One evening someone stood on a hillside overlooking the sea. The air was still, the sea was calm, and a radiant sunset flamed in the west. As the brilliant colors changed from purple to crimson and from crimson to gold, the sea gave back a perfect reflection. Finally, when the pageant of the sunset was over, the sky was suffused with palest lavender, and this delicate shade also was reflected in the tranquil sea.

The watcher remembered the words of Christ Jesus (John 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." A correlative passage in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy reads (p. 471), "Man is, and forever has been, God's reflection." In the same book the following definition of God is given (p. 465): "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love."

Man, the spiritual image and likeness of God, reflects the qualities of infinite Mind in wisdom, intelligence, foresight, perception, and comprehension. As the reflection of Soul he is serene, calm, and at peace. Reflecting the supremacy of Spirit, he is pure, radiant, and strong. Reflecting Principle, he is governed by the basic, fundamental, undeviating laws of God, good. As the reflection of eternal Life he lives abundantly in the eternal now, conscious only of the omnipresence of the power and glory of God. He reflects the integrity and activity of Truth, which reveals spiritual reality. Reflecting Love, he blesses all who enter his thoughts and is conscious of the love of God enfolding him and all creation.

What freedom, what a falling away of burdens, comes to the one who glimpses the truth that man is God's reflection, and who in humility echoes the Master's words already quoted, "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sceth the Father do." Steadfastly endeavoring to express his true selfhood, he strives daily to overcome the errors of a mortal sense of existence in order that the radiant purity of his sinless spiritual individuality may come to light. Gladly he gives up all belief in personal ability or accomplishment, knowing that all talents are his by reflection. He strives to realize that health and strength are not in matter, but that man reflects the substance of Spirit, the beauty of holiness, and the power of endless Life. He claims with confidence that since God is infinite, there is no limit or boundary to what he can achieve as the individualized reflection of infinite Mind. He acknowledges with gratitude that, since God is the source and origin of all good, he lacks nothing, but by reflection has an abundance of all that he needs.

He knows that because man is God's reflection, nothing can happen to him unless it can happen to God; therefore he cannot be the victim of accidents. This was proved in the experience of a student of Christian Science who while doing some vigorous house cleaning caught her thumbnail on a projection, bending it back and tearing it loose from the flesh. For a moment there was intense pain, but immediately she declared with conviction, "Nothing discordant has happened to God, so it cannot happen to me, for man is God's reflection." Immediately all discomfort ceased, and there was no further evidence of the occurrence.

We can dwell in confidence, safety, and peace, secure in the knowledge that nothing can happen to man unless it can first happen to God, and that the purity and perfection, the radiance and glory, of God, which are manifested through the Christ, are forever reflected by man.

The thought of reflection is associated with light. One who reflects the divine nature has a radiant countenance. When Moses came down from Mount Horeb after receiving the Commandments his thought was so spiritually illumined that his face shone, and this radiance was so dazzling that he had to cover his face, because mortal eyes could not look upon it. Christ Jesus communed with God on the mountain at the time of the transfiguration and his whole being was illumined with spiritual light, so that not only did he himself express this divine radiance, but even his clothing was bright. Matthew records that "his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light" (17:2).

The writer knows a spiritually-minded woman of advanced years whose expression is always so radiant and serene that she was impelled to say to her, "Whenever I look at you I think of the radiance of Soul." One was not conscious so much of the facial features as of the spiritual qualities which she expressed.

The individual who would reflect the radiant qualities of the divine nature must strive for sinlessness and purity. When selfishness gives place to kindness, self-righteousness to humility, sensualism to purity, and self-will to self-abnegation, then the thought is being transformed by Spirit, and the individual gradually finds himself reflecting more of the divine nature, the radiance of spiritual being.

Christ Jesus said (Matt. 5:13, 14): "Ye are the salt of the earth. ... Ye are the light of the world." Our Leader, referring to the Master's words, said (Science and Health, p. 367), "Let us watch, work, and pray that this salt lose not its saltness, and that this light be not hid, but radiate and glow into noontide glory."