The Christ is here, all dreams of error breaking,
Unloosing bonds of all captivity.
These words of a loved hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal (No. 412) reveal the purpose of the Christ, forever present.
Mary Baker Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," under the marginal heading, "The Son of God" (p. 332), "Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness." And on page 583 of this textbook she defines Christ as, "The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error." In these two brief statements are to be found the source, purpose, method of operation, and the effect of the Christ, God's immortal idea, as revealed in Christian Science. The Christ manifests God. Its purpose is to dispel the darkness of mortal mind's concepts and to destroy the ills of the flesh. It appears to each of us in the very place where we seem to be and in a way that we can understand. It destroys the false belief of life in matter and reveals man to be pure, perfect, healthy, happy, free. The understanding of the Christ brings freedom.
