That Christ Jesus possessed the ability to discern the thoughts of those in his presence, as well as to read "the signs of the times," the four Gospels contain ample proof. One of the most convincing examples of this is found in the story of "a certain ruler" whose visit to the Master is set forth with the dramatic effect in Luke's Gospel, a story which contains valuable lessons for the Christian Scientist. This ruler, it appears, having arrived at the stage of human experience where he was taking thought of the future state, came to Jesus with the inquiry, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" His salutation, "Good Master," Jesus quickly rebuked with the assurance that "none is good, save one, that is, God," thus pointing to the divine All-Father as the source of all good. With his unprecedented consciousness of the presence of good and of its divine source, Jesus flatly refused the implication that good could originate in himself.

Jesus then impressed upon the inquirer the necessity of keeping the commandments of Moses, admonishing him thus: "Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother." The ruler immediately assured Jesus that he had kept the Decalogue from his youth up. Yet apparently he had not found in these negations that which satisfied his longing for assurance of continuous life, of individual existence beyond the experience termed death. The Commandments which he had assiduously kept had not brought him the comfort he sought. Something was lacking. He was still seeking.

So perfectly did Jesus read the man's mentality that he was enabled not only to discover precisely the mental attitude which needed correction, but he was also able to supply the remedy. "Yet lackest thou one thing," he told him. "Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me." This was for the ruler "an hard saying" indeed, a condition he was not prepared to fulfill; for we read that he went away "very sorrowful: for he was very rich."

How convinced is the reader of this narrative that Jesus was indeed the great Metaphysician! Did he not uncover the difficulty with unerring precision? His diagnosis of the ruler's thought was perfect. The ruler believed that he was rich; he was holding to his sense of possessions, to his herds of sheep and goats, of camels and donkeys, to his many tents and much equipment, to all that constituted the wealth of a rich ruler in that distant age, as true substance. To part with all these would, indeed, make him sorrowful, very sorrowful, unless he had transformed his concept of wealth from a material to a spiritual basis, had caught some glimpse of what constitutes true riches.

Jesus' instructions were explicit. The ruler was to sell his property and distribute to the poor as a preliminary step to the possession of true riches, the treasure in heaven which was promised in no uncertain terms. If he followed the conditions laid down, the outcome was sure. "Thou shalt have treasure in heaven" was spoken with finality, with full assurance. What was this treasure in heaven which was to be gained as a reward for such obedience? It was the true sense of substance; the understanding that, since Spirit is infinite, Spirit is the only substance. In other words, he was to change his thought from a material to a spiritual basis; to cease regarding matter, even in the forms most attractive to the Oriental of that day, as substance, or as constituting true riches. This false concept was to be given up, abandoned, before he could gain that spiritualized consciousness which knows Spirit to be the only substance. The Master's instructions lacked nothing in clarity or definiteness; no man, either the ruler or another, could serve both God and mammon; could gain eternal life while holding to a false sense of substance.

The sentences which follow are also illuminating. Observing the ruler's apparent inability to accept the true import of his message, Jesus said, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!" Christian Science makes it very clear that spiritual consciousness is gained only as the false sense of substance is abandoned, laid off. One cannot gain the true sense of substance while clinging to the false! The true sense of substance is gained by both laying off the false material sense of substance and persistently holding to the fact that Spirit is the only substance. In this way alone do we become followers of the Way-shower and gain eternal life.

Mrs. Eddy sets forth the necessity of this identical process in varying phrase and with great emphasis. "What is termed matter is unknown to Spirit, which includes in itself all substance and is Life eternal," she writes on page 469 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Understanding of Spirit as the only substance is the gaining of the forever existence the ruler sought. Knowledge of the nature and attributes of God both reveals true substance and gains eternal life. Nothing could be plainer. Nothing could be more important to mankind. It is the way of salvation for all.

Jesus' words do not necessarily condemn the possession of material things termed riches, but rather the false sense of substance. One in poverty might have as mistaken a sense of true substance as had the rich ruler. Poverty of itself is not the symbol of spiritual understanding. In fact, it is quite the opposite; for in Christian Science it is learned that spiritual understanding, knowledge of Spirit as the only substance, lifts one out of the sense of limitation described as poverty, into the sense of abundance. "God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies," Mrs. Eddy declares on page 307 of "Miscellaneous Writings." Spiritual ideas thus become the means whereby daily supply is made manifest. And surely one is not in poverty whose daily supplies are the result of the gaining of spiritual ideas, which manifest true substance.

Mankind's great need is to correct its concept of substance; to lay hold of the great fact that Spirit, God, is the only substance, which by reflection man possesses in unlimited measure. The rich ruler did not know this. Failing to catch the spiritual meaning of Jesus' instructions, he went away in the sorrowful belief that were he to obey and sell his property he would be penniless, in poverty. The rich man and the poor alike need the lesson so wonderfully set forth. Competence, even abundance, is at hand for all: and all, through spiritual understanding, may share generously in the affluence of God. But the preliminary steps must be taken and the way followed, in order to gain the goal which in the ultimate all mortals must seek and find, the abundance of Spirit, which is Life eternal.

Copyright, 1931, by The Christian Science Publishing Society, Falmouth and St. Paul Streets, Boston, Massachusetts. Entered at Boston post office as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing at a special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 11, 1918.