One who returns to a well-known scene after a long absence is happy when he notes that many conditions have been improved. Unsightly structures have been torn down, and beautiful buildings have been erected in their place. Crumbling walls have been rebuilt. Gaping spaces in hedgerows have been filled. Old, inadequate roads have given place to modern highways. Lands that were lying waste, overrun with thorns and weeds, have been brought under cultivation and made productive. Now fruitfulness is seen where blight had seemed to reign. The whole scene shows what can be done by diligent, purposeful work inspired and directed by intelligence. These results may bring to mind the words of the prophet Isaiah, who, referring figuratively to the welfare of his people, said, "The Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord."
When Mary Baker Eddy discovered Christian Science, the world was in sore need of the spiritual message which she proclaimed. The time was ripe for a revival of true religion, and clear-sighted thinkers welcomed Christian Science as meeting that pressing necessity. This teaching is making possible obedience to divine law in a manner suited to our modern times and our present needs.
As people are healed by this new-old revelation of Truth, purse strings are loosed, and church edifices are erected in which grateful folk feel and voice and hymn their praise to God for this wonderful deliverer. But the erection of these stately church edifices is only a means to an end. It is not the end by any means. Moses warned the Israelites not to become self-satisfied when they entered the promised land. Discerning Christian Scientists learn the lesson this contains for them. Grateful for these beautiful buildings, they use them as places where they may carry on their ceaseless, untiring, unselfed work in promoting the welfare of humanity, not as places where they may idly rest. Thus these edifices stand as temporary monuments attesting the healing power of Christ. The enduring monuments stand in regenerated lives.
