IT has been said that Christian Science must not be judged by Christian Scientists, and while it is a matter for regret that a warning to this effect should he necessary, it is within the power of each one of us, from the youngest to the oldest student, to do his or her part to render it less so. Again, in view of the present tendency of the thought of the world to seek for the solution of its problems in mind rather than in matter, it is becoming daily more and more incumbent on us who profess Christian Science to render ourselves such faithful exponents of it that the warning quoted may not apply, at any rate to us. This we may all accomplish, with considerable benefit to ourselves and to our fellows, firstly, by taking the utmost pains, when forming our concepts of its teachings, to see that they are accurate and in absolute accord with the true Science which is so fully expounded in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures;" and secondly, when we have formed, concepts, and are passing them on to others, by being ever watchful that we do not make use of words or expressions which, while the interpretation they hold for ourselves may be correct, may convey to the hearers significations which are entirely opposed to all Christian Science teaching.
Habits of carelessness in this connection form the starting-point from which the trend of reasoning is likely to depart at the outset from scientific logic and to end in disappointment and confusion both to the speaker and to the listener. "Incorrect reasoning," our Leader writes, "leads to practical error. The wrong thought should be arrested before it has a chance to manifest itself" (Science and Health, p. 45); it behooves all of us, therefore, for our own sakes] for the sake of our fellows, and for the sake of the cause we represent, so to pursue our studies that the concepts which we formulate will be correct, and so to weigh our words that the presentations of Christian Science which we circulate will coincide with the Science which has been given us by Mrs. Eddy with such careful exactness in the Christian Science text-book and her other writings.
Those who are commencing the study of this Science will find that their progress in understanding it will he far surer and far more satisfying if they resolve at the outset to form for themselves their own concepts of the teaching, and to be guided in doing so only by the Bible, the text-book, and the other authorized publications of our Leader, and to confirm these concepts by putting them to the test in their daily lives. However intelligent and loving the help which may be given to beginners in Christian Science by others, we should be awake to the fact that dependence on the work of others will not bring understanding. It is no more possible for others to form our concepts for us than it is for them to be born for us or to grow for us.
