No longer does anyone need to think of Christianity as experimental, or to accept vague hypotheses as a working basis for theoretical formulae. Human reasoning from a material basis has been superseded by the revelation of divine Science, the Science of God, man, and the universe, through which is discerned the actuality of ever-present spiritual harmony. This revelation has reopened for humanity the path to the door that no man can shut, even the door of which Christ Jesus said: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. . . . I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."

In succeeding centuries human beliefs have closed the pathway marked out by Christ Jesus. (See Science and Health, p. 171:7.) However, the immortality of his work, as prophesied by him, was proved when, after finding his pathway and clearing away obstructions, our Leader declared of this same door (Christian Science versus Pantheism, p. 12), "The altitude of Christianity openeth, high above the so-called laws of matter, a door that no man can shut; it showeth to all peoples the way of escape from sin, disease, and death; it lifteth the burden of sharp experience from off the heart of humanity, and so lighteth the path that he who entereth it may run and not weary, and walk, not wait by the roadside,—yea, pass gently on without the alternative agonies whereby the way-seeker gains and points the path."

Oh, the endless gratitude humanity owes our Master, who first explored the way out of material beliefs up to Spirit, demonstrating for us the one and only way to the Father! And what shall we say of our debt to our Leader, whose God-governed work cleared the overgrown pathway, and revealed our Master's footsteps as he made his loving ascent? We are told that we need not be weary, but may "pass gently on without the alternative agonies whereby the way-seeker gains and points the path."

Through this open door, which no man can shut, the Christian Scientist glimpses the forever fact, the actual reign of spiritual good here and now. No night is there; no matter, no discord. Whatever threatens to obscure this vision must be held as unreal and powerless—a temptation, not an actuality.

Here is to be found the work of the Christian Scientist! The divine Principle of his work admits of no division of interests, no serving of two masters. His work is God-directed and God-blessed. The recognition and acknowledgment of Spirit's reality and all-power is the Christian Scientist's full armor—his breastplate, shield, helmet, and sword. His task is to prove man's unity with good in an hourly ratification thereof, through right thinking and right living.

The rule for scientific thinking is purely spiritual; its premise, divine Principle, tolerates no imperfection, no lapse from the spiritually real. Spiritual facts have always existed, will endure forever; and they await the acceptance of all mankind.

Finite concepts of God, man, and the universe will yield to Truth as God's idea is discerned, loved, and allowed to rule in our hearts. Corrected lives, purified through the accession of spirituality, will testify more and more to the power of Christian Science to promote health, holiness, and harmony, testifying in this way to the actuality of the good and the right.

Thirty years ago our Leader wrote (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 159): "At this period, the greatest man or woman on earth stands at the vestibule of Christian Science, struggling to enter into the perfect love of God and man. The infinite will not be buried in the finite; the true thought escapes from the inward to the outward, and this is the only right activity, that whereby we reach our higher nature." This statement accords with the teachings of our Master, "Strive to enter in;" and, "The kingdom of God is within you." This fills our hearts with gratitude, and the assurance that, through the practice of Christian Science, the full unfoldment of good is not only possible, but inevitable. God always sees His full expression in man and the universe, and it is always "very good."

The Scriptures, when spiritually understood through the aid of the lens of Christian Science, testify to the actual government of God, untouched by human misconceptions and mistakes. In adoration of God the Psalmist exclaimed, "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined."

Great is the responsibility resting upon Christian Scientists. We should strive so to live that our lives may be true witnesses to the beauty of our religion. They should be lights shining on the pathway for others, that they may be won into entering this path which leads to God. Truth is a revelation; it is not of human origin. We owe to the world a struggle to demonstrate the power of good over the appearance called evil in all its phases. So very much is claimed for our religion that it behooves us to dwell together in brotherly harmony with fellow Scientists, if we would not find ourselves falling short of the example set us by other religionists.

The workings in human consciousness of divine law and of the spiritual idea continually reveal new and progressive demands of Truth. We must indeed "go on unto perfection," proving each day that God is in very deed with us, enabling us to realize that we are His image and likeness. Our beloved Leader once said to a student, "You are growing into His likeness by invisible processes." Of course, this statement could be truthfully made to any disciple of Christian Science. The Christian Scientist sometimes marvels at the resistless activity in his thought making for righteousness. It allows him no satisfaction in error. At times his mental position may seem to him wholly right and justifiable; but not until divine Love holds sway in his thinking will he find peace, or be able to leave results trustingly to God's will. Paul said, "I die daily." May he not have meant this very thing—the constant yielding of the human to the divine?

As Christian Scientists we are richly supplied with aids in our journey from sense to Soul. We cannot afford to be heedless of one single provision made for our growth Spiritward. During all those years of our Leader's "lone earth life" (Miscellany, p. 158) after her discovery of divine Science, she tirelessly worked to shorten the path for others. She showed us the best methods for reaching the goal, that is, the way of the Sermon on the Mount as understood through the lens of Christian Science; and she put up the danger signals wherever needed. In no instances does Christian Science depart from the doctrines which Christ Jesus said he had received from the Father, who, he said, sent him to declare and prove His actuality and omnipotence.

The burden of proof necessarily rests upon Christian Scientists. Not one injunction from their Leader is superfluous. The Church Manual has explicit rules requiring loving obedience. "Retrospection and Introspection," containing the autobiography of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, shows forth the absolute workings of divine Principle in her life, and her willing acquiescence in what is expected of Christ's followers.

And how should those beloved "organs" of The Mother Church, the periodicals, be regarded by the members? The Christian Science Journal, the Christian Science Sentinel, The Herald of Christian Science, and The Christian Science Monitor have each a spiritual mission in reaching and regenerating mankind. Can any member of The Mother Church feel his or her cup quite full, if he is not the recipient and reader of all these missionaries of Truth?

Could a better missionary work be done by the branch churches than in seeing to it in practical ways that all their members are sharing alike the blessings bestowed by The Mother Church? Further demonstration of the truths of Christian Science will surely enable all members, in due course, to supply themselves with the periodicals, and in turn to do unto others as they had been thus helpfully done by. It is the understanding of the great actuality of God, the ever-present, ever-operative divine Principle, Love, that makes possible all good achievement, and opens up the way whereby we may be good, and do good.

Copyright, 1935, by The Christian Science Publishing Society, One, Norway Street, 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.