Article May 18, 1940 Issue

Steps of Progress

[Original article in German]

EMMA K. FUHRER

Every seeker for truth is aware of the fact that the knowledge of man's true being can be gained only step by step. At one time, when a student of Christian Science was reflecting on Elijah's last days on earth, it became clear to her how human consciousness is illumined and led, and how what precedes governs what follows.

In II Kings we read how Elisha progressed as the disciple of his teacher, Elijah. When Elijah said to him, "Tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Beth-el," Elisha did not allow himself to be kept from following. He had apparently overcome to a great extent evil's persistent opposition to his spiritual progress, and he did not fear to take the necessary forward steps. Through his faithfulness and steadfastness he was enabled to go with his master to Beth-el. Here Jacob, fleeing from his brother Esau's wrath, saw God's angels ascending and descending, and exclaimed, "This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." Elisha had sufficient spiritual understanding to silence the argument of "the sons of the prophets," and he did not allow himself to be deterred from following Elijah farther. Spiritual sense forced him to go forward. Mary Baker Eddy says of this sense on page 471 of our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "The facts of divine Science should be admitted,—although the evidence as to these facts is not supported by evil, by matter, or by material sense,—because the evidence that God and man coexist is fully sustained by spiritual sense."

In Jericho, whence Elijah was sent, Elisha again silenced the voices which would have turned him back from his chosen path. His trust in and obedience to good could not be abrogated; faithfully he followed his teacher until they came to the Jordan. There he saw how Elijah, applying his understanding of God's presence and omnipotence, gathered up his mantle and struck the waters of Jordan with it, "so that they two went over on dry ground." By accompanying him thus, Elisha gave his master proof of his fidelity. Elijah then said to him, "Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee." Then Elisha asked him for a double portion of his spirit. But Elijah could not give him this gift; for the certainty and assurance of his knowledge were the fruits of his own individual demonstration. He replied to Elisha, however, "Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee;" and we are told, "Elisha saw it."

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