William Wallace Porter, C.S.B., of New York, New York
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The
Mother Church,
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts
"Christian Science: Its Inexhaustible Compensations" was the subject of the lecture given Monday night by William Wallace Porter, C.S.B., of New York City, in Cadle Tabernacle, under auspices of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Indianapolis. Mr. Porter is a member of the Board of Lectureship of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Mass. He was introduced by Crawford Walker and his lecture follows substantially as it was given:
In order that Christian Science may be of value to humanity it must do something or bring something to humanity in a compensating and appreciable way.
Christian Science demonstrates the proposition that health, peace, harmony, and prosperity are the natural concomitants of Life, Mind, or God, which belong to all alike. These desirable and welcome states are not the result of chance nor of a supernatural impulsion. They are the natural fruitage, unfoldment, or scientific translation of the divine Mind, or God, to the human understanding.
Too long has human thought been drifting under the erroneous assumption that existence is controlled by circumstance and chance; and that the only escape from this must be found through hypnotic channels of matter medicine and the belief in supernatural theories of religion.
Human thought seems to have lost sight of the essential fact that creation or existence implies order and harmony; and it has accepted instead the theory of discord and chance. This comes from trying to carry an uncertain material sense of things into the realm of the creative Mind, and then assuming that this creative Mind, or God, is the cause of these discordant mortal concepts. This is as reasonable as to try to make the fundamental law of numbers the author of all mathematical errors. This procedure builds up a false sense of the creative Mind, or God, which involves limitation, materiality, and uncertainty in Deity. Starting from this false sense of the creative Mind, or God, it is impossible to see man and the universe otherwise than as subject to the caprice of chance and to the expectancy of evil.
Here is encountered a wide crevasse before which humanity has paused. Some religionists have tried to bridge this chasm between God and man with dogmatic beliefs. Other travelers, unwilling to trust such beliefs, have become discouraged, and assumed the stupid makeshift of atheism.
A woman, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, and the author of its textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," declined to follow either the way of supernatural theology, or that of destructive godlessness. Christian Science shows that the creative Mind, or God, cannot be known through any concept having the bias of materiality, but only through the spiritual idea which interprets the true nature of God to the understanding. To consider God in any other manner than as thus made known to the understanding involves a false, material, and uncertain sense of Deity. From this false, misleading, and uncertain sense of Deity is evolved the destructive theory that man, the likeness of this deity, is subject to the vagaries of chance, and that existence is largely a haphazard experience.
As shown by Mrs. Eddy, Christian Science accepts the Scriptural record of creation set forth in the first chapter of the book of Genesis and up to the sixth verse of the second chapter, as presenting a nature in man and the universe which alone satisfies the longing and outreach of human desire. The craving and desire of human thought to gain an adequate view of man is compensated and satisfied only as man is seen to be identical with the spiritual or true idea of infinite Mind, Life, or God.
The question arises: Whence comes the true identity and individuality of all things? It is perfectly clear that these are not self-creations. They do, however, point, to an intelligent creative cause, origin, or God. The true identity and individuality of persons and things are truly known only as the divine Mind, or God, unfolds in the understanding the idea which brings them into view. From this it is seen that all identity and individuality thus defined, classified, and individualized exist, primarily, not as material objects or physical models, but as ideas and that, as ideas, they exist forever in the realm of understanding. They never become material phenomena; nor do material, mortal phenomena ever appear, as such, in the realm of understanding.
Material phenomena are transient; hence they have not the substance of reality. Spiritual ideas are eternal, like the origin, or Mind, which they reflect; hence they are substantial and real. It must be apparent, then, that where the spiritual or true idea appears, — defined in part by Webster as "the immediate object of understanding," — here is the realm of the real!
Referring to his eternal identity Jesus said, "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was;" and again, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am."
Pointing to this same unchanging identity Paul wrote, "Your life is hid with Christ in God."
Whilst Mrs. Eddy has penned these enlightening words, ". . . the intelligence, existence, and continuity of all individuality remain in God, who is the divinely creative Principle thereof" (Science and Health, p. 513).
Through the scientific translation of thought Christian Science is teaching men and women to see, and to hold steadfastly in thought, this true identity and individuality of all things; and in this translating process the compensating values of Christian Science are brought to light.
Because the true identity and individuality of all things reflect the perfect Mind, or Life, which is God, it can never depart from this perfection. It can never be sick, nor is it poor; it is not discouraged, nor is it a failure; nor can it ever express any of these limitations. The understanding and demonstration of this true identity and individuality is the way of salvation for men — the appreciable way of ascending thought.
By holding thought consistently to the rules which express the exact relation of numbers, one learns to solve mathematical problems with unfailing certainty. The recognition is rapidly coming to this age that by holding thought consistently and exactly to the rules laid down in Christian Science, one may expect to experience with equal certainty the solution of those human problems which present themselves in the form of ill health, danger, grief, and lack of supply or poor business.
The question may be asked: If, as Christian Science declares, evil, mortal mind, be not real, why try to work out of it? Why try to work out of something which does not exist?
Obviously a mortal, material sense of existence — a state of consciousness which repeats over and over the instabilities of matter or mortality — is not the ultimate of human desire. It is a sad fact, however, that many persons remain pretty much just where they are born without attempting to emerge therefrom, and without even knowing that it is possible for them to emerge with scientific certainty into a happier, healthier, and more harmonious state of existence.
The desire to emerge from the deadening routine of material, mortal heredity and tradition is true prayer, irresistible in its nature and power. Moreover, it must be seen also that this pure desire, or prayer, does not perpetuate, but, on the contrary, dispels those dogmatic beliefs and traditions which hamper the translation of thought. Otherwise prayer and progress would be antagonistic the one to the other; and human existence would show no greater objective than the revolving wheel in a squirrel cage.
In response to insistent pure desire, or prayer, the spiritual or true idea of Life, Mind, or God, unfolds to the understanding the nature of man's true being. In this transfiguration the sick are healed and the erring are restored to useful lives. Here one finds the answer to his question: Why try to work out of mortal mind which does not exist? Through the healing of his sickness, his sin, and his suffering one learns that these are neither real nor necessary. He has now entered a higher state of consciousness in which he looks with great expectancy and certainty to the experience of health and prosperity.
It is apparent that prayer is effective only as it results in the human good and welfare of the individual; and that this human good and welfare of the individual is attained, not as the result of theological dogma and tradition, but only as the individual, through scientific translation of thought, enters into an improved state of consciousness, in which health, happiness, and prosperity arc experienced.
All right translation of thought rests upon pure desire, or prayer, rather than upon the dogma of authority. The whole theory that authority is included in antiquity, in dogma and in mere tradition, involves suppression of thought, of progress, and of true authority; whilst right desire or prayer leads to the divine Principle, or God, and imbues thought with the divine nature and with true authority. Hence the scientific translation of mortal mind is a true process, divinely conceived, directed, and authorized. The purpose of religion and prayer is not to force upon thought the acceptance of an assumed authority, but to establish the recognition of supreme authority or Principle, which operates in a compensating way with respect to the good or salvation of the individual.
In considering the subject of salvation, men and women seem to look upon this in a somewhat distant light and as a somewhat remote experience.
On pages 115 and 116 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" will be found two notable divisions of thought, which have been designated by Mrs. Eddy as the "Scientific Translation of Immortal Mind" and the "Scientific Translation of Mortal Mind."
It is the higher mission of Christian Science to translate human thought out of the states and stages of mortal, material belief into the realm of the real, where the true identity and eternal individuality of all things are revealed. In this scientific translation of thought the sick, the erring, and the grief-stricken are uplifted and healed and for the discouraged and hopeless the doors of peace and prosperity are opened.
In these two translations will be found the exact process of human advancement, or the way of salvation for humanity. To conduct one's thinking in this orderly way gives a keen zest to human existence. One is enabled hereby to ask himself: In just what kind of house am I living — a tumbledown shack, or a glorious mansion ? And if he does not like the place, he can move along and on. Here one is finding continually new, outstanding, and inspiring objectives which invite attainment. The necessity no longer exists to suffer under the misleading and discouraging sense that man is controlled by chance, and that existence is a haphazard experience.
One readily agrees that the ignorant, evil beliefs which control mortals are utterly unworthy and undesirable; and that these should be subdued. Not infrequently a person is found who even goes so far as to agree that the world would be a much finer place if only the man who lives next door would rid himself of these deplorable qualities. Ah!
How oft an evil in our neighbor shown
Doth seem a virtue when our own!
Continuing this subject, it is obvious that thought in advancing out of a false sense of one thing does not thereby emerge from a false sense of all things. To illustrate: One may feel that he is no longer controlled by envy; that he is free from the irritating influence of this evil belief. He may recognize, however, that he is still controlled by a destructive sense of fear. Through this recognition he is enabled intelligently to define new objectives, as he thus sees specific obstacles to be removed. In this way he will advance step by step, consciously and happily, into a higher degree of thought, where undesirable qualities are disappearing, and more worthy impulsions control and determine his existence.
The person who adopts these scientific translations as his chart of life will soon learn that he has started upon a journey which leads through a country of infinite beauty and richness; that the companionships and intercourse along the way are glorious experiences; that he is losing his fear of limitation and incompleteness, and gaining the compensating values of health, happiness, and prosperity, which are continually appearing along the way.
For a long period prior to the advent of Christian Science — or from about the third until the middle of the nineteenth century — the glory of Jesus' teachings had been hidden under a burden of superstitious worship. These teachings, however, so clearly reflected the glory of true being — so clearly revealed the nature of man's true selfhood — that it was impossible for them to remain thus hidden, or to become lost. Jesus said: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." This language clearly shows his understanding of true being, or the eternal reality of things.
We are told in the Bible that Jesus spoke as one having authority. The words of Jesus were not the words of one who merely assumed a role of authority. Nor did he speak as one who had been instructed merely to say certain words. He saw the truth of all things, clearly. And this clear insight he expressed with the conviction of understanding. All of the teachings and works of Jesus express this simplicity of exact Science.
Jesus was led into a higher understanding of the nature of God, just as Moses was led into a higher understanding of the nature of Deity. Jesus, then undertook to bring something of the true God into places where ritualism and ecclesiasticism had for so long a time obscured the true idea of Deity. In this he was misunderstood, and for this he was hated, persecuted, and finally crucified. He was crucified, not because he was taking away something, but because he was bringing something true concerning God into the lives of men — even into the lives of men who were trying to obstruct his way, and to slay him. Ignorance, human belief, and superstition do not readily make way for the advancing idea of Truth, or God. But this unfoldment of God — the advance of a higher understanding brought by Jesus — was inevitable, as witness the words of Jesus in John 7:16,17,18: "Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
"He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him."
The capacity for scientific discernment is set forth here in the most direct and explicit thinking the world has ever known. With what surprising clearness and simplicity the great teacher has shown here the simple way of salvation. In these words of Jesus one may also see the necessity for that scientific translation of thought in which the true identity and individuality of all things appear.
We read in John, chapter 5, that there was in those days at Jerusalem by the sheep market, a pool called "Bethesda, having five porches;" and that in these porches lay a great multitude of sick folk, of "blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water." For, it was said, an angel went down at certain seasons into the pool and troubled the water; and whosoever, then, after the troubling of the water, first stepped into the pool "was made whole of whatsoever disease he had." At certain springs in various parts of the world the village wiseacres will tell one to catch the bubbles as they come up, because, according to uncertain tradition or superstition, the bubbles are supposed to possess special healing virtue. The troubling or bubbling of these waters is caused naturally by subterranean gases finding vent through the pools or springs.
An incident of import is recorded concerning this pool by the sheep market. "A certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years." It is recorded that Jesus seeing him lying there in that case, said, "Wilt thou be made whole?" "Sir," answered the impotent man, — doubtless hoping that this stranger might help him into the pool, — "I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me." What a pitiful case! The water ceased to move before he could step in. And then waiting, hoping for another season, only then to see some other step down and take the coveted place. In the midst of all his discouragement and hopelessness imagine the startled amazement of the impotent man when the stranger who had addressed him spoke again in a firm voice, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." Immediately the man was made whole.
When Jesus spoke these words, he was not speaking "of himself"; nor was he seeking "his own glory." He was, indeed, seeking the "glory" of him "that sent him," and consequently there was no unrighteousness present in his thought. In this impotent man Jesus saw an imperfect sense of man seeking power from the troubled pool! a sense of man clinging to matter as source and savior. He did not say, Be of good cheer, my friend, and I will put you into the pool the next time the water is troubled. He did not say, Lie down, rest yourself, and walk; or, Roll into the pool, and walk. He said, "Rise, . . . and walk." And he uttered these words not as one who had been instructed merely to say the words, but as one who saw clearly the unreality and the reality of that which was before him.
Christian Science penetrates the veil of mystery which has been thrown over this healing act of Jesus at the pool of Bethesda, and it shows that divine, or God's, thoughts, are always moving upon the waters of mortal mind, healing the sick and the erring. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health (p. 254): "If you venture upon the quiet surface of error and are in sympathy with error, what is there to disturb the waters? What is there to strip off error's disguise?" It should be understood that Christian Science impels mortal thought to change its premise; and in this troubling of the waters the sick and the sinning are healed and made whole. No longer is it necessary to await the seasonal troubling of waters. The demonstration of Christian Science healing, and its immediate availability, has removed the pitiful superstition which has limited, in belief, God's healing power to certain seasons or places. "Now," writes Paul, "is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." "Divinity," writes Mrs. Eddy, "is always ready" (Science and Health, p. 458).
From the time of her early intermittent writings, in 1862, on through the year 1866, — which year marks the first steps of Mrs. Eddy's healing, a healing shortly thereafter brought to a full and happy completion, — on through successive stages of demonstration, Mrs. Eddy was constantly enlarging her experience, understanding, and spirituality. Let no one think for a moment that Christian Science, as it is known today, was unfolded in a brief hour, or in a quickly passing year. The slow years coming and going found Mrs. Eddy faithfully pursuing a goal which was always kept foremost in her thought — this goal being a comprehensive understanding of God, and the practical value of this understanding in its application to the healing of humanity's sins, sufferings, and sorrows. It would require a sturdy chapter of itself to tell of the patient steps, taken one by one, to find the basis of Christian Science, and to perfect this Science, as it is today.
In Science and Health (p. 476) we read; "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy." Has ever interpretation more fittingly, more scientifically, described the healing of the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda than is expressed in these straightforward words of the woman, who, in obedience to Jesus' own injunction, "Search the scriptures; for . . . they are they which testify of me," looked long into the Bible, looked long into the teachings and works of Jesus, until she saw there, clearly, something that philosophy and ritualism had never revealed — a life governed by the simplicity and lucidity of exact, demonstrable Science?
That a thought so sincere and selfless as that of Jesus should be concerned solely or largely with dogmatic human theories was self-contradictory — inconsistent with Jesus' own words and acts. Here was a beginning. Then what was his concern? what his purpose to teach? That human thought might find appreciable value in his teachings, he healed the sick and the sinning. The purpose of Jesus in this healing work then began to unfold to the woman, this purpose being to turn thought toward God — toward the Father; that by relating consciousness to the Father, men might begin to grasp the idea of God-likeness; and that men might stand in definite relationship, or likeness, to the Father; in short, that the nature of man's true being might be understood, demonstrated, and enjoyed. Mrs. Eddy caught the Science of Jesus' teachings and she has presented it to this age in language which will endure the changes of time (Science and Health, p. 468); "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all." As one learns in Christian Science that God is, indeed, All-in-all, he ceases to seek his own glory — or faulty understanding — and the Science — glory — of Principle, or God, is revealed, and controls consciousness.
Sometimes Mrs. Eddy has been subjected to criticism because when her book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," is referred to by Christian Scientists in a public way, it is always followed by giving the author's name.
The reason for this is that the specific textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," shall always be associated with this particular author, and vice versa. The result of this is, that today when the term Christian Science is used, thought is related at once to Mary Baker Eddy as its Discoverer and Founder; and when the name Mary Baker Eddy is spoken as the author of the Christian Science textbook, thought is immediately associated with the appearance of Christian Science. What does this signify? Simply this, that one of the most important events in human history, the advent of Christian Science, and the manner of its coming, have been definitely marked and preserved for future ages to know.
The processes of Christian Science are purely spiritual, scientific, and obvious. Obvious, because Christian Science, seen as the truth about God and man, dawns on human thought as the amazingly obvious. The dignity and permanency of Christian Science procedure appear in strong contrast with the continually changing methods involved in the history of material systems of healing. The continual change of material systems of healing will go on so long as the educators responsible for such systems base their premises upon so uncertain a thing as matter — matter which has already been abandoned as such by the advanced physicists of the world.
It is of more than passing interest to observe how closely the concepts of reality accepted today by leading physicists conform to the definition of reality established many years ago by Mrs. Eddy.
To those who contend that matter is substance, and that, as such, it is definable in terms of materiality, the following language used by Dr. Irving Langmuir will come as a distinct revelation. Dr. Langmuir, President of the American Chemical Society, in his address to the society at Minneapolis, Minnesota, in September, 1929, is reported to have said in this connection: "Physicists have been making increasing use of mathematical forms of expression, and have been giving less attention to the development of mechanical models. . . . Some physicists incline to the belief that this is only a temporary stage, and that ultimately we must be able to form a concrete picture or model of the atom. There is, I believe, no adequate justification for this belief. . . . We have no guarantee that nature is so constituted that it can be accurately described in terms of mechanical or electrical models. It is more probable that it can only be expressed mathematically, if at all." In these three last quoted words, "if at all," one may see a fine point of integrity expressed by Dr. Langmuir. Many years ago Mrs. Eddy was viewed with glances which were more than askance, when she expressed a similar conclusion in these words (Science and Health, p. 264), "Matter disappears under the microscope of Spirit."
The point is sometimes stressed that in Christian Science healing there is no material or accepted process by which the healings can be observed and measured, classified and charted. There exists an old saying that persons who live in glass houses ought not to indulge in the practice of throwing stones. The glass in some houses is fragile.
Christian Science is today widely recognized as a thoroughly well-established religious and healing system. This position has been gained largely by the strict adherence of Christian Scientists to the basic ideas underlying this Science, which ideas are clearly set forth in the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," written by Mary Baker Eddy. Indeed, so thoroughly established is this recognition that when the names Christian Science or Mary Baker Eddy are mentioned, thought at once associates these names with healing and spiritual enlightenment. This recognition gained in little more than half a century gives a very good idea of the value which Christian Science has brought to a suffering humanity.
Being purely spiritual in its nature, Christian Science does not follow the practices used in ordinary material systems of healing; nor does its action rest upon physical or material diagnosis. Both the premise and conclusion of physical diagnosis are based upon the uncertainties of matter, hence such a diagnosis cannot express the true ideas of Mind, which, only, reflect understanding.
A case may be recounted here of a young woman, a student in a well-known college. She was attacked with what the college physician reported to be appendicitis, and was ordered to a hospital to prepare for an operation. The young woman was a Christian Scientist, as were her parents. The mother of the young woman journeyed to the college town. Upon her arrival, the mother removed the daughter from the hospital, although warned by the surgeons that the daughter would pass on within forty-eight hours unless the operation was performed. The Christian Science practitioner who had been treating this case went to the college town and worked with the girl continuously. The following midnight, which was the limit of time allotted by the surgeons for the girl to live, a serious crisis arose. This was happily and successfully met by the Christian Science treatment. Within three days after the removal of the girl from the hospital, she enjoyed a buggy ride through the town, to the amazement and consternation of some fifteen hundred young women students, who were waiting to hear the news of her passing. Three months later she was graduated with honors. Something healed this young woman. What was it? Was it matter or divine Mind?
No material remedies were used. Yet the patient was completely healed. It does not answer the question to say that there may have been a "wrong diagnosis," — which, by the way, was the explanation of the college physician. Both the college physician and the hospital surgeons diagnosed the case as appendicitis. If these diagnoses were wrong, — the girl being already prepared for the operating table, — then a serious question arises as to the value of physical diagnoses.
The thing which operated in Christian Science to heal this young woman was the tangible and substantial Word, or spiritual idea, that without which "was not any thing made that was made." And the reality of the healing must be measured by the results.
Not infrequently one hears the question asked: "Why am I not able to make my financial demonstration? I am able to demonstrate over physical troubles with respect to myself and others. Why am I not able to solve my problem of supply? Let us examine this. When a person is suffering from illness and pain, if he has exhausted his reliance upon matter, he readily turns away from all material remedies; and he is willing to rely solely upon spiritual or mental means to establish the harmony of health. He may have learned from experience that material remedies involve either a bad-tasting medicine or a painful operation. In any case, he is willing to turn away from the use of material remedies.
But with respect to the problem of supply, position, poor business, what does he do? While he tells you that he desires to use mental or spiritual means solely in the solution of these problems, he is thinking — because he has not already been taught how better to think — that some personal or material consideration is a prime requisite in the working out of the problem. He is, in short, holding fast to a material sense of supply. A person situated thus might ask himself, Is it not just as inconsistent to hold to and to rely upon a material sense of supply while working out the problem of position or of business, as it would be to hold to and to rely upon a material sense of medicine while working out the problem of sickness?
The use of symbols as an aid — or hindrance — to thought, is as old as the world. Moses perceived a demand of Principle, or God, which was translated by him into these words, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." The "graven image," as a material sense of supply, had always controlled the consciousness of our questioner, and for this reason his thought did not relinquish readily what it had not yet been able to see as a false sense of supply; in short, he had not as yet gone far enough in the scientific translation of thought to comprehend, as real and tangible, things beyond a mortal, material sense of supply.
What has here been said may be summed up thus: When one turns away from his reliance upon personal or material considerations, in seeking supply, position, business, as consistently and steadfastly as he turns away from his reliance upon material medicines to establish health, he will find that supply, position, business, are becoming as harmonious, certain, and safe as his health and happiness have already become through the influence of Christian Science.
Continuing this subject, is it not obvious that a first-degree mortal mind sense of supply involves limitation, helplessness, and lack of confidence, with constant fear of loss? Does this comprehend substance and supply? What a tragedy of falsity and disappointment!
The true idea of substance and supply is never failing, is never depleted, never suffers loss or deterioration, is uncontaminated with fear. Its source is inexhaustible, because Mind is inexhaustible. Because the spiritual idea of substance and supply is true it is therefore real, tangible, substantial, and satisfying always. Being endowed by Mind, or God, with the nature of fruitfulness, it never diminishes, but multiplies, and brings into view endless varieties of Love's inexhaustible supply.
There are times when one finds himself confronted with a sick business, a sick body, or a situation which presents all of the hopelessness which confronted Moses of old as he stood at the edge of the Red Sea with the children of Israel. In the Glossary of Science and Health (p. 583) Mrs. Eddy has defined "Children of Israel," in part, as "The representatives of Soul." These representatives of Soul are spiritual or true ideas of Life, Mind, or God, which unfold to the understanding a satisfying sense of omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, as reflected and repeated in all identity and individuality.
It may be that you never have actually stood on the shore of the Red Sea as did Moses in ancient days, with every human hope cut off. But you have stood upon the shores of your own red sea, with all avenues of escape seemingly closed — hopelessness staring you in the face. In the scientific translation of immortal Mind and mortal mind it is not unnatural or supernatural that to you also should come, as came to Moses of old, the voice of God, Life, or Mind, declaring to your children of Israel — to your own uplifted thoughts — that they go forward. When confronted by a situation of mortal hopelessness remember that because all true ideas proceed from the divine Mind, or God, it is impossible for a true idea to appear in the understanding which is not capable of being realized or carried out. Jesus said: "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father." Remember, then,
Thou hast the vision to attain,
Thou hast the Mind to know.
God never gave the tiniest thought
Without the urge to grow!
It may be that you are even now troubled about your business, worried about the evils of limitation and affliction. Remember that the identity of all things — and this includes your business, as well as your health — is maintained not in matter or material sense, but as the true idea of the creative Mind, or God; and that, as such, it reflects the perfection, capacity, and inexhaustible resource of the creative cause forever. Because of this, nothing can ever happen to it. It cannot fail. It cannot do anything except to manifest the impartations of Mind and Life with which its immortal nature is endowed! The objective is glorious! How shall we approach it? I know of but one way. But I do know this way as it is revealed in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" — the way of Christian Science with its upward translations and ever-satisfying compensations.
There is always opportunity, there is always occupation — ideas to be happily occupied and brought to satisfying fruition.
A seventeen-year-old boy was completing a difficult piece of work about the house. He had been laboring patiently for hours. Presently a happy, triumphant voice boomed up the stairway: "It works!" What a fine sense of things! To finish something and to be able to say, It works. Here may be seen one of the great joys of existence. Perhaps no other joy can equal this, unless it be the joy which comes when, after completing a work well done, you then reach out — and begin another. Was it not the beloved Robert Louis Stevenson who intimated that it is more pleasant to journey than to arrive? The understanding of Christian Science is continually inspiring and impelling thought into broader realms of accomplishment.
Referring to the nature of true Science and its impartations, Mrs. Eddy has written in Science and Health (p. 128): "The term Science, properly understood, refers only to laws of God and to His government of the universe, inclusive of man. From this it follows that business men and cultured scholars have found that Christian Science enhances their endurance and mental powers, enlarges their perception of character, gives them acuteness and comprehensiveness and an ability to exceed their ordinary capacity. . . . It extends the atmosphere of thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity."
In the joyous experience of demonstrating Christian Science, man's view is ever widening. New fields, more winning objectives, are continually beckoning.
Is it not said in the great day of man's creation: "Behold, I have given you . . . every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed"? The fruit of a tree, "yielding seed"! Eternal instinct and ability to multiply and to grow, interpreted so well in the Glossary of Science and Health as "The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle." In this scientific translation of thought — the ever-widening realization of Life's affluence — one may truly say (Hymnal, No. 149):
"Wherever He may guide me,
No want shall turn me back;
My shepherd is beside me,
And nothing can I lack.
His wisdom ever waketh,
His sight is never dim;
He knows the way He taketh,
And I will walk with Him."