Article October 21, 1911 Issue

THE VITAL PART

RAYMOND CHURCHILL

A manufacturer's first consideration in seeking a location is the question of a good water supply. No factory can be run without some kind of power, for on this important possession the successful pursuit of the business absolutely depends. The writer formerly had occasion to pass daily through the largest brass mill in the world, and its varied processes impressed him as a wonderful application of ingenuity and thought.

At the rear end of this immense plant, in an insignificant little room, compared with the vastness of the departments, were the engines. Out of sight and knowledge of the ordinary visitor, their faint throbbings seemed but an incident in contrast to the noisy vibrations of the other machinery ; yet how valueless would all this costly machinery have been if disconnected from the engines. It might be said that the power was really the life of the machinery, which would be a wholly useless construction apart from the power plant.

Have we not here a useful lesson for us in our practice of Christian Science? Our revered Leader says in our text-book (p. 113), "The vital part, the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love. Without this, the letter is but the dead body of Science,—pulseless, cold, inanimate;" to which statement the words of Paul seem closely correlated: "Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity [Love], I am nothing." "I can of mine own self do nothing," was the declaration of the great Teacher, who taught that those mighty works were wrought through his inseparable connection with that God who is the only power, the Love upon whom our existence absolutely depends.

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