WE are all familiar with the Bible story of the escape of the Israelites from Egypt in which it is related that Pharaoh, who had reluctantly permitted them to go, soon regretted his action and pursued them. When the news was flashed through the ranks of the Israelites that Pharaoh's well-organized army was pursuing them, it may be imagined that they expressed confusion and fright, rushing to and fro and spreading the mesmerism of fear. The tumult was hushed when "Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day. . . . And the Lord said unto Moses, . . . speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward." As they were obedient, they found freedom from the pressing evil.
Students of Christian Science may be tempted to believe that their problems—the mesmerism of lack, of sickness, or of sin—have disorganized the ranks of orderly thinking and living. God calls to them, "Go forward"! This call may come to them in the desert or in the land of Egypt; but, wherever they may be, the law of God orders them to go forward out of belief in evil to good. We cannot stand still and rest simply because we have accepted the name of Christian Scientist, have become members of the Christian Science church, or have even gone so far as to receive class instruction. These steps of progress do not free us from the need for constantly forwarding our scientific demonstration. Rather do they compel us to be what we claim to be—orderly, successful demonstrators of God's law in overcoming evil, whether it be manifested as sin, sickness, or death.
Evil seems to be expressed in many phases, but we must not fear it, for it is only the seeming absence of real substance. Some type of Pharaohism, some form of mesmeric suggestion, may pursue our good endeavor until perhaps what appears to be a Red Sea tempts us to think that we cannot go from the belief of matter into the promised land, the kingdom of heaven. But forward we must go. We cannot evade this command, for we must emerge from ignorance into the understanding and realization of God's law, which cannot forever be ignored by the human race.
