Editorial February 25, 1905 Issue

Vital and Joyous Religion

Annie M. Knott

Though there may be a very general disagreement as to the best means of promoting the moral and intellectual advancement of the race, there is no question as to its desirability. Materiality makes strong demands upon mankind, and promises great things in return, but it soon becomes apparent, even to the superficial, that it fails to make good these promises. Men do not find security, much less happiness, in worldly pursuits and possessions, and well is it for those who discover this early enough to spare themselves vain regret and remorse for lost opportunities to gain in spiritual things. None too soon can the individual and the nation learn that it is "righteousness" which exalteth the one as truly as the other. The need of a recognition of this fact was emphasized in a recent sermon, quoted by a religious contemporary, in which the preacher said, "The strength and enthusiasm of present-day manhood has gone into commercial enterprises.... The Juggernaut of commercial greed has rolled over, and is crushing out of existence to-day, in the lives of thousands of our best and brightest young men and young women, the higher religious aspirations.... I have no faith whatever in the remedy proposed by mere education of the masses, in the building and equipment of large libraries, in the emphasis laid upon great colleges and universities, if these things are in any way whatever divorced from the most profoundly elemental religious conceptions of righteousness."

There are few, if any, right-thinking people who would dissent from these statements, and all would surely agree that the one important consideration for mankind is, how best to attain to the "profoundly elemental religious conceptions of righteousness." Christian Science has unquestionably succeeded in rousing a deeper interest in religion than was ever before experienced by the thousands who are now identified with it. Some of these people had previously been very devout, others had been wholly indifferent to religion, but in both cases their healing by spiritual means awakened an all-absorbing interest in the study of the Bible, and in the consideration and practice of those vital truths which have to do with the uplifting of humanity. Not only do they find it a joy to study the Bible, in the marvelous light thrown upon its teachings by our textbook, Science and Health, but in the busiest lives time is found to carry the message of the Christ-love and its healing power to the sick and the sinful.

One of the most encouraging features of this voluntary service is the simplicity and naturalness with which they tell others of the truth that permeates their own thought and blesses their own daily life; indeed, the difficulty is to repress the impulse to tell of it everywhere. An incident is recalled of a business man who had accepted Christian Science. He did not hesitate to say that he had long served the "world, the flesh, and the devil," but he had found his freedom in Christ, Truth, and with it a glad sense of joy which he knew to be abiding. His pleasure was found in bringing others to see the light which was shining upon his path. On one occasion he shared his gladness with others by reading a telegram from a former man of the world who had recently been healed, and who was impelled by his new-found joy to send this message from a distant part of the country, just to tell of a spiritual uplifting which he had received at a Wednesday evening meeting. Those who listened could but remember the Master's words. "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." It is this joy which accompanies Christian Scientists wherever they go. It expresses their sense of mental and physical health, and they therefore bring healthful conditions into their social and business life. Their religion is no longer assumed on occasion: it is their very life. It is the knowing of God, good, knowing Him as Truth, Love, which gives new energy, new hope, new opportunity every day for the exercise of that high and holy sense of religion, wherein

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