If one is lost in a wilderness, he must take wisely directed footsteps in order to get out. If one is in the wilderness of materiality, there are wisdom-ordered footsteps he must take in order to get out. One is the demonstration of the power of God to make the physical body healthy and harmonious. There is no evading this demand. Death does not meet it. The demand continues until through increased knowledge of God it is fulfilled. Christian Science reveals how this requirement can be met by the individual. It is through the spiritualization of his thought and life. If it is not done here, it must be done hereafter. There can be no avoidance.
The Master spent most of his time during the years of his ministry showing men that God's power is available to the individual to make him healthy in body as well as righteous in mind. And he said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also" (John 14:12). Salvation —which one dictionary defines as deliverance from evil and admission to heaven— is gained step by step. One inescapable step is the gaining of a healthy body through understanding the Christ, the spiritual idea of Life and man.
Quoting John's statement, "The Word was made flesh" (John 1:14), Mary Baker Eddy follows it with this comment: "Divine Truth must be known by its effects on the body as well as on the mind, before the Science of being can be demonstrated" Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, (p. 350). This "must" was of course recognized by Jesus, and his healing of all manner of disease left an example to be followed by all who accept his teachings. "Heal the sick" (Matt. 10:8), was his unqualified command to Christians in all ages.
