THE constant aim of the disciple of truth is to prove to the world that righteousness is practical. It cannot be said that "righteousness and peace have kissed each other" until theory and practice are recognized as inseparable, for until the law of right is spiritually discerned and obeyed in daily living, the "peace of God," that peace "which passeth all understanding," is an unknown factor in human experience. The practical side of Christian Science appeals to thinking people because it touches a responsive chord in the human heart to be and to do good. The attempt to feed upon the husks of blind belief, to theorize as to the nature of God and His universe, instead of bringing into action the undeniable virtues of the Christian religion, has failed to satisfy the yearning for a present higher plane of living.
The great stumbling-block in the Christian's pathway has been an educated belief in the practicality and reality of matter and its assumed laws. Christian Science has come to his rescue and has laid down rules, the faithful performance of which brings out the practical and unquestionable proof of the powerlessness of matter to play any part in the eternal government of the universe. This Science even goes so far as to disclose the absoluteness of Spirit and spiritual law, thus relegating matter to the realm of human supposition. Through its practical explanation of the supremacy and reality of Spirit, or Mind, the sick are healed, the lame, the halt, and the blind are restored to a normal state of health and harmony, the sinner is released from the shackles of sin, and the unbeliever is rescued from the confines of infidelity. A new lease on life is vouchsafed to the man or woman who grasps the spiritual import of Christian Science and begins to reduce to daily practice its comprehensive teaching concerning the unreality of matter and evil.
The admonition of Scripture is: "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind," and it is from this standpoint that the student of Christian Science begins to work out his salvation in thought or consciousness. He realizes that it is human consciousness and not matter which needs regenerating, and so he begins the great work of "bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." In this way he reaches the logical and scientific conclusion that matter does not enter the realm of Spirit, and that its so called conditions are thought conditions, and can be mastered and overcome as such.
