Articles

History and tradition relate many interesting changes in human views respecting a future state of existence. The origin of belief in a realm of sorrow and suffering, anciently known as the nether regions, or sheol, is too remote to be distinctly traced, but it is clear that this belief was fixed in the thought of primitive peoples, who held that all humanity went to this region of despair after death and that punishment was there meted out in proportion to their shortcomings on earth.

Mankind has no greater need to-day than to learn the nature and power of God. St.

HE that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty," the psalmist declared; and in another psalm we read, "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. " In Christian Science we learn to grasp the practical significance of these inspired sayings of Holy Writ.

The spiritual interpretation of the Lord's Prayer as given by our Leader (Science and Health, pp. 16, 17 ) thus defines the petition for daily bread: "Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections;" and if ever Christian Scientists needed grace for each day it is now, for on their thinking depends, to a much larger extent than they perhaps recognize, the form of the world which will presently emerge from the melting pot in which it is now seething.

The importance of the prophetic word is indicated by the fact that, it comprises about one fourth of the entire Scriptures, also by the Master's care in pointing to its fulfillment in his own experience and ministry. We have become, as a general rule, so accustomed to think of the prophecies as chiefly concerned with a remote past or a remote future, that we do not perhaps fully realize, in this connection, that our own time is to us the only connecting link between the past and the future, and therefore the most important period there now is.

We are told that Archimedes, the most celebrated mathematician of antiquity, elated by the wonderful discoveries in mechanics which he had made, declared that if he had a fulcrum, a standpoint from which to work, he could move the world. This world of which Archimedes spoke appeared to him, as it does to nearly every one even to-day, to be a thing of matter, surrounded by a material atmosphere, inhabited by material beings.

From those primeval dawns of which it is written, "The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy," to that "Lord's day" on the isle of Patmos when St. John was bidden to say to the angel of the church in Thyatira, respecting the one that overcometh, "I will give him the morning star," this distinguished herald of approaching day has ever symbolized some new revelation of Truth to a waking world.

It is a curious fact that while the rapid growth of the Christian Science movement, as a whole is undeniable, the temptation to believe that progress is slow in the earnest student's particular community, or in his own individual consciousness, often seems to present itself. This lying argument, which is due to mortal mind's utter blindness to truth, seeks to manifest itself in the form of discouragement.

Christian Scientists have reason for sincere gratitude that the Manual of The Mother Church, in its completeness, authorizes the formation of Christian Science organizations at universities and colleges. No one can doubt, that organizations distinct from regular Christian Science churches and societies holding public meetings must have been authorized in order to meet needs distinct from those which the latter were intended to meet.

Jesus said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. " The real import of these words has surely been overlooked by professed Christians, for few seem to take them seriously; and yet probably no words in all the Bible have more vital significance for the human race, for is not this a question of life or death, heaven or hell? The reason for this lack of apprehension and appreciation may perhaps be found in the old theological belief that because a man believes, or says he believes, in Jesus Christ, he is saved, or is on the side of those who have experienced this new birth.