AT the dawn of 1916 the deepest hope held by all lovers of humanity is that men will be drawn together as at no former period in human history, and the bonds of true brotherhood be cemented so firmly in truth and righteousness that no belief of conflicting interests can again sever them. Such a consummation surely calls for a closer acquaintance with each other, based upon the truth of being as revealed in Christian Science.
In her communion address sent to the annual meeting of The Mother Church in June, 1899, Mrs. Eddy makes use of these words: "Nature reflects man and art pencils him, but it remains for Science to reveal man to man" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 124). In some of the hard experiences of mortal existence we have glimpses of the greatness and grandeur of the real man's nature, such as "would make our knees bend," to quote Emerson; but it is not enough to have a passing glance at man, we must know him as we know God, by revelation. It may be said that Christ Jesus revealed man to himself, also to his fellow man, and Christian Scientists love to trace the steps by which he accomplished such wonders in this way. Many sincere Christians have indeed followed, unconsciously as it were, his method, as an unlearned person may make use of mathematical rules up to a certain point; but this is only an added argument for scientific knowledge on the higher as well as on the lower plane.
Philosophers have studied endlessly the so-called human mind, with all its peculiarities and vagaries, as well as its admitted limitation, in the attempt to know more about man, but it is never claimed that the results of this painstaking research have made men better, purer, stronger, or brought them closer to their fellow men. At the same time others have from the earliest times been seeking to know man by close and continuous study of the human body, alive or dead; but since their quest has not reached up toward God it has not found man, as man is understood in Christian Science, and it has never even touched the qualities which prove man's relation to God.
