NO one can become acquainted with the leading events of St. Paul's life without realizing that it constitutes an epic of splendid mold. More than this, he cannot fail to discover that the greatness of this man and the greatness of his deeds sprang from his exaltation of the Christ-idea. This was his one purpose and theme, and so absorbed was he in it, so abiding and continuous was its inspiration, that we at once recognize the peculiar fitness of that epitome of his own experience which he gave in his remarkable words, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." For him Christ was "the end of the law for righteousness," and he could say, "Whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." In every event and circumstance "the love of Christ" constrained him to bring "every thought to the obedience of Christ," and in unnumbered varying phrases he expresses that conscious identification with Christ, in thought and deed, which is the goal of all spiritual aspiration. However great his burden of suffering and care, however keen his sense of isolation and loneliness, however unpromising his earthly outlook, and however saddening the forgetfulness and ingratitude of those for whom he labored,—in every hour and every experience his consciousness of the Christ brought him unfailing satisfaction and strength. Here he found faith's full compensation, the sufficient ground for continuous joy and rejoicing.
In studying the writings of St. Paul Christian Scientists find an added interest in the many striking parallelisms, not only between the Christian Science movement and that in which he labored, but between the history and experiences of the apostle and of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. In both there is a unique blend of the philosophical and the practical, the heroic and the human. Both received a great illumination while zealously following their highest sense of Truth, while in the teaching of both an unqualified stand is taken for the efficiency and sufficiency of the Word of God for the healing of every human ill, the overcoming of every human difficult. Many other "likenesses" might be noted, but they are all incidental to the crowning fact that Christian Science is entirely at one with that exaltation of Christ, Truth, that grateful recognition of the presence and practical availability of humanity's Comforter, which is expressed on every page and in well-nigh every paragraph of the apostle's writings. This is the most prominent and prophetic distinction of Christian Science, that it leaves all for Christ. It stands unequivocally and unreservedly for the truth enunciated by Peter when he said to Annas and his confreres,"Neither is there salvation in any other." It is loyal to Principle, to eternal Truth, and therefore it is scientific; it is loyal to Christ, and therefore Christian.
This devotion of Christian Science to Christ is seen most significantly in its break with the centuries-honored teaching, that men are to look to other so-called powers, other means than "living faith in Christ," for the cure of physical ills. The prayers of Christian people that heaven may bless the material means to which they are looking for relief, and the contention of theologians that God has provided these means, and is working through them for the consummation of His will,—all this does not lessen or obscure the fact that such dependence upon materiality, in whole or in part, however sincere in purpose, is a practical denial of the present availability or efficiency of the spiritual means by which Christ Jesus healed "all manner of sickness," and with which he equipped his disciples to go "into all the world" and do likewise. Surely no thoughtful Christian believer can question that in so far as the Church has proved unequal to the solution of the human problem, and in so far as the individual has failed to realize the freedom of "the sons of God," it is because both Church and individual have failed to apprehend and apply "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" which Paul and many another early Christian proved to be able to save from "the law of sin and death." In standing, therefore, for humanity's possible redemption from both the philosophical and the practical, the heroic and the human. Both received a great illumination while zealously following their highest sense of Truth, while in the teaching of both an unqualified stand is taken for the efficiency and sufficiency of the Word of God for the healing of every human ill, the overcoming of every human difficult. Many other "likenesses" might be noted, but they are all incidental to the crowning fact that Christian Science is entirely at one with that exaltation of Christ, Truth, that grateful recognition of the presence and practical availability of humanity's Comforter, which is expressed on every page and in well-nigh every paragraph of the apostle's writings. This is the most prominent and prophetic distinction of Christian Science, that it leaves all for Christ. It stands unequivocally and unreservedly for the truth enunciated by Peter when he said to Annas and his confreres,"Neither is there salvation in any other." It is loyal to Principle, to eternal Truth, and therefore it is scientific; it is loyal to Christ, and therefore Christian.
