If there is one thing mankind needs more than anything else in the midst of its trials, and its honest toils it is spiritual refreshment. As something is needed to relieve the sadness or the drudgery of existence, one regarding himself as merely mortal naturally seeks for this refreshment through some form of material recreation. Yet how often he turns unsatisfied from this would-be recreation which has wearied rather than refreshed him! Centuries ago Isaiah, full of compassion, and yearning to turn Ephraim from sensuality to spirituality, wrote, "This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear." Christian Science tenderly turns the thoughts of disheartened mortals from the temporal to the eternal, from the material to the spiritual; and many a one thus finds that refreshment has come to him through a hitherto unknown sense: through spiritual sense.

How essential it is, then, that Christian Scientists themselves should maintain the consciousness of spiritual refreshment for their own sakes and that of other! Mrs. Eddy writes in her Message to The Mother Church for 1901 (p. 1), "The baptism of the Spirit, and the refreshment and invigoration of the human in communion with the Divine, have brought you hither." If the student of Christian Science should find himself mentally slack, uninspired, it may be that he is allowing his work as practitioner or church member, or other duties, to crowd him and rob him of the vitally necessary periods of prayer and communion. He may need more constantly and perseveringly to seek refreshment "in communion with the Divine" and to give more time to this sacred part of his ministry. If Christ Jesus, pure and holy, could not carry on his labors for mankind without constantly turning away from sense-evidence to his heavenly Father, divine Love, "to refresh his heart with brighter, with spiritual views," as Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 32), should the Christian Scientist presume to dispense with what was indispensable to the Way-shower? One who remembers to combine prayer with his study gains immeasurably more than he who reads less prayerfully. Of the great Way-shower of mankind our Leader wrote (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 170), "The bread he ate, which was refreshment of divine strength, we also may all partake of." It is the earnest desire of every Christian Scientist to express more spiritual strength in his daily life, to demonstrate more of Love's healing power, whereby to annul the cruel edicts of the so-called carnal mind; and this can be achieved only through taking time to dwell earnestly on the great spiritual fact that divine Love is All-in-all.

Again, when Christian Scientists meet together, is their conversation always uplifting, or does it sometimes degenerate into idle talk or some useless rehearsal of error? If so, what waste of the same precious hour, which might be used in glorifying God and bringing into expression more of man in His likeness! Intercourse between Christian Scientists should always leave them mutually cheered, inspired, and encouraged; for they are not tale-bearers, but bearers of angel messages of Truth and Love. Nor should it be coldly assumed that even experienced workers are beyond feeling the need of loving support from their fellow workers. Those who are engaged in lifting the burdens of others need to have their own burdens eased, and this may often be done through the apt and loving word spoken in season.

Paul, always valiant yet sometimes burdened, writes of Onesiphorus, one of the Christian converts, "He oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: but, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me." How tenderly careful the Christian Scientist should be never to convey the slightest hint of discouragement toward one, even though he may long have been enchained by sin, sickness, or a sense of failure, lest he thus increase the sufferer's shame rather than help to heal him!

Intercourse between Christian Scientists and those whom they are helping should result in increased joy and buoyancy. Then, through this true discipleship "the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." This presence, in reality this omnipresence of Love, is always here to be enjoyed and to be utilized in healing, in comforting, in redeeming humanity. Then why should anyone forgo the blessings which are at hand?

Just as the radiance of dawn overspreads the canopy of night, so the beams of divine Love reveal man's real identity as the faithful, joyous, pure, healthful reflection of God, good. As one's desires are uplifted by this revelation of real being, so also these desires are satisfied. Contrasting the temporal with the eternal, Christ Jesus said, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

Violet Ker Seymer