THE salvation of the world through the loving provision of our Father-Mother God, is a certainty disclosed by Christian Science. However ignorance, indifference, procrastination, skepticism toward this great fact may be manifested by mortals, they have ever before them the inescapable experience of discarding false material beliefs and acquiring a demonstrable understanding of spiritual existence.
On page 593 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy gives us this definition of "salvation": "Life, Truth, and Love understood and demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness, and death destroyed." An understanding of the supremacy of God, good, and the demonstration thereof, are thus indicated as requisites for salvation.
When first Christian Science attracts one's interest, and the hope it engenders awakens in us an earnest desire to gain a sufficient knowledge of its teachings to bring release from some form of inharmony,—perhaps from a sorely afflictive condition,— the path ahead may seem to us hazy and uncertain. During the early stages of his study the beginner may feel perplexed and even helpless. Self-depreciation may make the goal seem unreachable; misgivings may weave a web of impatience; and, in turn, impatience may lead to experimentation with supposedly short cuts. Intellectuality, so called, sometimes engenders the thought that Christian Science is to be understood and practiced by a merely superficial examination of our Leader's writings; or it may argue that Christian Science is illogical, theoretical, and incapable of demonstration. Such cases are not infrequently met by experienced Christian Scientists, who there and then have the opportunity of offering a wise word of encouragement to those who are taking their first steps on the path toward the newly glimpsed glory, in fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy of the Christ, "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not."
