THE first evidence of spiritual growth is gratitude. And we shall look in vain for the demonstration of truth, life, and love until this evidence has shown itself. Christ Jesus clearly showed the great necessity of this prelude to the demonstration of God's power among men when at the tomb of Lazarus he said, "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me." After he had uttered this expression of gratitude, he bade Lazarus come forth; and immediately the dream of death vanished, and in its stead there appeared the demonstration of life. As the Master explained, he knew that God heard him; but for the sake of those who stood by, and who did not understand the Science of being, he uttered the gratitude that precedes complete demonstration over the ills of the flesh. Not only for the sake of those who stood there with him on that day did he give the great lesson, but for the sake of all mankind through the coming ages; for all must follow in the same footsteps in making the journey from sense to Soul. Our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, realizing the great need of gratitude in the lives of men and women, says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 3), "If we are ungrateful for Life. Truth, and Love, and yet return thanks to God for all blessings, we are insincere and incur the sharp censure our Master pronounces on hypocrites."
Once gratitude begins to freshen our existence, there comes instinctively the desire to express it. This desire begins to dawn in consciousness before we realize that even a touch of the divine is peeping through the human mist. We find ourselves desiring to serve others: first, maybe, just those within our own homes; then the impulse of gratitude, crying out for more room, expands to our neighbors—and there, even, it refuses to stop.
With the continued growth of gratitude in the lives of men there comes the desire for expression in some general way, that all may thereby be benefited. In the beginning of human history, mankind sought to express gratitude by means of material sacrifices. As the development of thought went on, there came another method of expression, one in which all might join, thereby more fully typifying unity in action— the tabernacle. The tabernacle began its existence as a place of worship—a temple dedicated to God. Jesus said that God is to be worshiped "in spirit and in truth;" yet as a symbol the tabernacle teaches something of the divine to the human, and thus it stands as a symbol of the temple of God.
