CHRISTIAN SCIENCE, which came in so quietly a few years ago as to be almost unnoticed, has made such steady progress, and is asserting itself so vigorously, that mortal mind has been startled into a more just and careful examination of this new phase of Christian religion, or rather this restoration of primitive Christianity. With all the pros and cons of press and pulpit, the fact is almost universally accepted that Christian Science is here, and most decidedly here to stay. The old question, What will we do with Christian Science? is superseded by, What will Christian Science do with us, with the world, with the problems of the race? And here the question comes in, Does the world need Christian Science? Let us see.

Has humanity a physical need of Christian Science?

Mortal man has become a slave to his sense of physicality. His body tyrannizes over him by his own consent. Like a pagan with his wooden god, he bows down in fear and helplessness before this tyrant of clay. He feeds it, clothes it, cares for it, spends his living upon it, and takes its miserable dole of health and happiness as including all he has a right to expect; and even this may be diminished or discontinued without notice. In his zeal to be at home in this body he has through ignorance forged the fetters of his own slavery, and shut the door of his escape from the ills of the flesh.

Is man satisfied with all this? Not at all. The desire for freedom has ever been with him, and never more than now. That he has not attained his liberty is not for the lack of effort, but of understanding. He has tried everything except Spirit, God. The one door through which alone he can accomplish his deliverance is the understanding of the reality of Good, the unreality and powerlessness of evil.

Go to the hospitals, the sanitariums, the prisons, the homes for incurables, the blind asylums, the deaf and dumb institutes, and witness the suffering and the despair, the lives shut out from the sunshine and joy of health and usefulness that is the birthright of every child of God. Think of the many weary centuries of just such suffering through which humanity has come; think of the pathetic failure of prevailing systems to remove these conditions from human experience, and because of this, because of the universal need, the world-wide hunger for something beyond the physical, the metaphysical, Christian Science, the only true metaphysics, is here.

Though essentially a purely spiritual system, this Science of Mind offers effectual help to those in physical need; it holds out its hand to all who have fallen into the slough of disease. Unlike all human systems of therapeutics struggling in the same mire of materiality with those it would lift out, Christian Science stands on the rock of eternal Truth, and on that rock it would lift all mankind, there to realize that health, the wholeness and harmony of being, is its rightful and abiding possession.

It reveals to the children of men that suffering and disease are not their true estate; that they live in needless fear of a body which, by their own confession, is but "a senseless clod," whose utmost limit is "earth to earth" and "dust to dust." In Christian Science, it is found that this personality of flesh is in no sense the true man, the child of the perfect Father, but is merely the representation of a mistaken sense of this child; and suffering, disease, and death are the results of the falsity of this sense. No other system since Jesus prophesied of this full revelation of Truth, has ever attempted to remove this cause of all man's woe from the range of actuality, and bring to light his true being as the undying reflection of Mind, no less exempt from disease, deformity, and decay than is the source from which he emanates God.

In the face of what Christian Science has already accomplished in the deliverance of mortals from the doom of disease and pain, who will say, if he has experienced but a tithe of human suffering and despair, and the helplessness of men's devices, that the world of physical humanity does not need Christian Science?

Does the world need Christian Science morally? Let us go back to the allegorical beginning of mortal man, and in addition to perfect health we find that he began his sojourn on earth with a sound moral character a morally perfect man. There seems, however, to have been a falling away somewhere, as he was not found proof against temptation, and he has continued down through the ages, yielding to temptation, till he is in a very bad state.

And is man satisfied with this? Not at all. The instinctive love of righteousness, of uprightness, has been ever with him, and never more than now. That he has not been restored to his rightful, upright condition, is due to mistaken methods rather than lack of desire or of effort. As with sickness, so it has been with sin; he has tried everything except God, will-power, hypnotism penance, superstitious faith, etc., none of which has ever quenched the fires of sinful desire. Humanity is still struggling with this horrible nightmare of sin, which has been the burden and the legacy of every generation since the advent of mortal man.

That all merely human systems of reform have come short is too sadly evident. Take an average daily paper and count its items of crime, immorality and corruption for one day. Go to the police and criminal courts, the reformatories, the prisons, the saloons, the cities' slums and gilded halls of vice, and take their testimony. Think of the city police, a very army for multitude, maintained to prevent crime, or bring the criminal to punishment. Think of the world's armies and navies, maintained at such tremendous cost, the confession of universal moral weakness, of fear, hatred, envy, jealousy, revenge, covetousness, selfishness, and cruelty. Think of all this, and say whether the world does not need something higher, something more potent, than the present methods of dealing with this moral leprosy.

Mortal man is in bondage to the belief that he is a fallen, depraved creature, sinful by nature and desire; and earth is full of wretchedness in consequence.

Christian Science has come to the world because of its deep moral need. Standing on the basic truth of the allness of Good, it offers the same effectual help to sin-enslaved mortals as to those burdened with physical ills. It reveals to the children of men the self-evident facts that the "image and likeness" of God could never fall while God's integrity remained; that the ideas of perfect Mind must essentially be perfect, and hold their perfect status in that Mind; that the reflected likeness of the Creator must always image forth its original. These facts are indisputable; the only thing new about them is their application. What is called the fall of man, or his degenerate condition, is but a mistaken view of himself based on the accepted belief that there is something besides God, infinite Good, and that this something has conquered him. This erroneous conception, which includes the whole of mortal existence, is but a mistaken and temporary sense of life without, or outside of, God. It naturally follows that this wrong sense is dispelled as the Truth of Being dawns in thought, and man responds in purer thoughts and holier living. When men begin to regard themselves in their true light, as the offspring of Good and not evil, the bonds of sin begin to loosen. If this beginning is honestly made, final deliverance is merely a question of progress. In this progress one phase of sin after another is left behind, each making a battlefield and a victory where the powerlessness and unreality of evil were made evident. That the application of the truth of the omnipotence and omnipresence of Good is made practical in Christian Science is proved by the constantly increasing number of cases of sin healed, destroyed in the practice of this Science.

In the face of past failures to effect the reformation of mankind, who, that has seen but a fraction of the degradation to which the human mind has fallen, will say that there is not a need, and a most pressing need, for some new factor in the working out of the salvation of men? And in the face of what has already been accomplished by Christian Science in this direction, who shall say that this factor is not Christian Science?

Does the world need Christian Science spiritually?

The necessity for a religious system whose practice will meet the entire need of humanity in this present time, is a sufficient reason for the appearance of Christian Science among the religions of the world. The people are waking up, and beginning to think. Men are breaking loose from the trammels of religious superstition, and are demanding the same proof of religion that they do of mechanics or mathematics.

The Christian Scientist appreciates that wealth of pure purpose and exalted living, the loving sacrifices and endeavors, that have enriched the churches in every generation. Their lofty faith in God, their unselfish love, would have accomplished the same good apart from the creeds and dogmas they believed it their duty to accept, for they were reflecting Good to their highest sense. We thank God for these, for they have kept alive the flame of Christianity amid the darkness of religious materialism, and made possible the discovery of Christian Science.

Why have so many religious systems failed? Because they have stood on the same plane with those whom they sought to save. Let us go back once more to the story of a material creation. We find that man, morally and physically perfect, was commanded not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; if he did so, he would die. The story says he did so. It is admitted, I think, by all students of theology that the whole calendar of sin, disease, sorrow, misery, and death has followed as the consequence of the partaking of the fruit of this tree, the knowledge of good and evil. Now one would naturally suppose that the condemnation of this knowledge by God and the dire lessons of experience, would teach mankind that it is a very bad knowledge indeed. And one would more naturally suppose that the institution which has taken upon itself the task of leading man back to his original estate wherein he did not know evil, would side with God by also condemning this double knowledge, and seeking to eliminate the knowing of evil altogether as being the cause and continuance of man's downfall. Alas! not so. All religions have recognized and still recognize that knowledge of good and evil which God in the beginning condemned. Which is right, scholastic theology, which accepts evil as something to know, or God who condemned evil as something man ought not to know? If this knowledge has "brought death into the world, and all our woe," ought it not to be discarded as soon as possible, that we may be free from the consequences of knowing it?

The religion that is to redeem the race, that is to lift it out of the horrible pit and miry clay of its sense of evil, must be from above its own level. It must stand on that higher plane where the knowledge of Good (or God's knowledge) alone is recognized. It must be the revelation of that infinite creative Principle, Love, which made and keeps all perfect, and whose creation is the abiding reflection of Himself. It must be a religion that realizes the tremendous import, and accepts the conclusion of these simple premises, as something which may be practised by mortals here and now. Such a religion is Christian Science. And who that knows of the lamentable failure of past systems to accomplish man's deliverance from error, will say that such a religion is not needed?

What did Jesus do with the sick and sinful who came to him for help? He healed them. What did he say that all who believed on him should do? The same works which he did. What did Jesus say constituted the sign (proof) of a believer? Healing the sick and casting out evils. The disciples, the apostles, the early Christians all bare testimony by these "signs."

Christian Science declares that infinite Love, "the Father of Jesus", has not changed; and Jesus said his Father did the work. "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth these also doeth the Son likewise." In other words, he reflected the omnipotence of God, whose power belongs to no "age," and has never "passed." Christian Science has demonstrated that the light of omnipotent, limitless Love does dispel the dark shadows of disease and sin from the human mind and body. God's will has not changed; His power is not divided nor diminished; His mercy has not ceased to endure, that His church on earth should weakly relinquish this glory and prerogative bestowed upon His people.

The statements of Christian Science are not visionary nor hopelessly idealistic. No one's word need be taken on so great a subject. There is proof that is indisputable. Any one who will earnestly and honestly study the textbook of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker G. Eddy, can bring this proof into their own experience.

That the world has need of a scientific Christianity, physically, morally, and spiritually, is manifest by its helpless subjection to disease, sin, and death, and by its spiritual darkness as to the nature of God's infinitude, and His ever-present readiness to deliver from evil; and who that has a common charity for mankind, an earnest hope of freedom, and an honest faith in God, will cast a stone at this loving emancipator, Christian Science, that is destined to continue the successful factor in human salvation so long as a need of it remains?

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