Article January 31, 1925 Issue

"Rise in the strength of Spirit"

LEAH A. RATHBONE

"RISE in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man." So writes Mrs. Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 393). With this admonition from our beloved Leader, it behooves us as students of Christian Science to ask ourselves the meaning of the statement. Just what does it imply to "rise in the strength of Spirit"? How shall we avail ourselves of the truth of it and make it practicable? On the face of it, it surely means to lay aside all arrogance, human will, and human planning, and to tread meekly and conscientiously along the road that Jesus trod.

God can be known only through the ideas which express Him. So, as each earnest student of Christian Science expresses the qualities of meekness, honesty, humility, purity, health, and holiness, he is rising "in the strength of Spirit;" and this rising is an irresistible expulsive power to everything that is unlike God, good.

Let us scrutinize carefully and prayerfully some of the instances in which Christ Jesus, our great Way-shower, overcame evil through this method of rising "in the strength of Spirit." Take the incident that occurred at the time of his betrayal,—that of Peter drawing his sword and cutting off the ear of the servant of the high priest. Jesus never for a moment thought that Peter was justified, even under those extreme circumstances. Instantly, and right in the midst of his sore trial, clamor and hate and confusion seeming to engulf him, there Jesus rose "in the strength of Spirit" and resisted that which was unlike God. This spiritual understanding enabled Jesus to heal the one who had come to do him violence, as quickly and as lovingly as he would have healed a disciple. This by no means condoned or excused error, but showed its entire separation from good; and it came as an added proof of the correctness of our Leader's statement on pages 476 and 477 of Science and Health: "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy."

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