IN Miscellany, Mrs. Eddy makes this thought-provoking statement (p. 252): "The entire purpose of true education is to make one not only know the truth but live it—to make one enjoy doing right, make one not work in the sunshine and run away in the storm, but work midst clouds of wrong, injustice, envy, hate; and wait on God, the strong deliverer, who will reward righteousness and punish iniquity."
Throughout the centuries the church has been a strong factor in educating the people. They have gone to their places of worship to have the Word of God read to them and to listen to its explanation. These truths, when accepted and understood, have led them into spiritual thinking and better daily living.
Christ Jesus was the great Teacher. His method was simple, homey, and practical. He asked questions, gave answers to questions, illustrated with parables, and instructed with precepts. His teaching brought to mankind the Word of God with positive proof of its validity through his healing the sick, regenerating the sinning, and overcoming death.
Jesus sometimes went into the synagogues and taught. Once when he was teaching in the temple at Jerusalem, the Jews were astonished and asked (John 7: 15), "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" Jesus replied, "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me." He was truly educated by the Father-Mother God. He spiritually understood the truth of being. This understanding was so clear to him that he could impart it to others in order that they too might understand and use it.
Christ Jesus knew the Scriptures and often said, "It is written," when proving a point in his instruction. The Bible is full of spiritual instruction, practical ways and means of meeting everyday human experiences, while at the same time it contains beautiful poetry and prose. How often do we read "God said" or "the Lord said" and then find that direct instructions follow. These instructions are as vital and usable today as they were then. Christian Science reveals their spiritual meaning and how to practice them in daily affairs.
Mrs. Eddy had a fine informal education, but it was her spiritual education through consecrated study of the Bible that gave her the true import of the Word of God. This enabled her to be the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science and Leader of the movement. Through her pure spiritual understanding of the Scriptures, the textbook, Science and Health, was revealed to her that it might unlock the treasures of Truth found in the Bible. These two books are inseparable companions.
The Bible records the revelation of the Christ from its simple manifestations to the profound demonstrations of Christ Jesus. The Christian Science textbook brings the Science, or law, of Christ to humanity so that each student may demonstrate the healing Christ for himself. A textbook needs to be studied if one is to be able to practice its rules and teachings.
A unique method of gaining spiritual education is the study of the Lesson-sermons, found in the Christian Science Quarterly. Mrs. Eddy was inspired to ordain the Bible and Science and Health as the pastor of the Church of Christ, Scientist. She also provided subjects for the Lesson-Sermons. The daily study of each lesson is truly rewarding, for as one ponders again and again the passages from the Bible and the correlative selections from Science and Health, one finds ever deeper and broader meanings. The teachings become a part of one's thinking, and thus they are a guide for daily living.
Sometimes it is said, "I wish I knew how to study the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings so that I could truly understand the spiritual truths they contain." The dictionary is a vital auxiliary in gaining spiritual understanding. Usage sometimes limits the meaning of words; but when they are studied they grow in value, and we see the fuller and deeper meaning of the statements of Truth. It is often the simple words that bring the richest reward.
Because they give the source of words as well as the fine shades of meaning, dictionaries are necessary since they help one understand and value a word. Contemplating the synonyms and antonyms of words and phrases which Mrs. Eddy uses in her writings enlarges one's understanding. Bible dictionaries also shed much light on words and phrases of Bible times and make their meaning clear to us today. Bible concordances, as well as the Concordances to all of Mrs. Eddy's writings, make the pursuit of a word or an idea greatly rewarding in both spiritual understanding and practical use.
The writings of Mrs. Eddy can enlarge our understanding of the Lesson-Sermons. Many articles and passages relative to ideas presented in the lessons may be found in these writings. Seeking out such references, studying, and zealously pondering them will enlarge our appreciation of all our dear Leader has written to help us and others. In "Miscellaneous Writings," for instance, there are Bible Lessons that explain several passages of Scripture. When the subject of the lesson in the Quarterly is "God" it is enlightening to ponder the platform of Christian Science found on pages 330 to 340 of the textbook, or when the lesson is "Christ Jesus" to read the chapter, "Atonement and Eucharist."
In Proverbs we read (22:6), "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." The Sunday School, which Mrs. Eddy provided for the children and young people, is another great source of spiritual education. Here the young thought is taught to be quiet and to listen to the simple rudiments of the Christ, Truth, thus learning to become a student. There should be no cry that the children of today are incorrigible and resistant to the finer things and to a more spiritual way of living. A renewed impetus to love them and prove our own understanding is required that we be the living proof of what we have taught them.
Class instruction and the annual association meeting, provided for in the Manual by Mrs. Eddy, are steps of vital importance in spiritual education. Here one gains an enlarged concept of God and of man as His image and likeness, together with an alerting to the subtlety of animal magnetism and how to reduce its false claims to nothingness. Here one is taught the deeper things of Spirit and how to demonstrate these truths in daily affairs. Class instruction is designed to teach students how to prove the Science of the Christ with absolute certainty in healing, redemption, restoration, and demonstration of joy.
Mrs. Eddy writes in "Retrospection and Introspection" (p. 85), "Of this also rest assured, that books and teaching are but a ladder let down from the heaven of Truth and Love, upon which angelic thoughts ascend and descend, bearing on their pinions of light the Christ-spirit." Books, the right books, the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's inspired writings, are requisite to spiritual education. If faithfully and diligently pondered, they will lead the student into the joy of spiritual understanding and healing proof.
