Every progressive Christian Scientist knows how imperative it is that he constantly express more of the spirit of the Christ if he is to be a successful demonstrator of Truth. He knows that it is important for the same reason that he grow in understanding of the letter, or correct statement, of Christian Science. The comforting truths gained in one's infancy in Science are not sufficient to meet the demands of progress.
Hear these unequivocal, authoritative statements by Mary Baker Eddy, to be found in her book "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 242): "Christian Science is absolute; it is neither behind the point of perfection nor advancing towards it; it is at this point and must be practised therefrom. Unless you fully perceive that you are the child of God, hence perfect, you have no Principle to demonstrate and no rule for its demonstration. By this I do not mean that mortals are the children of God,—far from it. In practising Christian Science you must state its Principle correctly, or you forfeit your ability to demonstrate it." Here is stated a basic fact in Christian Science, that man is the perfect child of God and that this fact, in the degree that it is understood, is demonstrable.
The word "absolute" used in this quotation should not be passed over lightly, for it has great bearing upon the practical proof of Christian Science. One dictionary defines "absolute" in part as "perfect; whole; complete. Free from mixture; simple; pure. . . . Free from limit, restriction, or qualification. . . . Not dependent on anything else; . . . esp., free from the variability and error natural to human perception and human ways of thinking."
