In the tenth chapter of Revelation, St. John used the simile of an angel "clothed with a cloud" and a rainbow "upon his head," and "in his hand a little book open." Modern translators of this passage use the word "scroll" instead of "book," partly because books, as we know them, did not exist at the time Revelation was written. However, this makes no essential difference to the application of the figure used by John; and Mary Baker Eddy, on page 559 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," writes as follows: "This angel had in his hand 'a little book,' open for all to read and understand. Did this same book contain the revelation of divine Science?"
Mrs. Eddy says on the same page: "Take divine Science. Read this book from beginning to end. Study it, ponder it." And students of Christian Science have profited by following this advice. They have proved the wisdom of reading the Christian Science textbook "from beginning to end," and, likewise, have found it advisable to "study it, ponder it." Many Christian Scientists make it a custom to keep their place marked in Science and Health, to read a few or many pages each day, and upon finishing it to begin again at the Preface. Some have adhered to this practice for many years, stopping, when necessary, to study and ponder its contents, and have found this method to be distinctly helpful.
Possibly some may have felt it was unnecessary to include in their consecutive reading of the textbook the chapters entitled "Glossary" and "Fruitage," but others have found it helpful to include these chapters with each successive reading. The first of these, the Glossary, contains the metaphysical or spiritual interpretation of many names and terms used in the Bible, and thus gives us, as the author says, "their original meaning"(ibid., p. 579). To gain the spiritual sense of these terms is obviously a great help to the student of Christian Science in reading the Scriptures, and especially in his study of the Lesson-Sermons in the Christian Science Quarterly.
