In a statement quoted in The Christian Science Journal for April, 1895, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, says, "Make broader your bounds for blessing the people." She follows this with the admonition, "Learn to forget what you should not remember, viz., self, and live for the good you do."

This plea to broaden one's vision is echoed in Mrs. Eddy's words from the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 258), "God expresses in man the infinite idea forever developing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from a boundless basis." The Bible furnishes a correlative passage. In poetic imagery the prophet Isaiah sings (54:2), "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes." These passages urge upon the student a more expansive view, a compassionate concern for mankind and the problems confronting it. Moreover, the passage from Isaiah suggests the way in which this objective may be consummated. He says plainly, "Strengthen thy stakes." The passage might be paraphrased, "Be firmly grounded in divine Principle."

In Isaiah's time tents were made of heavy goats' hair cloth. When the desert dweller upon occasion desired a larger tent, it was customary to add more curtains or panels of the heavy material and thus enlarge the circumference of the tent. With this in mind, we see the aptness of Isaiah's figure of speech. Certainly the more curtains added to the tent, the stronger the stakes required to hold up the heavy structure. Similarly, the broader the student's work, or the greater the area its blessings embrace, the deeper should be his roots, the more firmly should he be grounded in a clear understanding of divine Principle, God.

Christian Science explains the nature of God through amplifying the offices of the seven great synonyms: Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love. The Bible applies each of these synonyms except Principle specifically to God. The term Principle, while not used in the Scriptures as an actual synonym for God, is, nevertheless, implied in many verses where God is explained as the primal source, the cause of all being.

Mrs. Eddy confirms this view in the textbook (see page 465: 16-1). Since man is the reflection of infinite Principle, man necessarily expresses all the qualities of Principle. Man, then, expresses integrity, steadfastness, order, and justice. Divine Principle, being absolute, is not subject to error. Hence man reflects invariability, exactness, accuracy. He is not subject to mistakes or delays; he is never weak, vacillating, faltering, or indecisive. Man shows forth the good judgment of divine Principle; his judgment is never shallow, prejudiced, or warped.

Principle is ever operative. From Principle emanates omniaction, the unfolding of the law of invariable harmony. Man, the witness or proof of divine Principle, likewise manifests this divine order. The man of God's creating, the true selfhood of every individual representation of Mind, expresses continuous action, a ceaseless unfolding of good.

Man's activity is governed by the law of immutable harmony. Therefore man's activity cannot be retarded, interrupted, stopped, or limited in any way. Man's abilities unfold from the one infinite wholly good source, divine Principle. Man's abilities and capabilities do not, then, fluctuate or vary; they are not hidden, undeveloped, meager, misused.

Man is not an immature idea advancing toward the point of maturity; nor is man an aged idea lapsing into forgetfulness or oblivion. Man is ageless, changeless, deathless. As the student of Christian Science affirms these facts regarding his true selfhood and strives to exemplify them in his daily experience, he finds himself reflecting a better sense of poise and balance, confidence and security. He is strengthening his stakes and therein expanding his facilities for doing good.

Recently the opportunity came to some branch churches to make "broad bounds" indeed for blessing mankind. These branch churches were in the vicinity of the meeting of the World Council of Churches in Evanston, Illinois; and they united in a plan to give to the delegates of this assembly daily copies of The Christian Science Monitor. Through their labor of love a copy of this newspaper was delivered personally to every one of the seventeen hundred and fifty delegates each day of their two weeks' meeting.

This in itself was a big project and offered broad means for blessing these individuals. But when we remember that these delegates came from forty-eight different nations of the world and represented congregations of one hundred and seventy million church members, we glimpse something of the opportunity afforded by this undertaking to share the light of Truth and the vast extent to which such benefactions might unfold.

Blessings multiplied in this endeavor: warm expressions of gratitude from the recipients, joyous enthusiasm among the workers, deep appreciation from each branch church of the other. Broad indeed must be the student's vision to conceive how far reaching may be the effect of this missionary effort. The sowing has been glorious.

Earnest students ask, "Will the harvest be as rich?" It may well be, if the fine work already accomplished is given consecrated metaphysical support. Mrs. Eddy has prophesied great things for the Christian churches of the world in the twentieth century. She has stretched "forth the curtains of [our] habitations" in innumerable ways.

As we strengthen our stakes by purifying what is called human consciousness, redeeming it from the false beliefs of material sense, we may expect to see more and more evidence of the fulfillment of our Leader's hope as expressed in "Pulpit and Press" (p. 22): "If the lives of Christian Scientists attest their fidelity to Truth, I predict that in the twentieth century every Christian church in our land, and a few in far-off lands, will approximate the understanding of Christian Science sufficiently to heal the sick in his name. Christ will give to Christianity his new name, and Christendom will be classified as Christian Scientists."