The long-looked-for, much-coveted volume of Science and Health, Fiftieth Edition, Revised, that is to mark an epoch in the Christian Science movement, has at last appeared; and will be eagerly searched, studied, pored over, by every student among us. From this date forward, the thought of all true Scientists will mount higher, and there will appear correspondingly glorious results in the wide and practical field of demonstration yet, a full understanding of the book will come only as the ripened fruit of years of study combined with faithful, daily effort to reduce its teachings to practice. No adequate idea of the treasures disclosed in this volume can be given in a single article, but a few points out of many will here be touched upon.
First: Why is a revised edition of Science and Health a necessity— Does not the issuing of a "revision" reflect upon former editions, as being faulty or incomplete—The present writer was queried only last summer upon this very point One antagonizer of Science and Health, having heard that a new volume was anticipated—in fact was to be in press ere long—asked in tones suggestive of a sneer: "Can inspiration be added to or taken from—Who for an instant would think of adding to or subtracting from the sayings of Jesus—And did Paul or John ever think of getting out a 'revised edition' of their works?" To all of which was added the statement: "The early edition, that of 1875, was incomparably superior to any that has since appeared."
The precise reply made is of little moment but its substance is eminently germane to our present line of thought, viz: Inspiration is not a mechanical process of repeating mere words by rote, of rounding them up in just so many sentences and no more. It is not a lifeless force which can be caught and imprisoned in a word or a volume—as a taxidermist would stuff birds, always to present the same stiff, glassy appearance. It is, rather, the kaleidoscopic presentation of the beauty and wondrous power not of some new truth heretofore unheard of—but of an eternally existing, spiritual Fact unfolding and forever re-unfolding itself to "eyes that see." Were Paul, John, or Jesus to return again in the flesh to teach us the same glorious Truth taught in the long buried past, would either one confine himself to the same words, the same figures of speech, the same illustrations so well known to Bible students of to-day— Rather, would not each address himself faithfully to the task of clearing up difficulties, of removing doubts as to his precise meaning in certain passages and upon certain points that as yet seem obscure to our sense—A teacher of grammar even,—one who, year in and year out, is teaching class after class the same grammatical truths or facts—cannot, and does not, invariably repeat the same stereotyped expressions. Just in proportion as he combines the essentials of a teacher, in proportion as he embodies the essence of true teaching, will his illustrations and combinations of facts be accommodated to the needs of the learner, and attended with fresh impulses of discernment. In the days of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, when we sat at the feet of our teacher—days that we never shall forget!—did that teacher ever instruct two classes precisely alike— Did she employ a stereotyped form of words by which to convey to us her rich, inspired thought— Far from it! and thus, the new volume seems to take us back to the College, to gather up its fresh methods and inspired sayings, so that little stretch of the imagination is required to convince us that the teacher herself again is before us, though this time in impersonal form.
