Articles

December 25, 1900, witnessed one of the most important events in the history of Christian Science in the South. It was the occasion of the opening of the new chapel recently erected by the Second Church of Christ, Scientist, Baltimore, Md.

If any one were to be asked what is the permanent element in human existence, and if he were to think deeply before answering the question, he would be compelled to admit that thought—not things, nor even persons —withstood the shocks of time and circumstance; being first the scaffolding, and later the solid masonry of individual character. So as I endeavor to recall that which makes up my personal history, almost my earliest recollection is of a very old church in Scotland,—said to have been built before the Reformation,—and a truly fitting monument of those who swept from Scotland in a flame of zeal Shrine, altar, image, and the massive piles that harbored them.

In thinking over certain themes, it has occurred to me, how infant-like has been the birth of liberty in our country, how far yet it is from the growth it is destined to attain. Our nation has led all others in enacting statutory laws to insure and enforce liberty, but have we learned the glorious spiritual laws, knowing and living which can alone make men free? No nation has so exalted the name of liberty, or made more sacrifices for its attainment, and yet have we not been attempting to reach it thus far under the laws and practices of "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth"? And is not God's liberty-insuring law of universal Love, generally perverted to-day into a self-love, which only enslaves? And when we consider how many among us are engaged in this mortal strife of selfishness, daily striving in the name of "liberty" and "competition" to take from the liberties and substance of others, in the blind belief that we are thus adding to our own, is it surprising that our first liberty bell has cracked under the strain? Our nation as a whole has not yet learned that there is an immutable spiritual law, above human beliefs and codes, which says, "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

In considering the spiritual illumination of the race one is confronted by two very distinct and essentially contradictory views or explanations,—one, the traditional, regards the process as paroxysmal—that revelation has been made only at intervals and through chosen media. The other regards the process as continuous, as the expression of a Divine appeal, an entrance-seeking which is universal, constant, and unvarying.

The rapid spread of Christian Science ideas and the substantial growth of the Christian Science movement is unquestionably one of the most significant phenomena of our times. The basic ideas of Christian Science pervade the atmosphere of religious and philosophic thought, and the movement is already organized in all the leading towns and cities of the United States and in the principal centres of Europe.

A monument is soon to be erected in Central Park, New York, in commemoration of the eradication of racial prejudice. The monument will cost upwards of fifty thousand dollars, and the amount is to be raised entirely by voluntary subscriptions.

The following from the pen of the Rev. Mary Baker G.

Some time ago, at a Wednesday evening meeting, the leader said that the word "hungry" most clearly expressed the crying need of this day and generation. Many of us realize that this means the craving for Love, not the niggardly affection which finds its only satisfaction in exacting a like return from others,—not the blind human devotion that is ready to be wounded and repulsed at every turn, but the broad and generous spirit of Christian fellowship, expressed in Love.

In the summer of 1899 there came to us a new by-law concerning the church periodicals. (See Art.

As members of the Church of Christ, Scientist, we may ask ourselves what we have accomplished during the past year, individually and as a church. Have we done all we could do toward the establishment of the Truth in the hearts of men.