PAUL shared to the full the common belief of Christians of his day that Jesus, his Lord and Saviour, would again appear in person, to complete his works for the full redemption of mankind. In his first letter to the church at Corinth, Paul discourses upon the Lord's supper, describing the method of its observance and its meaning, and including in his dissertation these words: "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come." Light is shed upon this somewhat obscure passage by modern scholars who render the last clause, "You proclaim the Lord's death till he comes." Paul's thought was that partaking of the Lord's supper would commemorate Jesus' death until, in the fullness of time, he should again appear, thus further proving himself to be the long looked for Messiah, who should inaugurate the kingdom of heaven on earth. Obviously, he also implies that after this event, there would no longer be occasion to commemorate the Lord's death.
The expectation that Jesus would return in persona was firmly held by many, perhaps by all his ardent followers, during the early centuries; and certain believers to this day live in that expectancy. Christian Scientists, however, do not share this belief; for Mrs. Eddy, in her lucid exposition of Jesus and the Christ, leaves no dubiety as to the question of the second coming. Jesus, that is the personal Jesus whom the disciples had known and loved, disappeared from mortal vision when his state of consciousness no longer held to the belief of man as mortal and material. He rose in spiritual apprehension until he disappeared from mortal sight. But the Christ, the true idea of God, whose power to destroy evil in every form Jesus had so fully demonstrated, has always been present and will forever continue to be present. Mrs. Eddy sets this forth with challenging directness on page 7 of the Message to The Mother Church for 1900: "From everlasting to everlasting this Christ is never absent."
Mrs. Eddy also sets forth with equal assurance, on page 70 of "Retrospection and Introspection," another phase of the problem. "The second appearing of Jesus is," she says, "unquestionably, the spiritual advent of the advancing idea of God, as in Christian Science." This "advancing idea of God" is the Christ, Truth, which, as thought is open to receive it, progressively makes its way into human consciousness. Since the Christ is always present, its seeming absence is due to the darkness of material belief which appears to enshroud mortals when they cling to matter as substance, as real, and to the belief that man is material. But the unfolding idea of God, the Christ, received and accepted as true, illumines consciousness, casts out the false beliefs as brilliant light expels darkness. The conditions attaching to this advent of spiritual truth are appealingly set forth in the familiar words of Revelation, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Could words more definitely and, withal, more gently convey the assurance that "the advancing idea of God" is waiting to appear to mortals whenever it will be welcomed as a guest in the mental household? Its failure to enter is due to no unwillingness on its own part: it is ever ready, is forever knocking at the door of human consciousness, which must be opened to receive this blessed evangel, if one would be healed through its gentle ministry.
