Christian Scientists are deeply grateful for the understanding they have of reality. Christian Science has revealed to them the truth of God's omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. It has made known to them that He is infinite Spirit, infinite good, and that consequently matter and evil are unreal. It has taught them that the real man is the idea, the image, of God—that he reflects God, thus expressing the qualities of Deity. It has taught them also that the mortal or material sense of man is illusory or unreal, and that salvation consists of the overcoming of this false sense through the understanding of the real man. Because of this teaching, Christian Scientists are profoundly grateful.

With the understanding he has of reality, the Christian Scientist is equipped to meet the problems of mortal existence. He is measurably in possession of the spiritual understanding possessed by Christ Jesus, who said (John 15:7), "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." The Master knew that God, Spirit, is infinite—All—and that matter and evil are unreal; and it was this understanding that endowed him with spiritual power to do the wonderful works which characterized his ministry. He held his thought steadfastly to the real. He affirmed the truth and denied error, in this way healing disease, overcoming sin, and destroying the belief of death. So certain was Jesus of his method of destroying erroneous beliefs of whatever sort that he could say (John 8:51), "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." And keeping his own sayings, holding, that is, to the truth which he taught, he vanquished death in his own experience. Faithfulness to his understanding of reality gave him the victory over material sense in all its various phases.

The student of Christian Science understands how Jesus performed his works of healing, knows indeed the Science which he understood and demonstrated. And with this knowledge the student is doing in a measure what the Way-shower did. He is healing the sick and the sinning, restoring harmony where discord seems to reign, lifting the burden of lack where poverty claims to be, and all through his understanding of God and His creation—the same understanding which Christ Jesus possessed. Christian Scientists are doing these things, but all of them are desirous, all of them are praying, that they may be humble and pure enough, and clear enough in their understanding of spiritual truth, to do better and quicker healing work. They are striving to hold their thought more steadfastly to the real, that thereby the errors of material sense may be more efficiently and more speedily overcome.

Prayer for spiritual enlightenment should be constant. And prayer means adherence to and affirmation of spiritual truth, coupled with denial of error's claims to presence and power. Prayer also includes humility, that precious spiritual grace without which approach to God cannot be made. There must be purity and love and self-abnegation, too, in true prayer. No one can perceive the truths of spiritual being without purity; no one can apply these truths successfully without unselfed love. And this calls for continual spiritual alertness and self-examination. Our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, writes on page 154 of "Miscellaneous Writings": "Pray without ceasing. Watch diligently; never desert the post of spiritual observation and self-examination. Strive for self-abnegation, justice, meekness, mercy, purity, love."

Are we striving to realize, as we should, that the infinite resources of Spirit, including spiritual power, are always available for instant use? Are we striving to realize that in reality there is only one presence and one power, God, and that, as the image of God, man reflects that power—that unlimited power? Do we realize that our spiritual selfhood is the real man, who reflects this unlimited spiritual power? We cannot utilize this power when we believe in another power, that of matter or evil. It is only as we hold thought to the real, the spiritual, the eternal, and refuse to acknowledge matter or evil—the unreal—as having either presence or power, that we gain the victory over material sense, with its attendant sin and suffering. "To live so as to keep human consciousness in constant relation with the divine, the spiritual, and the eternal, is to individualize infinite power; and this is Christian Science" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany by Mrs. Eddy, p. 160).

How necessary it is to recognize the power of right thinking! We should strive, therefore, to hold our thought steadfastly to the real, not only for our own sakes, but for the sake of all mankind. For when thought is held to the real, and goodness and love abide within us, we cannot fail to bless all upon whom our thought rests, and to be ourselves blessed. Accordingly, Christian Scientists diligently endeavor to practice what Mrs. Eddy enjoins on page 261 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts."

Duncan Sinclair