On page 271 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy writes, "Christ's Christianity is the chain of scientific being reappearing in all ages, maintaining its obvious correspondence with the Scriptures and uniting all periods in the design of God." One of the great facts to be remembered in studying history, or considering the affairs of our own time, is that the only real motive power in human affairs is the realization, however dim, of Principle. The effect of this realization has always been upheaval of some kind, sometimes very violent upheaval; but no matter how violent to human sense this upheaval may be, the upheaval itself never weighs anything in the balance of progress. The earthquake did not matter; the mighty wind did not matter; the fire did not matter; what did matter was that when all these had passed by, the still, small voice of Principle was heard more clearly than ever as an ever presence, eternally outlasting as it had eternally preceded them all. In other words, the only thing that had really happened where so much had apparently happened was the revelation of a clearer view of Principle. Throughout the whole history of the world, as the result of every incident, accounted great or accounted small, this is achieved, or else nothing is achieved.
Thus viewed, history assumes a new aspect. Under this acid test whole vistas of the story of the nations and peoples, as of individuals, go up in smoke, and it is not until the smoke is cleared away that it is possible to trace through the ages the true chain of scientific being. Yet wherever one turns in history, be it "sacred or profane," to use a convenient phrase, this chain is discernible. Christ's Christianity antedated Jesus of Nazareth. In Jesus of Nazareth it found its full expression, but no one recognized more clearly than did Jesus that every glimpse of good the world had ever had before his day was part of those things which he had seen with his Father. "Abraham," he said, "rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad."
Now the vision of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, of all who ever caught a glimpse of the Christ was ever the same. What the world said about those who saw it, or what the world did to them never made any difference. Whenever it appeared, no matter what the age of its appearing, it is always immediately recognizable. It may be seen in a Paul preaching on Mars' Hill, in a John Huss on the road to Constance, or in a Martin Luther on the road to Worms, but, wherever seen, the explanation of the vision and the purpose is the same. "For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."
