Editorials

Notwithstanding a pouring rain, Judge Clarkson was greeted by a large audience on the occasion of his lecture in Tremont Temple, Boston, on Tuesday evening, October 9, 1900. Judge Clarkson was called to deliver the semi-annual lecture under the auspices of the Mother Church.

We have always heard much of common sense. There are no words more commonly used than these.

We published in the Sentinel of September 13, an account of the New Hampshire State Fair, and of the visit of the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy thereto.

We have recently perused a series of sermons by different ministers of the gospel on the subject of Christian Science, some of whom have many pleasant things to say of it. Others are inclined to be somewhat harsh.

The very essence of Christianity, or Christian philosophy, is righteous judgment, or judging rightly our fellow-beings. No greater edict fell from the lips of the Nazarene Teacher than this: "Judge not, that ye be not judged.

The Board of Education, acting under the auspices of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, held its sessions according to announcement, commencing June 13, 1900. The maximum number of thirty-three students attended the general class in Christian Science, and there were in addition several who sat in the class by special invitation, but who, with two exceptions, were not applicants to teach.

The assertion so repeatedly made in the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," that the material senses are deceptive in their cognition of things, causes surprise to many who read it for the first time. Some query, "Is this true? Can it be that the source of knowledge to which we have all our lives been accustomed to trust, has deceived us, and that we may no longer gather information therefrom?" Others denounce the claim as untrue, and declare that if man may not trust to the material senses for his knowledge of things, he is wholly without the means of acquiring information or wisdom.

" Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. " These words of Paul addressed to the churches of Galatia, declare the unchangeable and eternal law of God, which is no respecter of persons, but deals out mercy and justice to saint and sinner alike.

The miraculous—what is it? Some say it is the wonderful or extraordinary. Some say it is the super-natural or extra-natural.

If we consider Philosophy from the standpoint of the meaning implied in its derivation, being compounded from the Greek words, loving, and wisdom, it naturally suggests the query, What kind of Wisdom should one love, and, loving, seek to find? A fair definition of the scope and purpose of Philosophy is embraced in the following formula written by a recognized authority for encyclopedic use:— "The universal and absolute science, aiming to explain phenomena by ultimate causes; to grasp the nature of real as distinguished from phenomenal existence; to systematize the forces and the laws which prevail in the activities of God, man, and nature; to reduce the universe to a principle of unity; and to exhibit at once the impulse and the goal of destiny. " If we give to the more emphatic words here used their full meaning, we have an outline of a system of inquiry, or seeking, that stops nowhere; or, more correctly, that ranges everywhere and would explain everything.