A hundred years...
With this Journal issue we come to the crest of a ridge. Looking back, one may survey the mountainous expanse of a hundred years since the first Journal appeared— an important panorama in the grand adventure of Christian Science. Looking ahead, we may feel the territory to be humanly uncharted—but the way is divinely established. It will be peopled by even more shining summits.
Editorial, page 224
With this Journal issue we come to the crest of a ridge. Looking back, one may survey the mountainous expanse of a hundred years since the first Journal appeared—an important panorama in the grand adventure of Christian Science. Looking ahead, we may feel the territory to be humanly uncharted—but the way is divinely established. It will be peopled by even more shining summits. This view from the crest is invigorating.
But the more extended horizons are breathtaking too. Our world is astonishingly transformed from that of 1883. And the pace of change is accelerating before our eyes. Who can chart the revolutions of the next hundred years?
It tells you something about Christian Science to realize that today its timeless teachings are even more clearly abreast of contemporary urgencies than at any earlier period. They are profoundly relevant—directly applicable to the questions of this era. For example:
• In an increasingly crowded and unsafe material world the heart pleads for some kind of certainty and peace. There have been many prescriptions—psychological and commercial and otherwise; but no peer has ever been found for the demonstrable and dominion-giving teachings of Christ Jesus, understood in their practical significance.
• Researchers probe deeply the mysteries of the human mind and psyche. But their findings only serve to dramatize the necessity of understanding the all-embracing Mind that is God— and the rescue-potential of this divine intelligence for humanity.
• Investigators are exploring the cosmos as well as the realm of the atom to fathom the enigma of matter. But today's discoveries cry more loudly than ever that matter is something utterly different from what it appears to the naked eye to be. The implications of this confront us all. Such a prospect clothes with prescience the daring assertion of Mary Baker Eddy, distilled from revelation, that "... matter is nothing beyond an image in mortal mind." Science and Health, p. 116.
The future is mute. But the present reality of revelation best tells us its meaning.
Revelation is the coming to light of that which already exists. Christian Science is revelation because it is Science emanating from God and explaining Him—the Science that pierces the blinding mirage of matter and reveals the spiritual substance that actually exists. It is God's laws made manifest. It reveals God to be omnipresent Spirit: a God of universal law because He is Principle; a God of supreme intelligence because He is infinite Mind—the Mind that includes all Truth, and whose saving power is available to us through Christ.
This Science captures the divine light that glows in Scripture, reiterates the Master's incomparable teachings, and confirms this divine heritage in healing proofs and demonstrations.
Science is the coming of Truth to humanity. It was foretold by Jesus when he said to his disciples: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth." John 16:12, 13.
We hear a great deal about the evolutionary processes of matter—biochemical forces, genetic phenomena, the development of organic life-forms through molecular action. But Science, lifting thought above matter to spiritual apprehension, defines the real evolution as God's unfolding of His own immeasurable nature and infinite resources, expressed spiritually throughout His creation.
It is the nature of boundless Truth to manifest itself; it is the nature of measureless Love to radiate universally its life-giving warmth. Unfoldment, emanation, illumination, revelation— these are concepts explaining the activity and essence of deific Mind.
The effect of this divine action, wakening us to a higher human consciousness, finds outlet in these words of Mrs. Eddy in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded. This unfolding is God's day, and 'there shall be no night there.'" Science and Health, p. 584.
Truth is forever unfolding—always within the infinite framework of the Science that interprets the all-encompassing divine Principle. Nothing can stop this process. Nothing can erase Truth's revelation from the consciousness of humanity. The immortality of Moses' commandments and Jesus' demonstrations testifies to this. We are talking here of the dynamics of Mind and Love, and these dynamics are irresistible.
The Christian Science textbook tells us, "God expresses in man the infinite idea forever developing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from a boundless basis." Ibid., p. 258. Here we encounter a bold new definition of man, an insight into the substance of man that fills in logically and literally the consequences of an infinite Mind expressing itself in its own idea, or image. It is a definition demonstrable in healing.
In an epoch stained by Hiroshima and Beirut, and burdened by an overwhelming proliferation of murderous weapons, a revolutionary new perception of man's nature surely is needed—his identity, meaning, and prospects. Some have doubted his survival or even his worthiness to survive. But Science resolves the predicament by explaining man from the standpoint of Mind the creator instead of from matter. Such a perception of man's real spiritual nature and meaning opens vast new possibilities to us for spiritual growth.
For humanity, the true evolution means development of the infinite wonders of Truth and Love through the Science that reveals God and man in His likeness. This true evolution changes our concept not only of man but also of human progress. It shows progress to be not so much an achievement of the human intellect as an awakening of the human heart to spiritual reality. In the light of revelation the fact becomes clear that progress is not something resulting from matter, or evolving from the unaided human mind; rather, as our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, writes, "Every step of progress is a step more spiritual." The People's Idea of God, p. 1 There's an insight here that's applicable in practice for all of us individually and collectively—every hour, every day, in every direction.
In this light it is clear that the brightest prospects for the forthcoming century are for progress along spiritual lines. It is plain, too, that the prospects for Christian Science and the Cause that represents it are not at the whim of the surrounding mental climate or of social mores. They are not measured by statistical indicators. They become evident in the illumination of individual human thought—lives made over and sufferers made whole through the impulsion of divine power. They are found in the leaven quietly at work in human thinking, patiently bringing light to the dark places of ignorance, banishing fear, healing the sick, and regenerating sinners.
These fruits bear witness to the infinite power of Truth, and they promise an exciting century ahead. As the epoch unfolds, this magazine will continue "to put on record the divine Science of Truth," The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany by Mrs. Eddy, p. 353. thus attesting the purpose its founder gave it.
