For all mankind there comes a time for each one to acknowledge his right to rest and to claim it. Where does rest lie? What is it? When is it to be mine? How may I attain that rest which is my divine right? These are some of the questions which mankind often ask. The Psalmist answered them when he said (Ps. 37:7), "Rest in the Lord." Christian Science answers them in the scientific demonstration of the spiritual nature of existence here and now.
True rest is spiritual. It is the natural state of man, made in the image and likeness of God. Rest heralds the end of the warfare with material sense, for material sense testimony cannot pose as real and formidable to thought that is actively conscious of Spirit alone. In its absolute sense rest is not a human attainment; it is a gift of grace. The real man is at rest in spiritual completeness. He is at the standpoint of all possible good now. Mary Baker Eddy defines man in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 591) as "the compound idea of infinite Spirit; the spiritual image and likeness of God; the full representation of Mind."
Spiritual rest is based upon God's allness and oneness and upon man's oneness, or unity, with God. Christ Jesus showed the way of attaining true rest and the immediacy of it when he said (Matt. 11:28), "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." This tender invitation extended by the Master was undoubtedly to all mankind and for all time, since he made it clear on several occasions that his teachings were universally applicable and that the healing work he did was to be done likewise by his followers. Thus it is apparent that to come to him and to lose a burdensome, laborious sense of living is to identify oneself in the manner in which he did. It is to live from the same standpoint that he did: to identify oneself with the Christ.
