READERS of the book of Acts are familiar with the passage with which its third chapter begins, recounting the meeting of Peter and John with the one who had so long lain in a seemingly helpless condition at the temple gate,—"the gate . . . called Beautiful." It will be recalled that it had been the latter's custom to be carried there daily, to beg alms of those who passed in and out of the temple, until that day when Peter "took him by the right hand, and lifted him up," so that he entered into the temple with Peter and John, "leaping, and praising God."

Daily, for years, this man had lain at the gateway, and probably within actual sight of that which it was fitting and opportune for him to enter, and possess, and enjoy. Some evil sense held him captive just there, where he must needs be content to watch the coming and going of others, whom he would naturally deem more fortunate than himself, and to beg and accept from them some portion of what they had gathered. It must have been a tantalizing situation to him; and we can well believe that, having been confronted with it these long years, he had become persuaded that it was indeed his lot for life, and that he could not look for anything different or beyond it.

But there came the day when all these beliefs were proved to be fraudulent, and were destroyed in a moment; for there rested upon the sufferer the gaze of those who possessed an understanding of the Christ, Truth, sufficient to unmask evil's pretensions and prove their nothingness. The disciples did not satisfy his expectations by dispensing to him the alms for which he begged; but instead, through their knowledge of the truth, he was lifted up and freed from his long bondage, so that he could pass through the gate Beautiful with others, to share in those things which it was fitting and opportune that he should have to use and enjoy! It was a wonderful moment; and we do not fail to observe that, as he took advantage of it, he was found praising God for his deliverance!

Of course it was not a miracle, in the generally accepted meaning of the term. We can imagine the vehemence with which Peter would have denied the suggestion that it was, —practical, matter-of-fact Peter, who out of his own experience had gained for himself the comforting assurance, which he has shared with all mankind, that "God is no respecter of persons." How could God withhold from any of His children that which belongs to them; or place it in the keeping of another, to dole out as charity? Peter made it quite clear that he acted "in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth," the word "name" meaning character or nature, as it so often does in the sacred writings.

It would indeed be difficult to estimate the comfort and salvation there is for all mankind in the conviction that God has granted to one nothing which He has not granted equally to all. Out of it can be visioned the attainable goal toward which we all can and must strive, in the accomplishment of similar deeds. And their necessity is ever with us; for do we not see this liberated one as the prototype of humanity? True, we may not have lain at any temple gate in a literal sense; but have not many of us been under the restraint of something which has seemed to deprive us of that which it is fitting and opportune for us to have? This seeming something may have been a sense of physical disability, or financial limitation, or domestic discord, or any other one of a numerous train of evils having a common origin in the false belief of separation from God,—from good. It may have bound us so long that we had come to feel it as our common lot, and that we must be resigned to it and expect nothing else. It may have blinded us so that we could not recognize our deliverance when it presented itself, even as in the case of the impotent one when Peter stopped before him.

Perhaps this is our experience even to-day; and if so, let us rejoice to know that there is no necessity for it, and that we too can step out of it healed, even as was the one so long ago. It matters not how aggravated the seeming may be, let us take hope now, knowing upon what our hope is founded. The same divine Principle which Peter understood, and to which he appealed so effectively, is still present, ever active and available. It was revealed by Mary Baker Eddy; and this revelation she termed Christian Science. In her writings, and especially in the textbook of this Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," she has made clear how this liberating power of God may be sought, and, more than that, found, to the destruction of everything which is unlike the bestowals of an all-wise and all-loving Father.

Christian Science explains to the discouraged that it matters not a particle how long the seeming adverse condition has continued, since a lie has no more substance at any period of its imposition than it had at its seeming inception. All that is needed to accomplish the destruction of any error, at any moment, is to apply to it the truth it claims to have reversed. Mrs. Eddy says, "Truth is always the victor" (Science and Health, p. 380). There is nothing in this statement to support the fear that the activity of the truth may be cumbered by the notion of time.

May we therefore take courage, and stand in the expectation of seeing justified in our own experiences that confident declaration of our beloved Leader: "Citizens of the world, accept the 'glorious liberty of the children of God,' and be free! This is your divine right. The illusion of material sense, not divine law, has bound you, entangled your free limbs, crippled your capacities, enfeebled your body, and defaced the tablet of your being" (Science and Health, p. 227). The affirmations and denials of divine Science carry the elements of freedom; and there is indeed inspiration in the thought that it is ours to accept.