Article May 1, 1909 Issue

THE PUBLISHING SOCIETY

BLANCHE HERSEY HOGUE

Long ago the prophet Isaiah wrote: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!" The Christian Science Publishing Society, which has been established in Boston in connection with the other activities of the Christian Science movement, is an open doorway for a salvation of mighty import and of far-reaching influence. This work of publishing salvation was inaugurated by the Leader of the movement, Mrs. Eddy, by the publication in 1870 of her first pamphlet on the subject of Christian Science and carried on through the first issue of her complete book, Science and Health, in 1875, and through her other writings, up to the establishment of the Christian Science periodicals,—the Journal, Quarterly, Sentinel, and Monitor. With formal provision for their continued publication, the effort of this one woman to publish "good tidings" has broadened into a great institution for good, the extent of which cannot at present adequately be measured. Manifesting law and order, carrying on its great work for the purification of a self-darkened world, standing as a gateway through which the word of God and the testimony of those who bear witness to the healing power of the word of God may enter human consciousness, this Publishing Society embodies the highest and best of twentieth century human endeavor; and it should commend itself to all Christian peoples, since it really belongs to every student of the Scriptures who would make any effort to quicken the understanding of God's Word in the world at large.

For its wide-spread and ever-growing circulation of the Scriptures, for the word of revelation which the Christian Science text-book brings to him who would better understand the Scriptures, for the ever-widening opportunities opened for those who long to prove the healing promises of the Scriptures, the entire world owes to The Christian Science Publishing Society a debt of gratitude. The outward and visible sign of a mighty spiritual impulse which is opening to mankind a highway of thought heavenward, this Publishing Society is the inheritance of all men, though universal thought may not yet see nor understand the glory in its midst. Those, however, who have been touched by the redemptive healing action of Christian Science in their own experience are divinely constrained to join the goodly company of those who publish salvation, and to them The Christian Science Publishing Society becomes a personal possession.

One may ask, "How can I, unfitted to speak or to write or publicly to testify, discharge my obligation to this duty of publishing good tidings?" And divine Love may answer that Love's ways for spreading Love's message are manifold. Just the moral and financial support of the publishing work in Boston, with subscriptions for and circulation of its publications, does much, for the Society's swift-winged messengers carry the word of redemption to the thousands where the individual can speak it only to the tens, and the message that each individual witness to God's goodness would bear to his fellow-men is thereby indefinitely multiplied. Again, the Christian Scientist learns that The Christian Science Publishing Society is not alone a set of buildings, nor a set of printing-presses, nor a staff of individuals fulfilling the duties attending the editing, printing, and circulating of publications, but rather the entire company of individuals whose thoughts and deeds and lives publish the glad tidings of Christ's coming in the hearts of men. He finds himself an integral part of that Society, bearing his mental relationship and responsibilities to it, and knows that his good deeds have their place in the spreading of God's message. That student of Christian Science who is the most remote from Boston is as near the Publishing Society as is the resident of the city in which the Society's presses are doing their work, for the spiritual activity itself is not materially placed or confined. A center of activity must be maintained, but the boundaries of that activity are so broad as to include the most geographically isolated Christian Scientist, and this individual is as entitled to feel that the work is his to maintain and to enjoy as if he were under the same roof with the actual labor of it.

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