Although Jesus inhabited this planet his thought dwelt in the infinite fatherland of Spirit. Speaking through him, Christ, Truth, says to his followers in all ages: "Abide in me, and I in you. ... He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." Christ Jesus ever communed with the Father, in whom dwelt his own true being, and his unclouded perception of the real gave him dominion over every falsity which was paraded before his human gaze. The spectacle of famine and tempest, of sin, sickness, and death, could not deceive him for one moment, because his constant mental association with Truth enabled him to see through and beyond these imposters and thereby prove their impotence.

In this age it is owing to our Leader's strict obedience to the injunction, "Abide in me," that her inspired teaching is accomplishing so much for the human race. God needs faithful witnesses, who will reflect the stability of Truth through "evil report and good report," without fear, moral cowardice, or deviation of any kind. Jesus said, "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." Christian Scientists are learning to train thought upward, and to let it expand in the contemplation of infinite good, so that the truth of the following words may be made practical in daily life: "Fixing your gaze on the realities supernal, you may rise to the spiritual consciousness of being" (Science and Health, p. 261). This we may do here and now and reflect its harmony. In allowing our mental gaze to waver, the vision remains clouded at these points.

The mere fact that one is subjected to temptation does not mean that he is incurably wicked, and that he must, therefore, yield to self-condemnation. When Jesus silenced the tempter, we read that the devil left him only "for a season." Temptation comes in various ways, such as in dread of illness for oneself or for others, in fear of poverty, love of ease, pride of intellect, sensual desire; in self-pity, selfishness, mental apathy or discouragement; in jealousy of others' achievements or possessions, and in the degree in which these intruding suggestions are permitted to turn us aside from the contemplation of the "realities supernal," viz., Life, Truth, and Love, we are failing to "abide" in their healing light and reflect it for our brothers and sisters in need. In the midst of daily work and seemingly perplexing problems it is helpful to try to realize what the calm purity of man's true consciousness must be. Realization is reflection, and reflection of Truth is always harmony. Evil is never reflection; it is the want of it. The attainment of this perfect mental condition is the goal of each one, and our work in advancing towards it is twofold. Wrong thoughts need to be uncovered and cleared out, and other and truer ones acquired, and this mental process will continue until the Master's precept is fully obeyed, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." At times there seems to be much turmoil and confusion, but these are soonest stilled by reminding ourselves that since Truth is eternal, and good infinite, we are not arrayed against an inherently powerful, much-to-be-dreaded, unavoidable evil, but only against our own mistaken acceptance of it as bona fide. Every foe is, so to speak, of our own making, and its only substantiality is our fear of it.

Spiritual understanding corrects false views and cancels their effects. Too often, mankind has attempted to fight evil with its own weapons; it has met wrong with revenge, self-will with despotism, crime with punishment. In Christian Science the "weapons of our warfare are not carnal," but spiritual, and the more evil rages, the more we should "stand in his holy place" and let it shed its calm around us. There is no discord, no violence in omnipresent Life, Truth, and Love. Then what are we fearing? Only what we are believing. By persistently turning away from the false and looking towards the real, we shall in time reach that stage of spiritual development in which mortal sense disappears and reality appears. In order to hasten this period of unfoldment, the student must scientifically guard his consciousness against all intruders; and one of the first demands that Christian Science makes upon its adherents is the all important one of time: Some people attend Christian Science services regularly, and go through one section of the Lesson-Sermon each day, but rest content with giving this meager amount of time to the study of the truth, while the rest is given over to material pursuits. Should we expect to master a foreign language without devoting regular time to it, and is the "new tongue" of Spirit so much more easily learned? We leave the answer to those who are not satisfied with the advance they are making. In the case of beginners, and business men, even one hour set aside for quiet reading and prayer each morning renders the day more harmonious, and another given at its close is a fitting rendering "to God the things that are God's." We must remember that mortal sense is always trying, under one pretext or another, to snatch the time we should give to spiritual work, or the realization of our true selves. First of all we study the basic elements of Christian Science, the activities of Life, Truth, Love; later the student learns something of their wondrous application, and expresses God more fluently in unselfishness, in brotherly kindness, in spiritual calm, in dominion over fear, in healing the sick and freeing the sinner. On the day of Pentecost the disciples received a wonderful illumination, and if we will but watch and obey, and abide in the "upper chamber" of Spirit as did they, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, will bless our work and enlarge our sphere of action also. No matter into what dark alleys of human need divine Love may lead us, the mental attitude towards God must remain unclouded and undismayed by the shadows which we are called upon to dispel. Through striving to be "faithful over a few things," we shall be made "ruler over many."

Though numbers are ready to welcome the glad tidings of Christian Science, some are led to wonder why they do not progress more rapidly. By and by they discontinue their study, and are content to point others to this religion and remain more or less at a standstill themselves. What is the explanation of their failure to advance and follow up the quest of their early joy? It is this,—they have not heeded the fact that the weeds of wrong thinking demand daily watchfulness, lest they grow apace and, like convolvuli, twine themselves about the unfolding spiritual thought and prevent its development. Good stands alone; evil leans upon some prop, and when its prop—the human belief in it—is systematically withdrawn, it falls of its own weight. To "abide in me" means to abide in true thinking, to turn resolutely away from the contemplation and the discussion of the false, and to be mentally loyal to God and to His image and likeness. How frequently Jesus withdrew from those around him "and continued all night in prayer." Perhaps we can form some estimate of the sacredness of his thoughts while he did so. Like the Wayshower, every Christian Scientist must strengthen himself constantly on the mountain-top of spiritual understanding, and he must strive to ascend above all sense of discord into "his holy hill," where peace reigns eternal. Thus will he be better fitted to lend a helping hand to those in the valley below, and as the Master said, "My Father will love him, and we will ... make our abode with him."