The One Great Attainment

It has been said that the true purpose of history is to record the footsteps of the past in order that succeeding generations may see their tendency, and, choosing to follow the good, progress toward ultimate perfection. It was St. Paul's vision of the Christ, gained in his conversion, and nurtured in consecration, which enabled him to interpret the Scriptures spiritually, and to identify the coming of the Christ, which Jesus manifested, as the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy.

In our own day Mary Baker Eddy, through her study of the Scriptures and through spiritual inspiration, not only saw the connection between the Old and the New Testament, but discovered the divine Science which explains them both. Today the leaven of Truth, active in human consciousness, is leading some advanced thinkers to foresee a new era, in which the functions of human society will be performed more in accord with the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. The breaking down of certain outworn materialistic structures of government, finance, economics, science, theology, and medicine, is being recognized as indication of the dark hours which precede the dawn of a new day.

The acquisitive instinct, which characterizes the belief of life in matter, and which is a chief driving force of human ambition, is today receiving a determined challenge at the hands of Christian Science. The failure of materiality to appease the demands of the flesh, as well as the failure of human ways and means of achieving happiness, is hastening the day when Christian Science will be acknowledged as offering the only way through which to establish peace and prosperity on earth. The true path of progress is pointed out in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." On page 58 Mrs. Eddy says, "Unselfish ambition, noble life-motives, and purity,—these constituents of thought, mingling, constitute individually and collectively true happiness, strength, and permanence." As these terms are accepted and lived, it becomes increasingly apparent that the demands of the flesh must be subordinated instead of being catered to, and that spiritual joys are desirable above all else.

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Education
March 11, 1933
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