The Church of Christ is built on the rock of truth, the spiritual understanding of God and on nothing else. On many other foundations have mortals tried to build a church, but not one has stood the test of time and storm. Ritual, ceremony, creeds, elaborate systems of dogmatic interpretation of the Scriptures worked out in solemn convention, authority, threats of punishment, promises of reward, privileges, numerous forms of mortal opinion,—all have failed to bring mankind into harmony with God and to redeem the race, and all must fail, "for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
On page 136 of our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, says, "Jesus established his church and maintained his mission on a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing." Students of Christian Science may well study with great care pages 136 to 138 of our textbook, where Mrs. Eddy interprets with wonderful clearness the incident recorded in the sixteenth chapter of Matthew's gospel. The question naturally arose among the people, How did Christ Jesus heal the sick? And, after the Master had made repeated appeals to the disciples, in an effort to have them understand, Peter set forth the great fact that it was the Christ, the truth of man's spiritual oneness with God, with which Jesus was consciously identified, that heals. Jesus, giving complete sanction to Peter's words, said, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. . . . and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Our Leader says on page 138 of Science and Health, "The supremacy of Spirit was the foundation on which Jesus built;" and in the following paragraph she continues, "Christians are under as direct orders now, as they were then, to be Christlike, to possess the Christ-spirit, to follow the Christ-example, and to heal the sick as well as the sinning."
The lesson is clear. If the foundation of the church, the understanding of the spiritual oneness of man with God, is established in consciousness, —and no other foundation is laid,— and if the mission of the church, to heal and save, is adhered to with singleness of purpose, the word of Christ Jesus stands to-day as ever, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." No matter what problems arise, no matter what differences of opinion there may seem to be, sooner or later "every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low," and the fact of the kingdom of God, the absolute supremacy of Truth and Love, will be demonstrated.
