Business establishments of long standing normally have a registered trade-mark which they stamp or imprint on their products. When we are buying a costly article we do well to examine its trademark, since if this identifies it as the product of a well-known and reliable firm, we may complete our purchase with confidence.

The cross and crown seal, so dear to Christian Scientists, is one of the registered trade-marks of the Trustees under the Will of Mary Baker Eddy. It appears familiarly on the covers of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," and the other writings of Mary Baker Eddy, and on the Christian Science periodicals. We accept it gladly as marking the authorization and authenticity of the literature on which it appears.

How are Christian Scientists themselves to be identified? What is their trade-mark? The motto encircling the cross and crown of the seal gives the complete answer to this question. This motto is based on Christ Jesus' command to the twelve apostles (Matt. 10:8), "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, east out devils."

We lead in the "Historical Sketch" from the Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy (p. 17), "At a meeting of the Christian Scientist Association, April 12, 1879, on motion of Mrs. Eddy, it was voted,—To organize a church designed to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing." This motion enshrines the leading feature of Christian Science—the spiritually scientific healing ministry by which its members prove that they are Christian Scientists.

Even quite new students of Christian Science may begin to demonstrate the power of God to protect and heal. Many years ago the writer had occasion to prove this. While visiting a distant city he was invited to join a ski excursion, in the course of which he unwisely attempted a jump that was beyond his skill and experience. But even while tumbling he was conscious of the presence of God.

Though severely shaken, and with a bone in one hand apparently broken, he was able to rise and continue on his way promptly. That evening he attended the Wednesday testimony meeting in a Church of Christ, Scientist. There he heard selections read from the Bible and from Science and Health. The passages from Science and Health brought out the spiritual meaning of the Bible readings and made it plain that the power of God is as available to heal now as in Bible times.

At this meeting the writer also heard testimonies by individuals who had been healed in Christian Science of sickness and other troubles. He read too the familiar words from page 494 of Science and Health inscribed on the wall of the auditorium: "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need." All this opened his heart to accept and use the truth that God is All and made all and that there are no accidents or inharmony of any kind in His creation. Then he saw the unreality of the condition afflicting him. The injured hand healed quickly without medical or surgical attention, and there remained no ill effects from the tumble.

We need not be discouraged if our progress in demonstrating Christian Science healing seems slow at first. The important thing is to make a start in the right direction and to keep going. If the way seems uncertain, we can examine ourselves to see what may be obscuring the goal of healing expressed in the Christian Science trade-mark. Do we abstain from alcohol and tobacco, from worldliness, "from all appearance of evil" (I Thess. 5:22)? Are we earnestly seeking to obey the Ten Commandments and the Manual of The Mother Church? Are we striving to overcome sin by turning away from belief in matter? Do we look upon trials as opportunities to prove God's care? An affirmative answer to these questions stamps the Christian Scientist with the seal of righteous living and opens the way to greater progress.

Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health (pp. 2:38, 239): "The cross is the central emblem of history. It is the lodestar in the demonstration of Christian healing,—the demonstration by which sin and sickness are destroyed." Little wonder that our Leader made the cross the central feature of the Christian Science seal. But she joined it with the crown to show that Truth is always available and is always victorious over error.

Jesus loved the rich young ruler who came running to inquire what he should do to inherit eternal life. He loved him for his eagerness to learn the right way and for his sincere attempt to keep the Commandments. But he saw that the young man had still to overcome the basic sin of selfishness before he would be willing to exchange his great material possessions for spiritual treasure. If we would show ourselves true Christian Scientists, we must be willing to take up the cross and follow the Christ.

Paul exhorted the Hebrews to lay aside every weight, including the weight of sin, that they might more easily run the race set before them and win the crown, the stamp of approval as God's sons. It has been said that he who would travel far must travel light. A Christian Scientist has the privilege of laying aside all belief in matter as substance and of accepting instead the allness of Spirit. This change of thought removes the physical burden of material beliefs in sin, disease, and possible lack. With his load thus lightened, the student is free to make rapid and happy progress towards the goal of pure spirituality and scientific demonstration. The crown of rejoicing becomes his when he finds that he is able to heal himself and others also of inharmonious conditions.

When the student gladly accepts the cross as an essential step in winning the crown, when he sees that giving up matter makes room for Spirit, he is well started on the road to health and harmony. He will find it not an easy downhill run, but rather an uphill climb, which is sometimes rugged. Working, watching, and praying, he will gain access to each succeeding height. The Bible, Mrs. Eddy's writings, and the Concordances to both will be his daily companions and guides. His faithfulness will not go unrewarded.

Just as the athlete gains in physical strength by vigorous exercise, so the Christian Scientist finds his spiritual strength constantly increased by the exercise of complete dependence on God to meet every need as it arises. The body responds favorably to this atmosphere of quiet confidence, and all other difficulties yield to the irresistible power of Truth.

As the faithful student himself experiences more and more healings, these awaken in him a desire to share with his fellows the unlimited benefits he is enjoying. He sees people around him in need of what he can give. A new sense of mission transforms his life. Under such impulsion, his healing influence in thought, word, and deed will stamp him as a Christian Scientist.