Faced as we are with many evidences of progress in the liberation of human thought from limiting traditions and beliefs, especially in the conquest of distance on the seas and in the air, we may well ask ourselves: Are we accepting as much liberation in the spiritual realm as in the physical? Are we freely investigating and accepting the revelations of Truth vouchsafed to the present age, which promise to unshackle the human mind from the bondage imposed by theoretical teachings concerning life, health, education, and progress? Gladstone once said that the prolonged keynote of civilization is found in the two words, "Unhand me!"
Now that it is possible for the right thinker to "unhand" himself, we might very profitable apply this keynote to the long-accepted and insidious belief, based largely on the traditions of the elders, that death is inevitable. Throughout the ages this materrial experience has been held to be unavoidable; and to the limited human senses, conscious only of their own phenomena, the demand for its fulfillment seems to be imperative. The alleged sovereignty of death, cherished by some as a friend, feared by many as an enemy, has remained generally unchallenged by mortals because no doctrine of religion or philosophy adequate to destroy its power has been presented to them, until in recent years. And yet, for nearly two thousand years humanity has been in possession of the letter of teachings absolutely founded on the rock of Truth and on irrefutable proofs, which, understood, would long since have abolished the curse.
But the day is fast dawning wherein a new light, thrown upon human thought by the teachings of Christianity, is illustrating the fact that men can exercise a God-given dominion over the belief that death is inevitable, and at least in our own day lessen its effects, thus increasing longevity. Through Christian Science much is now being done to dispel the fears and conditions associated with the belief of death, and through the understanding which it gives of the truth contained in the teachings of Christ Jesus, this Science of Christianity is proving that mortals may, here and now, in some degree enjoy the essential object of his mission, which he declared in these words: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
