Articles

THE belief that divine help is a mysterious or supernatural force, available only to a few specially chosen people in isolated and extreme conditions, was forever proved false by the Man of Nazareth. As he went about, taking care of problems as they presented themselves in his day, ever changing discord into harmony, he gave abundant proof of the presence of an absolute and eternal law which is as available to one individual as to another, and as applicable to one problem as to another.

WHILE sailing down a seacoast harbor one beautiful day in summer, several ships at anchor were passed, and farther down the bay a dismantled craft was seen cast upon the beach and rapidly breaking up under stress of wind and wave. To Christian Scientists the lesson which an interned or shipwrecked vessel teaches is apparent.

IN his introduction to the "Parmenides" of Plato, a great translator says that the difficulty of philosophy in all ages is: "How can we get beyond the circle of our own ideas, or how remaining within them can we have any criterion of a truth beyond and independent of them? .

ON page 85 of "Retrospection and Introspection" by Mrs. Eddy we find this significant statement: "The tempter is vigilant, awaiting only an opportunity to divide the ranks of Christian Science and scatter the sheep abroad; but 'if God be for us, who can be against us?'" Who or what is the tempter referred to by our Leader? Is it a person or a thing? Neither one.

Jesus ofttimes taught the people by parable, and on one occasion we are told that "without a parable spake he not unto them. " This shows the importance which he attached to this method of teaching, and we surely cannot do better than to follow in his steps.

It was once brought to the attention of the writer that testimonies concerning small daily happenings were not desired at the Wednesday evening meetings of the Christian Science church; that people came to hear about the cure of so-called incurable diseases. Not having any serious physical ills to meet, one felt ruled out of court, as it were, by this dictum.

As a divine messenger the prophet Isaiah communicated to his fellow men the revelation which he had received from God. The primary object of this stern reprover of sin was religious instruction; he labored to awaken the people to higher moral and spiritual knowledge.

Jesus' statement, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," as it is so often quoted, is especially dear to Christian Scientists, but it loses much of its signification and purpose by its separation from its context. The Master had been teaching and preaching in the temple, in the homes, and by the wayside, and proving by signs and wonders that the Father who had sent him was bearing him witness.

Severe attacks such as those to which Christian Science has been subjected of late, have again shown its followers that the most erroneous opinions concerning this teaching are prevalent; but Christian Scientists could not well be affected by these attacks, directed as they are against concepts which have nothing in common with Christian Science. If this religion were what its critics suppose it to be, it would not have so large a following, neither would the movement show such a steady growth; for people who are wretched and discontented, who have failed to find that, which would bring them health and happiness, are flocking to Christian Science, and they would hardly adhere to it if they found it to be nothing but deception.

When a man who has been an active worker in some other church resigns his membership and becomes connected with a Christian Science church, it is sometimes his lot to have to explain why he has done so, and at other times to listen to criticism of the faith he has espoused. On one occasion the writer, having been told that Science was wrong, declined to argue the matter, but was by no means surprised to hear the declaration from the critic, "I cannot argue, because I know nothing about it.