From the Pilgrims to Christian Science

The history of the Pilgrims should be remembered. Let it be recalled that they left Europe and came to America for the purpose of worshipping God as a matter of conscience instead of in compliance to the dictatorial demands and dogma of oppressive ecclesiastical authorities. This was in 1620.

Apparently the spiritual signification and influence of their example was held in reverence for some time thereafter. In the 1880s a solid granite monument was built in Plymouth, Massachusetts, by a grateful people remembering their labors, sacrifices, and sufferings for the cause of civil and religious liberty. Included on the monument is inscribed a statement by William Bradford, a governor of the

Pilgrims, which reads, “Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing and gives being to all things that are. And as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort to our whole nation. Let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise.”

In contrast, the Massachusetts Bay colony started nine years after the Pilgrims’ arrival in the area now known as Boston. However, they brought with them the organized church of England, together with all of its creeds, doctrines, and dogma, with the intent to impose them upon the people. Naturally some could not comply so they left. Some went south and started Providence, Rhode Island. Others went elsewhere. Among those who went west and settled in New Hampshire were the forebears of Mary Baker Eddy, who sought to worship God in the clarity of conscience and not in compliance to the dictates of those who claimed authority. So in such circumstances arose the conviction that there is a science to Christianity, and that it may be known, that its influence can be had to the betterment of individuals and society; that the ultimate freedom from sin, disease, and death as children of God could be experienced.

Today we are all better for what those pioneers who went before us did, braving the opposition, and holding to their convictions. Today we live in an age where our inalienable rights are cherished. May we live so as to prove our love and devotion to the right ideal. Thank you, God, for raising up our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, who founded and established Christian Science.