What would be thought of the academic student whose work in a course left much room for improvement and who paid only cursory attention to his textbooks? How well are we doing in the lifelong course of demonstrating our God-given spiritual being? Who among us would not admit that there is much room for improvement in his own experience? How well do we know and use our textbooks?
Let not Christ Jesus' rebuke to the Sadducees, "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God,"Matt. 22:29; apply to the student of Christian Science. Reading through the Gospels, one cannot help being impressed by Jesus' knowledge of the Bible of his day. He was no casual student! But in this regard he was not alone in this period. Apollos, a contemporary of Paul, is described in the book of Acts as "mighty in the scriptures."Acts 18:24; From the text, we may reasonably conclude that it was his love for and consequent knowledge of the Bible that led him to Christianity and gave him the opportunity to be of much service to the early church.
Mrs. Eddy was a deep and consecrated student of the Bible. Had it not been for her diligent study of this Book of books, she could not have given Christian Science to the world. As those conversant with her life know, she was healed of the effects of a grave injury through prayerfully contemplating an instance of Jesus' healing work. It is instructive to select any number of pages at random in either Science and Health or her other writings and note how frequent are our Leader's references to the Bible, either through direct quotations or by obvious allusions.
