ALL that is worth having is bought with a price. All that really uplifts and advances a man, a woman, or a nation costs something. Whatever makes for sure and lasting betterment in any walk of life is the fruit of lofty ambition coupled with noble endeavor. Whatever enthrones good dethrones evil, and is the direct sequence of integrity of purpose, unfaltering courage, and a conviction born of God. In a word, the key to all genuine progress and success is that individual and collective effort known as righteous activity.
He who acts rightly, and does so for the very sake of right itself, must of necessity think and speak rightly. He who loves righteousness, and delights to be in its service continually, is understanding in an ever increasing degree the eternal verity of being and the divine reality of all things. Such a one is indeed walking in the straight and narrow way, and is by his example pointing this way for others. He glimpses the goal of immortal bliss, peace, and joy, and so is satisfied to push ever forward in the spirit of St. Paul's words to the Galatians, namely, "Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."
Now righteous activity, which in its highest, best sense expresses spiritual ability and power to overcome all forms of unrighteousness, means work—real work—each and every day. It means being regularly at one's post, and neglecting no duty. It means standing fearlessly and whole-heartedly for divine Principle, it matters not what is the issue or test, and letting Principle guide and govern always. In brief, it means an intelligent, a comprehensive, and a practical knowledge of one's obligations to God, to himself, and to his fellow men, and a whole-hearted consecration and devotion to these obligations. In dealing with this momentous thought, Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science,—the Science underlying all righteous activity,—says in her "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 340): "There is no excellence without labor; and the time to work, is now. Only by persistent, unremitting, straightforward toil; by turning neither to the right nor to the left, seeking no other pursuit or pleasure than that which cometh from God, can you win and wear the crown of the faithful."
