The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-05-31

studied, and with rules by which 1t may be practiced, and so proved to be the Science of Christ to each one who demonstrates it.
 A study of the lives of great men will usually reveal that the various experiences and events which oc- cured to them from childhood on were definite steppingstones lead- ing up to the final manifestation of greatness. Each experience brought out and developed the qualities which were later manifested. These successive events were useful and necessary experiences which helped to train the individual for his final work, or which indicated his tend- ency and aptitude for it, long before this final work appeared.
 The Discoverer and Discovery
 So it was in the life of Mary Baker Eddy. There are indications all along the way of her tendency and aptitude toward spiritual things. From girlhood she was writer, and one whose contributions to news papers and publications were accept ed. Here then we have the ability to write and to express thought on paper which prepared Mrs. Eddy for the immense demand which was made upon her later on in the pulp lication of her books. These early writings contained frequent refer ences to God, which are evidence of the tendency Godward which she always manifested. We do not put God into frequent and daily express sion unless we are thinking about Him. So Mary Baker Eddy thought about God, and talked about God, and searched for God from child hood.
 As a child Mary Baker was del- cate and developed into rather frail woman. She suffered consider ably from sickness, and was much of the time a semi-invalid. Thus she had need of health, and char she searched for it. This very need of health was no doubt a factor in the spiritual un- foldment which followed. She in vestigated homeopathy and other material methods in her search for healing, discarding them one after another as they failed to satisfy her thought or to permanently heal her body. Such beliefs might tempo rarily lead her to believe either in their efficacy, or their divine origin, but they could not long turn her aside or deceive her. It would seem natural that the desire to under stand God which had been so evil dent in her thought from her ear- Hest childhood, and the desire for health. and strength which was an expression of her daily need, should be more or less merged in the con- viction that Jesus healing was the result of the application of spiritual law, and that to understand God and His law would again result in healing.
 Mrs. Eddy's Studious Nature
 In her childhood and youth Mary Baker was an unusually good student. Not only was she educated in the more common branches of learning, but she studied natural philosophy. She also studied Hebrew and Greek under her brother, Albert, who was 8 brilliant and profound student, college graduate, and a young lawyer of unusual promise. His studious nature, in which his sis- ter and he were alike, is indicated by his study of the Hebrew language during his vacations. It is probable that the knowledge of Hebrew and Greek which Mrs. Eddy acquired at this time was of great help to her in her study of the Scriptures.
 - Summing up some of Mrs. Eddy,s outstanding characteristics, We find that from childhood she was a writer. That she was always a stu dent, a philosophical and metaphy- sical student. That she was from early life a religionist, in its true spiritual sense, and that from young womanhood she was constant searcher for the true method of healing. Coupled with these mental characteristics was a quality of fidel- ity of purpose so that she persisted throughout her life in anything she undertook. It is probable that the sicknesses, sorrows, and disappoint- ments which she experienced helped to hold her more firmly still in the course which she pursued. The ulti- mate result fo her searching was the discovery of the law of God, and the gradual unfoldment of Christian Science in her consciousness.
 Appreciation of Mrs. Eddy
 The Christian Scientists gratitude to Mrs. Eddy increases as his grow ing spiritual understanding gives him greater dominion and frees him from material bondage. It would be impossible for one who really has some understanding of Christian Science to fail to express apprecia- tion for the spiritual unfoldment which has come to him, because spiritual understanding is in itself so wonderful that the possessor of 1t cannot do other than express gratitude to the one who has en- abled this wonder to be brought about. It is of course impossible for us to 90 through the experiences which were factors in the spiritual development of Mary Baker Eddy. We may not possess the natural spiritual tendencies and desires which animated her in the same de- gree that she possessed them. But there Is in the consciousness of each of us Q spiritual desire which can be awakened and which. when de rected and developed through the teachings of Christian Science. will lead us out of Q material sense of things and make available to tis the LA. .Y Ua. |.MM N. A