Humanity is familiar with the exactions of the material sciences. If their benefits are to be received, certain requirements must be fulfilled. If a house is to be served by electricity, the house must be wired with much care, certain appliances provided, and the switches turned when the service is needed. In the case of radio, certain equipment must be assembled in a receiving set, and the set itself properly placed and tuned. Such examples might be multiplied. The requirements are not arbitrary. They are the means, designed according to the nature of the science—of the power, material, or whatever it is that has been discovered—by which it can best be put to our use. By such means we get rid of the conditions which have isolated us from the benefits of the discovery: we place ourselves in a position to be aided by it. We are obedient to its law or nature, and thus facilitate its useful appearing in our experience.
All this may help one to grasp the scientific import of the precepts of Jesus of Nazareth, as understood in Christian Science. He was practical, according to the world's highest standards of practicality. He was, as Mary Baker Eddy has pointed out (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 313,) "the most scientific man that ever trod the globe." He had discovered not merely what is comprehended in the restricted and transient realm of the material sciences, but the nature of Life itself, and he had seen that it is beautiful and satisfying beyond the imaginations of men. He had seen, moreover, that it can be made serviceable in the ordinary experience of all men, in ways far surpassing those to which they were accustomed. Not only did he see these things, but he proved them. Wherever he went, and men were willing to meet the requirements of the truth which he offered them, a limited sense of life yielded to a less limited one. Disease was healed, hunger satisfied, sin and sorrow annulled. As for himself, it is not recorded that he ever lacked anything he needed, or ever had less than the dominion required for advancing his high purposes.
What would be the natural impulse of one who had thus discerned the glory of Life, the Life which is natural and demonstrable for all, who "was the most scientific man" the world has known, and who was animated pre-eminently by love for mankind? Why, to show men how they could best discern and experience the good that he knew was for them no less than himself; to indicate to them what was withholding them from the full recognition and joy of the Life which is God, and to show them how to be rid of such interference. It would be to show them what were the technical requirements in order that they might receive the full benefits of the Science of Life.
