Articles

ONE afternoon some years ago, a Christian Science practitioner in answering her telephone heard a mother say, "Oh, do help my baby; he is so very ill!" Her voice was tremulous as she told about the baby's alarming symptoms, adding with deep distress, "His father is away, and I am all alone with him!" The practitioner began to declare the truth concerning God and man, but was conscious of a great divergence between the statements she was making and the sense of human sympathy and responsibility she was experiencing. Before long the message came that the baby was rapidly growing worse.

WE may well ask ourselves what we are living for. What is the thought that is most constantly uppermost with us? By what are we guided and governed? To whom or to what do we pay first allegiance? What is the nature of the ideas that present themselves in our quiet moments? Faithfulness in replying to such questions—and others that occur to every Christian Scientist—will determine where we stand as the exponents or demonstrators of that Science of Mind–healing which is the eternal truth now gradually encircling the globe.

THROUGH the revelation of Christian Science, in which all true causation is seen to be spiritual, the student is enabled to trace with genuine joy every step of human progress back to its impelling source in divine Mind and its manifestation in man. The question here naturally arises, In what terms is human progress to be defined ; in terms material or in terms spiritual? On page 181 of Miscellany Mrs.

Christian Science is stated from the standpoint of absolute Truth, the allness of God, and that there is in reality nothing else. But human belief declares that there is something else, and that mortals suffer sorely therefrom; therefore Christian Science, as applied to human need, is stated for the purpose of redeeming mortals from their wrong beliefs and experiences.

Among the many wonderful lessons given us in the Scriptures, none is of more vital interest to Christian Scientists than the earthly record of those who are described as having learned how to walk with God. The term "walked with God," used in the Bible in reference to Noah and Enoch, has been defined as "a prophetic life spent in immediate converse with the spiritual world.

One of the things which Jesus said concerning the erroneous conduct of the Pharisees was this: "They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. " No doubt many of us used to read this statement superficially and to think that what Jesus meant was that the Pharisees were not inclined to do anything for their fellow men, and that they did not try to live according to the precepts which they urged upon others.

The necessity for maintaining the purity of our Christian Science literature and preserving in its every phase the integrity of the movement, is becoming increasingly apparent to every sincere student of Mrs. Eddy's teachings.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me," thus indicating that there is but one right way to gain a knowledge of God, of divine Truth. It is therefore essential that one should understand what Christian Science means to the world.

Who does not love the coming of spring, as under the glow of light the barren wastes are transformed into loveliness and all the sunlit earth stirs from its somnolence to break forth into bud and blossom? To the thoughtful Christian Scientist it bespeaks that other awakening, when the light of Truth penetrates mortal error and in some hitherto unillumined consciousness there begins that spiritual unfoldment whose flower and fruitage shall go on throughout eternity. But just as the glory of June emerges slowly from winter's frosts, so does the full revelation of the divine Life unfold slowly in the human consciousness.

If we were at sea in a storm where all was confusion and imminent danger, and we were wise, we would keep calm and think and do the best thing possible to save the situation. We would resist the selfish temptation to yield our thoughts to the dread of shipwreck and death.