"CHRISTIAN SCIENCE is both demonstration and fruition, but how attenuated are our demonstration and realization of this Science!" These words were written by Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science and demonstrated its power over human ills in countless instances of compassionate healing. They are found on page 61 of "Unity of Good" and are followed by this revealing statement: "Truth, in divine Science, is the steppingstone to the understanding of God; but the broken and contrite heart soonest discerns this truth, even as the helpless sick are soonest healed by it."
The penitent heart, feeling the empty gratification of material existence, reaches out to touch and reflect the ineffably pure substance of Spirit. One in this meek state of mind looks to Science, not to glorify the mortal sense of life, but to gain a clearer realization of God as the only Mind. His penitence leads him to make searching efforts to awaken himself and others from the deep sleep of the corporeal senses, in which matter appears to be substance and man a sinful mortal. Science itself thus becomes the reward of his labor, and matter is forsaken as illusion.
Demonstrate means to prove, and one does not prove matter—does not demonstrate a new house, a large fortune, or a material condition of any kind. Rather does he demonstrate his divine Principle; spiritual facts; the Science of being; the power of Love. He proves the invariable action of divine law, which is the will of his Maker. He awakens to the presence of reality, and this awakening is his fruition, the objective of his prayerful endeavor. The illusory conditions of matter are affected by scientific demonstration only as their improvement shows the action of Truth on human belief —the power of reality over unreality. This evidence is essential to spiritual growth, for human beliefs must continue to improve through the demonstration of Science until matter disappears. If satisfactory human conditions were the sole and ultimate objective of demonstration, mankind would never awaken into the full freedom of life in Spirit. Furthermore, true satisfaction would never be known, for it can never be found in an unreal dream. The awakening from the limiting dream of matter should be accomplished as quickly as possible, but this can never be done while ideals of demonstration are held on a material or personal level.
