"GOD hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God"—the Psalmist's words. The power of God had many times been evidenced to the Hebrew people; and in their psalms they rejoiced in the memory of it: they sang of it. It was divine power that saved Noah and his family from the "flood of waters;" that enabled Abraham to separate from his kindred and from his father's house, and made him the progenitor of a great religious people; that sustained Jacob after his dream of the "ladder set up on the earth, whose top "reached to heaven," and he had come "into the land of the people of the east;" that rescued the children of Israel from the hands of the Egyptians by His faithful servant Moses. The Old Testament teems with examples of divine power made manifest on behalf of those whose faith was stayed upon God.
And when we come to the New Testament we find records of the greatest demonstrations of divine power ever made apparent to human consciousness. There, in the Gospels, we are told of the works of Christ Jesus, those marvels of healing which he wrought to prove the truth of what he taught regarding God and His kingdom. And every one of these miracles, these wonders or signs, was the result of the Master's profound spiritual understanding or knowledge of God, the "great First Cause," and of His creation, spiritual man. Divine power was the only real power to him who set at naught material law whenever he was called upon to do so, healing the sick on the instant, cleansing the thought of the repentant sinner, calming the winds and the waves in storm—yes, even restoring to active life again those who had fallen into the deep sleep which men call death. The mission of the great Nazarene was to reconcile men to God; and this he did by teaching them the truth about the divine nature, through many a parable and by many a miracle.
The world to-day is greatly blessed by the Old and New Testament records which have been preserved to it. These records are for all to read. But how shall men read? It must be with the eye of spiritual discernment. It must be with the thought illumined by Christian Science. Otherwise they cannot scientifically understand the sayings, the doings, the method of the prophets and Christ Jesus. And Christian Science all may understand and apply. With the understanding it gives, not only does one become informed as to how Jesus was able to employ divine power in his work, but one also learns how that power may be utilized to-day. Mrs. Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 52): "The highest earthly representative of God, speaking of human ability to reflect divine power, prophetically said to his disciples, speaking not for their day only but for all time: 'He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also;' and These signs shall follow them that believe.' "
