In one of the most engaging and thought-provoking passages in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Mary Baker Eddy makes this arresting assertion (p. 125); "The astronomer will no longer look up to the stars,—he will look out from them upon the universe." In the paragraph immediately preceding she sets forth with bold pen strokes the great fact that as human thought advances Spiritward man, God's reflection, will be seen to be governed not by material sense, but by Soul.

"Behold the height of the stars, how high they are!" (Job 22: 12.) The human mind is stirred by contemplation of the heavenly hosts. For centuries, fired by the beauty and sublime harmony of the stellar universe, men have appropriated it metaphorically. From a careful study of the above-mentioned passage it was evident to the writer that in these pages Mrs. Eddy expounds the allness of Spirit and the absolute nothingness of matter. He saw that the stars might be thought of as typifying high and holy thoughts, and that Mrs. Eddy's statement about no longer looking up to the stars but looking out from them upon the universe could be considered as a demand that we acknowledge the universe as spiritual, not material. He interpreted this demand to mean: No longer look up longingly to glorious ideals above your grasp—look out now from such heights upon the universe. Reason from the basis of spiritual perfection, waiting no longer to utilize your God-given ability.

The human mind usually rebels at such a mental attitude and altitude, calling it visionary, fanciful, delusive. But it is none of these, for Christian Science, which reveals the perfection of God's law and the immediacy of its application to human problems, is genuinely practical idealism. It is not "too good to be true;" rather is it the kind of idealism which encourages men to rely less and less upon the false material sense of things and more and more upon the spiritual sense, which leads out of mental darkness—depression, fear, sin, disease, and all kinds of limitations and sorrows.

Is it too much to say that the great thinkers who have contributed most to the world's progress have been idealists who have made their idealism practical? Our Leader was such an idealist, demonstrating that when reason and revelation are both based upon pure intelligence, or divine Mind, they coincide, with vast benefits to mankind. Holding aloft the light of her spiritual vision, Mrs. Eddy has illumined the way for countless thousands.

Many carefully verified accounts exist of the glorious healing and redemptive work done by Mrs. Eddy. Through the prayerful application of her knowledge of man as the perfect likeness of perfect God many lives were elevated to a keener awareness of man's genuine spiritual nature and of the freedom which follows a proper understanding of God.

In "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" appears some important correspondence between Mrs. Eddy and a Christian Scientist of that day relating to the question of working from the basis of the spiritual ideal, rather than up to it. Under the heading "Mrs. Eddy's Reply" (p. 242) we find this valuable information: "Christian Science is absolute; it is neither behind the point of perfection nor advancing towards it; it is at this point and must be practised therefrom. Unless you fully perceive that you are the child of God, hence perfect, you have no Principle to demonstrate and no rule for its demonstration."

Yes, we must work from the standpoint of perfection. Even if from our present standpoint of limited human vision we seem unable fully to behold the spiritual man and universe of Mind's creating, we can, with the altar light of absolute faith, become sufficiently aware of the ever-presence of spiritual perfection to cause the human mind to yield to the divine. Spiritual understanding brings healing.

A clear illustration of the value of learning to practice from the standpoint of spiritual perfection, rather than mortal sense testimony, is seen in the following experience. For several months the writer had noticed a lump on the back of his hand. It did not hurt, so he neglected to deal with it as Christian Science had well equipped him to do. Occasionally he made a few routine denials of its seeming reality, but by the end of four months it had assumed rather alarming proportions and had also become quite unsightly.

Then one day he took time specifically to handle this problem, consecrating his thought to proving the verity of God's presence and infinite power and the consequent unrealness of the growth. He worked for some time, declaring that this condition was not a product of the only creative Principle, God, and thus did not belong to man. He saw clearly that since error had never been created, it was but an illusion; that it had neither substance, life, nor presence. Finally he said to himself, 'Now look away from this error—don't see it as something real." Then came the powerful, conviction-laden thought: "Even though you may look right at it physically, you won't see anything real. Because God doesn't see it, it can have no place in His universe of reality."

Gratefully he paused to contemplate this new mental viewpoint. All fear of the apparent condition had vanished, and he understood that what he saw materially was but a mirage of the carnal mind. One of the illuminating thoughts which came to him was, "If on a blackboard were written 2 × 2 = 5, you would see it, but you wouldn't believe it." Within a few hours every trace of the growth had disappeared. This occurred two years ago, and the healing, which has been permanent, has brought a grateful realization of the efficacy of the spiritual idealism taught by Christian Science.

Are you still afraid to be called an idealist? What is a true idealist but one who, consistently holding to his conviction of spiritual reality, takes steps which practically demonstrate it? This kind of looking out from the stars, so to speak, the Christian Scientist aims to make his steadfast viewpoint rather than to exercise it only for the gain of some specific healing or material advancement. In so doing he finds that frequent instances of protection and manifestations of loving kindness are his. In commenting on Emerson's much-quoted "Hitch your wagon to a star," Mrs. Eddy in "Unity of Good" (p. 17) assures us that as we ally ourselves to the deific power, our journey will be aided by all that is good.

The stars shine not only when the eye beholds them. Their light continues whether they be obscured by cloud or overshadowed by the brightness of day. Thus it may figuratively be said that by day and by night we ever stand in the presence of the stars. Through the illuminations of Christian Science we can all gain the understanding that man forever reflects the high and holy thoughts which emanate from God, divine Mind, even the Mind which looks out upon man and the universe from the spiritual heights of its own perfection. The prophecy is (Dan. 12:3), "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."