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."
Sometimes, as mortals grow out of adolescence into young manhood and womanhood, they seem to lose interest in religion. They come to look upon it as dry, uninteresting, of little practical value, and as interfering with one's enjoyment of life. What reply does Christian Science offer to this view? Its answer is in no sense a negation of any proper ambition or desire, but rather a guiding of the ambitions and desires of youth into their proper and helpful channels of expression, wherein they are protected from the obstructive and destructive forces of materialism.
Youth loves adventure; it loves action. What has Christian Science to offer to adventure-loving youth which is really and truly satisfying? In the first place, it points to Biblical examples. The public ministry of Jesus of Nazareth was filled with such marvelous activities as history has never recorded before or since. Deeply interesting, too, are the recorded journeyings of that Christian warrior, Paul, whose early zeal, as Saul of Tarsus, needed to be redirected and rightly guided before it could ripen into worth-while achievement. Shipwrecks, imprisonment, attacks, contacts of all kinds and conditions, were manfully met and mastered through his understanding of God, divine Spirit. These journeyings were not undertaken from any mere personal desire for material excitement or self -gratification; they were undertaken with the highest and most Godlike motives, and were essentially spiritual experiences. Jesus and this apostle were imbued with the all-impelling desire to help mankind to know the bliss of spiritual living, and to show them the way of eternal life. In all the history of the human race can there be found higher bravery, more ardent and selfless service, or more lasting achievement than is shown forth in these two characters as portrayed in Biblical history?
Christian Science presents to youth, as well as to maturity, unlimited opportunity. Christ Jesus commanded those who accepted his teachings to go into all the world, preaching the gospel and healing the sick and the sinner. Christian Science makes plain how this may be done in the present day and age, and so opens the door of opportunity to the youth of to-day whereby its proper love of activity and freshness may be satisfied to the glory of God and the advancement of the race. The practice of Christian Science involves an endless variety of experience, for God is infinite and is continually unfolding His bountiful goodness in newness of ideas, freshness of inspiration, and ever broadening hope.
The prizes and rewards of purely material striving are but temporal, fleeting and fading as the mists of morning; they are unworthy of sincere spiritual effort. The struggle for spiritual attainments is a glorious warfare, and the reward is eternal life. Eternal life, as Christian Science shows, does not mean merely the promise of perpetual living after death, but life without discord, friction, or decay. That means life harmonious, here and now; life free from sickness, disease, lack, failure, weariness, depletion, inaction. No reward could be greater than that; no goal could be more worthy of one's wholehearted devotion.
There seems to be a belief that a young person has a certain natural inclination toward evil, and that he must "get it out of his system," as the saying is, by indulging it, or it will cause trouble later on. It is folly, however, to suppose that evil can be destroyed by indulging it. Any such argument for the necessity of evil is false and deceitful. Christian Science shows this belief to be the very opposite of the truth, for the Bible says plainly that the real man is the express image of a loving creator, who is perfect in goodness and purity. How, then, as the pathway of life unfolds, and as opportunities and responsibilities increase, are we to preserve and protect those divine qualities of eternal youth? By understanding their divine origin; through learning that goodness, purity, zeal, enthusiasm, health, strength, endurance, right desires, are not of one's self, but of God; not of matter, but of Spirit. Having their place in the divine Mind, spiritual qualities are there kept uncontaminated, unspoiled, unwasted, and unscarred. They are everlastingly sustained.
The almost universal desire to preserve the sense of youth, to continue to exercise the qualities and abilities of youth, is a natural and most excellent one. Let us not make the mistake, however, of supposing that these qualities and abilities are personal or material. Only by forsaking the basis of matter and building on a pure, spiritual foundation can eternal youth be won.
Moses was educated in the best that the material civilization of Egypt had to offer, and yet at forty, his efforts seemed to end in failure, and he was forced to flee and to begin over again as a humble shepherd in Midian. It took him another forty years so to lift his thinking to a spiritual basis that when needing wisdom, guidance, and strength he could talk with God and listen to His voice. Continuing his work on a spiritual basis, at the age of one hundred and twenty, after forty years of mighty works and glorious achievement, he was still truly young, according to the Biblical record, with his eye undimmed and his natural force unabated.
The Bible contains many prophecies of the passing away of all material things, even of time itself. In Revelation it is recorded that John heard the angel declare that "there should be time no longer." Why should the mere passing of time cause one to fade, to die? There is no reason. The belief that this is so is a curse to the human race; and in Christian Science this belief is being met, mastered, and destroyed by Truth. Longevity has increased since the discovery of Christian Science in 1866. As Mrs. Eddy has so beautifully said in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 246), "Let us then shape our views of existence into loveliness, freshness, and continuity, rather than into age and blight."
The glorious message of Christian Science comes to many at a time when the world and the future seem dark and uninteresting, when cynicism is painting life in dull, somber colors indeed. Tired of the unsatisfying husks of materialism, they are receiving Christian Science with eagerness. What joy! What renewals! What heavenly promise! Thus does the gospel of Christian Science bring sweet healing to the "old age of the heart," replacing it with the sense of "a youth that never grows old."
The Christian Scientist delights to preach this new-old gospel to all the world, for he loves to see the truth do for others what it is doing for him. He clearly discerns the "signs of the times." He sees the enlightening effect of Truth as it permeates every department of human thinking and activity. He finds, in the opportunities for demonstrating the power of Spirit which his daily tasks afford him, deep satisfaction and a stilling of those untamed desires of the human heart which, if carried out, all too often turn experience into empty mockery.
Happy in serving God and his fellow man, the student of Christian Science finds that each day brings to him freshness and newness. His heart is grateful and his hopes are high, for he has learned that, as Mrs. Eddy has written in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 158), "We live in an age of Love's divine adventure to be All-in-all." Thus does he see fulfilled the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah: "Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
