Article April 1, 1916 Issue

"Light of the world"

CLAUDE W. WOODRUFF

Christian Science is not merely a therapeutic agency, as many believe; it possesses in higher degree than other interpretations of Scripture that warmth and effulgence which draws men out of cold, dark cells of materialism into the life-giving atmosphere of supernal day. To the thoughtful the question sometimes arises, What is this irresistible influence?

The answer to this question is apparent in the lives of those who adhere to the spirit of Christian Science. It is the light of Truth, the infinite attraction of divine Love, expressed in holiness (wholeness), a mental attitude that excludes offense, and a constant effort to do both to friends and to so-called enemies just what we would like to have all mankind do to us. It is Truth searching the "joints and marrow," the obscure places of mortal thought, and as Mrs. Eddy says, "purifying even the gold of human character" (Science and Health, p. 565). While the present-day religionist of other faiths is attempting to drive sin-ridden and woe-burdened humanity into a heaven afar off, Christian Science, coming as a "still small voice" of peace to the hungering heart, is gently winning its hundreds and thousands and giving them a heaven that can be realized here as well as hereafter.

Jesus said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." If we are so lifted in consciousness above the sordidness of materialism that we perceive the true idea, man, dwelling in the Father, we shall be so filled with the light which "shineth in darkness" that men will see our works and be drawn outward and upward. It is frequently said that Christian Science draws its numbers solely through physical inducements. As grand and indispensable as is its healing work, Christian Science would be a divided garment if it were not true that men of all classes and conditions find in it the "substance of things hoped for." That men, sound of limb and removed from the emotional, find in it, in response to those feeble heart-gropings, a friend and helper, may be seen in the following illustrations.

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