Article December 8, 1956 Issue

"LOYAL CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS"

FLORENCE C. SOUTHWELL

What a depth of meaning lay in the words "loyal Christian Scientists" whenever they were used by Mary Baker Eddy in addressing her followers! Christian Scientists today appreciate the loyalty of the early students who labored assiduously that the seed of Truth might be sown in human consciousness. But what does the term "loyal" mean to us today ? Do we respond to its ring with the same zeal and heartfelt devotion as did the early Christian Scientists?

Mrs. Eddy not only cherished strict fidelity to Truth, but uncompromisingly required it of her followers. The experience related in "We Knew Mary Baker Eddy," Third Series (pp. 85-89), by one deeply devoted early worker shows the steps our Leader took and the severe language she used to rebuke an instance of faithlessness whereby a sentence deviating from pure metaphysics was allowed to appear in the Christian Science Sentinel. The Christian Science Board of Directors and the Editors of the religious periodicals were called to Pleasant View for a meeting regarding the seriousness of this error. Surely, our Leader's insistence upon absolute adherence to the letter and spirit of Christian Science ensured the laying of a firm foundation for our movement and made possible its present world-wide activity.

One of our Leader's messages to her followers may be found in "Miscellaneous Writings" and reads (p. 213), "Loyal Christian Scientists, be of good cheer: the night is far spent, the day dawns; God's universal kingdom will appear. Love will reign in every heart, and His will be done on earth as in heaven." When we view the signs of the times from this vantage point of wisdom and love, we may well take care to see that we are in thought and in deed loyal Christian Scientists. Thinking and acting in strict loyalty to Christian Science protect us from unwittingly serving the opponent of Truth.

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