Articles

IT would scarcely be possible to lay down the law of spiritual causation in plainer or more unmistakable terms than in the following Scripture words from the second chapter of Genesis: "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. " Thought precedes action.

AMONG the various problems that confront Christian Scientists at the present stage of progress, that of church government is an important one. It is a problem that concerns us both individually and collectively; individually in that the schooling we receive from participation in the activities of church work contributes to our spiritual growth; collectively in that it affords us the means of presenting a united front and concentrated effort against the common enemy,—the belief in a power opposed to God, good.

The tendencies to revolt against restraint are to be observed everywhere. Throughout what is sometimes superficially classified as inanimate nature, these tendencies are often accompanied by tremendous exhibitions of energy, but they are all accompanied by counterchecks whose opposing tendencies maintain the necessary equipoise.

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.