science makes answer, If because of the sufferings of mortal sense one learns to turn to spiritual consciousness not only for bodily relief but for happiness, guidance, and peace of mind, the painful experience has verily been transformed into a blessing and leaves one on higher, safer ground.

It is not always easy for the newcomer to Science to grasp the fact that the material sense which reports pain at one moment can, at the next, claim to produce so-called pleasure. To be consistent, one should strive to look away from the testimony of the physical senses to spiritual truth, if one would find either abiding peace or pleasure.

Suppose a person is suffering from what is sometimes designated as smoker's sore throat. He may turn to Christian Science for healing and aver that he wishes relief only from the pain, not from the smoker's so-called pleasure. In other words, he would banish the sensation of material discomfort and retain the feeling of material enjoyment; whereas neither the sense of pain nor the sense of pleasure in matter is real, and both must be repudiated if Christly consistency is to be manifested and true harmony attained.

At this point the new student may say: But I don't want to give up the sensations of enjoyment which liquor and tobacco bring. Does Science take all pleasure from one? The answer is that when one learns in Christian Science the truth about God and man—that God is Spirit, good, and man is the reflection of good—he discovers that he has not known in the realm of sensient physicality real happiness or satisfaction, but only a counterfeit thereof, artificial, ephemeral, synthetic. The Science of being reveals to human consciousness in ever-increasing measure the presence of celestial goodness, beauty, and harmony which brings the joy and satisfaction which passes all worldly comprehension.

Human language cannot describe the real joy which comes, for instance, when in silent communion with God one witnesses a genuine Christian healing. Who could put into words the exquisite peace which comes when one has battled with and conquered some aggressive phase of sensualism and has felt, as when Jesus subdued the tempter, the ministering of angelic thoughts? Can the sensation of liquor stimulation have even the remotest resemblance to the joy which comes not of artificial exhilaration, but of heavenly inspiration? Christian Science is not engaged in the business of taking joy and pleasure from mankind, but in the happifying activity of showing mortals what constitutes real joy and how to attain it.

And now what of those whose battle with some physical error seems unending? Have we been unable to see in the experience even the remotest appearance of an angel? There is a beautiful promise in the book of Isaiah (48:10): "Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." If the painful sense is forcing us to turn to the spiritual facts of being as we have never turned before, the angel is appearing. There is much good counsel in the oft-quoted verse of Robert Browning:

The verse ends with this challenge:

The more difficult the problem, the tighter should be our grasp on the hand of omnipotence. Like Jacob of old, we must resolve that the experience can only bless us. The growing consciousness of man's unity with infinite good, with painless, harmonious Love, which Christian Science teaches, can know no defeat.

The truth is that God's man, His perfect reflection, is not seen in disease, but in deathless, sinless harmony. Let us thank the Father for even the faintest glimpse of this great fact. Let us thank Him that we are learning that the testing time is not a calamity, but a glorious opportunity to prove His nearness to man and man's dearness to Him. Hear this angelic message from Science and Health (p. 536): "The divine understanding reigns, is all, and there is no other consciousness."

John Randall Dunn