IN the tenth chapter of John's gospel, Jesus is recorded as saying, "All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers." Jesus could make this statement without in the least discrediting the work of the prophets who had preceded him, for he alone was to mark out the perfect path from sin to holiness, according to the perfect law of God. Anything less than this would have robbed humanity of its Way-shower. So when Mrs. Eddy wrote, on the first page of the Preface to "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "The time for thinkers has come," she could not have meant to convey the thought that there had not always been thinkers, nor that the ages' thinkers had not all fulfilled the demand of their time according to their light; but rather, that through the revelation of Truth which came to her and which she was unfolding for humanity, all thinkers would be able to follow Jesus' example and bring out consciously the practical proofs of righteousness. Mrs. Eddy states, moreover, on the same page: "A book introduces new thoughts, but it cannot make them speedily understood. It is the task of the sturdy pioneer to hew the tall oak and to cut the rough granite. Future ages must declare what the pioneer has accomplished." Throughout her writings Mrs. Eddy has expressed the rules of scientific thinking so accurately that anyone may prove his obedience to Christ Jesus' command, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils," in proportion as these rules are understood and honestly applied.
The teachings of Christian Science explain mortal existence to be a dream, and serve to awaken thought from this dream. Though the truths about God and His creation may seem new and strange to the unawakened human mind, their practical value is seen as they are accepted and, in a measure at least, assimilated. These truths never become like us in this assimilation; we become like them. We cannot, for instance, take this revealed word of God as we are gaining it from the Scriptures and Mrs. Eddy's writings and make it accord with our human concept of things; rather, as we apprehend the truth of Life—God and His idea—we must outgrow our human concept of life. This Science provides a really worth while basis for human hope and faith,—a satisfactory procedure of thought, which glorifies God and redounds to the welfare of mankind.
Essentially this awakening means that the things to think, and all that it is necessary to think about any human condition, will unfold to the consciousness of one who turns frequently to the fundamental spiritual facts of Science,—the omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience of God, and the perfection and harmony of His entire universe. On pages 109 and 110 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy tells us that it was from this basis that she beheld the unreality of evil and saw the possibility of establishing the kingdom of heaven on earth. Her frequent use of these equipollent words when referring to God, shows the necessity for students of Christian Science to keep them clearly in thought.
