The eternal facts of being which Christian Science has brought to light are being permanently established in human consciousness today. Spiritual truth, which has been demonstrated in the overcoming of sin and disease, affords a firm foundation upon which to stand and to build. When spiritual facts have been proved in one's experience, metaphorically speaking an island has risen up in the sea of material sense, the waters of mortal mind have receded, and the dry land has appeared.

In the textbook of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes (p. 507), "In metaphor, the dry land illustrates the absolute formations instituted by Mind." Demonstration of fundamental verities or "absolute formations" gives proof of their presence and availability. Once a fact has been proved, nothing can overthrow it. It has been made our own. No longer is it merely a beautiful theory, too transcendental for use; it is an established fact through time and eternity, to be proved, tested, and demonstrated.

How imperative it is to prove the inspired thoughts which come to us in silent prayer! Unless these thoughts are established by demonstration, the blessings they offer are not appropriated, and may through neglect and disuse be temporarily confiscated.

From the human standpoint much reclaiming work has yet to be done. Spiritual reality may have been glimpsed, but until it is demonstrated, the promised land of Christian Science for us may still seem hidden, and we shall not yet have established a safe place for our feet. Steadfastness and persistence are essential in order that we may hold the ground we have already won in our struggle with mortal concepts. When fresh demands are made upon us, and we are asked to work out some problem by the understanding and practice of eternal spiritual facts—of God's supremacy and man's perfection as His image and likeness—it is a call to go up higher, to realize yet more of the demonstrable nature of true being. It is a call to enlarge our coasts, to prove to ourselves and to the world that the floods are receding, that the firm ground of spiritual understanding is appearing, and that there is hope, not only for ourselves but for those who seem to be struggling in vain with their problems.

The world is sorely in need of those islands which are today everywhere rising up above the floods of adversity. Like shipwrecked travelers, men and women are searching the horizon for something stable and secure; they begin to see land, and in their great need they do not stop to ask whether or not this land is charted according to ordinary so-called orthodox religious beliefs. They realize that someone has proved an invincible fact which cannot henceforth be gainsaid. That is enough! They have found "the land of Christian Science, where fetters fall and the rights of man are fully known and acknowledged" (Science and Health, pp. 226, 227). They discover that they too can demonstrate the facts this Science presents.

Christ Jesus understood and proved the truth regarding God and man. He healed disease and raised the dead. His many proofs of divine power in that age were as islands—solid ground—to which multitudes fled; for he had proved the presence of "the absolute formations instituted by Mind." He finished his work. He had proved his Father's supremacy and unerring, ever-operative laws. He had demonstrated the perfection, completeness, and immortality of man, God's likeness.

Do we realize as yet, except in small measure, the magnitude of Christ Jesus' work? Do we yet appreciate and appropriate, as Mary Baker Eddy appreciated and appropriated, the holy ground he left for us to walk upon? So great was the power of his resurrection that "the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom ... and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, ... and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." Here we have the proof that his demonstration over the power of death was far reaching. He thus provided solid ground for all to walk upon, in every age.

And what of his ascension? "He rose out of material sight," Mrs. Eddy tells us (ibid., p. 35). The rarefied atmosphere of his thought could no longer be cognized by his followers. They saw him no more.

May we not assume that Christ Jesus' final exit from the flesh completely unveiled for him the heavenly vista of God's creation, coexistent with Him? The fleshly, finite sense of sight saw him no more, but he had risen to the altitude of spiritual vision which embraced the universe and man. In his glorious perception of spiritual being, none could have been left outside. He rose in demonstration above the belief of life in matter, not only for himself but for all. His viewpoint, which vanquished the claims of evil and won for him eternal life, remains for us to accept and utilize. What he saw and demonstrated we also can see and demonstrate. His perfect view of man may be ours.

In these days the world sorely needs the consciousness of Christ's presence, and that presence is at hand according to Jesus' promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

On the battlefield, in devastated cities, to anxious hearts everywhere, Christ, Truth, is being revealed; and the greater the human need, the higher thought soars toward spiritual awakening. Those who, through demonstration, have established in some measure in their own experience the solid ground of spiritual understanding, in the overcoming of sin and disease, are attracting to their rock of security many troubled hearts. Christian Scientists will see to it that the ground they have gained is maintained and increased; that no enemy of apathy or neglect finds ingress to dispute conquered territory.

The mechanized forces of the world may endeavor to tear down the spiritual strongholds of nations, but no material so-called force can dethrone the Christ or displace the understanding of God's omnipotence in the human consciousness. Unseen by the enemy, even in the thick of battle, the land we are gaining mentally through prayer, courage, purity, and love is unconquerable. No power on earth can overthrow demonstrated ideals and proved realities. This kingdom is inviolate.

For Jesus "there was no more sea." For us the new heaven and new earth are appearing. Isles of accomplishment are dotting the sea of sense. These isles will increase and multiply till "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

Copyright, 1940, by The Christian Science Publishing Society, One, Norway Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Entered at Boston post office as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing at a special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 11, 1918.