On a quiet morning in our small tourist town, three men entered my tiny, one-woman shop. The youngest positioned himself before the closed door. The other two confronted me. In threatening language, they demanded a considerable sum of money. At that moment of confrontation, my fear exceeded any human emotion I had ever experienced. It was difficult to breathe and to remain in an upright position. One of the men noticed my terror and said, "Look how scared you are! I hate to talk to a woman like this! I'd rather talk to a man. Where is your husband?"

The last remark was a catalyst. Amid the crushing fear, I heard the quiet voice of Truth. The message of God's perfect idea, man, came to me. I caught a clear glimpse of the ever-presence and power of the Christ, Truth. I saw that I represented the wholeness of God's man, the Christ ideal of Life, Truth, and Love. I expressed the strength and power of the Son of God!

With this strong mental surge of the scientific consciousness of the real man, the atmosphere in the shop immediately changed. The most vociferous of the men spoke quietly now, "I'm sorry I spoke to you like that," and left the store. The two men remaining were stunned, and one said, "I never heard him talk like that before." And they, too, departed.

What had taken place in here? A statement from Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, describing Adam's response to the divine call, throws light on the incident: "Ashamed before Truth, error shrank abashed from the divine voice calling out to the corporeal senses." ^{Science and Health, p. 532;} An incident that had begun as a holdup was made to evidence the very presence of God and the activity of His Christ. This is the power of Christly consciousness revealed in Christian Science. Appropriating the Christly nature and stature as our own identity, we are vested with divine strength and protection.

In the New Testament we read how Peter and John healed the man lame from his birth, through a spiritual sense of the name—that is, the nature—of the Christ. They must have seen the alms seeker as expressing the divine nature of Life, Truth, and Love, the Son of God. For when Peter said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk," the man "leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God." ^{Acts 3:6, 8;} With their recognition of immortal manhood, the Christ ideal, Peter and John had helped lift the crippled individual into a greater expression of his real being. In a sense, he walked (and leaped!) away from the crippling beliefs of a selfhood born in matter.

Through the unfoldment of specific spiritual ideas, we turn away from the limitations of material selfhood to the strength of Christ. This is a spiritual exercise. One way to examine and enlarge our understanding of the nature of God and His idea, man, is study of the Bible and Science and Health through the use of Concordances. Utilizing the ideas acquired, we Christianize life and begin to express the qualities of God that constitute our real being.

Progress comes by living the attributes of God, divine Love, in our day-to-day experiences. Science and Health states: "Progress is born of experience. It is the ripening of mortal man, through which the mortal is dropped for the immortal." ^{Science and Health, p. 296;} In adopting all the qualities of God and cherishing them as included in our distinct and present individuality, we are truly living the Word of God.

The utility of these concepts has been proved in my experience as a businesswoman. I have found that by acknowledging and identifying with the divine qualities of God that belong to the manhood of God, the working woman can achieve equality of status and remuneration in the business world. Her whole and distinct individuality in the divine image—consciously entertained—will be sensed by her colleagues. The necessary respect and recognition will be accorded to the completeness of God's man. This spiritual completeness is fully explained in Science and Health in terms of the Revelator's vision: "The Lamb's wife presents the unity of male and female as no longer two wedded individuals, but as two individual natures in one; and this compounded spiritual individuality reflects God as Father-Mother, not as a corporeal being." ^{ibid., p. 577.}

The unity of the qualities of the manhood and womanhood of God is the true bliss of divine consciousness. In the Father-Mother we are complete, safe, and strong.