Since the time of Christ Jesus, Christianity has come to successive generations, and it is gradually penetrating human consciousness with the living elements of Truth. Justice and mercy, purity, integrity, and love are more and more widely lived. Christianity in its true meaning is a priceless heritage which calls for renewed inspiration in each generation. Mary Baker Eddy says in her Message to The Mother Church for 1901 (p. 30): "We err in thinking the object of vital Christianity is only the bequeathing of itself to the coming centuries. The successive utterances of reformers are essential to its propagation. The magnitude of its meaning forbids headlong haste, and the consciousness which is most imbued struggles to articulate itself."
The mere bequeathing of ritual and ordinance is an empty service contrasted with the healing power of which true Christianity is capable, the power which should increase with every age. Even Christ Jesus said that those who believed on him would do greater works than he had done. Because the Master grasped the magnitude of the meaning of Christianity, he ascended above mortality, and he saw the possibilities of salvation for all men once they understand the Science of Life. So vital was his sense of Christianity that he expressed it not only by his utterances but by the life he lived, interpreting real being for the benefit of all the centuries to come.
Mrs. Eddy discovered the Science of Jesus' teachings and life. Her spiritual perceptiveness made her conscious of God's infinitude and supremacy, which the Master had demonstrated so fully. She revealed man made in the likeness of Spirit, an effect inseparable from its cause. And she saw that fleshly life is a delusion which must be dispelled by the Christ-image. Here was a reformer whose utterances continue to bring to Christian generations fresh inspiration and the power of spiritual life.
