Words that bring courage to those who may feel burdened by the strife of material living are found on page 22 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. She writes, "Final deliverance from error, whereby we rejoice in immortality, boundless freedom, and sinless sense, is not reached through paths of flowers nor by pinning one's faith without works to another's vicarious effort."
How thoroughly Mrs. Eddy knew, and knew by proving, that the way of overcoming everything unlike God, good, is the way of sacrifice and subordination to Him. Only in this way can we demonstrate the supreme power of Spirit over matter, good over evil. Individual effort is needed to gain that coveted freedom for which mankind instinctively yearns. Boundless freedom is found only in the spiritual realm, never in the so-called material realm, which is unreal and temporal. According to the account of true creation, man's nature is spiritual, eternal. Thinking of these words of our Leader, and striving to understand them, we gain a freer breath of spiritual inspiration, a broader outlook on good, and a clearer concept of man's nature.
Knowing ourselves to be the children of God, infinite Life, we can claim our freedom from evil, as our rightful heritage. Let us listen carefully, however, to the counsel of St. Paul, who overcame evil by proving its powerlessness. He says, ''Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." Paul realized that freedom from restraint, unless allied with spiritual understanding, may lead into the heaviest kind of bondage. It is only as one rises above the chaos of mortal beliefs that "the glorious liberty of the children of God" is attained. The recognition that evil is unreal is a needful step toward freedom from its influence. Even in the midst of puzzling human conditions, when shadows seem thick and heavy, the light of the truth about God and His creation, if kept shining in one's heart even dimly for a time, will eventually bring deliverance from error's bondage. This emancipation blesses, and gives abiding peace to those whose thoughts are turning steadily from the mortal to the immortal, from matter to Spirit.
