Great and noble were the aspirations of David. Continually he lifted his eyes and knew the joy of victory; but then the disappointments and failures of mortal existence, and his own incapacity to deal with them, blotted out the hilltops, enclosing him again within the shadowed restrictions of the valley.

How clearly did Mary Baker Eddy see that divine aspiration alone, sustained by Principle and unhampered by the fluctuations and disabilities of personal sense, upholds men at all times. Writing to those who were called upon to take her message of Truth out into the world, she thus reminded them of where their strength and permanence were to be found. "You soar only as uplifted by God's power, or you fall for lack of the divine impetus," she writes on page 248 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany." Only as men attain to the understanding that uplifted thought is not at the mercy of event or personal feeling, but is maintained by Principle, do they realize that aspiration is not something beyond and above continuous attainment, but is forever unfolding within them.

Mind sustains its own idea. Something of this did the prophet Isaiah set forth when he wrote: "A vineyard of red wine. I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." Men lifting their eyes to what appears so far beyond their grasp and power of possession, except in brief and glorious glimpses, have pressed on through dark and desperate days in the face of setbacks and dire failures, light in their hearts, because they believed that in the measure of their fidelity and consecration they would be nearer to and worthier of their goal. They have known that if they ceased to look up, then they ceased also to be spiritually alive. Thus did Browning's words in "Andrea del Sarto" set forth human aspiration and endeavor:

Willingness to be satisfied with what has been already grasped, with that which is less than heaven, receives no encouragement in Christian Science. To reach ever onward until heaven is attained, to feel the divine impulse in every righteous grasp on good—this is to be worthily and effectively in God's service, and the recipient of His power.

Men are conscious of aspiration as they lift up their eyes and behold the hills, but this is not enough. Aspiration must not be mistaken for demonstration. The thought that rises in God's strength may be aware of many temptations to fold its wings, or at least to be pressed downward in fear, depression, or sheer selfishness. But it will continue to soar. In valiant, vigorous resolution it will reach upward and outward to greater heights and surer victories. He who perceives the place where Spirit reigns, and where man belongs, will not be satisfied with the valley, even though it appear peaceful and sheltered. He will not lower his eyes from the hills. To separate ideal and action, to admire afar off, to contemplate and not to emulate, to observe and not to prove, mean not only failure to reach heaven, but also a loosening grasp upon what has been already attained.

In Miscellany (p. 238) are these words: "On the swift pinions of spiritual thought man rises above the letter, law, or morale of the inspired Word to the spirit of Truth, whereby the Science is reached that demonstrates God." No longer divorced and irreconcilable are heaven and earth—the spiritual and the humanly demonstrable. In the Science which demonstrates God, the noble thought and lofty aspiration, together with the smallest detail of human affairs, are uplifted and preserved. In the healing of sickness and the deliverance from sin, in humanity made manifest to all mankind, the mission of the Christ as demonstrated by Jesus is exemplified.

Jesus, talking to his disciples, told them that having revealed and demonstrated the Christ among them he must go away; but he gave them this assurance: "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." He who has discerned the Christ knows that forever a place is being prepared for him who trustingly goes forward. Holding steadfastly to what he knows, to what he has already proved of man's spiritual selfhood, he seeks in intelligent consecration, in joyful acceptance of real being, to be ever where Truth receives him unto itself. The divine impetus does not fail him who, his eyes on the hills, soars upwards on the pinions of selfless, radiant giving.

In "Christ My Refuge" Mrs. Eddy writes (Poems, p. 13):

Here is set forth what must be the aspiration of every follower of our beloved Leader. In prayer and devotion, in love for God and man, in consecration and service, is unfolded the nature of the Christ, the source of all inspiration and all love.

Evelyn F. Heywood