Editorials

THAT a very great change is taking place in the thought of mankind respecting God's relation to the world about us, is indicated by the fact that whereas fifty years ago the dominant word in theological writings regarding the matter was sovereignty, today the dominant word is immanence. The mechanical concept and explanation of the universe, in which the creator is thought of as simply the supreme ruler whose will is law, has very naturally found its parallel, and in large part its explanation, in the controlling lordship which men, and especially kings, have exercised over the things which they have instituted or made, and this point of view was given distinction for long years by the fact that Paley built his famous and impressive argument for design upon it.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul tells us that he who "ascended up on high .

PROFESSED Christians of every shade of belief are altogether at-one in declaring that Christ Jesus is the world's greatest Exemplar, the authoritative guide in' all matters of faith, of conduct, and of endeavor. There is hardly a sermon or prayer heard in any Christian church that does not thus recognize him in some statement or phrase, and yet a comparison of the teaching and doings of the Master with the thought and works of most Christians cannot fail to disclose many and grievous contrasts, differences in point of view and in deed which indicate how much he has been and is honored by the lips alone.

THE thoughtful student of Christian Science will readily admit that one of the most important things in its teaching and practice is the distinction which it makes between science and superstition, under whatever guise the latter may present itself. It is true that some people unthinkingly assume that, because Christian Science heals the sick without the use of material means, it must therefore be some form of superstition; yet these same people would probably admit that Jesus healed the sick in this way.

THE Master's parting command to his disciples, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," is commonly cited as unimpeachable authority for the establishment of missionary movements in all parts of the world. When, however, it is taken into consideration how great a proportion of the Master's own ministry to the children of men was given over to the healing of their bodily ills, coupled, as it is so often recorded, with the command, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee," it is surely pardonable to ask if, in all the ages since that divine command went forth, the whole gospel has been preached.

Among Scripture writers, Isaiah may well be called the prophet of far-reaching spiritual vision. His gaze pierces through the dark clouds of material sense and beholds the spiritual fact, which to mortal sense "is dim and distant, gray in the somber hues of twilight" (Science and Health, p.

To those who have experienced "the healing of the seamless dress," after all material means had failed to bring relief, the thousands of testimonies offered in the Wednesday evening meetings, as well as those printed in our publications, are but so many confirmations of their faith; for to them it is not "a thing incredible" that the "effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man"—"an absolute faith that all things are possible to God" (Science and Health, p. i) — should avail for the healing of sickness as well as the saving from sin.

Possibly no question has been more generally misunderstood, or begotten more confusion and doubt, than that of the relation of suffering to divine law. Even many of those most familiar with the letter of the Scriptures are greatly perplexed, in view of the many statements therein which seem to make God responsible for the capacity in men to resist divine law, as well as for the suffering imposed on those who, when governed by impulses which they think to be divinely implanted, violate the requirements of law and incur its penalty.

IT has been said that history is but a record of the reign, influence, and death of inadequate concepts of God: and when one remembers the significance which their thought of Deity has to a people, its relation to their moral, intellectual, and social status, their place and power, civilization and success, he begins to realize how apt and suggestive the definition is. The thought of God as the ultimate source and explanation of all things has sprung up intuitively, it would seem, in the mentality of every nation, and when shaped by inspired teachers it has grown as the race has grown: while on the other hand men have grown as their thought of God has enlarged, been ennobled, through the educational leadership of spiritual seers and prophets.

IN that wonderful fourteenth chapter of John's Gospei, wherein are recorded those inspiring promises which have brought comfort and courage to so many troubled hearts, there is one declaration of the Master that is of deep significance to Christian Scientists, the authority, as it were, for their endeavor to heal the sick and the sinning: "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also. " We should not he unmindful, however, of the Master's frank acknowledgment that of himself he could do nothing, — "the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works;" nor of his prayer that his disciples — and "them also which shall believe on me through their word" — might have that oneness with the Father which was the source of his power: "As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us:.