Editorial March 28, 1908 Issue

PROGRESSIVENESS

Annie M. Knott

One of the distinguishing characteristics of true Christianity has ever been the progressiveness which it not only awakens but maintains. Wherever the gospel of Christ Jesus has been introduced, savagery has given place to civilization, indolence to energy, ignorance to knowledge. Hence it is manifest that the retrogressiveness which has too often been found among professing Christians only proves a lapse from the gospel teaching — a letting go of the essentials of Christianity. Spiritual sense is ever progressive; it bespeaks eternal unfoldment and eternal freedom. On the other hand, material sense resists the spiritual demand for unceasing progress and regards spiritual sense as a hard taskmaster. It fails to see that indolence and unprogressiveness do not lead to freedom, but to bondage, and it often happens that those who urge the need of realizing high ideals in everything are regarded as disturbers of the peace. Why art thou "come hither to torment us?" is the greeting of error to Truth whenever the false peace of mortal existence is broken into by the appearance of Truth's idea.

Even on the human plane, in every community, almost in every household, there are those who, more than others, recognize and respond to the law of progress, which is always the law of God, though it is often misunderstood through a material sense of its meaning. Progressive thinkers are the leaven of their environment, — they set things working, and rising. It is a poor condition of thought which believes the attainments of yesterday "good enough" for to-day, a much poorer that which believes them good enough for to-morrow. The simplest duty one can perform has almost infinite possibilities in the way of progress, and by doing things better each day a great mental advance is registered. Too many forget that the spiritual ideal — perfection — should never be lost sight of in any of our activities. The most ordinary toil may furnish the slate and pencil, as it were, with which to work out one of the great problems of service to God and man, and enable the toiler to commune with infinite Mind, the source of all true ideas and of all beauty and power. The wise man sagely said, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." To this it might be added, Do it better each time, and thus you will find joy rather than toil in the doing.

If the overcoming of indolence and selfishness is indispensable to our temporal progress, it is even more called for in our spiritual development. The tendency of the human mind is to say "good enough" of its own poor productions. It would measure one mortal by another, when the only true standard is the "measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," and this can never be attained by indolence or consequent mental penury. If "the hand of the diligent maketh rich" much more do the efforts of the spiritually diligent tend to peace and plenty, and to the possession of new powers to dare and to do for the cause of Truth, of right. Instead of thinking it hard to meet the demand for continuous progress, we should see how hard we make it for ourselves and others by resisting this righteous demand.

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