Wartime Progress
"Every day makes its demands upon us for higher proofs rather than professions of Christian power. These proofs consist solely in the destruction of sin, sickness, and death by the power of Spirit, as Jesus destroyed them. This is an element of progress, and progress is the law of God, whose law demands of us only what we can certainly fulfil." So states Mary Baker Eddy, the beloved Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, on page 233 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures;" and she further discerningly writes (ibid., p. 306), "Undisturbed amid the jarring testimony of the material senses, Science, still enthroned, is unfolding to mortals the immutable, harmonious, divine Principle,—is unfolding Life and the universe, ever present and eternal."
Obviously, then, true progress being a ceaselessly, forever operating, spiritual law of God eternal Principle, its activity and unfoldment continue irresistibly in wartime and peacetime alike. Those who today recognize, acknowledge, and utilize this divine fact will find their progress untouched and un-retarded by beliefs of loss or retrogression. All such false claims are based upon the supposititious beliefs of material substance and physical existence, which, although seeming real to material sense, are, as Christian Science teaches and proves, but the assumed opposites of real substance and of man's spiritual, indestructible, incorporeal existence as God's reflection.
For men and women in the armed services at home or abroad, in war plants, on the farms, in offices and homes everywhere, yes even in temporarily enemy-occupied countries, does not wartime present opportunities to go forward with spiritual fortitude to higher attainments in the practice and demonstration of Christian Science, wherein alone lie ultimate world salvation and progression? Each one, here and now, may progressively contribute, participate, and serve metaphysically in this fruitful field of scientific Christianity, thereby advancing towards that great day when, as the Bible says, "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."
Is it not the individual responsibility of every one of us to increase our capabilities and opportunities for giving, rather than for getting? Indeed, even human progress is not a getting process, but the fruit of improved service to others. Serving, in a high sense, implies a willing subordination of selfish motives, of false materialistic standards of progress which would, if undetected and not rejected, spur one to forsake the way of genuine progress, always essentially and fundamentally spiritual. Our great Teacher and Way-shower, Christ Jesus, who demonstrated for mankind the way of scientific advancement, plainly gave us the primary rules for real progress spiritually and humanly. In the sixth chapter of Matthew, he tersely sums up these rules in the words, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
Can we not seek first God's kingdom through inspired prayer and the persistent, diligent daily study of the Lesson-Sermon as found in the Christian Science Quarterly? These Lesson-Sermons, the weekly subjects of which were chosen by Mrs. Eddy herself, afford annually fifty-two carefully chosen groups of references on subjects basic to the progress of each student. If systematically planned study is deemed necessary progressively to gain knowledge and understanding in the so-called natural and physical sciences, can we not at this stage take advantage of such a system with this greatest and truest Science of all? Let us remember that Christian Science is not only true religion, but practical, demonstrable Science, the Science of Life, Truth, and Love.
What is it that would obstruct, impede, or prevent our progressive gaining of scientific spiritual understanding? It is mortal mind or animal magnetism. Its nefarious, false nature is unmasked by Mrs. Eddy in the Christian Science textbook where she says (p.102 ), "So secret are the present methods of animal magnetism that they ensnare the age into indolence, and produce the very apathy on the subject which the criminal desires." We need ever to be on the alert against the aggressive mental suggestions of evil, which would make us apathetic towards the need for daily spiritual prayer and study. As we overcome the carnal mind's resistance to advancement in Truth, we shall find that spiritual progress can be experienced by all today; for God the one infinite, ever-present divine Mind, is ever available to each and all in proportion as they perseveringly endeavor to go forward and upward in spiritual understanding. Paul, that undaunted spiritual warrior of early Christianity writes, "Behold, now is the day of salvation;" and he also admonishes, "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully."
If we, soldiers or civilians, will keep faith and unflinchingly hold to the upward way of spiritualized consciousness, we shall ultimately realize and prove for ourselves the profound truth which Mrs. Eddy was divinely inspired to write in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p.181 ): "Progress is spiritual. Progress is the maturing conception of divine Love; it demonstrates the scientific, sinless life of man and mortal's painless departure from matter to Spirit, not through death, but through the true idea of Life,—and Life not in matter but in Mind."
