In his Sermon on the Mount. Jesus, the master Christian, enumerates certain qualities of thought unquestionably essential to the gaining of the kingdom of heaven, or spiritualized consciousness. Early in this list he places the rare gem of meekness. As every Bible student knows, the phrase "Blessed are" with which each beatitude begins may be rendered. "Happy are"; and the Abingdon Bible Commentary suggests an even more felicitous reading: "Oh the happiness of." Therefore, one may picture the inspired Teacher of Nazareth exclaiming. "Oh, the happiness of the meek: for they shall inherit the earth!"

Certainly Christ Jesus was challenging the thought of his day, even as his words challenge the thought of our times, when he named meekness as a quality which should be sought after. Has not the carnal mind ever been inclined to think of meekness as weakness, of a meek individual as one who is lacking in force or courage? Someone once facetiously observed that it would be interesting to see how long the meek could keep the earth after they had inherited it! Such concepts show that humanity as a whole has not subscribed to the old English proverb. "Meekness is not weakness;" and it has been the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, who, at long last, has elevated and truly evaluated this precious Christian grace. One of the happiest things she has done is to link the word "might" with some of her references to meekness. When she speaks of Christ Jesus we find such statements as this in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 30. 31): "In meekness and might, he was found preaching the gospel to the poor. Pride and fear are unfit to bear the standard of Truth, and God will never place it in such hands."

What, then, is this meekness with which one may inherit the earth? Is not humility its twin sister? And where can be found a clearer description of true humility meekness, and their accompanying power and might than in these words of Jesus as recorded in John's Gospel (5:19): "The Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth these also doeth the Son likewise." Here is the secret of the Master's meekness and might. Because he understood all causation to be God and knew that apart from omnipotence the son could do nothing, but as reflection could do all things, this sublime humility endowed him with supernal power. In the presence of the realization of man's oneness with the Almighty, storms were stilled, disease was banished, and demons were cast out.

The manifestation of spiritual power over sensuous was conspicuous also in the experiences of Moses, of whom the Scripture speaks thus (Num. 12:3): "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." When the voice of Truth first revealed to Moses the stupendous task of leading Israel out of bondage, Moses' utter lack of pride, personal ability, or self-assurance made him protest his inadequacy for such a mighty work. But when the conviction dawned that he was not being called upon to do something of himself, and that he was motivated, inspired, and sustained by the great I AM THAT I AM. his fearlessness and boldness knew no bounds, and his demonstrations of God's power multiplied on every side. As was later the case with the humble but mighty Nazarene, the meek Moses literally inherited the earth: so-called material laws and limitations faded away, harmony supplanted discord, human needs were met and sickness was healed in the presence of his meekness and might.

Has any student of Christian Science so approached the realization and demonstration of spiritual perfection that he can aver that meekness is just a moral, transitional quality of thought, and is no concern of his? Hear this definite, scientific pronouncement of our revered Leader. Mrs. Eddy writes (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany. p. 161): "Only he who learns through meekness and love the falsity of supposititious life and intelligence in matter, can triumph over their ultimatum, sin, suffering, and death." Here, then, is a mental mercury to consult if we would measure our ability as Christian warriors to cope with the ills of the flesh. How meek are we? How loving? Are we grasping, first of all the transcendent fact that man exists as Mind's expression and not as an independent physical entity? Are we knowing that while of ourselves we can do nothing, as Spirit's expression we have dominion over the earth and its hosts?

Are we relying on the heavenly Father with the childlike trust of Moses and Christ Jesus? When commended or praised for some work well done or for some demonstration of divine power, is there a speedy, instinctive. "Thank You. Father!" rather than a thought of self-congratulation? Do we realize that what is called healing must follow the revealing, through true meekness, of man's status as spiritual idea, as the eternally harmonious expression of eternally harmonious Life and Mind?

"Meekness." writes Mrs. Eddy in her Message to The Mother Church for 1902 (p. 19). "is the armor of a Christian, his shield and his buckler. He entertains angels who listens to the lispings of repentance seen in a tear— happier than the conqueror of a world." Then a little farther on she adds: "O glorious hope! there remaineth a rest for the righteous, a rest in Christ, a peace in Love. The thought of it stills complaint; the heaving surf of life's troubled sea foams itself away, and underneath is a deep-settled calm."

John Randall Dunn