Editorials

At a time when the Christian Science movement is commanding an unusual amount of public attention, many are wondering just what it stands for, what it has to offer for the solution of the world's problems,—the righting of its wrongs, the alleviation of its sorrows, the relief of its pain. These queries are legitimate, and it is because Christian Science is practically addressing itself to human conditions and doing something which is positive and substantial for their betterment that it deserves and is receiving so much favorable consideration at the hands of honest truth-seekers the world over.

As the time draws nigh when the doors of the completed edifice of our Church are to be opened to its members, and also to the many who are drawn to its services by their need of that which they have failed to find elsewhere, it may well be asked, What does this stately and beautiful temple represent? One may hear the question answered by passers-by who know little of Christian Science, but who readily admit that this church was built because so many otherwise hopeless sufferers have been healed by the truth which it represents. To the student of Christian Science, however, this is but a small part of what the church stands for; to all such it represents the truth of being, an understanding of which reveals the ever-presence of the kingdom of God, —the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love.

The near approach of the annual Communion in The Mother Church undoubtedly brings to the thought of every Christian Scientist the query, "Am I living the life that approaches the supreme good?" (Science and Health, p. 496); and it is well for us that we ponder this question at this time.

Teaching in Sunday School. —Sect.

[ The following letter from our Leader was published in the May issue of the Journal , but through inadvertence it was divided into two paragraphs, the second of which was carried over to another page, thus breaking the continuity of the thought expressed. We regret this mistake, and hope that it will be atoned for by this explanation and the publication of Mrs.

To teach the truth of life without using the word death, its opposite, were as impossible as to define truth and not name its opposite, error. Straining at gnats, one may swallow camels.

Among the many wonderful lessons given us by the Hebrew seers, none is of more vital interest to Christian Scientists than that found in the thirty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel, in which the prophet tells his vision of a valley of dry bones that are made to feel the life-giving power of Spirit. It is an object-lesson of the resurrection toward which all human hope and faith have turned with a longing that refuses to be stifled, and that can be satisfied only as good is known to be spiritual and therefore immortal.

Human suffering means more than pain; it has ever been a most perplexing problem. Though recognized by all Christian people as the sequence of sin, it is found to conform to no law of ethical fitness in its visitations, the good and the bad alike being subject to its pangs.

Several unsuccessful attempts to secure legislation O adverse to Christian Scientists have been made in the different State legislatures within the past few months, and it is worth noting that as a rule the proposed bills have not secured the approval of the committees to which they were referred. This was the case in both Massachusetts and New York.

ONE of the very evident signs of the times, from the religious standpoint, is the daring with which the most sacred topics are discussed in the light of modern conditions. There is certainly no cause to regret this free consideration of what are rightly regarded as vital questions, if mankind is thereby advanced and higher ideals attained.