The various accounts given in the New Testament of the teachings of Christ Jesus serve to emphasize the simplicity and directness of these teachings. He invited his disciples to "consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;" and not infrequently he spoke of the trees and the rocks, of oil and jewels. His parables, though drawn from the happenings of everyday life, were all intended to convey lessons about spiritual truth. To him, Truth, although profound, was not hidden or incomprehensible, but the power ever behind order-producing law, the effects of which were illustrated on every hand in harmony and beauty, and in all the other activities of good,—activities visible to those who had that understanding which Jesus characterized as eyes that see.
The teachings of Christian Science, when properly understood, are just as simple as those of Christ Jesus. Christian Science is based on the fact that absolute, unchanging Truth is the only fundamental reality; and all right thinking must be correlated to this scientific fact. As a consequent, that in human experience which includes the elements of discord and decay cannot be true or real. This does not by any means signify that Christian Science neglects the human problem, any more than Jesus meant it to be neglected when he taught mankind, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." His words imply that the human problem is solved by first seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness, not otherwise.
Human ignorance believes in the absence of Truth, or holds to some misconception of Truth; but ignorance can never alter the facts of divine Being. And the solution of every human problem must be brought about by the demonstration or proof of the presence of absolute, unchanging, harmonious Truth; for, according to divine law, unchanging Truth is the only fundamental reality, anything presenting itself as a human problem being only a misconception of some phase of absolute Truth. The ultimate salvation of all mankind is thus assured; for all men and women, whatever their state of ignorance may seem to be, must allow themselves to come under the influence of omnipresent divine law. This law acts everywhere as the law of orderly unfoldment, and therefore of orderly progress, resulting in a fuller understanding of harmony and beauty,—all the activities of good,— with the corresponding destruction of those false beliefs in discord and decay which claim to constitute matter or the flesh.
