Article May 12, 1928 Issue

Progress and Prospect

EDWARD TAVERNER FOSTER

In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 233) Mrs. Eddy writes: "Every day makes its demands upon us for higher proofs rather than professions of Christian power. These proofs consist solely in the destruction of sin, sickness, and death by the power of Spirit, as Jesus destroyed them. This is an element of progress, and progress is the law of God, whose law demands of us only what we can certainly fulfil." The watchful student soon learns by experience that every demonstration of Christian Science healing vouchsafed to mankind—the apparently small as well as the seemingly great—effects some change for the better in the thinking of the individual concerned; so that by these changes the student is led through different mental states and stages, each successive state unfolding more of the understanding of God's power and presence, giving us glimpses of heaven here and now.

In Christian Science, progress is spiritual and follows repentance; that is, a change goes on from wrong thinking to right thinking. This uplifting, encouraging, and purifying action impels obedience and a consequent improvement in human experience, made manifest in healing the sick and the sinning, and in other Christly effects. May it not have been this process to which the Master referred when he said, "In my Father's house are many mansions"? We are taught in Science and Health (p. 578) that the Scriptural phrase "house of the Lord" may be interpreted "consciousness of Love;" so that those words of Jesus may be said to convey the truth that in the consciousness of divine Love are many beautiful abiding places—mental states reflecting various phases of spiritual loveliness and lovableness—wherein we may rest awhile. Thus are we led by the Christ-idea from the depths of material sense to the spiritual heights of complete salvation. Surely Paul in his second epistle to the Corinthians speaks of the same process when he writes, "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

This process of spiritual development is the normal way of progress for the Christian Science student. His initial experience in this Science stirs him to a sense of conscious gratitude to God, because, by demonstration, Christian Science has brought him out of some form of disease or discord wherein he has been dwelling, into comparative harmony, health, and happiness. As he continues to practice the teachings of the Christian Science textbook, he finds that his gratitude to God is not only for the help and healing that he has received and been able to reflect to others, but also for the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, whereby such benefits and blessings have been made possible to him and to others.

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