IN the ages before the advent of Jesus of Nazareth, many had earnestly sought a knowledge of God, and recognizing the value of the demonstrable religion he was promulgating and what it would have meant to their forefathers in their search for truth, Jesus said substantially to those about him, Your fathers would have rejoiced to see my day. He brought to the people "no mere theory, doctrine, or belief" (Science and Health, p. 26), and when asked for proof of his authority by the messengers of John, he adopted a method of convincing them that is worthy of consideration by the people of today. He made no lengthy argument or claim as to his right to be acknowledged the expected Messiah, but went on healing the multitudes, and as the messengers stood there waiting, they saw the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers cleansed. Jesus then told them simply to go and tell John what they had seen and heard.
Words alone would not have been sufficient to convince those questioning Jesus, but there was no gainsaying the proofs they themselves had seen in the healing of the sick and sinning. For some years after this time the teaching he gave was more or less closely adhered to, but the former religious views of the different communities which adopted the new faith gradually crept in, so influencing and diluting his simple teaching that it resulted in the sad fact that mankind was again engulfed in a mass of superstition and creeds.
Those who have the privilege of studying and practising the teachings of Christian Science today, surely have occasion to rejoice that there has again been given to the world a teaching that brings to man an understanding of the truths of being which operate in his behalf, an understanding that puts his feet upon the rock, and establishes in him the sure confidence that his redeemer liveth. The one thus spiritually awakened need no longer wander in the labyrinths of speculation, without proof of the correctness of his convictions, but may follow in the footsteps of the Wayshower, confident that his natural, rightful, and inevitable heritage is assured as he awakes in the likeness of God. This understanding opens great possibilities, for it removes the sense of human limitations and brings to light the fact that man's relation to God provides for every need, and includes all that is good and nothing else.
