When the message of salvation through repentance was to be sent to Nineveh, the word of the Lord came unto Jonah saying, "Preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee." The effect of this preaching was a change of heart in those who heard, and every one, from the highest in rank to the humblest in station, engaged in prayer and fasting, and because they turned from sin and with humility sought to be obedient to Principle the impending evil was averted. Regarding the word, Paul says: "The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
In modern times who had a better right to preach the word than one who had proved the power whereby Christ Jesus was raised from the dead to be the power to-day available for the healing of the sick? One who listened once to Mrs. Eddy's preaching could hardly say afterward whether the experience was as long as a day or as brief as a moment; but he had a great consciousness of release, of bonds breaking and the oppressed going free. More than that, it was seeing heaven opened and finding hope spring immortal, faith become assured, and love come nigh with life-giving warmth. Some at least of the old things of theory and belief passed away forever, and a sense of life enduring was transmitted, because the preacher was speaking from a deep assurance of Life as God.
In this number there is the printed text of a sermon preached a generation ago by Mary Baker Eddy, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, wherein she, though departed from our sight, "yet speaketh." With her it is as with the prophets of the past; the voice may be silent but the word endures. She was a preacher of righteousness, hence the word spoken is like the oak escaped from the acorn and become an umbrageous tree, never to be receded into the close confines of the seed, but rather to grow on and to produce the seed with life in itself which shall multiply and increase in further growth and seed-bearing.
Want to read this article from the Journal?
Subscribe to JSH-Online to access The Christian Science Journal, along with the Christian Science Sentinel and The Herald of Christian Science. Get unlimited access to current issues, the searchable archive, podcasts, audio for issues, biographies about Mary Baker Eddy, and more. Already a subscriber? Log in