Throughout all the ages the world has been growing more and more spiritual; unconsciously it has been molded by a leavening power which proves that God works whether men will it or not. In this period thought has burst forth, like Aaron's rod, into blossom,—the expression of the spiritual idea of God,—and Mrs. Eddy, to whom this revelation of Truth came, named the expression or demonstration of the spiritual idea Christian Science. Today the priesthood of Aaron's ritualistic type is being replaced by a more spiritual type of religious expression, which proves its vitality by the character of its works.
The unsatisfied spirit which takes the form of attacks upon the faults of others, or of personal comment upon appearance and performance, should not be counted as criticism, but rather as the result of mortal mind subject to mood and swayed by discontent. No one human belief could in any positive sense criticize another human belief, because both are shifting and hold no standard. There is but one true criticism upon men, and that is the criterion or standard of a righteous life, the perfect idea perfectly demonstrated. How far we fall short of this standard in our perception and expression, is the only thing that should touch us. It is an inward criticism, like the voice of conscience, which men do not always desire to face but whose presence is not to be denied. As the revelation of Truth comes to the inner vision and displaces all that is erroneous, evil would fight for a foothold.
God the Father, the great "I am," the ever present, living God, as the ancient Hebrews designated Him in differentiation with the many gods of Babylon, is a constant activity of blessing, bringing comfort and healing to men in all the commonplace acts of daily life, the understanding of His omnipresence dignifying the most ordinary labor. He to whom has been revealed the greatest spiritual vision, perceives the nature of God as blessing without cessation, as did the Hebrew prophets in their foretelling of good. Balaam, although not of Israel, in one instance was impelled to proclaim the truth and power of God, declaring the fulfilment of God's promise, His unlikeness to the mortal, which perfects or fulfils nothing, and the impossibility of reversing God's blessing. Mrs. Eddy says: "God, without the image and likeness of Himself, would be a nonentity, or Mind unexpressed. He would be without a witness or proof of His own nature" (Science and Health, p. 303).
