What an enemy is worry! And what writer has drawn a more graphic picture of this disturber of human peace than the poet Dante, in these words:

A venerable grandfather, whose years had passed the fourscore-and-ten milestone, once called his large family to him and addressed them thus: "I have reached a ripe old age, yes; but what peace of mind I have missed! Children. I have literally spent seventy-five years of my life worrying about things that never happened!"

Nothing good can be said about the word "worry." Its original meaning is "to strangle"; and certainly worry stifles, suppresses a sense of harmony, of well-being. In his Sermon on the Mount, Christ Jesus pointed out the futility of worry when he said to his followers (Matt. 6:25). "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on." The Greek word translated in the King James Version "take thought" literally means "to be anxious about," Should not the banishing of harassing and vexing worry, therefore, be a recognized Christian tenet?

"But how can one help worrying?" may cry some distressed mortal. He may cite the tale of the man who was told by his physician that he had but a short time to live, but was admonished, above all things, not to worry! Certainly the keynote of the Master's great sermon just mentioned is an abounding recognition of and faith in the supernal goodness and love of God; and in this discourse Christ Jesus does not refer to God as Jehovah, or as the King of all the earth, but as the heavenly Father, his Father and our Father. The Sermon on the Mount shows the blessings which flow to the consciousness which in humility, purity of thought, and childlike trust rests in the Father's love.

Now comes the Comforter promised by the great Teacher of Nazareth—that "Spirit of truth" which reveals the Science underlying Jesus' words and works. Before the advent of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, did students of Christianity turn to the Scriptures, as one would to a book on arithmetic, to find scientific rules whereby life's problems might be solved? They did not. Today, thanks to Mrs. Eddy's spiritual revelation, we are learning the Science of the Master's teaching; we learn that his famous sermon was not just a beautiful, theoretical dissertation on Christian morality and ethics, but that it set forth a scientific, demonstrable understanding of the nature of the great First Cause, and of man's relation thereto.

Hear this profound statement of scientific cause and effect (Matt. 5:48): "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Here Christ Jesus emphasizes the sublime truth found in the opening chapter of the Bible, that man is the image, or expression, of his Maker. But what has been the prevalent belief of the human family? Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health (p. 263): "Mortals are egotists. They believe themselves to be independent workers, personal authors, and even privileged originators of something which Deity would not or could not create." Thus do they become a prey to the worries and fears which accompany an isolated, material sense of existence.

But consider this mighty definition of the real man, which Mrs. Eddy gives elsewhere in the textbook (p. 259): "In divine Science man is the true image of God." And she adds, as a remarkable corollary to Jesus' words already quoted, "The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea,—perfect God and perfect man,—as the basis of thought and demonstration."

Here then is the rock of spiritual understanding on which the student may plant himself when mortal mind tempests would rage and alarm. Why should anxious thoughts as to the future find a moment's lodgment in consciousness? Next week, next month, next year, what will be man's status? Will he not be the reflection of perfect Mind, and, as such, will he not be sustained by infinite intelligence, governed and used by this intelligence for His glory? With this exalted concept of the Christ-man, the human consciousness may ever walk, until finally it is merged into the divine; and writes our Leader, in her book "Unity of Good" (p. 53), "The reality and individuality of man are good and God-made, and they are here to be seen and demonstrated; it is only the evil belief that renders them obscure."

Worry, taking anxious thought, betokens a lack of understanding of the basic truth of being, namely, "perfect God and perfect man." To put ourselves and our loved ones into the keeping of Principle and its undeviating, harmonious law is to silence the carping fears of the carnal mind. Think of it— the glorious fact of man's oneness with radiant good is "here to be seen and demonstrated"! And it is our privilege and duty to know that no aggressive suggestion of anxiety, gloom, or depression can dim this spiritual vision or keep us from tasting the joy of a close walk with the Father. Worry comes only when we try to walk alone; worry flees when we walk with Him. In the words of a dearly cherished Christian Science hymn:

John Randall Dunn