Articles

Ye bind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Matthew xxiii.

The same difficulties arise in regard to the origin of Life, as in regard to the origin of Intelligence and of conscious existence; and the question naturally arises. How did Life first happen to exist? Can it be that Life, by its very nature, was self-existent; or was there an original self-existent Being, who, from His very nature, is the Father of all succeeding Life, or— figuratively speaking—the fountain, from which all succeeding streams of Life have flowed? Life.

Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well. John iv.

Christian Scientist Association. The regular monthly meeting of this Association was held on the afternoon of May 5, in the parlors of the Mass.

Thou art my hiding-place; Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Psalm xxxii.

The crowning glory is Love. The supreme Being is Life, Truth, Love, Purity, Beauty, Harmony, Perfection, typified by the seven colors in the rainbow.

When the name Principle is applied to God, it carries with it the idea of individuality; that God lives his own Life, which we cannot comprehend, but which He communicates to whomsoever He will; and that without Him we have no Life, because in Him "we live, move, and have our Being," as the New Testament teaches. You may ask, "Can there be no Principle without personality, properly understood?" Yes, there is the Principle of Mathematics, the Principle of Music.

Here are a few paragraphs from this liberal Episcopal (Church of England) preacher, on Endless Punishment:— God is the Lord God, long-suffering and of great mercy, yet by no means clearing the guilty; because sin is the one deadly enemy which He must destroy in us, lest it destroy us, and we, with it, destroy ourselves. That there is a terrible retribution upon unrepented sin, both here and hereafter; that no one can ever see the Lord without holiness; that sin cannot be forgiven until it is forsaken and repented of; that the doom which falls on sin is both merciful and just,—on these points we are all agreed.

In no subject is there more interest than in the future life, and religious believers and leaders are often asked about it. One inquirer phrased her question in this way:— After the change called Death takes place, do we meet our friends who have gone before, or does Life continue in thought only, as in a dream? Man is not annihilated, nor does he lose his identity by passing through the belief called Death.

The question often arises, whether Christian Scientists really believe in an individual and controlling Deity, separate from the universe which is the reflection of His thoughts; whether their God is anything more than an impersonal Principle, with no power or will in itself; whether they do not believe with Zeno of Cyprus, who lived some 350 years before Christ, and founded the School Of Zenonians, or Stoics. According to a recent writer, Salem Wilder, in his valuable work on Life, page 50:— Zeno contended that the vital force filled all things, and was ever ready, to burst into animated existence, whenever favorable conditions existed; and that this vital force controlled all things, but that it was an invisible Principle, and not a personal God.