The Holy Scriptures ANNIE M. KNOTT, CSD          In the early days of the Christian Science movement the baseless criticism was often heard that Mrs. Eddy's teachings had turned people away from the Bible. Nothing could be farther from the fact than such an assumption, for instead of such a condition resulting from the healing work of Christian Science, people who had never before cared to read the Bible devoted all their spare time to its study, and this is now very generally known. There is, however, another point to be considered, namely, that in their eagerness to know more of the Bible and to gain help therefrom, there has been a tendency to seek information from others who were more or less advanced in the understanding of this Science and thus to depend to some extent upon personal opinion instead of the inspiration which gave to the world the Scriptures, where we find enshrined the holiest experiences of Truth-seekers in all ages, many of whom rose in large measure to the realization of the Beatitude, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."          On page 317 of "Miscellaneous Writings" Mrs. Eddy says: "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." So rich is the Bible in spiritual truth that we can go to it again and again and take from its teachings and from the experiences of the holy men of old as much of the pure gold of inspiration as we are prepared to receive; and when we go again, after having put into practice the truth thus gained, we find even more of the truth whose price is "above rubies."          We may well ask ourselves what we are seeking when we take up the study of the Bible, for in Paul's day there were some whose interpretation did but "corrupt the word of God;" and he tells of those to whom his teachings were as "the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life." If we attempt to interpret the inspired word materially, we shall miss its meaning; yet the spiritual interpretation gained through a sincere desire to know God and man better will dispel the darkness of material belief and overcome in the ratio of our understanding the difficulties and trials of human experience. On page 363 of "Miscellaneous Writings" Mrs. Eddy has this to say: "The Bible is the learned man's masterpiece, the ignorant man's dictionary, the wise man's directory." To this she adds, "I foresee and foresay that every advancing epoch of Truth will be characterized by a more spiritual apprehension of the Scriptures, that will show their marked consonance with the textbook of Christian Science Mind-healing, 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.' Interpreting the Word in the 'new tongue,' whereby the sick are healed, naturally evokes new paraphrase from the world of letters."          Throughout the Scriptures we find from the experiences of others both inspiration and warning. It must never be assumed for a moment that we are to consider their mistakes as examples for us, but we should know that if they were able to accomplish much in the right direction by what light they had, we at the present day have a greater demand laid upon us to make use of our spiritual possessions and know that we always have access to the "unsearchable riches of Christ." In the book of Job, which is considered by some the oldest religious literature that we possess, we find a true picture of human belief respecting God, man, and the laws which govern the universe; and after we have gained an understanding of Christian Science, it is almost astonishing to see how closely the religious beliefs of Job and his three friends correspond to much of the present day theological belief. Job was undoubtedly a righteous man in his day and generation and possessed high moral standards, but he was largely controlled by fear, and this entered into his prayers for those dear to him. When his children were, according to the story, swept away by a cyclone, Job did not forget in the midst of his sorrow to acknowledge God, but he apparently believed that God was responsible for this terrible affliction, and in consequence of this belief it is not surprising that further suffering came upon him, namely, a terrible illness.          It is not necessary to consider here the intervening chapters, when his friends essayed to comfort him but really condemned him and made the mistake of trying to convince him that he must have been guilty of some moral offense or this suffering could not have come upon him. They might, perhaps, have thought that this was uncovering error, but the uncovering of the false belief never came until Elihu brought to Job the first ray of light and led him to the true "interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness." Job had been led to believe that God had sent affliction upon him when he was doing his utmost to live in accordance with divine law, a belief against which the human sense of justice rebels, but this only adds to the misery of the sufferer. When, however, God is known to be infinite Love and the source of absolute justice, God is known as one who can be both loved and trusted.          In the last chapter of this book we find that the three friends, who were probably good men but simply religious theorists, were rebuked by God, and the decision of Truth respecting them was this: "Ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath." It is beautiful to read of Job's perfect healing, of the restoration to him of all that makes life here desirable and beautiful; but above all else, it is good to learn that he had come to know God, not "by the hearing of the ear," or through the opinions of others, but through direct inspiration, and this assuredly is what is gained by the Truth-seeker today from the study of the Holy Scriptures as illumined by God's message given to this age in Christian Science.   "The Holy Scriptures" by Annie M. Knott, CSD Christian Science Sentinel, September 28, 1918

 

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