MRS. EDDY, in quoting Jesus' message to John the Baptist, as given by Luke, "Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached," added the following sentence (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 27):"In other words: Tell John what the demonstration of divine power is, and he will at once perceive that God is the power in the Messianic work."
Jesus of Nazareth was undoubtedly the greatest preacher the world has known, his distinguishing greatness being that "his word was with power." The gospel which the Founder of Christianity thus proclaimed so effectively is essentially unchanged, and the value of Christian preaching to-day must therefore be measured by the same results.
On page 345 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes: "When the omnipotence of God is preached and His absoluteness is set forth, Christian sermons will heal the sick." It is significant to add that healing is not infrequent at the services of Christian Science churches, where the Lesson-Sermons consist solely of selections from the Bible and from the Christian Science textbook, from which the above sentence is taken. The ills of humanity are not indigenous to this age more than to any other, and there is no reason why they should not give way before the truth, understood and taught, as readily as in the days of Christ Jesus.'
The history of the Hebrew people furnishes some notable instances of what was believed to be supernatural power, which accompanied the Word of God, as voiced by Moses and the prophets. They who to-day recognize the oneness of God should know that they are heirs of these examples, together with those which are recorded in the New Testament. Jesus told the Jews that he came to do the will of the Father, and John tells us that "for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." No other interpretation of God's will is consistent with the Master's teaching and practice. Indeed, in what way could the gospel of redemption be adequately made known except by exhibiting its redemptive power?
Throughout his ministry, Jesus taught the people about God, not as a distant abstraction, but as ever present good, whose power is always available for the overcoming of evil. To him the kingdom of heaven was more than a vague speculation or a future possibility; it was a present reality, awaiting recognition at the hand of every man. God was everything to him, and he could preach only this, and the human obligations growing out of that truth. To Jesus, the solution of every human problem was knowing God aright.
With the Founder of Christianity, the prayer for God's will to be done on earth as in heaven was equivalent to knowing that it is being done; and he did God's will accordingly, not as something miraculous, but as the natural activity of his understanding of God's supremacy. In the prayer which he gave to his followers as a model— the Lord's Prayer— we are led to expect the conditions which prevail in heaven to prevail also on earth, since the Father is equally present everywhere. If Christians believe it will be possible to do God's will in some future state, there is nothing to prevent them from doing it now; for if evil has no power to resist one's loyalty to God in heaven, it has no power to resist it on earth.
Whatever of progress has been achieved by the human race is due to the fact that men are not content to remain forever in ignorance of better things; and a corresponding discontent with less than the highest consciousness of good is impelling humanity towards better ideals of Deity. There is an increasing disbelief in the teaching that God is in heaven above while things are going wrong in the world below. The supposition that men must die in order to become harmonious and immortal is too mystical and remote from present needs to satisfy human hope. Jesus linked earth and heaven together in one reality. If we adopt his prayer for our own, we should know that God is with men where they now are, and that it is humanly possible to realize His presence as simply and practically as we do that of our fellow men.
The general belief in a creator and power opposite to good obscures the divine presence, but that belief is not a normal element or activity in the life of men or of nations. The very nature of good, and its presence in consciousness, prohibits the existence of evil. The trend of the entire Scriptures, the work of prophets and apostles, the avowed mission of the Messiah, all point to the extinction of whatever is unlike God as the price of winning heaven. The progress of humanity towards its attainment can pass along no other road.
Although Christ Jesus taught that earth and heaven are one, comparatively few of his professed followers find themselves ready to adopt his ideal to the extent of proving earth to be a heavenly place. All have not yet learned that the truth of God's omnipresence joins earth and heaven and all His works, in a bond of harmony which the illusion of another power cannot put asunder. Unwillingness to learn this lesson serves to perpetuate the enmity and strife which, to material sense, seem too often to turn earth into hell.
The deplorable conditions prevalent in the world to-day; the jealousy, greed, passion, and revenge which bring ruin to men and nations, and the poverty, disease, and crime which follow in their train, are not the results of good will among men. Lasting world peace can be realized only as these evil conditions are replaced by divine realities.
Since God is omnipotent, only divine power can radically remove wrong conditions. This being true, mankind, both as individuals and as nations, must seek and find their refuge and redemption from evil in a demonstrable understanding of God as the source of all that is true. As this is done, good will among men will take the place of selfishness in the adjustment of differences, and war will become obsolete.
The Hebrew prophets foresaw and foretold the period of spiritual enlightenment upon whose threshold we are now standing, when "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord." It is the dawning of the day of Christian Science, and in its full appearing men will come to understand that the allness of God makes all evil a lie, and it will "deceive the nations no more."
