THE Christian Science Reading Room, established by Mrs. Eddy through divine inspiration, is an essential part of the Christian Science movement. Its primary purpose is to impart the true knowledge of God and bring the practical understanding of the Christ-healing to all men.
Under the marginal heading "Receptive hearts" in Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy says (p. 570): "Millions of unprejudiced minds—simple seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert—are waiting and watching for rest and drink. Give them a cup of cold water in Christ's name, and never fear the consequences." Within the precincts of the Reading Room, this cup is offered to these seekers of Christ, Truth, which satisfies the spiritually hungry thought, brings comfort to the sorrowing heart, and heals the sinning and the sick.
Let one who is yearning for the things of Spirit or for physical healing go to a Christian Science Reading Room and study Science and Health. As he does this he will find that every truth accepted and understood is a silent irresistible force against all that is unlike good. As the light of Truth appears in the dark places of thought, it destroys error and restores health and harmony.
In "Retrospection and Introspection," Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 31), "From my very childhood I was impelled, by a hunger and thirst after divine things,—a desire for something higher and better than matter, and apart from it,—to seek diligently for the knowledge of God as the one great and ever-present relief from human woe."
"A desire for something higher and better than matter" has turned many people unreservedly to God. Humanity yearns for deliverance from everything unlike good, and healing in some form is the usual need of mankind.
The consciousness of Christ, Truth, constitutes the kingdom of God and results in the glorious realization that good is available to all. To know God, good, is mankind's greatest need. The law of God and the power of God are available to everyone. The librarians who serve in the Reading Rooms are eager to help the honest seeker to learn how to avail himself of this great power.
Through a clear concept of God and of the Christ, His ideal, as revealed in Christian Science, great numbers of persons have been led into a sense of undreamed-of good and satisfaction. There are many thousands who can gladly testify to the healing and regenerating results which come from their study of Science and Health.
This book reveals the healing method which Christ Jesus taught and demonstrated. Through a persistent and searching study of the Bible, Mrs. Eddy discovered the simplicity of Jesus' doctrine and presented her revelation in Science and Health. In its pages one learns how to understand, love, and demonstrate the Christ. Those who are earnest in their study of this book, together with the Bible, learn how to pray aright and thus to enjoy the rich blessings which God has made available to those who understand man's God-given heritage and rightful dominion.
The timeless invitation of Isaiah applies to us today as much as it did to others centuries ago when he said (55:1), "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." These words typify the call of the Christ, which supplies "without money and without price" God's bountiful goodness; this can never be diminished or exhausted.
The Christian Science Reading Room is unique and stands alone, a miracle of the hour and age. It fulfills Mrs. Eddy's prayer (Poems, p. 14),
Feed the hungry, heal the heart,
Till the morning's beam.
Coming to mankind in the name of Christ, Truth, impersonally, yet individually, the perpetual message of the Reading Room to the world is to come out from materiality into the blessedness of spirituality. Its noble aim is to bless humanity no matter what the individual need may appear to be. Many who visit a Reading Room for the first time go out freed of the distresses and problems that seemed a burden when they walked in. Surely healing can be instantaneous when one opens his thought to the Christ.
To "feed the hungry" and "heal the heart," the Christian Science Reading Room extends the hand of friendliness and gentle hospitality. Its door opens to all, offers the same loving, impartial invitation which Jesus extended to his disciples on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias when he said (John 21:12), "Come and dine."
The Reading Room offers a wonderful feast of the good things of Spirit, made available through the Christian Science movement. The Bible, together with the writings of Mrs. Eddy and the periodicals which she founded, presents to the stranger the healing method of this religion. And legion are the instances of those who have seen for themselves that the teachings of this Science regarding man's spiritual identity as the son of God, if rightly understood, free mortals from the sufferings of a material concept of existence. Many have come to see that the sufferings and burdens of the flesh can thrive only in the soil of a false estimate of self.
If one is to gain healing in one's present human experience, there must be a change in human consciousness, and this demands the highest Christianization and purification of thought as exemplified by Christ Jesus. The Apostle Paul referred to this spiritualizing process when he said (Rom. 12:2), "Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
Our beloved Leader has entrusted to every member of the Church of Christ, Scientist, a responsibility and a sacred obligation to maintain and sustain our Reading Rooms. For this reason each member might well ask himself: "In what way can I better support the Reading Room? How well am I fulfilling my obligations?" How willing are we to give our thought, our understanding, our love, to its support? Are we alert to the ignorance and hatred of the Christ, Truth, which would interfere with, and delay the coming of, Christ's kingdom on earth?
The most effective support we can give our Reading Room is our unselfish devotion in daily praying to know that no error can obstruct, delay, or prevent the receptive and seeking thought from finding in this sanctuary the healing Christ. We can know that through the divinely inspired activity of the Reading Rooms, Mind is constantly unfolding to the receptive thought the new heaven and the new earth.
