Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, makes reference to the subject of this article in a Bible Lesson beginning on page 185 of her book "Miscellaneous Writings." She takes as her text a passage from I Corinthians (15:45): "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." In the course of her lesson Mrs. Eddy makes it clear that while the material sense of man (the first Adam) seems to come first in our human experience, the Christ-idea (the last Adam) as manifested by Jesus reveals the perfect status of man as God's likeness now and forever. She writes (p. 188): "On our subject, St. Paul first reasons upon the basis of what is seen, the effects of Truth on the material senses; thence, up to the unseen, the testimony of spiritual sense; and right there he leaves the subject. Just there, in the intermediate line of thought, is where the present writer found it, when she discovered Christian Science. And she has not left it, but continues the explanation of the power of Spirit up to its infinite meaning, its allness."
While Christ Jesus based his teaching upon the substance and reality of Spirit. God, and first and foremost he recognized his own spiritual sonship with God, it was in the intermediate line of thought, as the son of Mary, his spiritualized human selfhood, that he lived and worked while on earth. It was in this intermediate line of thought that he taught and demonstrated the Christ, Truth, bringing comfort and healing to multitudes of people. Finally in the ascension Jesus dropped all connection with the flesh and relationship with the first Adam and assumed his full spiritual sonship with God. It was in the intermediate line of thought between the two Adams described by Paul that Mrs. Eddy discovered Christian Science. She did not stop there, however, but continued right on seeking the pure Science of Christianity and unfolding its beneficent influence to humanity in her writings. Moreover, she went forward with the work of founding and establishing her church in such a manner as to ensure that its teaching be maintained in all its purity.
We who have accepted the teaching of Christian Science are working in the intermediate line of thought; and while we do not ignore or shut our eyes to the false claims associated with the first Adam, we cultivate the habit of rejecting them as unreal and of turning towards the last Adam, the Christ-idea. Here we find our true spiritual selfhood, that selfhood which in reality is first and through which we recognize and demonstrate the healing Christ.
