Spiritual aid is available to everybody, everywhere, every instant. To the Christian Scientist, spiritual aid is first aid, continual aid, and permanent aid. Every case is vital; every case requires instant attention. The master Christian, Christ Jesus, did not accept as real even for an instant any evidence opposing or denying the supremacy of Spirit. Christian Scientists should do no less. Whatever threatens to obscure the spiritual light of understanding must be conquered.

The Christian Scientist must enlarge his understanding of Spirit, regardless of any human measures he may be obliged to adopt. Mary Baker Eddy in Article VIII. Section 15 of the Manual of The Mother Church writes, "Members of this Church shall not unite with organizations which impede their progress in Christian Science." The worldly-minded might call this narrow, and protest that it robs the individual of his freedom of thought and action. But those who have even slightly perceived the true nature of Mrs. Eddy's discovery know that anything short of obedience to this By-Law betrays thought into error. Through disobedience one's spiritual understanding of Life is darkened by materiality, by dependence on material means, and by material pursuits.

The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science learned through bitter trials that mere human intelligence is not capable of fostering, protecting, and perpetuating the divine plan for the salvation of mankind. Organizations based on materiality cannot solve the problems of human society. Divine inspiration is required to do this. And divine inspiration may be lost through an overzealous participation in material activities. The stimulus of material motion may unwittingly be substituted for spiritual activity. Rehearsal and practice of material methods may leave little time for spiritualization of thought.

In the midst of so much present-day human preparation for possible emergency, the Christian Scientist must make important spiritual preparation. Each one is able to keep his thought spiritually alert and still take whatever material training is required of him. Thus he will not find himself losing in the scale of spiritual thinking by participating in legitimate training. Right spiritual activity therefore becomes individual.

The vital point in the present situation is not so much in what precautionary training the Christian Scientist participates, as it is what quality of thought he attains and maintains day by day. So long as he is gaining new spiritual inspiration and becoming conscious in a fuller measure of spiritual being, he is adding to his true equipment and is safe. He is gaining dominion over materiality and is accordingly being equipped to handle with more instant dispatch any apparent emergency. Worthy as many human plans are, the divinely impelled rules of The Mother Church surpass them all. That which admittedly is capable ultimately of answering all human needs must be capable of answering those needs in their incipiency.

Material systems may teach us about so-called first aid but Christian Science instructs us in the utilization of the power of God as perpetual aid. Jesus proved this divine aid to be adequate to meet his greatest need when no human aid was available. Of all calls for immediate and adequate aid, his was the most extreme. Material systems of thought, material precaution and methods, were unavailing. But as Mrs. Eddy practically explains on page 44 of Science and Health, "He met and mastered on the basis of Christian Science, the power of Mind over matter, all the claims of medicine, surgery, and hygiene." Christ Jesus is the model for all men. What he did his followers must strive to achieve. Their present inability fully to emulate his ideal accomplishments can be admitted only as "Suffer it to be so now." Contrariwise, during this period of rendering "unto Caesar the things which be Cæsar's," an effort must be made to render "unto God the things which be God's."

Temporary expediencies cannot take the place of permanent spiritual aid which is made available to all humanity through Christian Science. If in the present situation a Christian Scientist is obliged to utilize means involving less than the ideal means, he must see to it that his spiritual endeavors are not lessened during such experience. The greatest emergency to him is not that his life or health is threatened, but that his spiritual light and understanding may become subordinated to material modes of thought and the coming of the kingdom be proportionately delayed.

Do we who have begun to see the light "which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" have a loving, incessant desire to see that others are not prevented from gaining the same recognition? Then no day will be allowed to pass without our partaking of spiritual refreshment. Every day is vital. Added spiritual illumination must be unfolded through meditation on the Word of God. Material modes of thought must be lessened. Divine light must be more apparent in our lives. Then, as this activity of spiritual thinking is consciously increased, spiritual aid correspondingly becomes available as instant and permanent.