Article August 26, 1922 Issue

Gratitude

ROBERT STANLEY ROSS

One of the outstanding characteristics of testimonies given at Wednesday evening meetings of Christian Science congregations throughout the world, and appearing in the authorized periodicals, is gratitude to Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. Occasionally the uninitiated, wondering at these expressions of gratitude, ask why Christian Scientists "make so much of Mrs. Eddy," to employ a trite phrase.

In answer to this question, the following story may be helpful to our readers. When the writer was a little chap of about six years, he wandered from home one hot midsummer day and came to the brink of a swift stream in which boys of the neighborhood were wont to bathe. Although he knew not how to swim, the lad went close to the water's edge and clambered to the top of a moss-covered rock at a point some distance from the spot where the bathers were disporting themselves. Engrossed in the feats of the swimmers, and forgetting that he was standing on a slippery rock, the boy lost his foothold and fell headlong into the swift current, where he struggled helplessly until a strong hand laid hold on him and drew him to safety. The hand proved to be that of a young man who had heard the child's cry for help and had swum to the rescue. Is it any wonder that the child was grateful, and that between him and his rescuer a strong and abiding friendship sprang up? But let us suppose that the lad had left the scene without thanking his rescuer. Let us suppose that, in the years to come, he made no acknowledgment of the debt. Would he not be most ungrateful? Would not those acquainted with the incident wonder at such ingratitude?

More than fifty years ago, Mary Baker Eddy made a discovery the magnitude of which is only beginning to dawn upon human comprehension. This discovery was the outcome of an unusually spiritual nature longing for Scriptural enlightenment. Mrs. Eddy named her discovery Christian Science, and set forth her teachings in the now famous book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." By means of this book Mrs. Eddy has restored to mankind the lost art of spiritual healing and made the Bible secure to this and to future generations. Since that time children of men almost without number, wandering away from the Father's house (the consciousness of man's spiritual origin), have been saved from the pitiless waters of sin, disease, and death by the strong arm of Christian Science. But for Mrs. Eddy's discovery, they, likewise, would have faced disaster. Is it any wonder, therefore, that they are grateful to her who made possible their rescue? Is it any wonder that they have a strong and abiding affection for Mrs. Eddy? Anything less would be unthinkable.

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