In the Old Testament it is recorded that after a period of mourning and fasting, Daniel came to the river Hiddekel, where, he said, "There came ... and touched me one like the appearance of a man, ... and said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong." He was previously bidden to "understand the words ... and stand upright." There can be no doubt whatever that in this intuitive experience the recognition of his spiritual manhood quickened and strengthened Daniel, banished his mental darkness, and made him divinely aware of God's love for man.

Can the same vision, the same strength, bless us to-day? Can we reach the spiritual heights symbolized by Hiddekel? We assuredly can, for Mrs. Eddy defines "Hiddekel" as "divine Science understood and acknowledged" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 588). In this understanding of real being, coupled with acknowledgment, or owning, lies the power of every demonstration in Christian Science.

Before this invigorating vision of man touched Daniel's consciousness he describes himself as having been "in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground." Before the light of Christian Science dawned on us, were not we more or less asleep in materiality, our face to the ground, dispirited, and subjected, by unenlightenment, to sin and suffering? But the same invigorating message holds good to-day: "Be strong, yea, be strong." In other words, behold the unfallen image of man, and be that man, for in the sight of God, the all-knowing, there is no fallen man.

Christian Science having revealed to us the allness of God, good, correlatively teaches us to think as man, and no longer as a mortal. The Christian Scientist has the divine ability to resist every temptation to fall away from true thinking. The phantoms of discord haunt only the slough of materialism, and they vanish before the progressive demonstration of true manhood. Like Daniel, each one must rise to feel himself "greatly beloved." He must manifest the dominion of Christ, Truth, in his daily experience. He must obey divine Principle, and reflect divine Love to others in order that they too may prove their God-given identity as man.

Although Jesus was pressed on all sides by the material evidences of sin, sickness, death, and was pursued by the malice of materialists, God, good, alone was real to him. By his own poise and purity, and his dominant spiritual understanding, he brought to light health, intelligence, purity, life, where these seemed to be absent. Because Jesus thought, felt, spoke, and acted as man, God's witness, he was able to call forth clearer expressions of manhood in others. Owing to his spiritual power, derived from God, no human problems, however testing, baffled him. He surely realized that man dwells in divine Mind, the object of divine Love. The same heavenly Father on whom Christ Jesus consciously relied, and never in vain, is present to reveal uprightness and freedom to every man, woman, and child to-day.

We cannot know how Jesus employed his sacred hours of prayer, but the same communion which strengthened him in his holy mission is indispensable to his followers. The mesmerism of mortality can be dispelled only by the sense of Godlikeness, and in order to solve human problems one must feel spiritually above them. Godlikeness can be gained only through study, consecration, and demonstration.

Mrs. Eddy received from divine Mind the spiritual vision and strength which enabled her to be the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. With God-bestowed strength and endurance born of universal Love she established this vision which is now reaching all mankind through her writings and the organization which she founded. Hers was no fleeting mortal vision or strength; it was established spiritual vision and power. Through the same God which enabled Mrs. Eddy to carry through her mission, the touch of divine Love can be felt by one and all, even as it was felt by "Jesus, the loved of the Father, the loved of Love" (Christian Healing, p. 2).

The Christian Scientist is hourly called upon to "stand upright" and not go down under any aggressive mental suggestion. He knows how to keep bright his spiritual defense by refusing to admit that man has fallen, and by himself bringing into expression the characteristics of spiritual man. The question is, Does he always do it? Some stumbling there may be, but also rising; and in proportion as he is true to the teachings of Christian Science, every student will find himself equipped to triumph more and more quickly over the errors of material sense through the power and purity of spiritual sense.

Loyalty to God and to the revelation of Christian Science impels the Christian Scientist to obey the imperative command coming directly from divine Principle to each one: "O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong."

Violet Ker Seymer