Articles

AT the entrance of the old building which stands on the corner of Lake and Dearborn streets in Chicago, there is a tablet bearing a statement taken from a speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln at Alton, Ill. , in October, 1858.

IN studying the Bible in the light of Christian Science, one's efforts are constantly rewarded with new and valuable discoveries. Even the Old Testament historical records, when read with some measure of spiritual understanding, are full of helpful significance.

WHAT combination of words has been repeated so often as the introductory phrase of the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father which art in heaven," and yet how many of the millions who have repeated it have had any deep appreciation of the wealth of meaning therein contained? Coming as it did from the lips of one whose spiritual exaltation fitted him to speak with authority to the raging storm or the sealed tomb, we cannot attach to it too much importance or regard it with too much reverence, especially when we consider the circumstances under which it was first uttered. The disciples had asked their Lord to teach them to pray, and in response the great Teacher gave them this model to follow, a model that would be passed on down the centuries to be taught and retaught, rehearsed and reechoed in every part of the world; a prayer fitted for the lisping lips of the babe, the sonorous voice of rugged manhood, or the subdued tones of maturer age; a form of expression adaptable to the joyous heart of successful and buoyant youth, the grief-stricken and sorrowful mourner, the penitent sinner or the patient saint.

A great many people go through life without ever getting full possession of themselves. They do not seem able to grasp their possibilities, they never develop the faculty of flinging their lives out with force and effectiveness, along the line of their bent.

IN the epistle of Paul to the Romans we read: "Therefore thou art excusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. " One of the most subtle errors which assail mortals is this temptation to judge and criticize our fellow-men.

IN the ascending scale of spiritual thought, the true purpose of our life in relation to the mission of Christian Science is more clearly revealed. That mission is succinctly set forth on page 107 of Science and Health.

IT is certainly true in religion that, as one has said, "it is the want of consistency which has caused more secret uneasiness and more relative discord than almost any other failing connected with a man's character. " The frailty of human nature is perhaps nowhere more evident than in the disposition to separate theory from practice.

It is possible that nothing is changing in the life one sees; but is it only that which matters, and is our existence indeed confined to actions we can take in our hand like stones on the highroad? If you ask yourself, as we are told we should ask every evening, "What of immortal have I done today?" is it always on the material side that we can count weigh, and measure unerringly: is it there that you must begin your search? It is possible for you to cause extraordinary tears to flow; it is possible that you may fill a heart with unheard-of certitudes, and give eternal life unto a soul, and no one shall know of it, nor shall you even know yourself. It may be that nothing is changing; it may be that were it put to the test all would crumble, and that this goodness we speak of would yield to the smallest fear.

IN the twenty-first chapter of Matthew there is related a remarkable incident. We read that Jesus entered the temple, cast out all that sold and bought therein, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves.

THE question of temperance is one fraught with much agitation, and in many instances there is such a vast difference of opinion as to the best means of promoting the desired end, that even some of the adherents of the Christian Science faith have found themselves at a loss to know what was the best course to pursue. Christian Science teaches an invariable rule of right to govern every circumstance or condition of human affairs, and if from any seeming cause that rule for the time being is not clearly discerned, we have only to turn to "Miscellaneous Writings" and listen to our Leader, who has spoken to us on almost every subject with which we have to deal.