Our Textbook

Few persons have had the privilege of presenting to the world a message which has revolutionized human thought on the most important of all subjects, namely, God, His nature, His creation including man, and man’s relation to Him. Christ Jesus had this unprecedented privilege, which is shared in our own time by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.

Jesus’ message, presented in the four gospels, turned men to the worship of God as Spirit, proclaiming the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Mrs. Eddy, amplifying the precepts of the Master, revealed divine Science, the Science of being, its rule and method of application to the gaining of salvation; she taught mankind how to gain freedom from the limitations of materiality in all its manifold forms. This revelation, which came through prayerful and persistent study of the Holy Scriptures, is set forth in the Christian Science textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.” Of the divine source of Christian Science Mrs. Eddy has written on page 110 of the textbook, “No human pen nor tongue taught me the Science contained in this book, Science and Health; and neither tongue nor pen can overthrow it;” and she closes the paragraph with these words: “But the Science and truth therein will forever remain to be discerned and demonstrated.” Sublime assurance! Yet how justified has been our Leader’s strong stand through the experiences of the hosts who have become the beneficiaries of the healing truth contained in her textbook! Her bold words have been proved true beyond peradventure of doubt, and the proof is cumulative. “The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations;” and both nations and individuals have profited beyond calculation from the beneficent influence of the healing Christ which for half a century, through the ministrations of Christian Science, has gone its silent way, mitigating and destroying the baneful effects of evil.

Many find in the textbook of Christian Science the counterpart of the “little book” which John saw in his marvelous experience in beholding reality. The “mighty angel” whom John visioned had in his hand a “little book open;” and John declares that when he demanded of the angel that the book be given him, it was given him with the command that it be taken and eaten. In obedience, John took the book and ate it up; and it was to his mouth “sweet as honey,” but in its assimilation it became “bitter.” In commenting on the message of her little book, “Truth’s volume,” Mrs. Eddy says on page 559 of Science and Health: “Mortals, obey the heavenly evangel. Take divine Science. Read this book from beginning to end. Study it, ponder it. It will be indeed sweet at its first taste, when it heals you; but murmur not over Truth, if you find its digestion bitter.”

It has frequently been the human experience that when spiritual Truth, the heavenly evangel, came to consciousness to supplant and destroy the false beliefs of the so-called mortal mind, conflict arose and continued until evil gave way before the hosts of almighty Truth. This is the age-old conflict between Truth and error, between good and evil. The outcome of this strife will be the ultimate triumph of good, for evil has but one destiny, that is, destruction.

In the half century since the publishing of the Christian Science textbook, so current have become its teachings that the younger generation, often with little knowledge of their author, accepts them as a part of the common heritage of mankind.

A fact of which Christian Scientists never lose sight is that Science and Health is primarily the textbook of Christian Science. Webster defines “textbook” as “a manual of instruction.” Obviously, a manual of instruction is a book to be studied, to be read, reread, pondered, and assimilated. Because our textbook reveals divine Science, which is infinite in its range and meaning, it is to be studied unceasingly, for its treasures of Truth are unfolded progressively to the spiritually awakening thought. Even its author, it is said, turned constantly to its inspired pages, finding new truths as she spiritually progressed. On the universality of its message Mrs. Eddy writes in “Miscellaneous Writings” (p. 317), “Scarcely a moiety, compared with the whole of the Scriptures and the Christian Science textbook, is yet assimilated spiritually by the most faithful seekers; yet this assimilation is indispensable to the progress of every Christian Scientist.”

Moreover, the Bible and Science and Health are the only pastor of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Dear as are our Leader’s other writings to her devoted followers, invaluable as they are in guiding the student of divine Science on his journey Spiritward, yet they fulfill a somewhat different province from Science and Health, our textbook and manual of instruction. Accordingly, no other book can ever supplant it, none supersede it in its mission as the compendium of divine Science. Through its pages gleams the white light of spiritual inspiration, which enables the watcher at the heavenly gate to behold the facts of being, the truth about God, man, and the universe. The revelation is complete. The work is ours to apply divine Truth, as revealed by our great Leader, to the problems of humankind, whereby is gained salvation and boundless peace.

One’s progress as a student of Christian Science will invariably be in proportion to his consecration to the study of the Holy Scriptures and the textbook of Christian Science, and his application of the spiritual truths gained thereby. There is no other road than this; there can be no other. Revelation in its fullness came to Mrs. Eddy; and the textbook is the instrumentality she used for giving her divine message to the world. Precious beyond price is this book of revelation; for it lifts mankind into the atmosphere of Spirit, where evil has no place, and immortal man beholds the glories of timeless Being.