It is customary among students of Christian Science to refer to its successful application to human problems as demonstration; that is, they demonstrate the available power of divine Mind, thus displacing the illusion of material discord with the fact of spiritual harmony. Belief in a material existence is not at once wholly overcome, but demonstration, step by step, destroys various phases of the illusion.

On page 277 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy says, "Nothing we can say or believe regarding matter is immortal, for matter is temporal and is therefore a mortal phenomenon, a human concept, sometimes beautiful, always erroneous." It follows that, even though he believes that he possess so-called physical health, material wealth, and joyous human companionship, the student of Christian Science must continue to apply the rules of divine Principle until the belief in existence as material, however beautiful and harmonious it may appear to be, is displaced by the spiritual sense of being.

Jesus admonished, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Christian Scientists rejoice in the assurance that as they advance towards the kingdom of heaven, which Mrs. Eddy defines in Science and Health (p. 590) as "the reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme," they are traveling a road of increasing understanding of God and man.

A student of Christian Science employed as a salesman was informed one day by his immediate superior that the owner of the business had decided to discontinue it. Since this development would have left the student without a business connection at a time when work seemed difficult to obtain, his first thought was one of dismay. Later, he was able to realize that the real man's business is to express Life, Truth, and Love, and that no human condition had any power to interfere with that divinely directed function. He also realized that this purely spiritual concept of business was his to claim at once, and that, as he did so, this harmonious spiritual fact would be made manifest in his human experience.

With a deep sense of joy and exaltation he retired that evening to be awakened a few hours later by a telephone call from his employer. As the result of this conversation, he became the manager of the business under an arrangement which provided him with generous compensation and an improved opportunity for a successful business career.

In grateful contemplation of this divinely natural unfoldment of harmony, the student realized that what he had really gained was a more spiritual concept of business. Although still engaged in buying and selling material things, he knew that a larger measure of honesty, courtesy, and loving service would characterize these activities. He realized that this demonstration was a progressive step, of which many more would be necessary in replacing the human concept of business for the spiritual.

So it is with every phase of human activity. We should never be satisfied with anything less than a constantly progressive apprehension of God's perfect universe, which is wholly spiritual. Every manifestation of error in business, in the home, in the church, in the body politic, or in the physical body represents an illusion to be destroyed by an understanding of Christian Science.

Successful demonstration is, therefore, no occasion for complacency, but for gratitude "for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

The illusions of sense challenge, but do not discourage, the alert Christian Scientist. As he persistently and progressively opposes and destroys them, he becomes more confident of his God-given dominion over all error and looks forward to his ultimate and final victory over all that is unlike God. His immediate reward is a happier, healthier, more useful, and more harmonious sense of existence.

Christ Jesus, the Way-shower, left us his sublime example of progressive demonstration. While the needs of suffering humanity provided the occasion for his seemingly miraculous reversals of so-called material laws, the motivating purpose of his earthly career was to demonstrate the Science of being, man's unity with God. From the time of his first recorded miracle, the changing of water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana, he had many opportunities to reject human adulation and persecution, which would divert his progress toward his final objective.

On page 21 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy says: "If the disciple is advancing spiritually, he is striving to enter in. He constantly turns away from material sense, and looks towards the imperishable things of Spirit. If honest, he will be in earnest from the start, and gain a little each day in the right direction, till at last he finishes his course with joy." The honest seeker of the kingdom of God will discern the harmony of the perfect man beyond the veil of material illusion and demonstrate this truth in proportion to his progress towards the spiritual consciousness of being. All that one needs to do is to persist in turning constantly towards God, and say, in the words of the Apostle Paul, "This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."