Articles

" To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings. " What a world of promise is conveyed in these opening words of the Preface to "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy! The promise is universal and impartial.

Mary Baker Eddy , the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, in the course of an address given to her March Primary Class some fifty-two years ago, made the following arresting statement ( Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 279, 280 ): "We, to-day, in this class-room, are enough to convert the world if we are of one Mind; for then the whole world will feel the influence of this Mind; as when the earth was without form, and Mind spake and form appeared.

The Scriptures reveal the law of justice whereby the guilty are punished while innocence is divinely protected. Moses and the prophets, through holy meditation and spiritual insight, recognized the law of God and exhorted the people to purify their lives.

During the World War of 1914-1918 a British statesman, addressing an audience when inaugurating national food control, stated in substance that the only food controller who could have satisfied everyone was the man who had fed five thousand with five loaves and two small fishes, and even then had had a substantial surplus. At a time when the question of adequate supplies of all commodities and their efficient distribution is exercising the care and ingenuity of those responsible throughout the world, it is interesting and instructive to turn aside from human ways and means and to contemplate the methods of Jesus, methods which are so diametrically opposite to those most widely adopted today.

In the Old Testament is found the inspiring story of the child Samuel, who was called of God to receive an important message to His people. To this child, whose thought was innocent, pure, and receptive, came the voice of God, and it is recorded that "Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.

Christian Science , as its title indicates, is the Science of the Christ, and upon investigation will be found to explain what Jesus meant when he said, "I and my Father are one. " In studying this statement which Jesus gave, we see that what Jesus scientifically knew of the Father revealed his oneness with Him, and therefore his spiritual and eternal individuality.

One hears much these days of danger, of impending evil and the invasion of our normal and harmonious way of living. The need for preparedness to defend ourselves and our rights against selfishness and greed is much in thought.

Today the need of adequate armament, in an ever-increasing capacity and better quality, is being stressed. In the present world conditions such armament is a legitimate necessity.

Is it possible for one individual to have any influence in saving the world? Are we just helpless, hapless, and hopeless in these days of confusion—or is there truth in the saying that every little helps, no good thought is fruitless, no good act performed in vain? Here is the message of the sixty-seventh Psalm: "God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. " For us, surely, the beauty of progress in Christian Science is a knowledge that every man, finding the blessing of healing for himself, can thus aid the world in its efforts for deliverance from evil.

Almost from the very beginning, the effect and knowledge of Paul's letters spread far beyond the immediate circle of those who received them, and it is of interest to inquire as to how this wider distribution came about. The high esteem in which Paul was held would go far towards assuring acceptance of those all too brief records which have been preserved for us.