Editorials

THE usual thought regarding religion relates to the outward forms, avowals, or acts by means of which men indicate their belief in and reverence for or fear of a superhuman power or Being. Thus the form, essence, and influence of men's religious belief and worship are determined by the nature of the authority to which they bow.

THE inspired definition of "Church" found on page 583 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy also tells us, by inference, of the nature and authority of the true church member.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE teaches that God is infinite— All-in-all; that He is Mind or Spirit; that He is good; that he is the source, cause, or creator of all that really exists. It teaches also that God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent; or, in other words, that He includes within Himself all presence, all knowledge, all power.

TRUTH'S standard is coincident with true existence, and all that constitutes God's creation is embraced in this standard and upheld by it. The standard of God, divine Principle, is everlastingly set up, obeyed, and nothing has lowered or can lower it.

MOST of those who are as yet unenlightened by Christian Science believe that matter creates and controls its own conditions, and this causes them to repose faith in the supposed power of matter to correct or heal disease and discord. A large proportion of those who are now Christian Scientists relinquished their faith in medical methods only when these failed them, and they then turned for healing to God and His law, Christian Science.

ANOTHER year dawns, and to human sense many problems loom on its horizon; for the world of men as a whole is still far from being an ideal world. Many are looking ahead with misgiving and fear, wondering what another year will bring forth.

A WELL-KNOWN educator once wisely remarked, "All right people are reformers; but not all reformers are right. " Obviously the world sorely needs reformers of the right sort, those who discern the wrongs sufficiently to be helpful agitators, and who coincidently understand the Christian corrective which will rectify and settle conditions.

CHRISTMAS celebrates the birth of Jesus, the Way-shower, who brought to mankind the gift of gifts —love for God and man—and the tokens of man's true health, life, and holiness. Cherishing his spiritual sonship above all else, Jesus never allowed what is called human nature to hinder his manifestation of the divine nature.

ON page 227 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy writes: "All men should be free.

TO every mortal burdened with cares or surfeited with elusive pleasures, Christian Science offers escape from the old bondage through "newness of life" and efficacious service to mankind in "newness of spirit. " For binding conservatism and deferred hope it offers the present fruits of spiritual understanding.