Foreword

Page v

1     Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet;
           Lest we forget — lest we forget !
3           — Kipling’s Recessional

       IN these stirring times of church building, when the
       attention of the whole world is fixed on Christian Sci-
6     ence, when the growth and prosperity of the Cause are
       matters of general wonderment and frequent comment,
       when the right hand of fellowship is being extended to
9     this people by other Christian denominations, when pop-
       ularity threatens to supersede persecution, it is well
       for earnest and loyal Christian Scientists to fortify them-
12    selves against the mesmerism of personal pride and self-
       adulation by recalling the following historical facts: —

       1. That Mary Baker Eddy discovered Christian Sci-
15    ence in 1866, and established the Cause on a sound basis
       by healing the sick and reforming the sinner quickly
       and completely, and doing this work “without money and
18    without price.”

       2. That in 1875, after nine years of arduous prelimi-
       nary labor, she wrote and published the Christian Sci-
21    ence textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the
       Scriptures;” that over four hundred thousand copies of
       this book have been sold — an unparalleled record for
24    a work of this description; that it has healed multi-
       tudes of disease and has revealed God to well-nigh

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1     countless numbers — facts which prove, (1) that Science
       and Health does not need to be interpreted to those who
3     are earnestly seeking Truth; (2) that it is not possible
       to state truth absolutely in a simpler or more pleasing
       form.

6     3. That no one on earth to-day, aside from Mrs.
       Eddy, knows anything about Christian Science except
       as he has learned it from her and from her writings; and
9     Christian Scientists are honest only as they give her full
       credit for this extraordinary work.

       4. That Mrs. Eddy organized The First Church of
12    Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Mass., devised its church
       government, originated its form of public worship, wrote
       its Church Manual and Tenets, and always has been
15    and is now its guide, guardian, Leader, and wise and
       unerring counsellor.

       5. That Mrs. Eddy founded The Christian Science
18    Journal in 1883, was its first editor and for years the
       principal contributor to its columns; that she organized
       The Christian Science Publishing Society, which in 1898,
21    with its assets valued at forty-five thousand dollars,
       she made over to trustees under agreement to pay all
       future profits to her church; that at the same time she
24    presented to her church the property at 95 and 97
       Falmouth Street, then occupied by the Publishing So-
       ciety and valued at twenty-five thousand dollars, reserv-
27    ing for herself only a place for the publishing of her
       works; that she established the Christian Science Sentinel
       and authorized Der Herold der Christian Science, both of

Page vii

1     which, together with The Christian Science Journal, are
       the property of the Publishing Society.

3     Strive it ever so hard, The Church of Christ, Scientist,
       can never do for its Leader what its Leader has done
       for this church; but its members can so protect their
6     own thoughts that they are not unwittingly made to de-
       prive their Leader of her rightful place as the revelator
       to this age of the immortal truths testified to by Jesus
9     and the prophets.

       Deeds, not words, are the sound test of love; and
       the helpfulness of consistent and constant right think-
12    ing — intelligent thinking untainted by the emotionalism
       which is largely self-glorification — is a reasonable service
       which all Christian Scientists can render their Leader.

15    — The Christian Science Journal, May, 1906