"Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" (Matt. 19:16.) This startling question put to Jesus by a young man received a considered answer.

In the brief record of the talk that followed, the reader becomes aware that Jesus is probing the questioner, directing his thought to the fundamental cause, to the nature of God, or good. "If thou wilt enter into life," he tells him, "keep the commandments." Eagerly the assurance of such observance is given—observance dating from the questioner's early youth. Then follows the Master's challenge, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me."

The young ruler, wealthy by inheritance, trained in the traditional Jewish religion, a member of the Sanhedrin, was instinctively conscious that he whom he addressed as "good Master" had an insight into the rule of life to which he and his instructors had not discovered the key. He intuitively discerned that his early religious training did not secure to him the entrance into eternal life which he eagerly sought. Something other than a promise of future salvation, namely, security for both the present and the future, continuity of good as he understood it—this was his quest. His immediate present was assured. He longed to know his future was equally safe. And so his question was addressed to him who could answer it and give irrefutable proof of life eternal and point out the steps leading to its achievement.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science and author of its textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," offers an answer to the question, "What shall I do that I may have eternal life?" in one short sentence (p. 232): "Security for the claims of harmonious and eternal being is found only in divine Science." In her writings Mrs. Eddy shows how to acquire an understanding of God and His laws, and how to demonstrate that understanding in all the experiences of present-day living. Study of her books, and the application of the teachings set forth in them, will heal every form of inharmony, overcome temperamental difficulties, faults of character, lack of ability, lack of opportunity, and equip the earnest student for the part he should play in fulfilling the divine purpose—in contributing his quota to the great world needs of this age.

The arresting admonition of Jesus, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast," comes inevitably to every sincere seeker of the solution of life's problems. On the occasion under review Jesus devoted time and care to explaining to his students the need for supplanting the human concept of wealth with one founded upon an understanding of true substance. "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!" he commented (Mark 10:23), to the amazement of his listeners.

To sell that we have may be paraphrased as follows: To exchange any human concept we have for the spiritual idea; to replace every human concept with the substantial spiritual fact which it hints. To Jesus, the latter was always the present reality, and he met and corrected the human need with a loving realization of the allness of good. In the presence of the Christ no lack remains unsatisfied, no need unmet. His healing of such conditions was spontaneous, immediate, and regenerating.

In her book "Miscellaneous Writings" (pp. 16, 17) Mrs. Eddy writes, "Here you stand face to face with the laws of infinite Spirit, and behold for the first time the irresistible conflict between the flesh and Spirit." She adds later: "And, before the flames have died away on this mount of revelation, like the patriarch of old, you take off your shoes—lay aside your material appendages, human opinions and doctrines, give up your more material religion with its rites and ceremonies, put off your materia medica and hygiene as worse than useless—to sit at the feet of Jesus. Then, you meekly bow before the Christ, the spiritual idea that our great Master gave of the power of God to heal and to save."

He who sits at the feet of Jesus, who desires perfection, must indeed be willing to sell that he has, to cherish nothing that may delay, encumber, cloud, or deflect his progress towards the sublime goal. The measure of our spiritual capacity and achievement is precisely the measure of our faith in good, in God and in His allness, and, conversely, our willingness to lay down our human possessions. In this test, thought is divested of all halfway measures. Human policy, ways, and means must be discarded, and trust must be anchored in the things of Spirit, in perfection. Our indestructible relationship to the divine Principle will alone determine the scope, breadth, and completeness of our demonstration. This is the real liquidation of things humanly possessed. "Sell that thou hast."

Only thus can the evidence of things not seen as yet, but spiritually apprehended, become a natural part of our daily, nay, hourly experience, as it was of Jesus' experience. Only in this way will eternal life become our inevitable and conscious spiritual possession now and perfection be attained.

The young ruler's quandary finds its answer in the great truth that the ideals of life must be based on perfection—based not on the things of a fleeting human experience, however stable they may appear, but on the realities of existence, on those fundamental spiritual qualities of character which Jesus' parables and miracles illustrate, and to which all his activities bear witness. His capacity to overcome error and to ascend above all human experience had its inception in his unflinching adherence to spiritual law and in his consciousness of man's inseparability from God, his Father.

To those seeking the answer to present difficulties, the call to "sell that thou hast," to spiritualize thought and action and trust in God, will bring out harmony and fruition in daily life. It will unfold individual capacity and will guide to the achievement of the perfect model of God's creating. By radical adherence to this precept, by the utilization of spiritual discernment, will the Christian Scientist find his outlook on life changed and perfected. The promised treasure in heaven will then become not just an anticipated inheritance, but a conscious possession, and the kingdom of Spirit will be progressively experienced here and now.

Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

II Corinthians 10:3–5