There are innumerable millions who have yet to hear of the most wonderful thing in the world today—Christian Science —and a consecrated effort on the part of Christian Scientists is necessary to bring to the world this truth which it so desperately needs. The conviction that this Science is the promised Comforter and not just another religion will give an incentive to our efforts to awaken mankind from their confusion, lethargy, and lack of purpose.
Mrs. Eddy makes this pregnant statement in "Pulpit and Press" (p. 22): "If the lives of Christian Scientists attest their fidelity to Truth, I predict that in the twentieth century every Christian church in our land, and a few in far-off lands, will approximate the understanding of Christian Science sufficiently to heal the sick in his name. Christ will give to Christianity his new name, and Christendom will be classified as Christian Scientists."
The world is poised for a great leap forward spiritually. The portents are not of chaos and destruction, but of the loosening grasp of materialism and evil, the awakening understanding of Mind's supremacy and infinitude, the increasing realization of the brotherhood of man and of Christian unity based on the theology of Christian Science.
Our beloved Leader provided ample ways through which one may serve the Cause. With singular dedication as the first and only Christian Scientist, she organized and planned the institution which has grown to a universal organization now supported by multitudes of members. Everything needed for the accomplishment of this holy purpose is provided through the many activities of The Mother Church. Prayer reveals to us whatever we need to know, think, say, and do. When we understand God and His reflection, man, we can lack no quality or quantity of good with which to fulfill the divine purpose.
The Church of Christ, Scientist, is no static organization, but a vibrant, dynamic power through which God and His ideas are made manifest and intelligible to mankind. Church is made available to mankind through prayer and through the church services and testimony meetings, the Reading Rooms, the lectures, and the authorized literature. Christian Science could hardly prosper without these God-directed activities, without the great institutional organization that makes all these available, and without the hosts of dedicated and willing workers. Apathy may tempt individuals to remain on the fringes, without supporting the organization in a practical way, while enjoying the fruits of the faithful service of others. As long as we are in this temporal sphere, we are in need of the institution, and the church is in need of us as active workers.
Each member can help to forward the Cause by prayerfully knowing that God's Word is going forth through Christian Science and that it cannot return to God void; that there is no resistant, incredulous, or ignorant mind in God's universe, for God is Mind and All. Those who are receptive will respond to the light of the Christ going out through the Lesson-Sermons, found in the Christian Science Quarterly, and also through the many church activities, and the lives, work, and prayers of Christian Scientists.
We support the periodicals of our church not only by subscribing to them and reading them but through using the intelligent ideas presented in them. Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health (p. 559): "The 'still, small voice' of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe's remotest bound. The inaudible voice of Truth is, to the human mind, 'as when a lion roareth.' It is heard in the desert and in dark places of fear."
Alert members welcome the opportunity and obligation to support the circulation information work, the distribution work, and the advertising work connected with The Christian Science Monitor, which, as one of the most distinguished newspapers in the world, can enter precincts where more direct methods of introducing Christian Science are impracticable.
Offering Science to the stranger presents further opportunities to extend the Cause. Through prayerful work and the incentive inspired by a series of Christian Science lectures given to the local Field, I was led to present Christian Science to twenty-two strangers during one year. Science and Health was read by twelve of them; and in the case of most of the others the good seed having been planted, it must sometime germinate and bear fruit. As opportunities occur I send or give to friends, acquaintances, or even total strangers who may be in need of them, copies of our periodicals.
There is much more to do. Our public libraries and our schools and universities may need copies of Science and Health, the biographies of Mrs. Eddy, and other approved books on Christian Science. When offering these blessings, we should do so confidently and lovingly, knowing that Christian Science is humanity's boon.
It is necessary for Christian Scientists to watch against the machinations of evil and to defend themselves and the Cause from aggressive mental suggestion, which will be stirred up by our efforts. Since such beliefs can operate only through mental suggestion and since they have no creator to support them or intelligence to direct them, they are falsities, counterfeiting the reality of divine Mind's ceaseless consciousness and active expression of its positive ideas.
The subtle belief that mere numbers constitute power is false and should be nullified. Millions of errors are still zeros and have no power or entity, for God, good, is the only power and reality. By clearing away false beliefs and letting in the light of Spirit, we can break down error's resistance to Truth and open the way for Love to overcome it. Since Spirit and Love are the only real attraction, in the degree that the Church of Christ, Scientist, expresses them it will draw those who are seeking Truth.
When Jesus sent out his apostles, he told them of the persecutions they would be subjected to, as men attempted through evil means to stop the course of Truth; but he said (Matt. 10:26, 27): "Fear them not ... for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops."
The turmoil we see in the world is error's struggle for survival against the advancing understanding of Truth. It is not Truth that is struggling—its advance is inexorable and irreversible. Knowing this, we shall be empowered to obey Christ Jesus' command (Mark 16:15), "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
