Article February 24, 1906 Issue

A Reminder from the Past

ELLA D. BUSKIRK.

In reading of the persecutions suffered by some of the first translators of the Bible, and then taking a look into present conditions, we ought to be filled with gratitude for the freedom we now enjoy,—a freedom almost unknown during many past centuries of darkness. When we read of the unselfish devotion and heroic courage of such men as Wycliffe and Tyndale in bringing to the world the en lightening influences of the Bible through their great task of translating it into English, we can better realize the duty incumbent on us in this age to be faithful helpers in the work of enlightenment which was inaugurated by Mrs. Eddy, and which the study of the Bible and Science and Health is continually accomplishing.

How much more ought we to be inspired to aid in giving to humanity the spiritual understanding of the Bible as taught in Christian Science, when we consider that its first translators were only able to give, for the most part, the letter of the Scriptures. It is a significant fact that the first translators of the Bible had to encounter the tide of sectarian bitterness; and it is also a significant fact that those who were then in power in the church and in the government found that they could not stop the printing of the Bible, notwithstanding their repeated attempts to do so through the burning of many of the precious volumes near the old cross at St. Paul's, and otherwise. The bulky and costly volumes were sent to England in those days in barrels, bales of cloth, etc., in order to escape detection, but although the introduction of the Bible was watched against with vigilance it continued to spread all over England, showing how divine Mind surely works through the Word of Truth and removes all the obstructions of hate and ignorance. A deep sense of gratitude is aroused when one contrasts the swift progress of our age with the more torpid past, and we ought to gain thereby an inspiration to press on with more earnest aspirations, and take a firmer stand for the truth revealed in the teachings of Christian Science.

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