On the shelves of serious students of Christian Science, within reach as they study the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings, are usually to be found at least two or three additional books. A Bible dictionary perhaps; sometimes a Bible commentary or twentieth-century translation; nearly always a good dictionary. These reference books, students find, are often helpful in gaining a clearer, deeper, more practical understanding of the healing messages contained in the all-important source books of Christian Science that they study every day.
But the reference books that experience shows are among the most important of all are the Concordances—Concordances to the Bible, to Science and Health, and to Mrs. Eddy's other writings. These three books—or one less if the last two are bound in one volume, as they often are—make study of the source books so much easier that students who have learned to use them are likely to say they are virtually indispensable. How otherwise, they point out, would it be possible to research a subject to any depth, to discover, without lengthy and tedious page-turning, how Mrs. Eddy has interpreted a particular Bible passage? Or how to find out all the references relevant to the treatment of a specific human problem and the correct method of applying the spiritual truths they bring out according to the rules of divine Science in order to heal it?
The Bible consists of sixty-six books. Each is complete in itself, while at the same time all are interrelated and throw light upon each other. One can trace throughout the Old Testament, and on into the New, an undeniable thread of a logical, spiritual unfoldment as the understanding of God, divine Life, Truth, and Love, dawns upon the human mind. First the Messiah, or Christ, is prophesied, then is exemplified by Christ Jesus, and later preached and practiced by his followers.
