The most profound truths in the Scriptures are often taught by symbols. Christ Jesus employed the symbol of leaven to explain the inevitable expansion in human thought of God's spiritual idea, the Word of Truth. He said of the kingdom of God, where the Word abides eternally, "It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." Luke 13:21;
The progress of Christian Science during the first century after its discovery by Mary Baker Eddy conformed to this figure used by the Master. This Science, the full idea of God, acted swiftly in its expanding ministrations of healing sick and erring mortals and of spreading the truths that do this healing: the allness of God, the spiritual perfection of man, the unity which exists between God and His creation, and also the fact of the unreality of evil and matter.
Years ago Mrs. Eddy wrote to a branch of The Mother Church: "The outlook is cheering. We have already seen the salvation of many people by means of Christian Science. Chapels and churches are dotting the entire land." Miscellaneous Writings, p. 150; Since that year the number of branch churches and societies has increased. Now as I write there are more than thirty-two hundred.
