While he was gathering material for his book, "Mary Baker Eddy: A Life Size Portrait," Lyman P. Powell had an opportunity to meet and observe many Christian Scientists at work. For a number of years he, as a respected, active Episcopal clergyman, had reiterated his impression that this group of people were expressing much Christianity. On page 43 of this biography of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science he records concerning his observation of her followers and their work, "All this awareness of God, this demonstration of the power of God to transform, this devotion to the Bible, this absorption in the Christ, is the product of what may perhaps be called a priesthood of democracy."
How fraught with meaning is that compendious phrase, "priesthood of democracy," especially when the word "democracy" has been defined and redefined so much of late in relation to the present world crisis. It is interesting to note that both priesthood and democracy had their inception at the very dawn of monotheism.
In the early Hebrew patriarchal society the head of every household was considered a priest. Although mainly centered around religious rites and ceremonies, it is significant how amenable to the unfolding moral order this priest-led family had to be. Perhaps when priesthood was removed from close contact with the individual's daily family life, it was the genesis of atrophy of the concept and departure into rabbinicalism or a priest caste system. How encouraging that Christian Science has come revealing the priesthood of spiritualized man in rightly interpreting the Master's work.
