According to the teachings of Christian Science every righteous performance meets its exact reward sometime, somewhere. Of this fact none need doubt, for God's universal love and bestowals never become inoperative. Practitioners, lecturers, teachers, or Sunday school workers—all those, in fact, who long to impart to others the blessings of Truth—are given by right of especial fitness something to do. How best to perform this work so that it will bear the maximum fruitage is a question that confronts us all. Our hearts abound in the hope that the lame shall walk, that the blind shall see and the deaf hear, and that the sinner shall be saved from himself and his many miseries. This devout prayer we do not voice to the world, for it goes forth to the Father from the inner sanctuary where we worship.

The practitioner who can do his work well, unselfishly, and with no specific eagerness as to results, looks for success always; and with each victory gained, new evidence of the quickening spirit of Truth is revealed. We should not, however, be unduly elated over a work well done, nor should we be cast down because more and better work is needed to accomplish favorable results. There are obvious reasons for this. In the first place, it is not the practitioner who, of himself, does the healing. His office is a subordinate one, for the humblest worker turns to God as the great Physician with a faith that never for a moment doubts. One of the writer's first observations after taking up a scientific study of the Bible was to note the fact that Jesus of Nazareth never seemed to give a second thought to any case of healing he performed, however remarkable it appeared to others. His thought was so gifted with the power of action—never entertaining a doubt or the slightest fear—that when a false belief was destroyed in the patient's thought, the disease vanished quickly, because it had never existed as a spiritual reality and had no place in the Master's consciousness. Why should we not all work with this same precision of thought and unalloyed assurance?

Some students, young in the work, who have taken up the practice of healing, grow grave with a sense of responsibility, and feel weighted down with the seeming perversity of error. Was it so with the seventy whom Jesus sent forth to test their understanding through healing? So great was their faith and so obedient were their thoughts and acts that they returned with songs of praise, declaring that even the devils were subject unto them. A joyous heart is never moved to somber reflections. Heaviness of spirit comes largely from the habit of remembering the things of the past rather than forgetting them in order to fit ourselves for the work that is given us to do as the days go by. To respect our work and to employ our best energies in its performance is always commendable, but the earnest and thorough worker is never anxious about results. Self-adulation is as harmful as a secret belief in our inability to heal. Paul writes: "I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Such words as these show us that we cannot with profit carry an old burden after a new problem has been given us to work out. Nor can we estimate our present spiritual resources by anything we have done or left undone. The hour's needs are here and deserve our best work with such understanding as we have. "To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings," is the opening sentence of the Preface of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Then do we care to weave in among these blessings either a warp or a woof of things which do not belong to the case at hand? Personal credit or idle misgivings are not part of a practitioner's working capital. Probably no greater instance of self-forgetfulness has been known in modern times than that which Mrs. Eddy manifested during trying experiences. Hers was the habit of forgiving her enemies, giving credit to her worthy students, or smiling lovingly upon those who maligned her,—these things were never forgotten. Thus the joy of serving became the daily evidence which proved our Leader to be so closely in touch with the infinite. Have we the same kind of evidence that we are following her example in our daily routine of life?

"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God," the Scriptures tell us. But is it possible to see God or to be conscious of His power in the work we do if we claim that work as our own? Still, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us to so let our light shine before men that they may see our good works. These are words "fiftly spoken." Let the world see; but even while the observer is looking on we should already be about the Father's business with some newer deed of love and kindly forbearance. Fear seldom enters where right thought finds work to do. Shakespeare says: "Things done well, and with care, exempt themselves from fear." Truly so; and when doing these things, if self is forgotten there can be no fear, no favors, no weakening sense or compromise with human perversity.

The pinnacle of our ambition should be to see so deeply into the clear waters of life's bountiful wellspring that the reflection of the overhanding verdure gladdens our expectant vision. Truth's depths are fathomless, and the seer of today acquires, as did the one of old, a deeper understanding and insight as his realization of spiritual dominion grows. There are things to remember and things to forget; and it is a wise discrimination which enables us to choose between the two.