Editorials

Were we to search the Scriptures, we could find no words that more perfectly define the ideal of the true humanitarian than those of Jesus: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. " This Christly gift of life, in all its wealth of joy and beauty, was his to bring, because he both possessed and understood it; he knew whence it came, how it might be preserved, and he brought it not to the circumscribed few, but to all who were willing to accept and utilize it.

Christ Jesus was the greatest healer the world has ever known. The Gospels of the New Testament contain the record of his healing work among men, and plainly indicate that it was the direct result of his spiritual understanding; that is, of his knowledge of God and God's creation.

The Christian Science Board of Directors announces the establishment of the Christian Science Literature International Distribution Fund, to be used for distributing authorized Christian Science literature in countries where combatants or civilians are mobilized or congregated because of the war begun in 1939, and for supplying authorized Christian Science literature to the branch churches and societies in Germany, which, under present circumstances, are prevented from paying for it. Contributions to this Fund should be sent to Edward L.

So long as there is a judgment seat there must also be a mercy seat. Without mercy there can be no judgment.

One of the definitions of the word "counterfeit," given by Webster, is, "That which is made in imitation of something, with a view to deceive;" another is, "That which represents or is like another thing. " For example, a counterfeit bank note is made to imitate a genuine one with the intent to deceive those into whose hands it may fall.

A new year affords to many an opportunity to make a survey of the year that is gone, to consider how they might have used it more profitably, and to make resolutions of a kind that will ensure that the year on which they have entered will hold for them better health, greater happiness, and more usefulness. And thinking, no doubt, of those phases of their life which, viewed from a moral and spiritual standpoint, they have felt were questionable, many resolve to live more righteously, more justly, more honorably than before.

SHORTLY after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea his advent was hailed by the just and devout Simeon. Of Simeon, the Gospel of Luke says, "It was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

AS the result of custom, education, tradition, men are apt, unthinkingly, to take many things as they find them, until they begin to reach out for the actual significance of thoughts and actions which have so largely shaped their lives. Human memories, often superstitious and sentimental, the desire to gratify and to be gratified, what flimsy and transient structures they build, how little it takes to strip them of their interest and their joy! Yet to many the festival of Christmas has meant little more than this, accompanied often by a great weariness, that materiality should make such heavy demands upon their exchequer and their time.

IN a world where men believe in the reality of matter and evil; where matter is regarded as real substance to be sought after and accumulated, and evil as something which, from its apparent universality, cannot be avoided, Christliness is often looked upon as a state of consciousness well nigh impossible of realization. For Christliness is a mental state in which love, goodness, truthfulness, honesty, and purity reign.

THE natural desire of mankind is to express some measure of attainment, whether it be an ambition no higher than that of happy human relations, or the competent carrying out of an allotted task. The limits which men place upon their achievements are sometimes evidenced in an unwillingness to take the first essential step; sometimes, when confronted with difficulties and delays, in an inability to persevere.