Editorials

ONE of the most difficult lessons to be learned in the school of Christian Science is that of patience and confidence in God. The sufferer may have been for months, or even years, under materia medica, may have "suffered many things of many physicians," but when the last remnant of hope in things material is gone and he turns to Christian Science for relief, he chafes at any possible delay.

THE thirteenth chapter of Luke's gospel presents in vivid terms certain scenes in the great drama of human redemption which show the determination of mortal mind to resist every advancing step of spiritual Truth. In his parables Jesus was unsparing in his condemnation of the error which claimed to control men in the name of God, but which had no good fruits to show in support of its arrogant assumptions.

NO phenomenon of the material world is more interesting or more inscrutable, apart from divine metaphysics, than the persistence of species, the maintenance of individuality. With the summer the familiar blossoms and leafage of each bulb and bush appear, and are greeted as the return of a well-known friend.

THOUGH written from a purely material viewpoint, there is nevertheless a valuable lesson in the statement by a noted English writer on political economy, that "the early steps of a student in almost every science are met by certain obstacles; if he succeeds in surmounting these obstacles, his future progress seems to be insured. " The student of Christian Science is no exception to this rule, but he has the advantage of the physical scientist in that he has taken as his fundamental premise God's omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence, as declared in the Scriptures; accordingly he goes "from strength to strength," for he knows that anything which is opposed to good, or which sets itself up as a rival power, is a usurper from the beginning and therefore can be overcome and cast out.

ONE not infrequently meets with those who though they would be offended by the imputation that they are stupid, nevertheless aver that the teaching of Christian Science is quite beyond them. They may have been impressed with its history and its influence upon individuals, and perchance been convinced that it is effective in solving human problems, but they are tempted to say that they "haven't the cleverness to get hold of it.

IN the book of Genesis we find the promise made to Noah that "seedtime and harvest" should never cease. We also read in the first chapter of Genesis, which gives a spiritual account of creation, that tree and herb shall bring forth seed and fruit each after its kind.

THERE are two statements respecting the Messianic mission so seemingly paradoxical that they are confusing until in the light of Christian Science teaching their meaning becomes clear and forceful. In the record by Matthew we have the Master's positive declaration that he came not to destroy, but to fulfil; while in the first epistle of John we read that the Son of God was manifested to men "that he might destroy the works of the devil.

IT cannot be denied that until the spiritual sense is awakened God seems very far off and heaven a place to be reached only after death. While it is true that advanced thinkers would probably disclaim such concepts, we need only question ourselves in order to find how they cling to us even after we have had assurance of better things.

WHEN Harold B said recently that "we are approaching a period in human history more momentous than any which has gone before," he voiced the conviction of many, and one of the legitimate grounds of this forecast may be found in the manifest significance of the present world struggle to the prevailing concept of Deity. The old query, "Why does a God who assertedly hates evil and has the power to prevent its awful tragedies, allow it to run riot in ways that shock the moral sense of even ordinary men?" is upon the lips of more Christian people today than at any other period of human history.

IN these days of rapid progress and swift movement of events it may not be amiss, at times when questions of importance to the welfare of a church are under consideration, for its members to give themselves pause long enough to look things squarely in the face, rather than open the way to be swept off safe ground by hasty and ill-advised action. Centuries intervened between the promise spoken to Isaiah, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste," and its fulfilment in the coming of the Christ, the divine idea, in the man Jesus.