AS Christian Scientists at the close of the church year note the progress of the movement set forth in the report of the clerk read at the annual meeting of The Mother Church on Monday, June 3, they have every reason to "thank God, and take courage;" to "put on the whole armor of God" and go forth, "strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might," valiantly to battle with the forces of evil until even "the last enemy" shall be destroyed.
Christian Science is essentially a doctrine of works, since it bases its hope of deliverance from all evil, unto its final overcoming, upon the fulfilment of the Master's promise that they who believe on him shall have the power to do the works he did, those marvelous works of healing for which the multitude thronged him that they might find release from their infirmities. So, too, from the very inception of this movement, even before Science and Health was given to the world, Mrs. Eddy repeatedly demonstrated the healing truth she had discovered, proved its identity with the divine Principle, the Father which "doeth the works," and founded her church on the rock Christ Jesus, and his commandments to his disciples when he sent them forth "to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick." Nor did she cease to impress upon her followers that in the continuance of these same healing and regenerating works, as long as the need for them existed, lay the secret of the prosperity and progress of the cause.
Those years of tireless labor on the part of its Discoverer and Founder, her faithfulness in sowing the seed of Truth, has brought forth an abundant harvest, and the recognition so hardly won in earlier days can no longer be denied Christian Science in the face of unnumbered thousands of cases of healing accomplished through its beneficent ministrations. No cause can hope to prosper unless it rests upon a sure foundation and can show results, and it is because Christian Science meets these conditions, because it offers humanity surcease from its sufferings, that its churches are so often thronged to overflowing and that the number of those seeking membership within its fold is greater than ever before in its history.
