The separation of the ideal and the practical finds no endorsement in the teachings of Christ Jesus. He demanded of others, and put into effect himself, that which he preached, and this was the most exalted idealism. Likewise does Christian Science. Mary Baker Eddy perceived that the spiritually ideal can be expressed in human lives. Only the individual himself prevents this accomplishment. Mortal man, regarding himself whether in character or development from a limited and tentative viewpoint, at the stage of experiment and uncertainty, rather than that of faith and conviction, fluctuates between hope and doubt, confidence and discouragement. Thus he may go forth impetuously, unprovenly, to achieve his object, only to find himself falling back because of a lack of knowledge of the law of Spirit; or, resigned to the boastingly claimed inexorability of matter, he may not even attempt the so-called impossible, the actually spiritually attainable.
Today something is being demanded of mankind which may appear humanly impossible, yet which Christian Science declares can be proved, here and now, not by the few but by all. Today is being revealed with utmost simplicity and logical consistency the law of Spirit made practical in men's lives.
On page 275 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany"' Mary Baker Eddy writes: "Christian Science can and does produce universal fellowship. As the sequence of divine Love it explains love, it lives love, it demonstrates love." Divine Love, its fatherhood and motherhood, has been set forth in Christian Science, and its serene logical sequence is universal fellowship, explaining, living, demonstrating it.
