It is strikingly significant that precept and practice are closely coupled in the Master's ministry to mankind,— how he "went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people." Having chosen his disciples, Jesus' first care was to instruct them in the new yet old gospel, — the Sermon on the Mount. Immediately, as the great Teacher comes down from the mount, he is besieged with appeals for help, and the apostle relates the healing in succession of leprosy, palsy, and a fever. Thus did the Messiah prove the truth of his teachings, and lay the foundation for that later appeal, "Believe me for the very works' sake."
It was in like manner that the revered Leader of Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy, won a hearing for the truth she had discovered. When she met with scorn and contumely, when her teaching was scouted and derided, she quietly went her way, healing the sick and the sinning whenever and wherever the opportunity presented itself. Then as time went on and here and there a soldier enlisted under her banner, she carefully instructed them and sent them out into the world as true missionaries of the cross,—to teach the Christ-standard of living and to heal the sick, like the apostles of old.
We can but be grateful for our Leader's insistence that if the world is to be won for Christ, the methods he inculcated must be followed. She realized that there must be properly taught students to take up and carry on the work so well begun, and by degrees, as needs developed, the primary and normal courses of instruction in Christian Science were worked out. It is noticeable, however, that Mrs. Eddy safeguarded this instruction at every point. There may arise occasions when the unschooled human sense will argue that these restrictions, as specified in the Manual, are irksome and even unnecessary. Mrs. Eddy has told us in the Foreword that these rules and by-laws "sprang from necessity, the logic of events,—from the immediate demand for them as a help that must be supplied to maintain the dignity and defense of our cause." We may not know their occasion, nor do we need to, but we do recognize and appreciate that the truth must be responsibly and correctly taught and lived if it is to accomplish its destiny,—the salvation of the world.
