leads from ignorance into knowledge,- points the way out of inexperience to experience. That five and five make ten, is a statement based upon mathematical principle, and faith, or unfaith, cannot affect it; yet a child taking his first lessons in arithmetic, has to trust absolutely until he himself has demonstrated it. Had you told him that five and five make fifty, he would have accepted that statement just as readily, and, without demonstration, would have remained in ignorance. The child at this stage, is taking the statements of mathematics on trust, or faith. He can do nothing better just now, for it must precede the proving; but there will come a time when experience demonstration will conduct him to understanding. This is true in every department of thought or investigation. How could men of the world get on in all their affairs, without constant exercise of this firm trust, or faith? What Truth I accept on simple trust to-day, I shall come to have a conviction of or assurance in to-morrow; and this on the day following, if I put myself in obedience to it, will blossom into understanding. This will repeat itself forever, till all things in Principle are revealed. This is no more true in man's relation to God, than it is in man's relation to man and to every other idea of infinite Mind. To be governed by Principle in all relations, is to soon discover the completed and rounded whole the unity of Good. - Shall we, some day, rise high enough to discern that the supreme need of the hour is for that realization of Truth which makes Truth an absolute certainty to us, and not something merely believed in? Christian Science is something to be understood, not "believed." We need faith first, to gain experience; but why not rise from faith, to that height whence we can say that we know, and no longer need to "believe"? Our Christian life, like everything else, should look toward ultimate understanding, and not to endless blind faith. If we have not reached this high vantage ground, and who of us have?- we have to remain children, and blindly believe; but, why forever remain children? Can knowledge of Truth be subversive of vital Christianity? Permit me to add that, every passage in the Bible which enjoins "saving faith," can be capped with another which shows the necessity of "understanding." "Understanding is a well-spring of life." How is this understanding to be obtained without demonstrating the things which lead all the way up from faith's first beginnings, to experience, and thence to understanding? But can understanding be obtained without the steps? This suggests a matter of greatest importance to every Christian Scientist. In certain quarters much is being said about the higher demonstrations, as they are called. We are gravely assured that we should leave these things of lesser consequence, and busy ourselves with those of higher importance; that we should rise to those serene heights where sin and sense can molest no more; that it is the spiritual creation we are to disclose to a waiting world, the spiritual sense of the Scriptures that we should unlock. There are those among us who have risen so high, that they stand ready to impart to us the mysteries of the unseen world. These more spiritual (?) ones have soared so far above their materially-minded brethren who lag behind, that they can afford to dispense with the steps which these slower-going ones need for their advancement. Sure enough! what use have those whose wings have sprouted apace, for steps? It is even hinted that we ought no longer to linger by the bedside of those who are diseased, since sickness is something which belongs to the past consciousness. Let us examine these high claims, which may prove to be but slim pretences, when seen in the clear light of good common sense. Certainly there is an infinitely widening field of demonstration opening before us. In all matters of state, of government, of business, in all the great reforms and movements of this age so profoundly agitating earnest men, the Truth of Christian Science is to be proved, or demonstrated; since these matters will never be adjusted till they are settled on the basis of Principle, or Infinite Mind. Let it be conceded that there is coming a happy period when sickness and disease will not be here to be treated, since in that golden age no inhabitant shall say, "I am sick." Let it be admitted that we do stand sorely in need of more light on the Scriptures; but, have we not yet to arrive at that stage of good, practical sense in which we shall see that exalted frames of mind are not exactly demonstration? Have we yet to learn that ecstatic emotions and visions are not solid fact? There is an open space for every aspiring Scientist to go as high as he can get; but, would it not be the part of plain, practical good sense to reflect that visions and dreams are not genuine coin of the realm? We do well to be somewhat cautious about taking these "impressions," for demonstrated Truth. Here is something we will do well to consider: If we actually have had some very remarkable demonstration, which has lifted us so high that the little, every-day demonstrations of those all about us seem very trivial and common-place, we should be exceedingly modest in speaking of it. When Moses came down from the mountain, he "wist not that his face shone," so utterly unconscious was the great man. He did not have to tell of his wonderful realization, but those looking on him saw the glory. Let another thing be mentioned right here: We have perfect liberty to soar and reach these wonderful heights; yet, for every such lofty realization which we may demonstrate, or prove, there will be fifty, if not a hundred, of what we call the common-place, or every day matters which need to be faithfully and scientifically lived and demonstrated. This means that these higher demonstrations, as they are called, never release us from the discharge of the plain, humble, ordinary things of life. Great understanding and great experiences do not release one from the performance of those little duties which go to make up the sum of rightness, till we reach that point in which we have been actually set free from our seeming environment. Over in yonder University, is a famous professor who is one of the greatest astronomers of the age. No doubt higher mathematics, conic-sections and the integral-calculus, are as familiar to him as simple addition and subtraction to ordinary When calculating the orbit of a remote planet swing men. ing in space, he has constant use for intricate mathematical instruments and technical mathematical terms; but when attending to the ordinary things of life, for which as a husband and father he has daily use, does he employ them? Suppose he have occasion to purchase six tons of coal at five dollars a ton; does he assume some mysterious air and hint at astronomical calculations in settling his bill, or does he do what every other honest buyer does: merely reflect that six times five are thirty, and pay the amount? Now, are none of us in danger of forgetting that life is made up of common-place, ordinary duties; and that what is needed is daily grace to bring about a better temper and that consciousness of Truth which shall make these little things,—if indeed they be little things, the stepping stones to higher things. Are none of us in danger of forgetting that "Little drops of water, Little grains of sand, And the teeming land"? The difficulty is, we have too many visionaries who have lost their heads with star-gazing, and fail to see that these wonderful experiences of theirs will not stand the tests of immutable Principle. We know how prone imaginative youth is to engage in castle-building, and some who are not so young, still keep up this delusive pastime, but who ever heard of one being able to convert these gilded air bubbles into solid cash, on going into the markets of the world? I do not hesitate to say that Christian Science air castles are not worth a single penny more than are the gilded dreams of other visionaries. It is not higher demonstrations that are objected to, but it is the "cant" and pretence which assumes that mere talk is demonstration. The great need of our time is not so much for these "high" realizations, as for the simple, plain, homely but exceedingly practical ones of everyday life. We need those demonstrations in the open fields. of duty that make us better fathers and mothers, better brothers and sisters, better neighbors and citizens, better business men! 66 Once more: We We have to learn that to be "brought up," from the standpoint of the senses, is exceedingly slow growth. We are too impatient with what we call slow results. must remember that to be brought up after we have been born again is, as a rule, as slow a process as was our bringing up" after our birth to mortal sense. I recall a bright, winsome child who was very impatient to be permitted to attend school; but no sooner had she attained. the privilege, than she wanted to graduate, that very spring term in which she began. I have an impression that we are very much like that eager, impatient child. We are in a great hurry to graduate in this school of Christian Science. Have we never discovered that whatever is of value requires constant, unremitting toil to attain it? Did we graduate from the school-rooms of actual life in a single term? Has ever a great musician'gained perfect mastery over his instrument in a single sitting at the feet of his teacher? Some one came to Carlyle, as that master of English composition was turning off page after page of his matchless prose. 66 What a wonderful genius you possess!" said the admiring friend. "Ech! mon, it's na genius, but a capacity for hard work," replied the great Scotchman. The older edition of SCIENCE AND HEALTH contains this strong passage: "Yielding patient obedience to a patient God, I labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Truth, the adamant of error in self-will, self-justification, and selflove." Were I to go into the heart of Africa, and never see another Scientist or look upon anotlier work on Science, I should never forget that sentence – so rich in encouragement and promise! Brethren and Friends: We stand in sore need of the practical demonstrations in commonplace things, which will prove to mankind that Christian Science is something which makes us better men and women; that in all matters of daily life it enables us to do these little things so much better than we used to do them, or than the world can do them to-day, that it shall take knowledge of us that we have been, like Jesus, with the animating Principle that is Life, Truth and Love. |