Christian Scientists always experience a sense of joy and gratification when they read the Annual Report of The Mother Church showing the progress of our Cause as indicated, partly, by the increase in the number of churches and societies throughout the field.
Many participated in the triumph as the original edifice of The Mother Church, despite the onslaughts of mortal mind, was completed, a symbol of "the structure of Truth and Love" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 583). This event seemed to touch the heights and depths of human experience. The conflict between good and evil continued until the memorable morning of the dedication. The result far exceeded the hopes of the faithful workers who, as they toiled with unceasing prayer, were sustained and encouraged by our beloved Leader, whose vision pierced the heavy clouds of materiality and embraced the truth of the supremacy of good.
Scarcely was this stupendous work accomplished when Mrs. Eddy made it clear that divine Love would again enlarge the borders of The Mother Church. There was in her thought no inertia, that state which so often follows a material sense of victory; no cessation of work, but a greater desire to carry on the holy Cause which God had intrusted to her leadership. With the passing years, groups of loyal students gathered together and still further enlarged the borders, establishing for themselves church homes as loyal branches of the parent vine, sometimes as the first Christian Science church in a community, and many times, especially in recent years, as the result of the overflow of a church that had borne much fruit and could no longer provide for all who wished to gather within its walls.
When spiritual love is the stimulus for this new activity, the prosperity of the church is assured. Our Leader in her great wisdom made provision for this progressive step. Of the Manual of The Mother Church she writes (Art. XXXV, Sect. 1), "It stands alone, uniquely adapted to form the budding thought and hedge it about with divine Love." The Manual gives us certain general lines along which orderly unfoldment must proceed in order to establish a loyal branch church. The Manual is a guide to safety and progress, and con stant study of its Rules is requisite for each church member.
Each individual has his part to perform in the elargement of the borders of our church. Only as one turns away from false material sense and allows his thoughts and acts to be controlled by spiritual sense, does he become conscious of the living presence of divine Love, as the true governor and builder of every Christian Science church. He learns that as long as he indulges in the deluison of self-will, entertains thoughts of envy, criticism, condemnation, deceit, pride of place and power, or other evil beliefs of mortal mind, he is shutting himself out of the kingdom of heaven and obstructing the progress of the Cause which he has espoused. Every thought is either constructive or destructive: either it reflects Truth and Love and means progress, or else it expresses evil beliefs which manifest themselves as inaction, stagnation, destruction.
He alone departs from sin who rules it out of his consciousness, who separates himself from false beliefs by disbelieving them, and by refusing to give them activity or power. As one rises superior to evil thinking, he finds his spiritual unity with God, divine Mind. The words of the Apostle Paul, "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity," have deep signification to church builders.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." To be pure in heart one must reach that state of enlightenment which results from right thinking—the insistent inclu sion of good in the thought and the persistent exclusion of evil from it. As thought is watched, it becomes receptive to Truth, and through this spiritual purification it perceives God as infinite Principle, infinite divine Love, sustaining, actuating, and governing all true progress. This activity of right thinking must produce increasing realization of God as all good, enabling thought steadfastly to embrace the comprehension of true building. The consciousness of each true builder is embraced in the corner stone of every Christian Science church, for, as Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health (p. 241), "the corner-stone of all spiritual building is purity."
The true Church must ever be spiritual. Its outward expression is but a symbol, indicating that individually and collectively adherents of Christian Science are demonstrating Christ, Truth, by manifesting humility, patience, obedience, gratitude, purity, compassion, and other spiritual qualities.
New branch churches are not dependent alone upon the demonstration of a certain group of active workers by whom the need of a new church home is felt; for every Christian Scientist is a participant in all activity that extends the borders of our Cause. Every progressive step is worthy of the loyalty and wholehearted support of every church member. Inspiration is gained in reading our Leader's loving messages to the numerous branch churches taking their forward steps. Each letter written for a particular occasion is replete with commendation, ad monition, and words of joy and encouragement. Evil may claim to be especially active when the call comes to go forward; and the individual must be alert to its subtlety if he would prove his conscious unity with the one Mind, which knows no defeat.
Those loyal workers who labored in the construction of the construction of the original edifice of The Mother Church and its extension, and all other workers who have had the privilege of establishing their individual church homes, have helped to open the way for each new branch. Their victories over the obstacles and limitations of mortal mind serve to renew the inspiration, courage, hope, and faith of all today's builders. Every demonstration of Truth over error, however insig nificant it may seem to be, is a building stone in this eternal "structure of Truth and Love." It remains only for the workers to stand united in their consecration to the Cause of Christian Science.
In the thought of the Christian Scientist there can be no stopping, no letting down in the effort to enlarge our borders. As each adherent to our Cause, through complete self-surrender to the will of God, humbly depends on Principle and looks to the one Mind for guidance in every progressive step that is contemplated, the church will express this purified mental attitude, and will be found accomplishing its holy purpose and reaping the harvest of regenerated hearts and lives, as it sings its song of thanksgiving and praise to God.
