THE great prominence given in most educational institutions to the study of the sciences, and the willingness of cultivated thought as a whole to accept their decrees as final, may be said to distinguish the age in which we live. No less marked, however, than this great authority conceded to science, is the very general habit of relating it to earthly problems alone, the deeper questions of faith and fate being regarded as quite removed from the realm of scientific investigation. This accounts in part for the fact that when Christian Science was first presented to thought, the association of the two ideas thus wedded seemed so unusual as to lead people to speak of its name as a misnomer. Nevertheless the moment one thinks of the meaning of the term science, viz., that accurate, classified knowledge which expresses and is supported by unvarying law, and recalls the declaration of the Master that we shall "know the truth," by which he surely referred to the spiritual facts he so effectively apprehended, then the naturalness and necessity of a Science that is Christian and that has to do with the deeper and diviner things, the things of Spirit, becomes impressively apparent.
Just here it is well for us to note the fact that material science reaches its conclusions for the most part from the basis of sense testimony. It is inductive, and hence the solution of its problems must, in the very nature of the case, be delayed until all the facts have become known. The investigation must be both comprehensive and complete before a safe judgment can be reached. Humanity's imperative need, however, is of a guide along the way of life, and not that all wisdom become a reserve fund, enriching our final possessions but not shaping our experience. If the right idea is to lead men into all truth, it must reach them at the beginning of their course. The place and purpose of revelation is thus made clear, and we also see why Christ Jesus appeared in the midst of the years, rather than at the time assigned by the doctrine of evolution for the coming of the ideal man.
With the knowledge of God as the only source of being, and of the essential truths regarding His nature and manifestation, which is given in the Old Testament scriptures and which has been confirmed and demonstrated by Christ Jesus, the spiritually aspiring have been supplied the adequate ground for a deductive Science of reality which is both Christian and demonstrable, and which compasses the highest plane of human interest and inquiry. While not answering all possible questions, the teaching of the Master does say enough to base a philosophy which has proved and is proving sufficient for the solution of life's problems. That Jesus demonstrated this, and that we also may demonstrate it, is the fundamental proposition which Mrs. Eddy has submitted for the Christian world's consideration in the system of thought she has named Christian Science.
