Christian Scientists have reason for sincere gratitude that the Manual of The Mother Church, in its completeness, authorizes the formation of Christian Science organizations at universities and colleges. No one can doubt, that organizations distinct from regular Christian Science churches and societies holding public meetings must have been authorized in order to meet needs distinct from those which the latter were intended to meet. The history, however short, of college organizations already formed fully proves this fact, and demonstrates Mrs. Eddy's wisdom in authorizing their establishment.
The college student's needs are, indeed, peculiar. He is passing through a period of human experience which the material world sets apart and calls "critical," "formative," "full of doubts and perplexities," "the threshold of life." How needful, then, that those beset by such human beliefs should have presented to them, in such a way as to make it most available to them, the divine Science which solves all perplexities. How essential that they gain an understanding of the Principle which already has formed and completed and adjusted all things, the Life that never had beginning, the Truth that includes neither uncertainties nor mistakes. With material knowledge pouring in from all directions, how helpful for the student to grasp, by scientific perception, the meaning of true education. A Christian Science organization of and for the students and faculty of a college has an unusual opportunity to meet these needs. Through that channel the one who has not yet studied Mrs. Eddy's teachings has them presented to him from his own standpoint—as available and directly applicable to his own problems. On the other hand, the one who is already a student of her teachings will find special help in applying the truth to every experience of his college life, as well as to the problems arising outside it.
The peculiar value of Christian Science testimony meetings is to show by individual experience the applicability of this truth to every phase of human existence. Those who hear the testimonies are encouraged and made better able to apply the truth to similar difficulties of their own. The activities of college and university Christian Science organizations include such meetings, and, naturally, at such gatherings a large number of the experiences related will bear directly upon the many problems which beset all college students.
