IT is true of every genuine religious reform that its visible, organic expression, at any given period, represents the lesser part of its effective influence and achievement for good. While the early Christian church wasyet so small and inconspicuous as to be regarded with indifference, if not contempt, by the ecclesiasticism of Judah, the culture of Greece, and the power of Rome, its truth was revolutionizing the world's thought and life, and thus removing the very foundations of lordly empire. Truth's radiating shafts penetrate every place and pretense of error, and, far in advance of the visible line of its assertion and defence, its healing and corrective presence is felt.
The history of the Christian Science movement furnishes an interesting illustration of this thought. While it has been growing steadily as a denominational organization, its silent and pervasive influence has gone out into every realm of life to startle, rebuke, and quicken human sense, and the results are seen in the transformation which is taking place in Christian philosophy; in the pronounced revolt against the reign of traditions and creeds; in the growing intolerance of drug medication, and in the protest against the multiplication and excitation of fears, as a protection from disease.
The influence of Christian Science is also seen in the awakening of many Christian people to the possibility as well as the desirability of spiritual healing. In England this awakening is so marked as to have led to the organization of a Church Society for the study of the phenomena of this healing, which is recognized not only as a distinctive feature of Christian Science but as a natural and long-neglected incident of true Christian faith.
