In the rush and tumble of the present age the quality of spiritual strength is one we can well rejoice to find in Christian Science. Isaiah wrote (30:15), "In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." Spiritual strength is expressed in quietness and confidence, not alone in physical energy; indeed, mere physical energy is opposed to spiritual strength. Mary Baker Eddy draws a sharp contrast between physical force and spiritual strength. She shows the former to be the outcome of mortal mind, for she writes in "Science and Health with Key to the (p. 484), "Physical force and mortal mind are one."

If energy is regarded as material, if it is believed to be dependent on matter and separated from God, then it becomes subject to the so-called laws of action and reaction, renewal and depletion, birth and death. But spiritual energies are constant; they do not appear and disappear. Spiritual energies are eternal, undiminished by age or circumstance.

Spiritual strength is expressed in the quiet confidence which meets every adverse circumstance as its master. Spiritual strength comes to us from God and is ours by reflection. If we have the temerity to believe in ourselves as the source of energy, then we have missed the goal of spiritual dominion and are heading for our own defeat.

Spiritual strength is awakened in the spiritually-minded. It enables them to work with God without fear of overwork. In proportion as our energies are seen to be the reflection of God in His innumerable and immeasurable manifestations, in that proportion shall we, as Christian Scientists, be freed from the claims and fears of mortal mind concerning its so-called mental capacities.

Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, pp. 519,520), "The highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint, is in holy work." The strength of Spirit is thereby made known to us. If we understand the omnipotence of God, then we cannot escape the conclusion that the omnipotence of God must also be omnipresent. But do we sufficiently identify ourselves with the natural energies of Spirit? Are we inadvertently caught up in the mortal mind assumption that energy is material and that therefore we must suffer loss and depletion from expressing the functions of intelligence?

In the light of Christian Science such a notion is absurd. We can do nothing apart from God, but through an intelligent understanding of man's unity with God we can, even from a human standpoint, exceed our ordinary capacities in every direction without strain, fear, or depletion. For instance, Christian Science shows us the futility of depending upon prolonged physical rest to overcome nervous exhaustion. We recognize that the only remedy for overwork is to work with God, to see all energies as the energies of Spirit, to recognize that the divine energies are reflected by man and are present and perpetual in man's experience. This understanding will free the victim of mental or physical exhaustion. It is clear that he has been brought to that state by his mistaken belief that man is material and that mind is infused into a material mechanism called brain, which must be charged, discharged, and recharged like an electric battery.

A more spiritual concept of God and man is dawning upon human thought through the revelation of Christian Science. The truths propounded in this Science may meet with incredulity and opposition because they run counter to the generally and even universally accepted theory that man is a material being, with a mind inside and with a system of telegraphy called nerves for communication. This false belief concerning man is the foundation of all ills, mental, moral, and physical. Man is not material, but spiritual. He reflects the perfect Mind in all its manifestations. To understand this and to demonstrate the truth it involves demands self-abnegation and spiritual strength. The arrogance of human intellect must be laid aside, and pride must give place to humility.

An acknowledgment of God as Mind includes the admission that Mind, Spirit, is the only intellect. God, Mind, knows all, and His knowledge is reflected by man. A characteristic of the Master, Christ Jesus, was that he knew all things. Did not the disciples, who listened to his profound discourse, say, as recorded in John's Gospel (16:30), "Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee"? And did not the Jews marvel at his learning when they said (John 7:15), "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?"

The Christian Scientist who understands the secret of Jesus' success, as explained by the writings of Mrs. Eddy, has no fear of overwork or nervous strain in the holy calling to which God has assigned him. He must, however, be alert to refute the claims of mortal mind that man is a material mechanism, dependent on brain for mind and on nerve for communication. God, the only Mind, communicates Himself through the divine energies of Truth and Love and supplies us with strength, health, energy, and endurance. The more we are conscious of man's inseparability from God, the clearer will be the manifestation of the inexhaustible energies of Spirit. Through consecration to Truth we lose the mortal and find the immortal. Weariness gives place to vitality; lassitude is replaced by interest and initiative; weakness is eclipsed by spiritual strength; and fear of a human intellect is replaced by the intelligence of Mind. Love motivates and moves us without effort, for it is in the movements of Mind that we really live.

We need claim no personal identification to make us great or noble. God identifies His own ideas, and they fulfill the purpose for which He created them. Our strength lies in the quiet confidence of Love's eternal presence and of Soul's supernal peace.

Robert Ellis Key