Probably every Christian Scientist has at some time been tempted to believe that some person or persons, some circustance or condition, had the power to hinder his progress. But on page 326 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy says: "The purpose and motive to live aright can be gained now. This point won, you have started as you should;" and she adds, "And nothing but wrong intention can hinder your advancement." She does not say that sickness can hinder our advancement. As a matter of fact, scientific progress will hinder and finally halt every belief of sickness. She does not say that uncongenial surroundings, someone else's lack of interest in Christian Science, a misunderstanding in our home, jealousy, envy, hatred,—if extraneous to our own thinking,—have any power to hinder our advancement.

The statement, "Nothing but wrong intention can hinder your advancement," puts our progress squarely up to us. If we are not advancing, we can blame no one but ourselves: our intentions, our thoughts, must be wrong somewhere. Are they lacking in energy, consecration, strength? Are they clouded by animosity or resentment, by laziness, regret, or dishonesty? Is our purpose and motive truly Christlike? Do we really intend to get rid of this mortal belief that calls itself ourself, daily to think less of its wishes and claims, and to turn more resolutely from materiality to spirituality?

Always before we begin our day's work, let us think over our intentions. First, do we, as Christian Scientists, mean to obey the Manual by doing the daily protective work it demands? Then do we intend to rejoice, to thank God, to express Love, to make the world better for our part in it? Do we mean to be happy, to magnify good, to trust God, and to manifest His health, dominion, and wisdom? Is it our purpose to know only Spirit as real, and matter as unreal, to be peaceful, joyful, and powerful? Are there lurking any wants or intentions the opposite of these? If not, then there are no wrong ones to hinder our advancement—and nothing else can!

The student of Christian Science cannot, however, rest idly on the comfortable assurance that his intentions are of the best. Intentions, to be genuinely good, must be backed up by resultant good activity. In fact, true thinking cannot be separated from activity: it is activity. A right intention carries within itself the determination and the ability to fulfill itself.

If the statement quoted from our textbook seems unbelievable, it may be because we do not know what and where advancement really is. The Christian Scientist should know; he should realize that it is purely mental, entirely spiritual, and in his own thinking. He who truly advances is getting nearer to God, nearer to the apprehension of reality. True advancement means a clearer understanding of our Leader's teachings, and greater ability to demonstrate those teachings.

Scientific advancement and the mortal sense of advancement are opposites. Error says the mortal self must be advanced; Christian Science says it must be overcome, by unfolding thought grasping the facts of spiritual being. Mortal mind's ambitious sense of advancement is material. Ambition is a good thing if it is the kind mentioned by Mrs. Eddy on page 154 of "Miscellaneous Writings," where she says, "Have no ambition, affection, nor aim apart from holiness." Such ambition is the longing to serve better, to know more of God, to be purer and more consecrated. It will carry one forward ever more tenderly and wisely. It will cause no one unhappiness, but will bring help to untold numbers. It will foster in its possessor no personal exaltation, but more humility and selflessness. It will bring no leisure to be spent in material ease, but, instead, will fill every hour with work increasing in the ratio of spiritual understanding. No one who is not ready to work unceasingly and increasingly need ever try to cultivate this scientific sense of ambition, because he will not be ready to fulfill the demands it brings.

Christian Science reveals as wrong, intentions which we may once have considered praiseworthy. For instance, we hear people say that they intend to concentrate their every effort on the accomplishment of such and such a material objective. Success in right endeavor is always legitimate; but the Christian Scientist would, in such a case, consecrate his every effort to the discovering of God's will in the matter, and the fulfilling of that will at any cost to his human plans. He knows from experience that the way of divine Principle is always the way of ultimate happiness and success.

Christian Scientists sometimes make the mistake of believing themselves so safely past all danger from the more obvious phases of the beliefs of the senses that they cease to bar their doors against such intruders. We should continue to be watchful, not assuming that we have reached the place where defense from the many phases of evil is unnecessary, although gladly rejoicing over the certainty, in many instances, that with due protective work there are many phases of error which can never again influence us. No one who is not willing to obey the Ten Commandments in the highest sense that ordinary Christianity has taught, has any right to look beyond that to a more metaphysical sense of them. No spiritual advancement can possibly come unless built on a sound Christian basis of unswerving obedience to Moses' moral demands. Our Leader gave the Ten Commandments as one of the first lessons for the children in the Christian Science Sunday School. Just so the adult, turning to Christian Science, need not believe it possible to build any permanent scientific structure without proved ability to obey in some degree every one of these fundamental commands.

Certain it is that Christian Science leaves no loophole for deceiving one's self. If dishonesty, however well hidden, taints our intentions, if we still secretly look for pleasure in matter or in personality, if we find satisfaction in personal popularity or riches or ease, spiritual success will not be gained. And we must learn to measure success by the standard by which alone it can be judged—that of ability to demonstrate Christian Science. The seeming advancement which is not built on moral integrity and sincere industry, however it may allure the worldling, surely has no attraction for the scientific Christian! If we are truly ready for progress, we shall be willing to build and rebuild, with humility and consecrated perseverance, the weak places in our mental structure.

Moving mentally onward, we reach a place which once seemed a great height of desired accomplishment, only to see many heights beyond. We realize that the reward of every spiritual advance is the ability to see ever more clearly the vastness of the work to be accomplished before we have worked out our unity with infinity. Discouragement sometimes argues that there has been no progress. We will not listen! Every working student knows that experiences which at one time would have filled him with fear, depression, grief, or hatred now pass by leaving him serene and undisturbed. Is not that progress, and a sure precursor of the victory over all evil?

Consecration and expectancy are necessary aids in our growth. We need not ask or expect only a little good. No hurried sense of anxiety need haunt us, for no one else can ever take our good, our opportunity, our place; these will simply wait until we know enough to take them for ourselves. Good is boundless, omnipresent; only a finite sense can make it appear limited; and our advancing thought, unfolding, will be manifested in ever improving human conditions as we turn resolutely from materiality to divine reality.

The real man needs no advancement: God's reflection, man, needs no healing, no perfecting. But mankind needs to become acquainted with man's true individuality, and to prove its limitless capacities, its God-given dominion. In her Message to The Mother Church for 1902 (p. 10) Mrs. Eddy writes: "When the human mind is advancing above itself towards the Divine, it is subjugating the body, subduing matter, taking steps outward and upwards. This upward tendency of humanity will finally gain the scope of Jacob's vision, and rise from sense to Soul, from earth to heaven."

Copyright, 1927, by The Christian Science Publishing Society, Falmouth and St. Paul Streets, 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.