The title of this article is perhaps misleading. Ideally the intellectual and the spiritual, the letter and the spirit, should complement each other. Both have a place in the full understanding of Christian Science. But the spiritual is paramount.
We may be word-perfect and able confidently to quote what Mrs. Eddy writes on page so-and-so of, say, Science and Health; we may argue that because God is perfect and man is His likeness, man cannot possibly suffer from such-and-such a discordant condition. But we may still lack, beyond and above mere study, the gentle, compassionate understanding of Truth requisite in uplifting and healing the race—and ourselves—by spiritual means. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health: "The letter of Science plentifully reaches humanity today, but its spirit comes only in small degrees. The vital part, the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love. Without this, the letter is but the dead body of Science,—pulseless, cold, inanimate."Science and Health, p. 113;
Indeed an unrepentant murderer, if he thinks to benefit himself materially thereby, can learn the letter of Science. But neither he nor the earnest student of Science will be able to heal through expounding undigested theory or through mental gymnastics.
