When John the Baptist sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask if he were the Christ, Jesus sent them back with the message, "Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." Here was the practical proof of Christianity, the proof which Jesus, its highest earthly exponent, gave and demanded of his followers. We have a correlative statement by Mrs. Eddy in "Rudimental Divine Science" (p. 6), "The proof of what you apprehend, in the simplest definite and absolute form of healing, can alone answer this question of how much you understand of Christian Science Mind-healing." If the highest exponents of Christianity and Christian Science agree regarding the evidence which shall show whether one is really a Christian and a Christian Scientist, their followers may well examine themselves to see if they are giving this evidence in their lives.
If the healing proofs are not forthcoming, there should come the cry on every side: "What is the reason? Why am I not healing the sick? How can I do better work? Where is the lack?" The only verbal answer to these questions is found in the teachings of Jesus and of Mrs. Eddy. When Peter failed in his attempt to walk to Jesus on the water, Jesus said to him, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt," and on another occasion he said to his disciples, "This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." and Mrs. Eddy interprets his words: "The animus of his saying was: Silence appetites, passion, and all that wars against Spirit and spiritual power" (Miscellany, p. 339). By retiring each day into our closet, the sanctuary of Spirit, and praying to our Father, we shall find what the beam is in our own eye, which prevents our removing the mote from our brother's eye.
We need to give time to self-analysis and self-correction, but it is well to remember that self-condemnation and self-pity are not healing qualities, and that a sense of humor helps in overcoming one's own faults as well as those of others. Jesus warned his disciples against self-aggrandizement, hypocrisy, inertia, ease in matter, in short against all the claims of animal magnetism. What barriers can we put up against these evils except purely mental ones, and how are we to go to work? It is exceedingly simple if we follow the spiritual interpretation of the works and words of our Master. We have just one place given us in which to work, and that is our consciousness. Let us consider how much space we give to gossip, scandal, petty jealousy, and how much to prayer, communion with God, meditation on the things of Soul.
