Putting on record insights into the practice of Christian Science.
Editorials
The exhortation which Paul addressed to the churches of Galatia, "Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not," must indeed have been hope-inspiring to the sincere among the Christians who received it. It is hope-inspiring still to all who are endeavoring to follow in the footsteps of the great Master, and particularly so to those who, through the teachings of Christian Science, have learned something of the unlimited power of good.
Paul constantly admonished his hearers to enter into a larger sense of liberty. Clearly recognizing the bondage of the flesh—that is, the fleshly or false beliefs—as, apparently, mankind's most potent enemy and stumblingblock, he urged them, with all his great powers of persuasion, to break the fetters which they had accepted as inevitable, and to stand fast in the full liberty of the sons of God.
Christian Science teaches the Science and practice of Christianity, the religion which was taught and demonstrated by Christ Jesus. When the Master sent out those disciples whom he had instructed, he said to them, as Matthew records: "And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Very often we find God referred to as the friend of man. Humanity talks of Him as possessing all the qualities which constitute true friendship.
Christ Jesus repeatedly emphasized his desire to do the will of God. No scene described in all the Scriptures is more revelatory of his paramount purpose to do God's will than is found in the account of his experience in the garden of Gethsemane, as recorded in the gospel of Matthew.
When Jesus said, "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself," he uttered a command that mankind has been very slow to accept and to practice. This command is too contrary in teaching to the ordinary beliefs of the so-called human mind, which looks only to its own thought-taking, for mortals to see readily how to obey Jesus' command even should they desire to do so.
Christian Science is the same as primitive Christianity, and is different from every other metaphysical system. People of the most diverse opinions, religionists differing widely in their beliefs, Christians formerly irreconcilable on points of doctrine, Jew and Gentile who once thought there was no possibility of their ever coming together on a common platform,—all these have accepted Christian Science, finding that differences vanish completely in their unity of spiritual understanding.
Paul, in his second admonitory epistle to his friend Timothy, names many conditions to be fulfilled preparatory to becoming a true disciple of Christ Jesus. In his graceful imagery, he likens mankind to the vessels in a great house, some "of gold and of silver.
" Earth's preparatory school must be improved to the utmost," writes Mrs. Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" ( p.
Strength , even from a human standpoint, is something which all men desire. The very thought of it opens up a vision of power to win good, of ability to resist and overcome that which would oppose good.