guides; then I have hope that you will gain from this little volume, if not a conviction of its truth and an agreement with its views, at least something which will help you onward in the pathway toward truth which we all are traveling. Many things written herein are acknowledged to be speculations and inferences from the known to the unknown. They are things which seem sufficiently probable to form a basis for the exercise of faith. None of us can see the whole of the pathway, but by comparing our views of that which we do see, and by relying on divine guidance, we shall some day come where we can see “face to face," and not as now "through a glass darkly." Lest I be forced to do it many times, I wish to explain, once for all, what may appear to many to be a needless repetition of the same idea or ideas in the chapters to follow. This repetition is intentional and therefore I do not apologize, but explain that as in the vicinity of a large city all roads eventually lead to the same place, so the roads near the City which is called Beautiful all lead to God. I have but traveled the roads as I found them. Sometimes my footsteps may have strayed from the pathway, but always the roads themselves have led me to a central idea. One must look at a beautiful building from different angles to appreciate the plan of the architect, but from whatever angle he looks, it is the building he sees, and of it he must speak as best he may, even though he uses the same words many times. And besides, this book is intended to be and is only a series of random thoughts spoken from one friend to another. I should add to this foreword the statement that while this book has in its title the words "Christian Science," the author is one who believes that all mankind are on the way to final and conscious unity with God. Many theories of truth held by men have elements of real truth in them, which elements of real truth, as the "leaven which leavens the whole lump," will, the author believes, eventually lead their followers through experience out of those portions of their belief which are untrue and into the one way of truth which is that trod by Christ Jesus. This book, in addition to being a discussion of Christian Science, is in part an attempt to set forth the essential true elements existing in some other beliefs, to the end that a starting point may be found for greater brotherhood among all churches and beliefs, a basis in Christ for the Brotherhood of Man. Grateful acknowledgment is hereby made for the courteous permission to include in the present volume citations from works copyrighted and controlled by the following individuals and firms:Houghton, Mifflin Co. and Henry Holt, for permission to make citations from Cosmic Relations; D. Appleton & Co., for permission to make quotation of certain paragraphs derived from Essays on Controverted Questions by Thomas H. Huxley; the International News Service for their authorization to reprint an article entitled Hatred Allowed to Grow, by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, which appeared in the Minneapolis Tribune; the Minneapolis Journal, for permission to reprint a portion of an editorial from the columns of that paper, and to Dr. William Osler, for permission to reprint a portion of an article from his pen which appeared in the Ladies Home Journal in 1915. MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. W. S. H. |