IN order to project the topography of a given area, the engineer must first of all determine his present elevation by means of a barometer and then establish an accurately measured base-line. With these two reckonings all his future computations and conclusions have immediately to do. So also he who would gain the understanding of life as expressed in the orderliness of Science, must have unquestionable premises to which every venture of thought may be logically made to conform.
Revelation speaks at once and finally respecting cause, and it is to be remembered that this intuitive appearing of divine truth in human consciousness was a fact long before the Scriptures were written. The sages of all times have apprehended spiritual truths in some degree, and so have been the beacon-lights of human history. Further, Mrs. Eddy speaks of reason as "the most active human faculty," and declares that in her own spiritual awakening "reason and revelation were reconciled" (Science and Health, pp. 327, 110). We thus learn in Christian Science that the dicta of these two are to supply the immovable foundation of efficient faith.
If now it be inquired what contribution reason can make to this basis of progressive truth-seeking, it may be remembered that most people are more sure of their own existence than anything else; hence, prior to one's awakening to the authoritative counsel of spiritual intuition, the starting-point of his philosophy is likely to be the assertive "I am." Further, thoughtful people are no less certain that their existence is an effect, a fact that finds explanation only in an antecedent cause. The law of sufficient reason is mandatory here, and we are compelled by it to project a cause that is adequate to the explanation not only of our highest realizations but of our highest ideals and aspirations. One's sense of the meaning of life thus grows apace, for he finds himself identifying man, his own true selfhood, as the manifestation of one who is indeed "excellent in greatness."
