Editorial November 17, 1923 Issue

The Periodicals a Unit

Albert F. Gilmore

It is an old saying that "in unity there is strength;" and while it is probable that the author of this axiom was thinking in terms of materiality, it becomes all the more cogent when considered from the basis of divine metaphysics. True unity, the realization of man's at-one-ment with God, the source and giver of all good, enhances one's strength immeasurably.

In founding the religion of Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy provided various departments for carrying the healing word to mankind, each with its own functions, yet all uniting in one glorious whole, constituting the Christian Science movement. Who can doubt the great strength resulting from the unity and close cooperation of these various departments? Each performs its proper function; none encroaches upon another; and all are one in their divine source. Paul, in describing the diverse spiritual gifts of men, declared, "By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body;... and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." And he proceeds to describe the body as of many members, each performing its own distinctive service; and he emphasizes their unity thus: "Now are they many members, yet but one body;" and he makes clear that all are necessary to the welfare of the whole.

Mrs. Eddy founded the periodicals for definite purposes, which she states discriminatingly in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 353): "The first was The Christian Science Journal, designed to put on record the divine Science of Truth; the second I entitled Sentinel, intended to hold guard over Truth, Life, and Love; the third, Der Herold der Christian Science, to proclaim the universal activity and availability of Truth; the next I named Monitor, to spread undivided the Science that operates unspent. The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind." While each is assigned a specific office, yet all unite to carry the Christ-message to the world and to guard it, each in its own individual manner.