In revealing what true progress is and how it may be achieved, Christian Science has bestowed a great blessing upon mankind. In her work "Miscellaneous Writings" Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, has said (p. 82), "Infinite progression is concrete being, which finite mortals see and comprehend only asabstract glory." Progress is thus a legitimate, that is, a divinely lawful experience, because God's infinite creation can never cease to be unfolded in the manner God directs.
What a contrast to true progress is the unspiritual thinking in which progress is believed to consist mainly of the accumulation of matter! This view is the outcome of the belief or assumption that matter is real and good, and includes the further claim that matter has entity and power. If we concede these assertions of material sense, the conclusion follows that the more of matter one acquires the more of substance and power does he thereby gain and possess.
The materialistic reasoning which would base progress upon matter, however, is sharply rebuked in the Scriptures and by the teachings of Christian Science. The Preacher, after referring to his vast material possessions, summarized the problem in these words: "Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun."
