Article April 30, 1927 Issue

"Onward, Christian soldiers"

MARY B. COFFIN

There is something so inspiring in the familiar hymn, "Onward, Christian soldiers," that everyone who sings it feels the martial spirit of Love's bugle-call, and is invigorated and uplifted by its promise of victory. As children in our former Sunday schools we sang it so lustily that the walls fairly vibrated; we marched to its beat in the schoolroom; and now that we have felt in Christian Science the healing touch of the Christ, Truth, we are singing it from the heart with a wealth of meaning and a new purpose.

When our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, was called "to proclaim His Gospel to this age, there came also the charge to plant and water His vineyard": so she tells us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (Pref., p. xi). With her prophetic vision she saw ever increasing numbers reaching out for this healing gospel, and she realized the need of a well-ordered and organized movement. As a result, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, came into existence. Organized on the basis of the First Commandment, and designed to express the Christianity of Jesus, in which the Christ-healing of sickness as well as of sin is a fundamental teaching, it differs from other religious movements and expresses a unity hitherto unknown in religious denominations.

On all the vital points of the teaching of Christian Science, the members of this church stand as one. They worship the one Father-Mother God, Spirit, as ever present. They understand that it is the Christ, Truth, that heals. They accept the teachings of Jesus unreservedly, thus looking to him as the Way-shower. They stand shoulder to shoulder in appreciation of Mrs. Eddy's leadership, in gratitude to her for her discovery of Christian Science and her unselfish devotion to mankind in giving her discovery to the world. They hold the Bible, Science and Health and Mrs. Eddy's other writings, as their books of instruction in Christian Science (Manual, p. 34). They look to the Manual of The Mother Church, with its Rules and By-laws, as the governing code of this movement. Its impersonal government is unquestioned by them. They are realizing more and more the protection and means of growth that membership in The Mother Church and in one of its branches affords, as well as the privilege of taking part in this great movement.

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