WE read in our text-book that "Earth's preparatory school must be improved to the utmost" (Science and Health, p. 486). None would question the wisdom of this statement, and yet there are probably very few who have fully recognized the truth it contains. To the question, What is the most important lesson to be learned in "earth's preparatory school"? Christian Science answers, To know God; and it finds the reason for this reply in the fact that all false concepts of Deity have a most demoralizing influence upon individuals and nations alike, while to acquaint ourselves intelligently with God is to find the only sure way to true peace and prosperity. Our first lessons in Christian Science usually come with our own healing, or the healing of some one dear to us, and through this a new and wonderful sense of Life is gained. The awakening thought of the learner eagerly seeks for all that may be known of God, and soon sees that Truth is the power which sets free from all error. Then as the sacredness and vastness of Truth grow upon his thought, he comes to understand the meaning of the declaration, "God is love." In the first epistle of John we find the words "life," "truth," and "love" used to express the idea of God and the Christ, and it is made very clear that "these three are one."
It is generally admitted that the pursuit of knowledge gives a far richer return for the time devoted to it than does the acquirement of material possessions, yet Paul says, with the authority of inspiration, "Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away." Not so, however, the understanding of Love which "never faileth," and which enables us to know even as we are known.
This spiritual unfoldment is wonderfully described by our Leader in "Pond and Purpose," where she says, "By purifying human thought, this state of mind permeates with increased harmony all the minutiæ of human affairs. . . . Through the accession of spirituality, God, the divine
