Nearly nineteen centuries have passed since amidst the flowery plains and hills of Palestine, was heard the angelic chorus, "Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, good will to men," announcing the coming, and heralding the birth of a Teacher of immortal Truth; one who said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Spoken in one language and translated into others, coming down through the dark ages, through times of persecution when the Massacre of hundreds of Christians in one day was deemed holy work; through the mediæval times when Church and State were united, and thereby became a foe more destructive than the previous persecutions; then through the period of the Reformation, a time in which a large part of the world was held in the darkness of Romish idolatry and superstition,—yet after all these years, and through all these seeming barriers, we find these words of the Master still shining resplendent on the inspired page, their spiritual lustre intact to the spiritually illumined. Written on parchment, some of them hidden for ages in some valuable ones only recently discovered, and each one bringing some new light to the world, the words of the Bible come to us clothed with the assurance of their divine authenticity by the very fact of their marvellous preservation, and show the Truth of the Master's saying.
Many of us have thought, If I could have seen the personal Jesus and listened to his words, how easy it would have been to have been cleansed of sin and healed of sickness! Let us consider this matter carefully and intelligently. Do we realize that we can become disciples of the Christ the same as his followers were in the first century?
Disciple means student (Science and Health), so the disciples were students, learning of Jesus. What was it that Jesus endeavored through all these years of his ministry to impress upon the minds of his hearers? This, that it was his Father through him that did the work, and spoke the words; that he of himself could do nothing; that it was the Christ, not the mortal, material part that performed the mighty works. This same Christ is with us to-day, because we are made in the image and likeness of God, and the real substance-part of every man is the spiritual.
