Those who sought out Jesus in Jerusalem because he had dared to heal on the Sabbath day may well have been astounded at the calm demeanor of the man they had come to persecute and kill. Facing them fearlessly, Jesus proclaimed his oneness, or unity, with the Father and added these significant words (John 5:39): "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." These men, with their minds blinded by the letter of the law, failed to grasp the key which Jesus offered them, the key which could unlock the prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel and reveal in the lives of patriarchs and prophets the unfoldment of the spiritual idea—the truth of man as the image and likeness of God.
Our Saviour's words meant little to the Pharisees. It was the humble disciples who recognized Jesus' demonstration of the Christ, and Paul who taught that the Christ-consciousness could be awakened in all men. To the Hebrews, Paul said (Hebr. 3:14), "We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end." And to the Ephesians he wrote (Eph. 3:14, 17), "I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, . . . that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith."'
Through the centuries the Word of God had been quickening the hearts of men until the soil of human consciousness was sufficiently enriched and the time ripe for Christian Science to be revealed. After Mary Baker Eddy recovered from a supposedly fatal accident by reading the Bible account of Jesus healing the palsied man, she made a thorough and inspired search of the Scriptures to find the divine law which lay back of her healing. Through her consecrated study the essential spiritual meaning was revealed to her, and the religion of Christian Science rests on this sure basis. To Mrs. Eddy's enlightened consciousness it became clear that since God, the creator, is wholly good, goodness constitutes His creation and evil can have no place there; for evil in any form would deny the allness of Spirit, God. She saw that Jesus exemplified the Christ, but that the Christ is present always, proclaiming the inseparability of God and man.
