In the wonderful dialogue of Christ Jesus with his disciples at the last supper, recorded in John's Gospel (chapters 14 through 17), the Master said (15:8), "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples." Thus he indicated that fruition is the test of discipleship. History has recorded little of the physical surroundings of that scene, art has depicted it according to the fancy of the artist, but the truth that was uttered in those holy moments vibrates and kindles in living inspiration. The Master said (15:16), "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain."
Where there is fruit there is harvest; where there is harvest there is no lack. At this period of the world's history there is perhaps a greater need for spiritual fruition than at any other. To fill this need has come the revelation of Christian Science, doing many mighty works in demonstration of its divine origin. Science reveals the uninterrupted oneness and allness of God and His idea and the deception and nothingness of everything unlike Him. It demonstrates the falsity of all material sense testimony and shows it to be mere illusion, which neither touches nor impairs reality.
Are we fulfilling the trust of our discipleship? The greatest disciple of this age, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science and the inspired Founder and Leader of its movement—she who ministered to humanity's needs as none other has ever done since the ministry of Christ Jesus—has said of herself in all meekness (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 158): "All God's servants are minute men and women. As of old, I stand with sandals on and staff in hand, waiting for the watchword and the revelation of what, how, whither." Are we, her followers, doing likewise? Are we truly minutemen, being, as Paul says (II Tim. 4:2), "instant in season, out of season;" always ready to "reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine"?
Of the qualifications of a disciple the Master said (Luke 14:33), "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." Correlative to this, Mrs. Eddy writes (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 141): "Few understand or adhere to Jesus' divine precepts for living and healing. Why? Because his precepts require the disciple to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye,—that is, to set aside even the most cherished beliefs and practices, to leave all for Christ."
No blind adherence to doctrines, no tenacity of creeds, can make of us disciples. Neither speculation nor formula can lift us above the mists of error, nor do they enter into the understanding and practice of Christian Science. In speculation or man-made doctrine conclusions are drawn from a theoretical, materialistic basis, whereas the starting point of Science is the living, life-giving oneness of Principle and its idea; and the line of its reasoning is not the testimony of the physical senses, but the infallibility of cause as Spirit, and effect as wholly spiritual. The lifeless repetition of any truth, no matter how beautiful or scientific the wording in which it is couched, is formula, a sedative which, instead of rousing thought out of sense testimony, dulls it and puts us to sleep. In the Manual of The Mother Church, Mrs. Eddy forbids the use of formulas (see Art. VIII, Sect. 9).
Deep and consecrated study of the Bible and our Leader's writings and prayerful pondering of the truths they reveal, must take the place of superficiality and stupid intellectualism. This study is our daily instruction at the feet of Christ. It establishes us in the things of Spirit and confers the healing power. Nothing but absolute reliance on Truth and deep and kindling spirituality can unfold this fathomless glory, earn for us the name of Christian Scientist, and seal our discipleship in demonstration.
The world is suffering from a gnawing, ravaging hunger which nothing but the absolute Science of Christianity can satisfy. Are we living divine Science and demonstrating it? Are we searching its depths as for hid treasure, or are we satisfied with a mere superficial smattering of Truth?
Closely akin to the word "disciple," and indispensable to the practice of scientific discipleship, is the often narrowly construed word "discipline," which a dictionary defines in part as a "training or course of training which corrects, molds, strengthens, or perfects." Again of the verb it says, "To educate; to develop by instruction and exercise; to teach; . . . to train in self-control or obedience to given standards."
The highest form of discipline is self-discipline, which conforms thought to the standard of Principle and surrenders the egotism of sense to the revelation of the one Ego, which is Mind. Such discipline leads to the heights of Science. It involves the surrender of sense to the glory of Soul. It tolerates neither sense-satisfaction, hypocrisy, bigotry, nor ignorance. It dissipates timidity, fear, and the egotism of false self-consciousness; it strips the disguise from envy and hatred. Through unswerving obedience to the First Commandment, Science reveals and proclaims in newness and freshness the unstereotyped grandeur of Truth. Says the Christian Science textbook (pp. 483, 484): "One must fulfil one's mission without timidity or dissimulation, for to be well done, the work must be done unselfishly. Christianity will never be based on a divine Principle and so found to be unerring, until its absolute Science is reached. When this is accomplished, neither pride, prejudice, bigotry, nor envy can wash away its foundation, for it is built upon the rock, Christ."
Demonstration is the evidence of God's allness. It can never be corrupted or used for selfish gain. Not person but Principle is the animus of demonstration. To misuse divine power is to forfeit it. Truth itself is the only potency. The power of Truth strips the disguise from error and reveals the grandeur and incorruptibility of Mind. Demonstration is coincident with revelation. Mind is forever revealing within the infinitude of its all-inclusiveness the abundance, order, perfection, beauty, and freedom of heaven. Thus man is neither sinful nor sick, neither downtrodden nor poor; he is not the victim of greed or tyranny, but the conscious expression of Mind's glory. The demonstration of this truth is the seal of our discipleship.
In the certainty of Life, with the constancy of Love, Truth is forever saying: "I am the power and the presence. 'Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.' "
