Through faith in God, the patriarch Abraham, when he was called of God to leave his country and go into a strange land, obeyed. Faith, relying upon an understood Principle, unfolds the power and protection of Spirit. Through faith and understanding one finds the place of peace, the desired possession of all. to be a state of thought in which Truth is understood. Human fear and weakness give place to confidence and strength when one recognizes God as the divine Principle of being. Progress lifts and propels one to ever clearer understanding of spirituality, to more continuous and unchanging recognition of reality, to God-conscious peace.
The longing to find peace in outward circumstances, undisturbed by the insistent demands of self-discipline, developed a Shangri-la ideal of human society. But any mere mortal scheme of social regeneration is unsatisfactory. It brushes over faults of human character and is unable permanently to unwind the underlying tangles in the relationships of mortals toward one another and toward God. Error must be uncovered and exterminated by the reality and purity of omniscient Truth for humanity to experience effectual regeneration.
The Christian Science meaning of regeneration is stated by Mary Baker Eddy in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 73). In answer to the question, "What is meant by regeneration?" she says, "It is the appearing of divine law to human understanding; the spiritualization that comes from spiritual sense in contradistinction to the testimony of the so-called material senses." The appearing to human understanding of divine law may seem as a journey upward and onward into mountainous grandeur. One may even be tempted when approaching ominous clouds, ice, storm, and darkness to look back with longing into the quiet, fertile, sunny valley before he confidently climbs through the turbulence. But when he has the assurance of God's infinite presence, his progress is safe and fruitful. "Be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: . . . fear ye not. . . . And in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts."
