The Mission of Our Periodicals
The Psalmist said (Ps. 68:11), "The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it." The Word of God is with power. It came with power to the early Christians, and it comes to us with equal power today. The Christ is present in our midst to heal and save. Did not the Master say (Matt. 28:20), "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world"?
Our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, has provided many ways by which the Christ-healing may be widely known. One of these provisions is the Christian Science periodicals: The Christian Science Journal, Christian Science Quarterly, Christian Science Sentinel, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Herald of Christian Science in its various editions. They are the missionaries of our great movement, bringing to the world the healing messages of Truth and Love.
In Revelation (22:2) we read, "The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." Every leaf in our periodicals contains a healing message. Let me recall some of these healings.
One occurred in World War II. A young soldier marching with his regiment through a dust storm in the heart of Africa was homesick and ill. As he trudged along, some paper blew against his feet. He kicked it away, but it blew back. He picked it up and put it in his pocket, thinking it might be something to read on his return to camp. When he opened it out, he discovered it to be a copy of the Sentinel, one of the large ones which was in circulation before 1942. He read it carefully. Homesickness disappeared, illness vanished, and later, on returning to his own country, he became interested in Christian Science.
Here, surely, is a note of encouragement for those who are engaged in the distribution of Christian Science literature. How did that Sentinel reach the wilds of Africa? Perhaps through the loving work of the literature distribution committee of your own branch church.
Now let me share with you an interesting illustration of the application of Truth to problems both small and great. A naval architect wrote to express his appreciation of the articles and editorials in a particular number of the Sentinel. He is a Christian Scientist, and he related that, when a big battleship went aground, he had been called out to take part with others in the calculation of the necessary buoyancy to refloat the vessel. Between twenty-five and thirty tugs had been employed in vain to free this great ship from a sandbank.
On his arrival at the scene the naval architect found that an admiral with whom he was to have consultations was also a Christian Scientist. The admiral produced a copy of the Sentinel from his pocket and mentioned how much he had been helped by the first article in that particular number. The architect said that he had found it helpful to ponder a statement made in one of the editorials which expressed the thought that "the tides of Truth flow into our experience, moving swiftly and transforming naturally." He realized the truth of this statement and held to it. The result of this was that a much-prayed-for high tide of ten inches above normal flowed in and the battleship moved gracefully from her grounded position into her proper channels. The architect added in his letter, "And I was moved to tears."
Shortly before this occurrence a Christian Science practitioner, utilizing this idea of "the tides of Truth ... moving swiftly and transforming naturally," healed a case of quinsy. These facts will bring to your notice the universal application of Truth which can heal sickness or move a battleship.
An interesting case of healing which came through another editorial in the Sentinel, entitled "Soul's Embodiment," was related by a student whose father in Sweden, over ninety years of age, had been troubled with rheumatism in the joints and ankles. Work in Christian Science was done every day, but the condition seemed to grow worse instead of better. One day the father picked up the Sentinel and read the editorial referred to, in which the words occurred, "The real man, God's immortal image, is incorporeal in that he is physically bodiless; but he is not bodiless, spiritually speaking."
The father felt sure that God had created him spiritually, that he was made in God's image and likeness, but he had not seen clearly the truth concerning body. As he pondered this truth it came to him that man's real body is made in God's likeness and cannot possibly experience error of any kind; therefore he, as the likeness of God, had never had rheumatism. "It was like lightning striking my consciousness," he said, "and I was healed immediately."
The Christian Science Monitor is also a great healing influence, as illustrated in the following account of healing from a woman in Australia. She said in effect: "I have a desire to tell you of the great guidance I have had from 'A Verse for Today' on the Family Features page of the Monitor. During the course of my work I became ill and could not think or read. After lying for over three years in mental darkness, I saw a ray of light, and although still not able to think, I asked Mind to give me a message every day and I would believe it. From that thought developed the guidance from the daily quotation printed in the Monitor, and though at times I could not see the least reason for following the leading of the verse, I always obeyed and found it an unfailing guidance and truly the 'manna for today.' "
"I am now the picture of health," she said. "When I recovered I was elected by my branch church to the board, of which I have just been chairman. I still use 'A Verse for Today' as my daily supply and hope you will never cease to publish it regularly."
Mrs. Eddy says in "Miscellaneous Writings", "The field waves its white ensign, the reapers are strong, the rich sheaves are ripe, the storehouse is ready: pray ye therefore the God of harvest to send forth more laborers of the excellent sort, and garner the supplies for a world."
