The purpose of the activities of the Church of Christ, Scientist, is to bless mankind. These activities are illimitable, reaching out to encompass humanity with their spiritual intent and offering. In this respect, the Christian Science movement may well be likened to a river of immeasurable proportions, whose healing and saving currents carry the blessings of the Comforter to a thirsting world.
Through the ages, men have held a river as being of major importance to human economy. Many are its uses. It is along a river bank that men have often settled first, planted their crops, built their cities. Its waters have assuaged men's thirst and nourished their fields. Its broad channels have carried the commerce of the world. The energy contained within its currents has been harnessed to provide power by which men have become accustomed to live. Significant indeed are the uses of the river in the welfare and progress of humanity.
Ezekiel's vision of the holy river—"a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over" (47:5)—was that of a river of life vastly more significant than any material stream, for it brings healing and salvation wherever it flows.
