Some one has said, "There is nothing so painful as a new idea." The receiving of a new idea is as when a newer, more elegant article of furniture is brought into the home. The new stands for a different world, a different society, a different culture. Its presence brings out in sharp contrast the faults and failings of the old. And before harmony is restored the old must be refitted to be worthy to stand in the presence of the stranger, or else it must be ejected, to give place to that which is new. So the new idea, the truth when it appears, jostles our old mental equipment, disturbs our lines of thinking, and the fitness of things compels us to reconstruct many an old belief, to eject many another, or else to expel the stranger.
The most radical idea that has presented itself for judgement and acceptance in recent times, or in any time since the Christian era, is Christian Science. It is a stranger within our gates. And while, holding the ground of a safe conservatism, we prove all things and hold that which is good, we do well to beware lest, through an unwary prejudice in coldly rejecting the stranger, we fail in entertaining what may be an angel unawares.
The purpose and the promise of Christian Science are entirely good. Its works prove that it brings not only physical healing, but moral cleansing and spiritual illumination. If its radical claims can be sustained, it is "the desire of all nations," the hope of humanity; and every lover of good and friend of humanity will hope it may be true, until by thorough investigation he shall know whether or not it is true.
