Editorials

IT is an interesting fact that, reserved as are the many toward the teaching of Christian Science that the spiritual truth which gave Christ Jesus and his disciples such unmeasured vantage in their address to the human problem, is still available for the healing of sickness and sin, these same people grow more and more sure that the cure of human ills is wondrously furthered by a favorable mental predisposition and environment. They are quite indisposed to accept the possibility of spiritual healing, yet they readily concede the power of the human thought attitude and conditions to contribute to health.

A FEW months ago an item was current in the newspapers to the effect that ninety-eight convicts in the New Jersey state penitentiary were Christian Scientists, it having been worded in such a way as to convey the impression that these men were Christian Scientists at or before the time of their commitment. The facts were that these men had become interested in Christian Science during their incarceration, and in turning to any religion at all they were simply in line with the reformatory influence which is the modern purpose of imprisonment.

IN an age of marked revolt against sectarianism, the essence of which has been well named "adherence to error," and the traditionalism which clings to the old because it is old and not because it is true; when a joyous sense of escape from dogma and superstition pervades the atmosphere of religious thought, the extreme oscillation of impulse, the excess to which many are tempted to carry their self-assertion, inevitably precipitates the question as to what constitutes a true democracy of thought, as to where and when liberty veers into license. The prevailing mental attitude on this subject has always had much to do with the prevailing religious life and habit, and every Christian reform has had to reckon with the glamour of that so-called broad-mindedness which proves itself to be but the well-ridden hobby of the superficial and the erratic.

IT is well for us to recall ofttimes the words spoken by Paul at Lystra, when the priest of Jupiter essayed to offer him divine honors because of the healing of a man lame from his birth. He reminded these Greeks that God, as known to the apostles, was always doing good, and that he had never left Himself "without witness," a statement in accord with that of Christ Jesus, who said that our Father in heaven "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust;" or, to quote the words of our text-book, "Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals" ( Science and Health, p.

CHRIST JESUS announced his mission to mankind in these prophetic words : "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. " Thus briefly did the Master outline the task he had taken upon himself, in fulfilment of the Father's will, and we find him speedily about the Father's business,—preaching in the synagogues and healing those sick of divers diseases that were brought to him, and often stopping by the wayside, as he journeyed from city to city, to comfort some afflicted one.

During Jesus' earthly ministry he was on several occasions asked by critics of his words and works to show a sign, and it is well to remember that while he refused to accede to this insincere request, he placed upon his followers an obligation to furnish proof that they understood the operation of spiritual law, when he said, "These signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. " On another occasion he said (as we read in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew's gospel) that before the final overcoming of mortal mind with all its delusions and miseries "the sign of the Son of man" should appear in heaven, which, from the standpoint of Christian Science, evidently means that this "sign" must be of the same character as those given at the close of Mark's gospel, which are above enumerated.

Christian Science is renderingthe highest possible service to men by bringing them a new realization that the consciousness of God, of Truth and Love, constitutes the only sense of life worth while, and having accepted this teaching as true, the gain of a demonstrably right concept of the divine nature, purposes, and manifestations becomes at once the supremely vital thing. From the mortal point of view, however, this God-knowing life is forever unattainable.

That love and duty, though often seemingly opposed to each other, are and should be one and the same, is clearly set forth in "the great commandment of the law" as pointed out by the Master, namely, to love God supremely and one's neighbor as one's self. Thus indissolubly linked together by the Supreme Lawgiver, man's chief duty may be summed up as the constant, habitual exercise of love,—love for the creator and giver of all that is good, and love for one's fellows,—children of "our Father which art in heaven.

THE relation of scientific thought to right living is indicated by Mrs. Eddy when she says of the Master that "he knew that the philosophy, Science, and proof of Christianity were in Truth, casting out all inharmony" ( Science and Health, p.

AT the close of the fourth gospel we are given a most impressive account of Jesus' meeting with his disciples at the sea of Tiberias, after the tragedy of the crucifixion and his glorious victory over the flesh and all evil which had assailed him, a victory marked by his resurrection from the tomb and by several meetings with his followers before his ascension. This particular occasion, which is known to Christian Scientists as "the morning meal" ( Science and Health, p.