The Book of Acts might well be called the Book of Demonstration, so full is it of the proofs of God's power over sin, sickness, and death, and other supposititious forces of evil. From the record of that memorable occasion when Peter and John healed the lame man who was "laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful," to the story of Paul's shipwreck on the island of Malta, when the apostle to the Gentiles shook off the viper which had fastened itself upon his hand "and felt no harm," the Book of Acts worthily fulfils the promise of its name. It is, as it were, a special chapter added to the gospels to illustrate the correctness of Christ Jesus' teaching and the ever present availability of his promises, much in the same way as the chapter entitled Fruitage puts a fitting climax upon the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. The Acts is the necessary afterglow of the Sermon on the Mount and stands to it in the relationship of effect to cause. To the Scientist this book is therefore a constant exhortation to beware of mere theorizing and to keep on proving the practicability of God's law.
It may be stated, without thereby unnecessarily criticizing the members of other Christian bodies, that the Christian Scientist alone can do full justice to this book as a record of scientific accomplishment. To him is given to understand that these recorded proofs are not extraneous to Christian life nor mere incidents in a brief historic era, but on the contrary are the inevitable signs of direct and pure Christ-teaching. No estimate of the Book of Acts which assumes its glorious demonstrations to be sporadic instances of special divine interposition can be correct or spiritually helpful. It must be recognized that practice as well as preaching, the healing of the sick as well as the saving of the sinner, are required of the true Christian, and that the rules for accomplishing these works are not hidden in mystery but revealed in Christian Science. Conventional theology may take a historic interest in the missionary labors so graphically set forth in Acts, but Christian Science alone can explain the spiritual understanding which made these labors fruitful.
The healing of Eneas, the raising of Dorcas, the deliverances from prison, and the multitude of similar recorded proofs of the power of Spirit, are not just so many instances in a wonderful story book. Each one of these occurrences contains a lesson and an example which the earnest Christian can learn to apply through Science. There is no limit to the present possibilities of spiritual understanding. The whole of human character can be transformed by its means, and motives and acts glorified by its divine touch. Mrs. Eddy writes on page 204 of "Miscellaneous Writings": "Through the accession of spirituality, God, the divine Principle of Christian Science, literally governs the aims, ambition, and acts of the Scientist. The divine ruling gives prudence and energy; it banishes forever all envy, rivalry, evil thinking, evil speaking and acting; and mortal mind, thus purged, obtains peace and power outside of itself."
