THE ways of Christianity have not changed," wrote Mrs. Eddy in "Rudimental Divine Science" (p. 17). "Meekness, selflessness, and love are the paths of His testimony and the footsteps of His flock." Throughout her writings Mrs. Eddy emphasizes the oneness of Christianity and Christian Science. Hence the ways of Christianity are the ways of Christian Science and a Christian Scientist must be wholly a Christian. The word Christian has lost much of its vitality and has come to be applied to those who believe or profess to believe in Christ Jesus. A true Christian, however, is not one who merely believes in Christ Jesus, but one who understands the Master's mission and follows in his footsteps; in other words, one who expresses the qualities of the Christ.
Jesus walked in the paths of meekness, selflessness, and love. We are inclined to think of meekness in its derogatory sense, and this is an example of how words lose their power if we do not know their meaning. Meekness means patience, forbearance, obedience, and humility. Certainly patience and forbearance stand out in Jesus' relations with his disciples, with the dull, fickle populace, and even with his enemies and those who did their best to make his mission a failure. Jesus was obedient, but not to the traditions or ritual of the church when they interfered with his obedience to God, for he healed on the Sabbath day and warned his followers against upholding the mere letter of the law, showing them that it was the spirit of the observance that counted. In explaining some of the Ten Commandments, the very basis of Hebrew law, he pointed out how in observing the mere letter they might fail wholly to get the spirit. He maintained, that he had not come to destroy the law or the prophets, but that instead his mission was to fulfill them. He rebuked the Pharisee who was a stickler for the letter of the law, thus: "But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." This we do know—that Jesus was always obedient to God, even in the garden of Gethsemane when to human sense it might have seemed that a triumph over the material conditions facing him would do far more to further his message than crucifixion. He tells us himself, "The Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him."
Jesus was truly humble, not proud or assertive, although he never lacked the courage to do God's will and he fearlessly rebuked evil wherever he found it. He held up as an example to his disciples the qualities of a little child, humility, trust, and purity. Never was there a man so imbued with selflessness as was Jesus. Never was there a man who did such mighty works as Jesus, and yet he gave himself no credit, but to God gave the entire glory. To him there was but one good, and that was God, and he acknowledged always that it was the Father that did the works. It was this utter selflessness which made him speak with authority and not as the scribes.
