In the Christian Science Sentinel of May 11, 1929, there was a brief account reprinted from a Milwaukee paper which stated that an American teacher had been employed in Japan on condition that he would not mention Christianity in his lectures. He was strictly obedient to this command, but the students were so deeply impressed by his Christian life that a number of them renounced their religion and became ministers of the gospel. Through the influence of his pure thinking he conveyed the Christ-message to his pupils, which caused them to follow his example.
Time and time again in his daily study of the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly, the student of Science finds records of healing which took place after thought had been spiritually uplifted. For instance, when Ishmael was believed to be dying of thirst in the wilderness, the angel of God said to Hagar, "Arise, lift up the lad." A little farther on we read that "God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water." Now Mrs. Eddy defines "eyes," in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 586), as "spiritual discernment,—not material but mental." Thus it is plainly shown that the child's need was met as soon as the mother's thought was sufficiently raised in obedience to God. Even the great emancipator, Christ Jesus, "lifted up his eyes" before restoring Lazarus to life. He surely had no need to raise his material eyes. He used his spiritual discernment— his pure, uplifted, Godlike thought.
On another occasion, when he and his disciples encountered a storm on the lake, he pacified their fears by rebuking the raging elements; and it is clearly stated in Luke 8:24 that "he arose, and rebuked the wind." What a wonderful lesson for the Christian Scientist! It teaches that in order to rebuke the winds and waves of error one must first let the Christ rise in one's thought. Jesus' glorified consciousness was always serene; therein lay his power. It enabled him to express the Christ, the impersonal Saviour, for one and all alike, irrespective of race, creed, or color.
