Mrs. Eddy writes (Science and Health, p. 201), "The best sermon ever preached is Truth practised and demonstrated by the destruction of sin, sickness, and death." Stamped on the cover of Christian Science literature is the cross and crown emblem encircled by the words of Christ Jesus, "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons." Within the pages of our textbook the reader learns how these vital demands of primitive and present-day Christianity may be understood and obeyed by one and all.
Christ Jesus substantiated his preaching by his healing ministry. To suffering and sinning human beings he brought tangible evidence of the redemptive power of God, divine Love. "He went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God." Could we picture Jesus delivering sermons without also "shewing the glad tidings" in works of deliverance to those who sought his aid? To him, "preaching and shewing" were inseparable: they represented the ideal healing sermon translated into action. Summarizing his Master's work among men, John wrote, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written."
It is related in the Acts of the Apostles that, in the course of a sermon delivered by Paul, Eutychus, one of the congregation, "fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead." The preacher then went to his aid, declared the presence of life in him, with the result that "they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted." By this action Paul proved the value of his sermon.
Thoughtful people today and many sufferers are wont to ask why Christianity does not heal the sick now as it did of yore, and to this vital question a comfortless, creedal answer is usually given. But the days of miracles are not past, since the power by which they were performed is everlasting. Through the reinstatement of primitive Christian teaching and healing, Christian Science is giving to humanity the true and comforting answer to its legitimate question.
Mrs. Eddy's profound study of the Bible and her spiritual comprehension of the words and works of the Master, led her to the discovery that God is the divine Principle, Love, through which these healing works were performed then and can be performed in all ages. Before publishing the Christian Science textbook she proved the truth of its teachings by her healing works, and ever since its publication students of Christian Science in ever increasing numbers have been learning to do the works of primitive Christianity. This revelation of Christian Science necessitated, in due course, the founding of the church organization, the purpose of which, as Mrs. Eddy states (Church Manual, p. 17), is "to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing." For many years evidence of the healing accomplished through Christian Science has been flowing in from all parts of the civilized world in verbal and published testimonies which substantiate its claims and also its Scriptural basis.
Humanity's troubles are due to disbelief in God or else to superstitious views of Deity from which have sprung man-made creeds and dogmas contrary to the pure teachings of Christ Jesus. The return way out of this maze has been traced through Christian Science, which reveals the true nature of Deity and of man in His image. The intelligent understanding of God provides the scientific and sole way of redemption for humanity.
As a substitute for personal preaching, into which varying human opinions are prone to enter, our Leader instituted the Bible Lessons, compiled from the Bible and from Science and Health, and appearing in the christian science quarterly. These Lesson-Sermons provide for home study and are also used at every Sunday service in Christian Science churches throughout the world."The Word of God," she writes in her Message to The Mother Church for 1901 (p. 11), "is a powerful preacher, and it is not too spiritual to be practical, nor too transcendental to be heard and understood." The Lesson-Sermon reveals the Science of real being, and lifts human thought above mystery and materiality, foible and fable, the darkness of dogma, into the light of spiritual revelation. The value of a sermon may be gauged by its practical, healing power. To the sick as well as to the sinful, to the anxious, the impoverished, the downcast, the sorrowful, the losers in the world, Christian Science is offering comfort, healing, and redemption as tokens of divine Love operating on behalf of humanity.
Every member of the Christian Science church may well ponder the significance to himself individually and to the world collectively of obedience to these permanent demands of Christianity to "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils." The Christian Scientist, being faithful, obedient, and spiritually progressive, holds as sacred and individual to himself the commands facing him on the cover of the Christian Science literature which he has learned to respect and to love. He is pledged to prove the power of divine Love to destroy disease, purge out sin, and cause one to rise through spiritual purity to that understanding of infinite spiritual life by which "the last enemy" is destined to be overcome.
The blessings of Christianity cannot be divorced from its demands. The student of Christian Science discovers that it is only through his reflection of spiritual, healing Love that he can "cast out" of himself and others "demons" of fear, doubt, jealousy, anger, and sorrow which wreck the lives of individuals and of nations. He is keenly aware of the imperative need for awakening from the deadening belief in materiality and sin and rising to the heights of spiritual perception through individual demonstration. He realizes that the divine power underlying the definite command of Christianity to "heal . . . cleanse . . . raise . . . cast out" is present to be drawn upon unfailingly and without measure.
