Editorial December 18, 1915 Issue

"The only begotten Son"

John B. Willis

Nothing witnesses more surely to the nobler nature, the higher possibilities of a man, than the fact that he is made happier and better when he comes into the presence of a little child. Response to the appeal of beauty, innocency, and sweetness—in a word, of good—discloses an instinctive attachment to the ideal, and this constitutes one of the greater values of the Christmas—tide.

The significance of this discovery is deepened when we remember that the Bethlehem babe came to maturity without losing any of his power to gladden and inspire. He always retained his winsomeness, and it is thus made to appear that the thing in him which attracts is character, the soul of goodness ; that the most radiant and irresistible thing in the world is godlikeness, a quality of thought and bearing in which Christ Jesus stands quite alone, but yet which aspiring human sense instantly recognizes and claims for its very own. A man's redemption is complete when he really finds himself, and the philosophy of salvation thus comes to be easily understood. The remembrance of him whose birth is songfully celebrated in the hearts of men of every race, caste, and condition today, has always ministered to human need with gentle yet compelling helpfulness. Divinity has come to its own, Love is reflected, and a glimpse of man has been gained.

It is in the power of the Master's words and deeds to illumine and to uplift, to make men see what they truly are and ought to be; and it is here that we are brought face to face not only with the one wholly redemptive personality of history but with the supreme event of revelation. Here too we come upon the great theme of Christian Science, the forever appearing of the Christ to dispel the darkness of false sense, and thus to save the world by establishing in consciousness a perpetual Christmas—tide, the reign of Truth and Love. In the chapter on Atonement and Eucharist the student of Science and Health will find a portrayal of the character and mission of Christ Jesus which interprets more adequately than ever before the Scripture phrase, "the only begotten Son of God," and which gives a meaning to Christmas, the Christ—coming, that is of inestimable value to all mankind, since when clearly apprehended it heals both sickness and sin.

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