Editorial March 23, 1912 Issue

"THAT GIVETH THE INCREASE"

Archibald McLellan

In the Preface of Science and Health (p. xi), Mrs. Eddy writes of herself, "When God called the author to proclaim His gospel to this age, there came also the charge to plant and water His vineyard." In fulfilment of this duty various means were taken by our Leader to cultivate and keep free from weeds the soil in which the seed of Truth had been planted. The first of these was, of course, the text-book, followed by the church of which Mrs. Eddy became pastor, and later pastor emeritus; then came the college, in which she herself taught students, in order that they in turn might each teach hundreds of others.

After the college came the Journal as the official organ of the church, and this was followed in turn by the Quarterly, the Sentinel, the Herold, and the Monitor, each filling a slightly different field of endeavor, but all equally important in their mission of uplifting the race. Of the Journal Mrs. Eddy wrote: "Further enlightenment is necessary for the age, and a periodical devoted to this work seems alone adequate to meet the requirement. Much interest is awakened and expressed on the subject of metaphysical healing, but in many minds it is confounded with isms, and even infidelity, so that its religious specialty and the vastness of its worth are not understood" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 4). Of the Monitor, in its first issue, she stated that its mission was "to injure no man, but to bless all mankind." The fact that the committee on publication and the board of lectureship are yet engaged in answering and correcting misrepresentations and misconceptions of Christian Science, shows that we are still in the age of which Mrs. Eddy wrote in 1883. The high purpose which she announced for the Monitor may well command the energies and support of Christian Scientists for centuries to come.

With the April issue the Journal enters upon its thirtieth year, and the publishers have deemed this an opportune time to make some improvements in the mechanical make-up of the magazine, among which are better paper, better press-work, slightly larger pages with double columns, and more readable type. The improvement in the binding is that hereafter the wire staples which have been used will give place to the same style of stitching as is used in well-bound books. While making these mechanical improvements in the Journal, the publishers and editors have not lost sight of the fact that the true worth of this magazine must always be in the message it brings to mankind; therefore it will be their aim in the future as it has been in the past to maintain the high standard of Christian literature which was set by Mrs. Eddy when she established the Journal.