A recent experience enabled the writer to see for himself that Christian Science is in truth a world religion. In all portions of the globe visited on a journey around the world he found the text-book of Christian Science interpreting the Bible to growing numbers, uncovering the falsities of belief in a mortal existence, establishing in human consciousness the reality of spiritual facts, stimulating righteousness or right thinking, cultivating peace and good will, laying the foundation for the brotherhood of man, and, through the renewing of the mind, wiping out sin and sorrow and healing the sick as in Bible times.

This growth must impress the world traveler as a striking sign of the times, as the reappearance of primitive apostolic Christianity. Christian Science now girdles the earth. Link has been welded to link until the chain has become a never-ending bond, uniting all nations and peoples. A glorious sense of brotherhood pervades the body of the faithful, fortified by the kindly and beneficent watchfulness of The Mother Church. Admitting and learning to obey only one God, one Life, using but one Bible, one text-book, and one Lesson-Sermon, recognizing but one Leader, Christian Scientists are in a position to follow Paul's advice and "be of one mind."

This unity of purpose and endeavor is so marked that the Christian Scientist everywhere finds himself quickly at home among those who are like-minded, though to human sense they may be strangers. He observes everywhere the same struggles, problems, difficulties, and delusions assailing the human consciousness. He sees recorded through Christian Science the same victories and solutions, the same conquests over sin, sickness, and death. The pretenses of mortal mind are similar the world over, at the antipodes, on the islands of the sea, at the equator, or in the frozen northlands. These pretenses may assume different disguises, but Christian Science uncovers them all for what they are, namely, nothingness. So in all latitudes, altitudes, and climes there is but one real Mind, one God, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent; one Father of us all, in whom "we live, and move, and have our being." Thus the experiences, trials, and tests of Christian Scientists are apt to be similar, although they may be living thousands of miles apart, separated by oceans and mountain ranges, differentiated according to the testimony of physical sense by the utmost diversity of race, education, environment, or speech. The world traveler finds this similarity of experience among students of Christian Science because as the divine Mind is one, so its supposed counterfeit also pretends to be one.

Christian Scientists who may be living far from their fellow brethren, perhaps in outlying portions of the earth, should take courage and rejoice that they form links in the great chain encircling the globe. Moreover, how the teaching of Christian Science concerning God as Mind inspires and comforts such distant brethren! It shows that God not only can be but is present everywhere. He is infinite and He is indivisible. Now, when we try to grasp the qualities of infinity and indivisibility combined, we find perfect satisfaction in the definition of God as Mind. No other definition can so well fulfil the requirements. God as Mind can be everywhere without relinquishing aught of His infinite and indivisible nature.

The fact that God is Mind also accounts for the wonderful ways in which people are constantly coming into an understanding of Christian Science though widely separated from the centers of Christian Science activity. The receptive thought everywhere is making preparations to know the truth. There is nothing more interesting than the steps taken by those searching for God. Perhaps they undertake a journey or some one suddenly sets out to find them, they meet old friends almost forgotten, they follow an impulse to perform some kindly service, they insist upon fulfilling some act of restitution, they are drawn out of their usual haunts and modes of living,—and then they hear the word or read the message which means the transformation of their lives by Christian Science.

It is significant that Jesus in sending forth his disciples admonished them to go "into all the world," to preach to "all the nations." Christianity is a universal religion. The claim that it could not meet the particular needs of certain peoples or nations would proceed from a misconception as to its real nature, which is scientific and is based upon understanding, not on blind belief. Truth is true for all men, everywhere, at all times. Science in order to be worthy of the name, must be not only exact but also universal. If a supposed statement of fact is found to be untrue under certain circumstances, that statement cannot be regarded as scientific. The multiplication table virtually amounts to a series of statements of facts. These statements are true for all men, everywhere. They are exact and universal in their application. So Christianity, when properly understood, is found to be scientific and therefore capable of proof in every age and clime, among "ali nations," for "all the world."

To acknowledge Christian Science as an available religion for all men does not imply that there may not be particular groups of people who at the present time may show less readiness for its teaching than do others. The approach to Christian Science is regulated largely by receptivity. There may be nations, just as there are individuals, who through special trials and tests, through extraordinary experiences, have been prepared to dematerialize thought somewhat, to perceive a little of the allness of good, to abandon reliance upon mere brute force, to look to support from some nobler though possibly to them still inchoate and indefinite first cause. It may be said of some nations, as of some individuals, that they have been forced by their tribulations and humiliations to seek help from something outside of mere sense perception, to reach out for the protection of the invisible and indivisible God. Thus the progress of Christian Science around the world has not been quite uniform. It has entered and made its abiding-place where hearts will open to its message. It does not force itself upon humanity. It is always the welcome guest, never the intruder. It is an angelic messenger, a bearer of munificent gifts, but there must be arms outstretched to receive, there must be ears that can hear and eyes that can see.

The "unlabored motion of the divine energy" (Science and Health, p. 445), expressed in Christian Science, is natural and joyous. No attempt to use it for selfish purposes can succeed, no self-aggrandizement can be furthered by its beneficent and selfless activities. Discovered and founded by a woman whose life-motive was to help and heal, Christian Science continues its stately progress into all the world, a friend to the friendless, a solace to the sorrowing, a cure for the abandoned and hopeless, an inspiration to the faint-hearted, fulfilling the promises of the gospel, establishing the law of God in human consciousness, blessing all the nations, all qualities of thought, and saving the lost, both Jew and Gentile, bond or free.

In considering Christian Science as a world religion it is profitable also to remember the unusual environment in which it had its origin. After a general survey of its present activities it is permissible to recognize the human conditions which were favorable to its birth. The atmosphere of New England, in which Mrs. Eddy grew to womanhood and in which she was prepared to make her great discovery, was deeply religious and withal free and open to the advent of new ideas. We find in it a position accorded to woman which makes for freedom and equality. The mental and spiritual conditions existing there toward the middle of the last century were eminently suited for the reception of a discovery coming through a woman.

The American Union had just been shaken to its depths by a terrific war waged on a moral issue, the question of negro slavery, when in 1866 our Leader's long search for the healing Principle culminated in the discovery of Christian Science. Surveying the whole field of the nations of the earth as they existed at the time, it is difficult to conceive of conditions more propitious to the birth of Christian Science than were to be found in New England at that time,—and these conditions were difficult enough, as Mrs. Eddy's career amply shows. Her hope embraced the whole world, but she saw the enormous work to be done. "I have never supposed," she wrote in Science and Health (p. 348), "the world would immediately witness the full fruitage of Christian Science, or that sin, disease, and death would not be believed for an indefinite time; but this I do aver, that, as a result of teaching Christian Science, ethics and temperance have received an impulse, health has been restored, and longevity increased."

As Christian Science is a world religion, so Christian Scientists naturally find themselves interested in the good which is being accomplished everywhere. Their sympathies are broadened by Christian Science to appreciate the conquests of right thinking among all nations. If there is anywhere a supposed law of limitation set at naught and being proven naught by human endeavor, this endeavor is of interest to Christian Scientists; it constitutes "news" in their opinion. Therefore one of the many services which The Christian Science Monitor is performing for mankind is to put on record the good which all nations do in their several ways. Every form of human activity needs to be healed of abuses which have grown around it through ignorance or malice. In addition to its daily article illustrating the teaching of Christian Science, the Monitor devotes its columns to worth-while news in the departments of politics, finance, commerce, manufacturing, literature, history, music, art, athletics, etc. It sets apart a whole page daily to "news by cable and correspondence" from all quarters of the civilized globe, news which does not as a rule find its way into the columns of other newspapers. Its editorial comments on world news also attract world-wide attention and are proving educational to many people whose knowledge of affairs perchance has hitherto been bounded by a narrow, provincial horizon.

It will not do to say, because politics are sometimes vitiated by dishonesty, and occasionally degenerate into a scramble for office, that therefore Christians should try to ignore them. Political life needs to be cleansed. It needs to be healed and saved from the false concepts which assail and would, if possible, destroy it utterly. So it will not do to say that because the stock exchange can be used for questionable purposes, therefore it should be obliterated from human consciousness. Literature and art may become evil tools in the grasp of evil hands, but they are also being used as good servants for noble ends. The Christian Science Monitor in recording the good which is being accomplished everywhere by human agencies and activities among all nations, is setting up a high standard, encouraging and inspiring right activities in all the world, enlisting the sympathies of those who are best able by their understanding of Truth to help in the task of reforming the world.

So the day of ample reward is at hand for those who, watching and praying, realize the universal nature of Christian Science. Its appeal to reason is for all men. No expanse of ocean or height of mountain range can cut off the good news of spiritual understanding from those ready to receive it. No racial prejudice or inherited tradition can lessen in the smallest degree the all-enveloping benediction which the teaching of Christian Science is conferring upon the nations in its journey into all the world.

Copyright, 1912, by The Christian Science Publishing Society.