Referring to Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 461), "Only by the illumination of the spiritual sense, can the light of understanding be thrown upon this Science, because Science reverses the evidence before the material senses and furnishes the eternal interpretation of God and man."
The student of Christian Science discerns that the key to the healing and regenerating power which Science and Health announces is to be found not in the human mind, not in intellectual appreciation or interpretation, but only in spiritual discernment of the nature of God and man. This discernment is manifested in the reflection in daily life and action of the Mind which was in Christ Jesus.
This Mind or consciousness which is God made the Saviour's mission possible. His mission is clearly discernible in the Bible, particularly in the Gospel narratives, in the epistles of John, the beloved disciple, and also in the book of Revelation.
That John perceived the Master's spiritual origin and purpose is evidenced by the opening verses of the book of Revelation, where it is stated that John "bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw." John's task was a unique one.
As the record of John is studied in conjunction with Mrs. Eddy's writings, there emerges a spiritual apprehension of Life, Truth, and Love, expressed in the healing and teaching of the Master. The student becomes imbued with a vital desire to prove that this spiritual apprehension of God, with its power over evil of all description, is available now as it was in Jesus' time.
In "Pulpit and Press" by Mrs. Eddy is a profoundly significant account by a reporter of an interview with Mrs. Eddy. They talked among other things of our Leader's healing and subsequent discovery of Christian Science. This discovery followed a serious accident, and Mrs. Eddy's case was pronounced hopeless by physicians.
The journalist wrote (p. 34): "There came a Sunday morning when her pastor came to bid her good-by before proceeding to his morning service, as there was no probability that she would be alive at its close. During this time she suddenly became aware of a divine illumination and ministration."
The journalist recorded that Mrs. Eddy's recovery followed. He quoted her as saying, "'I felt that the divine Spirit had wrought a miracle.'" And Mrs. Eddy continued, "'How, I could not tell, but later I found it to be in perfect scientific accord with the divine law.'"
This arresting account, including the words "divine illumination" linked to "ministration," shows the spiritual animus which resulted not only in immediate recovery, but in spiritual discovery at a time of great urgency. Mrs. Eddy's health was regained, and the way opened for the great ministration of Truth, which the discovery of the Science of Life has brought to thousands of seekers for health and harmony.
After speaking of the years following this healing, the journalist went on to record more of the interview: "'During this time,' she said, in reply to my questions, 'the Bible was my only textbook. It answered my questions as to the process by which I was restored to health; it came to me with a new meaning, and suddenly I apprehended the spiritual meaning of the teaching of Jesus and the Principle and the law involved in spiritual Science and metaphysical healing—in a word—Christian Science.'"
This sudden apprehension of the spiritual significance of the teaching of Jesus opened to our Leader's thought the new heaven and the new earth. This heavenly state of consciousness is clearly presented in the book of Revelation.
To Mrs. Eddy, as to the Revelator, human consciousness yielded to divine understanding, to all-inclusive spiritual apprehension, to the Mind of Christ, where no dualism exists, to the individual kingdom or dominion so often spoken of by Christ Jesus during his ministry.
Mrs. Eddy could say indeed (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 348), "I had found unmistakably an actual, unfailing causation, enshrined in the divine Principle and in the laws of man and the universe, which, never producing an opposite effect, demonstrated Christianity and proved itself Science, for it healed the sick and reformed the sinner on a demonstrable Principle and given rule."
By her experience our Leader proved that in the Science of being, the true consciousness of self is one with the consciousness of God, is inseparable from divine Principle, its origin. She penetrated the mist that went up from the earth, which is spoken of in the second chapter of Genesis; she discarded the mortally mental concept of life and discovered the reality of divine consciousness, the Mind that was in Christ Jesus, the Mind that is God.
Our Leader followed closely the pattern of the Master, who never accepted as real the mortal dream. Christ Jesus proved conclusively that he had dominion over the various phases of mortality; he knew and proved them unreal. He spoke of himself as "the Son of man which is in heaven" (John 3:13). Even while on earth, he embraced his immortal nature and so prepared the way of resurrection and ascension.
To replace the mortal consciousness, so called, with spiritual illumination and the exercise of spiritual ministration is to become vitally conscious of the infinite realm of real being. It is to enter into the kingdom of heaven here and now, to prove the everavailability of the divine presence and power, and to identify true selfhood with God.
