ONE of the many interesting signs of these interesting and changing times is the evident stir going on in the consciousness of youth, observable in its struggle to express its high hopes, to define them to itself and to the world, and to translate them into achievement. This stir is manifesting itself in the organizing of the activities of youth in many lands and in many forms. Youth is asserting itself unmistakably; it is demanding and finding a place in government, in business, in invention, in science, and in religion.
Youthfulness may be regarded as a state of mind, a manner of thinking. It includes courage, zeal, hope, expectancy, grace, beauty, strength. These qualities reflect the divine nature and are eternal, and in their true sense can be used only for purposes of good.
Throughout all time mankind has dreamed of an eternal youth; and now, in Christian Science, is revealed the secret of it as a spiritual condition, as, indeed, centuries ago it was revealed in the teachings of Jesus the Christ. In this Science God is seen to be Mind—divine, infinite, eternal— expressing Himself in ideas which partake of His nature. Thus we see that eternal youth, expressing the freshness, beauty, continuity, and strength of immortal divine ideas, is far different from the human concept of youth as identified exclusively with material conditions of physical strength and fewness of years. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, expresses this thought simply and beautifully in the Preface of "Miscellaneous Writings," when she writes (pp. ix, x): "Truly may it be said: There is an old age of the heart, and a youth that never grows old; a Love that is a boy, and a Psyche who is ever a girl. The fleeting freshness of youth, however, is not the evergreen of Soul; the coloring glory of perpetual bloom; the spiritual glow and grandeur of a consecrated life wherein dwelleth peace, sacred and sincere in trial or in triumph."
