The quality of wonder is akin to joy and delight. Isaiah's prophetic vision of the coining Messiah, or Christ, as the Redeemer of mankind from the woes of the flesh, as the holy manifestation of God, reached sublime heights of poetic utterance: "His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." ^{Isa. 9:6;}

The spiritual concept of God was apparent to Isaiah's exalted perception, and the inspiration of this great vision has woven itself into the idiom of the language, into the noble music of the great composers, as in Handel's oratorio, "The Messiah," echoing its resounding hallelujahs of praise through the centuries.

The quality of wonder, often identified with the innocence of children, is the opposite of that cynicism which is the limiting and restricting stamp and seal of materiality. Wonder at its highest is redolent with gratitude and carries with it spiritual spontaneity and inspiration. It gives wings to right action and soars over obstacles with delight and confident assurance.

To appreciate fully the ever-flowing goodness of God's beneficence in its many manifestations is to partake of the wonder of the spiritual universe, of which the world of nature is at best but the symbol. To take for granted the kindness of our fellowmen, the many useful aids expressing the fruit of patient and intelligent research carried on for our benefit, as well as the beauty of nature, of the countryside and garden—indeed every evidence of good which flows to us—such an attitude is indicative of the presence of limiting mortal thought. Perhaps nothing robs us of our joy more than this single failure to recognize and appreciate the great spiritual blessings which surround each one of us.

The taking-for-granted outlook is indeed no outlook. It is rather a myopic mortal "inlook," an introverted selfishness which clouds our vision and stifles our inspiration. It breeds a concealed smugness and a mental atmosphere of tacit criticism from the standpoint of a false sense of superiority based on the limitation of good.

The childlike quality of wonder, on the contrary, plays its part in the great releasing and uplifting quality of gratitude, which is essential to our spiritual progress. In this age the true meaning of gratitude is revealed to us by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Indeed the whole of this divinely inspired book might be described as a paean of praise to God. Through Christian Science, gratitude can be seen as a key to the door of success in every true and right endeavor, a key to dominion over the dark and forbidding claims of mortal existence. Christian Science, the pure spiritual knowledge of God, revealing man as the spiritual image and likeness of divine Love, calls for praise in the face of the darkness of materialism.

Mrs. Eddy has revealed the method of confronting and destroying the otherwise hopeless conditions which materiality argues are the common lot of mankind. She writes: "Divine Science, the Word of God, saith to the darkness upon the face of error, 'God is All-in-all,' and the light of ever-present Love illumines the universe. Hence the eternal wonder,—that infinite space is peopled with God s ideas, reflecting Him in countless spiritual forms." ^{Science and Health, p. 503;}

The divine inspiration which gave Paul and Silas the power to sing hymns of praise to God at midnight, when they were at the lowest ebb of their career, cast into prison, bound in stocks, not knowing what fate the morning would bring, was a great wonder to human thought, an incredible thing because there were no humanly logical grounds for their joyous and confident attitude and action. But, like the Shunammite woman of the Old Testament who came to Elisha under the mountainous burden of mortal belief and opinion and told him her child was dead, Paul and Silas refused to accept the mortal evidence of despair, despite its apparent frightening reality and finality. Their steadfast faith and spiritual understanding, as with the Shunammite woman whose child Elisha restored to life, was rewarded with wondrous success.

The modern age in which we are now living calls for the same high discipline of thought and action which characterized the ancient patriarchs and prophets and the other inspired people of the Scriptures. It is, as of old, so easy to take the line of least resistance, to float with, rather than swim against, the current of popular thought and opinion, just as it is easy to go along with the drift of morals in business and personal relations. Mrs. Eddy lays bare the subtle guise of this state of thought which specially confronts our modern age: "The looms of crime, hidden in the dark recesses of mortal thought, are every hour weaving webs more complicated and subtle. So secret are the present methods of animal magnetism that they ensnare the age into indolence, and produce the very apathy on the subject which the criminal desires" ^{p. 102;}

What is to call forth our wonder? Where shall we place our trust? Modern invention, today expressed in the developments of the electronic age, holds forth great opportunities to release humanity from the bondage of toil and the burden of long hours of work. It is also leading us as never before to the crossroads of which Christ Jesus spoke with such solemn implication, the choice between the broad and the narrow way. One is the way of self-indulgence and dependence on materiality. He who takes the other way, the way of spiritual integrity, does not despise the intelligent use of modern means and methods. But in the task of uplifting humanity to the perception of man's spiritual status and freedom, he is not deluded into depending on any material crutches or on the trends of popular opinion. He sticks unswervingly to the way which divine Mind directs, and discovers an ever-increasing wonder and reward in the radiance and glory of the unfolding spiritual universe.

In an article called "Pond and Purpose" Mrs. Eddy characterizes the baptismal process whereby the human consciousness is purged of materiality and brought under the control of spiritual sense. She says: "By purifying human thought, this state of mind permeates with increased harmony all the minutiae of human affairs. It brings with it wonderful foresight, wisdom, and power; it unselfs the mortal purpose, gives steadiness to resolve, and success to endeavor. Through the accession of spirituality, God, the divine Principle of Christian Science, literally governs the aims, ambition, and acts of the Scientist. The divine ruling gives prudence and energy; it banishes forever all envy, rivalry, evil thinking, evil speaking and acting; and mortal mind, thus purged, obtains peace and power outside of itself." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 204, 205.}