Editorials

THROUGHOUT Jesus' ministry, no less than at the present time, people asked what they should receive in return for the sacrifices they were supposed to make for Truth's sake. Here it may be said that a sense of sacrifice really is the measure of one's imperfection, and it was rebuked by one of the older prophets, who declared that "to obey is better than sacrifice.

IN the last verse of the ninth chapter of Luke's gospel there is a saying of the Master which has a lesson for his would-be followers today, even as it had for those to whom it was first spoken, namely, the necessity of steadfastness in seeking the kingdom of God. Impressed, doubtless, with the marvelous works of healing he had wrought in exemplification of the truths he sought to impress upon his hearers, there were many— perhaps those who had themselves experienced "the healing of the seamless dress"—who sought to ally themselves with the great Teacher; but when he bade them come, to leave all and follow him, few there were who could meet the test.

THOSE who believe in the reality of all that is witnessed to by material sense, and who also believe in God, are logically led to conclude that He is responsible for so-called natural law; and since this is indissolubly associated not only with many agreeable experiences, but with devastations and disease, is as manifest in decay as in growth, in death as in life, many are led to conclude that, however repellant the idea to their native instincts, it is probably true that the world as we find it is the best possible world in keeping with that larger divine purpose which as yet we cannot apprehend. The inevitable outcome of this line of thought is a more tolerant attitude toward evil as a whole and its incorporation in the world scheme, a disposition to think that everything has its place in the one worth-while undertaking, the making of a man.

NO thoughtful student of the life of Christ Jesus can follow him as he went about among the poor and suffering, who ofttimes actually blocked his way with their importunities, without being impressed with the intelligent, ever active, and efficient sympathy of his great heart. The official suppression and neglect of the commoner in those days, his extreme poverty, together with the general prevalence of leprosy and other dreadful diseases, sufficiently explain the fact that, as goon as the Master's good will and healing power became known, he was simply overwhelmed with calls for help, and in the freedom and fulness of his response he gave to history its most glorious page.

ALL professing Christians are agreed that Christ Jesus is the Exemplar, the model for all his followers, and there are none who accept this proposition more heartily and unreservedly than do Christian Scientists. Respecting this our revered Leader says, in a remarkable article entitled "Vainglory," "Lives there a.

AT that memorable breakfast beside the sea of Galilee, when the Master for the last time broke bread with his disciples, occurred the significant incident which John records in his gospel: "When they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

A STUDY of the relation which exists between revelation and inspiration is of profound interest to the Christian Scientist. The dictionaries tell us that revelation is "the act of revealing or communicating divine truth, especially by divine agency or supernatural means.

THE initial word of St. Paul's injunction to the Philippians, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus," is a small key, but it opens the door to a broad and exceedingly fruitful field of thought.

IN studying the sayings of Jesus, one cannot fail to be impressed by the thorough understanding of the vagaries and limitations of the so-called human mind which he displayed. His parables and his metaphors go to the very root of humanity's foibles, and point out the weaknesses and self-deception of mortals, the failings not only of those in his own day, but in ours as well.

THE recognition in Christian Science that there is but one source of truth, whence radiates all that is real, beautiful, and good, impels the inference that every impulse for better things which has wrought itself into the web of human progress has, in an important sense, registered the divine appearing. We are thus led to explain revelation as the result of an opening, or at least a thinning of the enveloping mists of mortal sense through which the ever-present light of Truth has found its way into human understanding.