And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved. — Hosea, 12:13.

A CAREFUL reading of the books of the Pentateuch, where-in the history of the children of Israel in their bondage and in their wanderings is chronicled, brings to thought the utter helplessness which would have been the heritage of these unfortunate people had not Moses been saved and reared in their midst. Born into conditions which were waiting to destroy him, rescued through remarkable circumstances and cherished under royal protection, he became to his own suffering people a leader whose God-sustained purpose opened the way for a full deliverance from the literal slavery of their lot. Moses withstood Pharaoh, urged his people on in the way of the guiding pillar of fire and cloud, brought them through the Red Sea, helped them to find bread and water in the wilderness, formulated for them their laws and their commandments, and defined for them their practices and customs. To God alone they must look, upon God alone they must depend, and nothing less than the power of God wrought out their salvation from day to day ; but the law of God must be declared in ways appreciable to their limited human capacity, ere it could become available for the sore need of the nation. Hence the necessity for Moses, and for obedience to his instruction. What the people themselves could not do, in throwing off the yoke of their oppressor, and in making their way to the promised land, one enlightened prophet could do, for and with them. God had been the same God, eternal and unchanging, during all the four hundred and thirty years of the sojourn in Egypt, but the divine law which makes possible victory over evil conditions, was not recognized as operating in behalf of this downtrodden people until a Moses stood forth to define that law and to establish its activity in human affairs.

Moses demanded of the people obedience, right living, and a remembrance of God in their daily doings. In return they were guided, cherished, sustained, and supplied with every right and good thing, according to the measure of their obedience. When Moses' first effort toward their deliverance seemed to tighten the grasp of Pharaoh, the people murmured against their leader; when they were hemmed in against the Red Sea, they declared, "It had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness;" and when hunger and thirst came upon them, their impatience exclaimed again, "Ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger." The golden calf was devised at the time when Moses was seeking higher inspiration for them, and Miriam brought upon herself a sad penalty by questioning Moses' authority and asking, "Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken by us?" Truly, the sorry plight of this rebellious people would have remained unrelieved had it not been that they were led and preserved "by a prophet."

The promised land attained, again and again a prophet stood among the people, urging upon them the law of God. Every higher good has come to its age through the exalted thought of some one spiritual hero, who stood forth as God's messenger because his mind and heart were receptive to the message. The prophets and disciples were just men and women, who hungered for better things and laid hold upon them. Paul said to the people about him, "We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God." Men whose advanced spiritual understanding had led them to reject the ways and means of human nature, were in a position to guide others in the same pathway. Joshua and David and Solomon led and judged and sheltered their people, and even in times near at hand the voice of one man has been enough to guide and preserve a church or a nation. At many points along the line of human development, in the dark hours and during the great crises, someone individual has grasped and uttered the divine message, and one individual is sufficient to supply the need. One Moses was enough for his people, one Elijah could stand for the living God, one Luther could broaden the borders of ecclesiasticism. Loving minds and hearts could prepare the way, and support their leader when he arose among them, but the leader stood alone. More than one leader was impossible; for any difference of direction would introduce confusion, and similarity of understanding and purpose would be an unnecessary multiplication. History shows us that one prophet alone has been the mouthpiece of God to his generation, and that one clear-eyed reformer or leader is equal to the deliverance of an individual, a community, or a nation.

Prophets of old prepared the way for Christ's coming, and disciples and saints and martyrs have since walked in that highway of salvation, testifying thereto. Cannot this century also have its prophet, a messenger whose whole testimony leads listening thought to a clearer, fuller comprehension of the eternal Christ? Paul begins his letter to the Hebrews by saying, "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son;" and may not the mission of this Son be confirmed by truthful testimony concerning its purpose and nature and fruitage, through a prophet who shall arise amongst the later peoples? Mrs. Eddy, who has written the text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," does not claim to add to the life or work of the Master. That stands complete, supreme, all-conquering. But this God-sustained woman has a message about that Master for the ears which have not heard, the eyes which have not seen, and the hearts which have not comprehended the full import of his wonderful way of salvation. To the world which has stumbled on these many centuries with its undestroyed sense of sin, sickness, and death, she stand a prophet,—one who defines so clearly the way in which Truth destroys it all, that those who will may begin to conquer as did Christ Jesus. She knows full well that the Christian spirit which has shone through the pulpit, governed the affairs of state, and purified families and nations, has prepared the way for this full understanding of Christianity, and it supports her in its demonstration. Those who have written and preached and labored for the coming of the kingdom of heaven, should accord her glad and reverent comradeship, and this they do when they understand her relationship to their own Christian work. Thousands who have grasped enough of her message to find usefulness and strength, are rising up to call her blessed, and are turning their thoughts away from her personal life to the contemplation of the Christ-mind to which she so steadfastly points. Christian Scientists worship God, and know that they have but one Saviour; but to this quickened Christianity they add much gratitude that again to-day "by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved." That prophet who can discern the way of deliverance, surely knows best what will preserve, in all their journeyings, those who are seeking deliverance; and the pure in heart, seeing the promised land, cannot be tempted to murmur in the wilderness, nor to doubt the inspired leadership of that prophet who has the discernment, the wisdom, and the patience which can safely lead all Israel.