Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1922-02-01

NOW. christian Science 1S~true from the
first to the last word Of our textbook, or
it Is not true at all. If it be false at any
point, If it be faulty ar any point, If it
be not in absolute line with one inva-
riable, changeless Principles at all points
then, to use the words of Paul, our
preaching is vain; and moreover, to para
phrase slightly the language of that great
Apostle. we who have accepted Christian
Science are the most hopeless and most
miserable of people. To go further, if
further it would be possible to go, if
Christian Science is not altogether true
if the healing power of the Christ be not
present yesterday. today and forever
then we who have been Proclaiming our
healing through Christian Science from
the very hOusetops are false witnesses.
But we who have been healed in Chris
tian Science. and we who have praeticed
well that when its Principle is intelli-
gently. honestly and trustfully employed,
it never fails. This Principle has always
existedS it has been known to certain Of
Gods people throughout a4+the ages, and
it was understood by Jesus more clearly
than by any of his predecessors
MARY BAKER
EDDY'S TASK.
Apparently lost for centuries, the Sci
ence whereby it could be put into oper-
workable agency, was rediscOvered ny
Mary Baker Eddy. Her great task, the
greatest that woman has ever been called
upon to perform, was to proclaim and
demonstrate conyincingiy to doubling
world her marvellous revelation. In her
own simple but beautiful language she
tells us when and how each OF her steps
was taken. Those acquainted with her
writings are familiar with the story.
She left not hing to mere assertion. She
proved b. demonstration every declara-
zion which she set down in writing. In
the year 1866, she tells US. she discovered
the Christ Science or divine laws of Life,
Truth and Love, and named this dis
covery CHRISTIAN Science; but her first
pamphlet on the subject, although copy
righted In 1870, did not appear in print
until 1875, or ten years after her divine
revelation, las she had learned" to use
her own words, that this Science must
be demonstrated by healing, before 4
work on the subject could be~proftably
studied. She was in no hurry to launch
her discovery upon world slow, to yield
itself to consideration of new 'philoso-
ply of life, and one especially that under
took to refute or reverse practically all
the theories of human existence handed
down by the schools from time i'm.
memorial. She knew too much Of the
world ITO trust her revelation in its
hands until she was prepared with such
proof as it would demand to insure at
least a respectful, If a skeptical, hearing,
TO obtain these proofs, and to render
them convincing and -irrefutable, she
gave herself over to prayer and study.
When she sought authority she sought
and found it in the Bible. When she
sought guidance, she looked for 1t in
the teachings of Christ Jesus and his
apostles All of her dependence for light
was placed upon the Scriptures, and
when she finally laid her thesis before
critical people 1t was fortified with
spiritual truth in every line, sentence,
paragraph and page
Nothing has. been more pulling or
more annoyingly ysaffiing TO her critics
than the fact of her scruputOus, persist
ent, tenacious adherence to the Bible
to the book which Christians through
centuries have regarded, or have pro-
fes5ed TO regard, as diyinely inspired.
She took II and employed it as the key
stone of her philosophy. She took it,
as it was intended plainly b. It's in
spired writer's to be taken, in spirit and
III truth, neither deducting from 1t nor
adding to IL. but accepting II with open
mind and Interpreting it in accordance
with it's manifest design and meaning.
CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS
AND THE BIBLE.
Just as the discoverer and founder Of,
Christian Science places the Bible first
at all times: just as she looks to 1t and
clings to ii ut all times for inspiration
and for strength; just as she has given
it first place in the religious tepets and
services of the church she instituted
followers accept its inspired Word as
their sufficient guide to eternal life. 1t
is entireH within reasonable bounds to
say that in no other class or denOmina-
ton Of professed Christian religionists
is the Bible esteemed more highly or
studied more regularly, closely, earnestly
or intelligently than it is among Chris
tian Scientists. The Christian Science
textbook, Science and Health. is an ex--
position Of the Bible, Key to the Scrip
lures, and, as such, it has already I'M
locked for millions as it is destined to
ineXhaustible treasures Of spiritual wis
dom and understanding
In the earlier days Of her labor the
critics were, puzzled and baffled by the
works which they regarded as the most
radical and the most - startling-state-
ments that challenged and sometimes
fatty cOntradicted or positively cOntro-
verified their time-hOnored and seemingly
rockrooted theological premises and con
clusiOns-were based upon biblical pass
ages which they had commonly and ma
bitualIy used in services and sermons
but which, In the light shed upon them
by this wOman-this presumptuOus wan
an-presented meaning altogether new
to them-so surprisingly new, indeed,
that when they came across them In Mary
Baker Eddy's writings they questioned
the correctness Of her quotations and
flew to their Bibles in the confident but
vain hope Of proving her inaccurate and
unreliable.
Christian and orthodox in her environ
ment through childhood, girlhood and
young womanheodc Christian and or
thodox in research and thought through
out her long years Of study to fit herself
for the work to which she had been
called, she was moved by no impulse
to overturn the faith to which her Puri
tan ancestral beliefs led her to subscribe,
but rather, to buttress it with the sup.
port which its foundations lacked-with
the proofs, that is which she intuitiyely
felt were obtainable through q higher
and holier understanding Of the Bible.
MRS. EDDY'S
REMARKABLE RECORD.
Unless one has made a study of her
especially during the period of
her greatest activity, the period In which
she instituted and established a de
out the habitable globe, 1t will be diff
cult if not impossible for him to, obtain
a comprehensive understanding OF this
remarkable wOman's achievements. Be
ginning while still an invalid, by delVin9
into all the authorities she could lay her
hands upon, questioning and scrutin-
izing the generally accepted premises and
of theol9gic9l disputants,
theolo gical debris Of centuries in the con-
fdent hope Of finding the lost key to the
Scriptures finding 1t, reburnl;shfing 4
sought, safeguarding them that. they
might not be dissipated among the ig-
noTant, going on to the teaching Of her
first student to the writing, and dis
tributing Vt her early pamphlets among
a chosen few; preparing and publishing
a book that has changed for the better
the thought of millions, founding
College Of Metaphysics, in which during
seven years she personally taught over
four thousand students; organizing the
first established Church Of Christ, Scien-
fist, acting as its pastor, filling the presl-