IN the face of world unrest and insecurity, this age is indeed blessed in having the complete explanation of the scientific method which Jesus used in his healing work, and concerning which he said: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth."
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, in her great textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," thus defines "Holy Ghost" on page 588: "Divine Science; the development of eternal Life, Truth, and Love;" and many thousands of students are proving this definition to be true by the healing effect that Christian Science is having on their lives. Christian Scientists do not accept Mrs. Eddy's teachings blindly, but are putting them to the test in the Scriptural way indicated by Paul when he said, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." In humble and, possibly, trembling hope, the beginner assumes the truth of some statement from Science and Health, and then tests its practicability, somewhat in the same manner that a child learning to swim casts himself on the water, uncertain whether or not it will bear him up. When the student of Christian Science finds that the statement just quoted from the textbook actually stands the test of practical use, and that thereby he receives some definite good, perhaps in physical healing, relief from sorrow, or a lightening of despondency, he is thereby encouraged to pursue his study, proving each step, and thus gradually gaining the assurance that Science and Health and Mrs. Eddy's other writings, together with the Bible, really do present and elucidate the Science of being.
Once the student has reached the point of discerning that the demonstration of Christian Science means not only his individual rescue from the ills "that flesh is heir to," but the ultimate salvation of the whole world, he desires, with eagerness and consecration of purpose, to reach the divine heights of spiritual understanding whereby he will be best fitted to serve his fellow-men. What is the method, he asks himself, whereby I may attain the realization of Truth? The way was fully illustrated by Christ Jesus, the Way-shower, who said, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." It is obedience that enables us to translate affirmation into realization. The temptation may come to regard Christian Science as an intellectual study, merely something to be discussed and argued about; but if one is content to be only philosophically interested in it, one is not actively engaged in acquiring that demonstrable knowledge of the power of God that destroys evil.
