Editorials

Nineteen centuries ago there appeared the most remarkable healer of disease this planet has ever known. Not one drug did he prescribe.

EVERY day is "Independence Day" to the student of Christian Science as he transfers his dependence on matter to dependence on Spirit. Understanding and depending on Spirit, its divine law and spiritual facts, he finds himself independent of the restrictions and limitations of material beliefs and false laws.

BABOONS and materially thinking mortals have certain mental qualities in common. For instance, baboons often raid the cornfields in South Africa and damage the crops.

WHO will take issue with the assertion that war is a curse? Has it not been the scourge of mankind since the dawn of human history? In the Bible, the first record of strife appears in the fourth chapter of Genesis, when Cain's envy brings about the murder of his brother. The steps leading up to this famous fratricide show the insanity of all warfare.

Some of you will remember the experience, once printed in the Christian Science Sentinel, of a young woman who had a terrifying dream that recurred in her sleep night after night, and who was finally freed from it through the healing truths of Christian Science. In this dream the young woman would find herself in a small valley surrounded by mountains with only a narrow trail leading out over a mountain pass.

When one has seemed to fail and sink in despair under untoward human conditions, it is often said, "He was the victim of circumstances. " One of the facts most clearly set forth in the teachings of Christian Science is that man, the expression of divine Mind, has dominion over circumstances.

Few, indeed, must be the professing Christians who are not familiar with that grand old hymn, "I Need Thee Every Hour. " The writer, Annie Hawks, born over one hundred years ago and a contemporary of Mary Baker Eddy's, reflected in the tender lines of her verses the perennial yearning of humankind for spiritual vision—that awareness of God's presence and might which alone can bring real comfort and guidance to the sons of men.

There is one power. This is the mighty truth of being to be scientifically understood and demonstrated.

The phrase "personal attachment" is used in Christian Science to denote a phase of human thought which often deludes mortals, anchors them in unhappy earth scenes, and bars their spiritual progress. Article VIII of the Manual of The Mother Church, entitled "Discipline," begins with a rule for self-discipline fundamental to the demonstration of Christian Science.

What a picture of leading, guarding, comforting, is painted by the word "shepherd"! Throughout Holy Writ, and doubtless in all the religious lore of the East, the symbolism of shepherd and sheep occurs and recurs to show the heavenly Father's tender care and protection of His children. Just a glance at the references under the words "shepherd" and "sheep" in a Bible concordance will show how frequently, in both the Old and the New Testament, this figure was used to teach God's nearness to and love for His creation.