Editorials

IN the book of Deuteronomy we find many admonitions to the children of Israel to "remember all the way" by which they were led through the wilderness up to the promised land. It is deeply interesting to note the reminiscences of different people in our own day, what they treasure up in memory and what they recall of their past experiences, and it is fair to assume that mortals have not changed their ways of thinking to any great extent since Moses' time, since we may observe everywhere a tendency to dwell upon the bitter things of human experience without gathering the lessons which these teach, even where the divine guidance is at all recognized.

WITH the recurring seasons we have naturally come to associate the springtime with seedtime,—the preparation of the soil and the sowing of the seed, that in due course the harvest may be gathered in. It brings to thought, too, the Master's parable of the sower who "went forth to sow," with its manifold lessons.

Christian Scientists soon discover that the sayings of Christ Jesus must be unreservedly applied to themselves as individuals, and that it matters not to them how much those of another day violated the law of right. The question really is, To what extent are we obeying divine law and thus blessing all mankind? In the Sermon on the Mount we read: "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven;" also these words: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Christian Science teaches that there is and can be no genuine gain without giving; that in every ethical transaction, whether between man and man or between man and God, a just balance must be maintained. The disposition to ignore this morality always means degradation of character, whether expressed in the cleverness of the gambler, the scheming of the stock manipulator, or the ignoble attitude of those beneficiaries of endowed institutions who have been most unwisely educated into a spirit of contented mendicancy.

In a recent issue The Christian Work and Evangelist very pertinently asks, "Have we ever thought of what it means to be a Christian, fully to accept Jesus Christ, take him at his word, believe the New Testament?" This may seem to be a peculiar question to ask of Christian people, but the fact that it has been asked is at least indicative of a wellsettled doubt as to whether professing Christians of the present day are fully accepting Jesus Christ, are really taking him at his word, and entirely believing the New Testament. This in itself is a serious arraignment of the Christian churches, and it is one that merits and requires a serious and definite answer.

In no way, perhaps, has Christian Science more significantly contributed to the advance of Christian thought than in its institution of a higher apprehension of the meaning of law. With a very large number this word has awakened little more than a rather vague sense of an irresistible order of phenomena.

IN studying the Bible we find many interesting statements regarding the interpretation of life's lessons as wrought out by some of the noted characters of sacred history. In the case of Joseph, and of Daniel as well, their understanding of the Mind that governs the universe and man, enabled them to interpret the night dreams as well as the day dreams of their fellow beings in such a way as to lift thought above the sordid conditions of mortal experience and to bring to the perplexed, whether monarch or serf, a glimpse of man's divinely bestowed possibilities for good.

RECENTLY , both in pulpit and press, there has been considerable discussion of the actuality of both heaven and hell, and among other opinions expressed was one by a man of great prominence, from which we take the following excerpts: In the present day no educated person believes in a hell. This declaration will no doubt be publicly disapproved by some rather archaic ministers and also by some editors of religious papers.

WE may well rejoice in knowing that the Scriptures are being studied at this period as never before, and for the best of reasons, whether or not the result to the individual brings at once the fulness of blessing which it should. If it ever fails to do so, it can only be for the reason given by Christ Jesus, who said to some of his critics, "Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me; and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life" (Revised Version).

THE human problem has never been more strikingly stated than in the words, "Given self, to find God. " Nevertheless, for those who accept our Lord's teaching respecting the source of all being, the supreme requirement would be better phrased as, Given God, to interpret experience.