A new year has come, and we find ourselves wondering what it will bring to the world and to ourselves as individuals. With respect to the latter, we may well ask what lessons the departed year has brought us. How much have we gained of that wisdom whose price is above rubies, or indeed of every material thing? Unless the priceless value of divine Truth has been growing upon our thought, the year has brought us nothing worth remembering. History shows that characters of heroic mold have always appeared when they were most needed, in times of storm and stress; and in such times, all can respond to the crying demand for great men, for if all may not be notably great, all may be truly so. The difficult thing for most mortals is to learn the lesson of patience, respecting which our revered Leader has said, "In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error" (Science and Health, p. 242).
Chief among the elements essential to progress are desire and activity. The desire must be intense, and it must reach out for the best in any direction toward which one aspires. Then there must be no barrier between the desire and the activity demanded for its fulfilment; neither doubt, nor fear, nor indolence can be permitted to sway even momentarily one who is pressing toward a high goal. Paul tells us that those who have coveted the things of earth,—its pleasures and possessions,— have "pierced themselves through with many sorrows." Hence we have his stirring appeal, "But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." These, it may well be observed, are not in themselves the end to be sought after, nor is "the good fight of faith" which Paul urges, but both are indispensable to the great enterprise whose end is eternal life.
Just here we are reminded that Christian Science changes greatly our views of all things, and nowhere is this change more apparent than in our concept of life and all that life enfolds. Time was when we believed life to be dependent upon matter, but Mrs. Eddy's declaration that "Life is Mind, the creator reflected in His creations" (Science and Health, p. 331), changes our outlook entirely, especially when demonstrations of Truth's power sustain this statement. Then, too, most of us at one time believed that eternal life began after death, a fallacy which has no support in Jesus' teachings. From the view-point of Christian Science all real life is eternal. That which has beginning and end is but the mortal dream of existence separate from God and overshadowed all the way by beliefs of sin and suffering. Longfellow briefly but forcefully describes the mortal concept of life in these lines,—
