Editorials

THE record of Jesus' earth-life portrays his unalterable, inviolate unity with God, and nothing short of his understanding of this spiritual unity could have enabled him to express at all times and under all circumstances the power of the divine nature in the overcoming of every mode and form of evil. When Jesus said to his disciples, "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works," he revealed the secret of the success of his entire life-work.

THE answer which Jesus gave to the scribe who asked him, "Which is the first commandment of all," was, "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord. " There is one God; and Christian Science is declaring the fact to the whole world.

THE two disciples whom John the Baptist sent to the Master faced him with the eager inquiry, "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" The implication plainly is that the Messiah had long been expected; and because of the marvelous works Jesus was performing, his fame had reached John, who, desirous of learning the Master's true status, sent to inquire. The hope of Israel for a Messiah who should come in the fullness of anticipated glory had long persisted.

WHAT a promise of deliverance and preservation is given to "the servants of the Lord" in the fifty fourth chapter of Isaiah, the seventeenth verse of which runs: "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord"! The prophet knew whereof he spoke.

IN Acts, Peter speaks of "the times of refreshing" which "shall come from the presence of the Lord. " Just what these "times" and this "presence" imply, Christians have not always known.

FROM the beginnings of Biblical history the spiritually-minded have anticipated the advent of the reign of perpetual peace. They have foreseen the coming of the kingdom of heaven upon earth, when all mankind would live in the true sense of brotherhood, and strife and contention would be no more.

IN the long ago, when the angels sang their song of "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men," the world at large had no concept of the marvelous work which was to be performed by the one who was born that day "in the city of David," although the angel then proclaimed him as the "Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. " Only a few holy men and women, at that time, were able to glimpse something of the future influence which Jesus' earth-life would have upon mankind.

CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS acknowledge Christ Jesus as the Founder of Christianity. They accept, as did he, the Hebrew Scriptures, which contain the religious history and poetry of the Jewish people, history and poetry which set forth what their prophets and seers had discovered about God and His laws.

NO other occurrence in all human history has so influenced the course of subsequent events as has the birth of a babe in the recess of a stable yard nineteen centuries ago, "in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king;" no other event has wrought such important changes in the thoughts of men and in their modes of life. The brief career of the humble Nazarene left an indelible stamp upon civilization which becomes increasingly apparent with the passage of the years.

THE word "goodness" includes within the range of its meaning such terms as virtue, benevolence, the state of being good, and excludes all conditions of thought which are the opposite of good, or evil. Like many another term in general use, everybody knows what it means; for they have grown up with it, so to speak.