Editorial March 4, 1922 Issue

A Symmetrical Whole

Albert F. Gilmore

In warning the inhabitants of Ephesus to avoid instability and the dangers of being blown from their course and tossed about by the winds of false opinion to the confusion of all who should give ear, Paul, in an effort to promote spiritual unity, likened the Church—the head of which is Christ—to the human body with its various members "fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth ... unto the edifying of itself in love."

On page 17 of the Church Manual Mrs. Eddy set forth her purpose in founding the Christian Science movement: "To organize a church designed to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing." Among the most important means our Leader provided for spreading the gospel of glad tidings, that those hungering for righteousness might be fed with the bread of life, were the church services of The Mother Church and all its branches. Uniformity in the services was assured by basing them upon the Lesson-Sermons, which form the weekly plan of study adopted by Christian Scientists throughout the world—the bond which in a great degree unites the entire movement, coalescing it into a compact whole through unity of thought upon the same spiritual truth at the same time. Also as a part of the regular service, the Sunday school was established to provide for teaching the children, up to the age of twenty, the Scriptures and such fundamentals of Christian Science as they are ready to receive.

In founding her Church, Mrs. Eddy recognized the great importance of the Christian Science practitioner who, through gaining the understanding of divine law, should be able to destroy the claims of error manifested as sin and disease; and she protected this servant of the Christ by many safeguards. To carry afield the Christ-message by means of the spoken word and to correct false concepts regarding it, a Board of Lectureship was established. To provide teachers qualified to impart the precepts of Truth and the method of spiritual healing, the Board of Education was founded. The Publishing Society was founded to carry Christ's message through the medium of the written word throughout the five continents. The Committee on Publication was established to correct misstatements of Christian Science in the public press and to protect the rights of Christian Scientists as citizens against encroachment from whatsoever form of public authority.

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