THE Apostle Paul was much concerned that the pure simplicity of Jesus' teachings be preserved inviolate for all time to come. In his second letter to the Corinthian church he said, "I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (II Cor. 11:3). We today should be equally vigilant, because we understand Christianity to be Science, and as such it must be stated and applied with complete accuracy.
History records that unhappily, despite Paul's valiant efforts, materiality in the form of sensuality, pride, ritual, dogma, and creed crept into the teachings of the infant church and crowded out some of the spiritual element. In particular, the ability to heal the sick and raise the dead through spiritual means was gradually lost before what are known as the Dark Ages set in. This period of spiritual and intellectual stagnation gave way by degrees to the Renaissance, and, later, the Protestant Reformation partially awakened Europe to the need of purifying the church. This great upheaval set the stage for a gradual spiritual enlightenment and for a far more important event in the nineteenth century— the advent of Christian Science.
The revelation which came to Mary Baker Eddy in 1866 was the complete and final revelation of Truth. It reinstated the healing efficacy of primitive Christianity. Through Christian Science, people the world over have been healed of functional and organic diseases of every name and nature. The drunkard and the tobacco user and the narcotics addict have been freed from bondage to their sins, and the sorrowing and lonely have been cheered and comforted. These are the proofs that Mrs. Eddy's teachings are the actual truth that Jesus and the early Church understood and demonstrated.
