Article April 26, 1900 Issue

Progress

BY EDWARD EVERETT NORWOOD

It is said that one climbing a mountain never knows just how near the top he is until he gets there. So we may not know how far, seemingly, we are from the Kingdom of Heaven, but we do know, by the obstacles that are being overcome in our pathway and the sins vanquished in our lives, that we are making some progress towards the celestial city.

It is chiefly by comparison that we can discern our growth. "To-day is yesterday understood," says a wise one; and our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, says in "Miscellaneous Writings," p. 339, "That to-morrow starts from to-day and is one day beyond it, robes the future with hope's rainbow hues." When we, as Christian Scientists, can see the problem which last month or yesterday confronted us as a veritable Giant Despair, to-day met the calm assurance of its nothingness and God's allness, we may well thank God and take courage, and say, with Joshua, "Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city." So, when we go about the duties of our daily lives, investing each task with the highest motive possible, meeting every trial with a brave heart and courageous front, and above all, trusting God to deliver us, in due time we shall have our demonstration. Then we go higher, and this is logical, for it is following in the divine order.

We rise by the things overcome through self-denial and struggling with sins. Each victory over the enemy makes us as much stronger as we would have been weaker had we fallen. Thus we gain courage by success, and seeming failures only spur us to renewed endeavor and really make us stronger, for they compel us to examine and strengthen our weak places through which the enemy would enter. We then present an unbroken front to every attack. We lay fresh hold on Truth and Love which has hitherto sustained us, and advance more courageously to the battle. We learn to look up through the seen and temporal and discern the unseen and eternal. We see God everywhere because we see good everywhere, and God is the Principle of goodness. We become patient, loving, and pure, demonstrating by our lives our kinship to the Master, who learned obedience by the things he suffered. Then, putting these laws in our minds and writing them in our hearts, we shall know God, the Father, and be known of Him.

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