In no known previous period in human history have thinkers altered their conclusions so rapidly as they have done in the past fifty years.

The theory of matter, long tenaciously held to, which regarded matter as primary substance, has been discarded for one which regards it as electrical energy. Theology, too, has been rising above its centuries-old views of heaven and hell as local habitations, and of God as a magnified person, to more rational concepts of Deity. In latter years medical theory has steadily given added weight to thought as a factor in controlling the body.

An age-old belief in the law, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," accompanied by resignation to poverty and distress, is being shattered by advancing methods of production requiring less toil, and presaging abundance for all. And so one might go on and on, reciting numerous changes that have taken place in human thinking.

Is it any wonder that the material world should find itself in a turmoil as changes seem to tread one upon another? But is there anything for the thinker to fear as he sees these kaleidoscopic changes succeed one another, and the coincident disturbances in material activities about him? These developments are but evidences of progress on the highway of human experience. As an understanding of Truth spreads over the earth, mankind inevitably moves upward spiritually. The radiant realm of Spirit is appearing, and with its appearance material darkness proportionately disappears.

Clearly foreseeing the changes that would take place as humanity increasingly feels the power of Truth, our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, made this remarkable statement on page 96 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "Mortal error will vanish in a moral chemicalization. This mental fermentation has begun, and will continue until all error of belief yield to understanding."

Man lives, moves, and has his being in God. Human illusions cannot touch the real man. He never was the child of chance or the victim of erroneous belief. Man reflects God, good, perfect Mind, now. Man is spiritual, the heir of infinite good, expressing uninterrupted harmony and peace. Now, as in the beginning, he is the image and likeness of his creator. Any seeming contradiction of this fact is mortal illusion. Said the Psalmist, "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness." The words imply that he understood that he must awaken from the Adam-dream of life in matter. As one progresses in the understanding of the truth as to his real nature, he rises above the mist of materialism.

The understanding of man's true being is the Comforter, "the Spirit of truth," which Jesus said he would send, and which would lead "into all truth." This Comforter is here. It unfolds the Master's life-purpose and makes comprehensible and practical the divine Science he taught and demonstrated. It came to this age through the pure, devoted, and divinely directed thought of Mary Baker Eddy. As spiritual light dawned in her consciousness, she saw more and more clearly the allness of God and His creation, and the consequent nothingness of matter or evil. She saw with crystal clearness the inevitable conflict between Truth and error. On page 96 of Science and Health she wrote: "This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord and dismay; on the other side there will be Science and peace."

Every prophecy recorded in Mrs. Eddy's writings will be fulfilled, because she wrote only what divine Mind revealed to her. Hence, we must expect to witness unfoldment along the lines she foretold. She gave us many signposts, now easily perceived as we journey onward and upward. On page 125 of the Christian Science textbook, she pictures in beautiful language some of the changes she foresaw as men relinquish their hold on error and grasp the truth of being. She writes: "The seasons will come and go with changes of time and tide, cold and heat, latitude and longitude. The agriculturist will find that these changes cannot affect his crops;" and adds: "The mariner will have dominion over the atmosphere and the great deep, over the fish of the sea and the fowls of the air. The astronomer will no longer look up to the stars,—he will look out from them upon the universe; and the florist will find his flower before its seed."

A student of Christian Science had occasion to take a journey by airplane. When he reached the airport, heavy clouds darkened the sky, and thunder pealed. Soon the airplane rose above the clouds, however, and the student beheld an entrancing scene—snowy cloud-peaks beneath him, above, a turquoise sky, brilliant sunshine, and calmness he had never experienced before. He thought of those below whose vision was limited to the leaden clouds and drizzling mist. How like a mortal's limited sense of things! How little he knows of the beauty and grandeur of spiritual living; how he clings to material beliefs, not knowing that if he should rise above them his life would be finer and happier and vastly more satisfying!

As the stream of pure thought is poured into the muddy waters of materiality, human consciousness is purified, and true living is made manifest. Want, wickedness, war, all spring from a false sense of God, and they wane as spiritual understanding displaces the errors of material sense. Many changes will be witnessed as this process of purification develops. And the process will continue steadily, surely, as human beliefs are exchanged for a better understanding of the creator and His creation.

Mortal-mind machinations would bewilder and frighten mankind; but when we understand that the tumult about us arises from the shattering of material fetters, fear gives way to joy and peace. When these fetters shall have been broken, our thought will soar above the clouds of material sense into the atmosphere of Spirit, and life will be sweeter and happier than it could ever be for us while our thought seems chained to a false concept of God and of our real selfhood. Let there be no dismay!

As the Master stilled the tumultuous waves on the Sea of Galilee, so will the billows of mortal mind recede before the spiritual power of Truth understood, and calm and peace will appear. Christ, Truth, is here. We see its fruitage around the world. We see the age-old fetters of humanity falling away. We behold the radiant glow of the coming day.