In her book "Miscellaneous Writings' Mary Baker Eddy says (p.330): "It is good to talk with our past hours, and learn what report they bear, and how they might have reported more spiritual growth. With each returning year, higher joys, holier aims, a purer peace and diviner energy, should freshen the fragrance of being." These words express humility, and they point to the perennial refreshment of divine Science. They signify that progress concerns spiritual accomplishment. Our Leader continues: "Popularity,—what is it? A mere mendicant that boasts and begs, and God denies charity."
When members of The Mother Church attend its Annual Meeting, held each year in accordance with the Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy (Art. XIII, Sect. 1), they come to hear reports that indicate not the superficial popularity of which our Leader warns, but deepening spirituality and more profound comprehension of the Science she discovered, a better grasp of its requirements in its more universal application. Mere popularity is no indication of spiritual growth, but individual healings, harmony in the branch churches, a widening of the recognition of Christian Science in the world, and the evidence of its application to national and world problems show the advancement of the revelation of Truth.
The progress of Christian Science in the brief period since its discovery has been phenomenal, but at no time has it been casual. Not chance, but diligent and reverent consecration has marked its advance. This must continue. Indeed, it must increase, for the mission of The Mother Church is to establish Truth in the world and thus to destroy the evil that threatens to involve humanity in destructive material forces. Christ Jesus warned that in these trying days "because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold" (Matt. 24:12). He knew the modes of so-called mortal mind, how it claims to produce apathy and to manifest power to cast to earth "the third part of the stars of heaven" (Rev. 12:4)—rob humanity of its spiritual freshness and its strength in healing accomplishment.
