Article May 23, 1908 Issue

Christian Science is remodeling the religious thought...

F. Edwin Elwell

The Arena

[Note: Mr. F. Edwin Elwell, the famous sculptor, who is the author of the following paper, is not, we believe, himself a Christian Scientist, but he is a man of broad spiritual vision. He sees good in all earth's great religions, and even as a child he rejected the then popular theology which was so largely concerned with a personal devil who was regarded as the rival of Deity.—Editor of The Arena.]

Christian Science is remodeling the religious thought of the day and doing a great work in relieving humanity from the awful fear that has resulted from the dogmas of the almost Christless church. Its work in this respect is not unlike that of the sculptor who takes again the clay that has been used, but from which new forms arise and more beautiful images of the divine love of God.

It is difficult to conceive the immense value to the world of Mrs. Eddy's great work, embodying her new interpretation of the blessed gift of the Christ to mankind. The old ideal had grown as ponderous as the final ending of the Egyptian church, which went to decay before the dawn of Christianity because it had drifted away from the great ideal that had once been a positive inspiration and which was embodied in the worship of the virgin mother of the universe and her son Horus. Whenever mankind's spiritual vision becomes blinded by materialism, or the vital soul of the people is lost in the rude cunning of men's baser passions and desires, then the world suffers until some one comes great enough to deserve the trust, to brush away the accretions of ages and reveal anew the truth.

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