How significant this statement! And yet how few, although they have read many times, and heard as often, really see its Spiritual import. How beautifully it points to the thought that our "physical life" is not sustained by that which, to the materialist, is known as the essential to keep the purely human mechanism in running order; and leads us to inquire for something else which is indicated as a necessary element in the life of man.
If man does not live by bread alone, what else is required to give him fulness of life? Manifestly, that which belongs to his moral nature; the Spiritual power which takes him out of the thought that mortal life is real, and shows him that understanding of Spirit is the only complete manhood. Jesus' declaration was made to break the spell that, at the time, seemed to hold men in the belief that the life was preserved through care for the mortal body, and to direct thought to the question of the supreme value of Spiritual discernment. This declaration harmonizes with his other teachings; that in this realm of sense we are in bondage; while with understanding of Spiritual power, we are made free, —enabled to reach the full stature of our manhood.
What a faint conception mortals have of the power of man! What a sad spectacle to see the greater number passing through life aimlessly, or with no higher aim than to accumulate wealth, or get all enjoyment possible on the material plane! giving no thought to their real life-work; knowing not their own possibilities for accomplishment; ignorant of the fact that they possess unlimited power, if only they will come into the understanding of how to bring it out.
