WHEN Christ Jesus said to the multitudes as he taught them on the mount, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," he stated for mankind the ultimate goal toward which all Christian progress is directed. In commenting upon these significant words of the Master, Mrs. Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 253, 254), "The divine demand, 'Be ye therefore perfect,' is scientific, and the human footsteps leading to perfection are indispensable." With characteristic wisdom our Leader has accompanied this radical command with the kindly counsel that would make obedience to it practicable. The realization of perfect being is unfolded only through a process of progressive purification, for Truth is received only when spiritual desire has been uplifted to perceive and accept it. One must become meek enough to be teachable, sincere enough to abandon pride of opinion, and childlike enough to want to be a better individual, in order to become that soil in which the good seed of Truth develops most readily.
To one so prepared, Christian Science may unfold the tangible presence of the real man. How astonishing, how beautiful, is this first spiritual revelation! With it a new necessity for progress appears; spiritual desire becomes more active, more intelligent, more permanent.
A question very near to the heart of the student of Christian Science is that which Mrs. Eddy answers so simply yet so completely on page 495 and 496 of Science and Health: "How can I progress most rapidly in the understanding of Christian Science?" In the answer which follows, our Leader has pointed out what is necessary: "Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe the spirit. Adhere to the divine Principle of Christian Science and follow the behests of God, abiding steadfastly in wisdom, Truth, and Love." And she adds, "You will learn that in Christian Science the first duty is to obey God, to have one Mind, and to love another as yourself." How closely Mrs. Eddy follows the teaching of the Master in her answer! It is obvious from the frequency of his quotations and allusions to the Scriptures that Christ Jesus sought them for spiritual inspiration. "Ye do err," said he, "not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God." His faithful adherence to divine Principle was never more clearly voiced than in his frequent admonition to love God supremely and one's neighbor as one's self. He taught his disciples by example, parable, and precept to reject the suggestions of evil,—to divide between the qualities of mortal mind and divine Mind; to separate the sheep from the goats, the tares from the wheat, the grapes from the thorns, the figs from the thistles. His whole ministry was rich with the demonstration of the truths he was teaching, expressed in healing the sick and sinful and raising the dead.
