Nothing is more important to the world than the development of the power of Christ in human thought. For Christ is God's idea, revealing the kingdom of heaven, the reign of righteousness, in man. Individual sonship with God is found in Christ, Truth, in which man is God's image.
Prophesying the coming of the Messiah and the development of the power of Christ to humanity, Isaiah declared (9:6, 7): "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder.... Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end." With penetrating vision, Isaiah discerned the Messiah not only as a human messenger but as the eternally present Christ, available for the salvation of all men.
Christ is inseparable from God, is His pure reflection. The spirit of Truth makes one realize the inevitability of the full revelation of that which is divinely present, indestructibly real. Since the beginning of time, the manifestation of the Christ-power has been increasing, breaking down the bonds of the material sense of life, weakening the grasp of sin and mortality, subduing the animal nature, and developing Christliness to human thought. Patriarchs and prophets helped the spread of Christliness by the purity of their own lives and by their faithful and oftentimes stern instructions to the people of their day.
Jesus saw his own existence as abiding in Christ eternally, and he, like Isaiah, realized that the increase of Christliness is inevitable as human beings yield to God's demand for perfection. He foresaw the time when "all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father" (John 5:23). The Master devoted his ministry to increasing the government of Christ in human hearts.
So penetrating is the Christ-idea that even where Christianity is rejected and despised many people glimpse Truth and the value of righteousness and let the divine nature govern their lives in a measure. Nothing can hold the light of Christ back, for the might of omnipotent Spirit supports and extends it. Wherever Christianity is truly lived, prejudice against it and ignorance of it yield to the influence of Christ.
Great acceleration of the awakening of mankind to the presence of Christ began in 1866 when Mary Baker Eddy discovered Christian Science, the true Science, which Jesus had perfectly demonstrated. With this discovery has come not only the scientific meaning of peace as the natural, harmonious state of God's man, but the Principle and rule by which peace is demonstrated.
Many people today yearn for the end of dissension and war. They believe that the race has matured to the point of settling disputes by goodwill and arbitration rather than by the wholesale murder of war. Other people are stirred to increasing antagonism to peaceful methods, for the Christ disturbs the carnal mind and brings cruel age-old instincts and sins to the surface of thought where they may be seen in all their hideous implications and abandoned. The Christian Scientist remains calm in the face of the upsurge of evil going on today. He knows that falsity is driven forcibly from the human mind by the universal activity of the Christ, and he expectantly waits for the disturbance to subside so that the ever-present government of Truth will take over.
In "Miscellaneous Writings," Mrs. Eddy mentions the efforts of the Pharisees to remove Jesus, and she adds (p. 370): "The antagonistic spirit of evil is still abroad; but the greater spirit of Christ is also abroad,— risen from the grave-clothes of tradition and the cave of ignorance. Let the sentinels of Zion's watch-towers shout once again, 'Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.' "
Many healings are brought about by Christian Science through the understanding of the true idea of sonship. These are bringing into evidence the power of Christ, even though they are little known to the world at large. These healings break through the walls of materialism and let the light of God's kingdom shine in the world. Christian Science healings soften human character and destroy much that is hard and selfish in personal and even international relations.
The Christ-spirit is warming the hearts of mankind in an unprecedented way, stirring the conscience of nations, inspiring ways for bettering the conditions of the masses. The increase of the yielding of the world to the divine influence abroad is more evident day by day. Even deliberate resistance to the widespread, fervent desire for universal peace cannot hold back the irresistible advance of the rule of Christ.
Mrs. Eddy says in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 3): "This Science is a law of divine Mind, a persuasive animus, an unerring impetus, an ever-present help. Its presence is felt, for it acts and acts wisely, always unfolding the highway of hope, faith, understanding."
The association of peace with the coming of the Messiah was given in the refrain of "the heavenly host" heard by shepherds on the night of Jesus' birth. The refrain was (Luke 2:14), "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
The world needs peace, but not peace in materialistic satisfaction or in the mere promise of security from military action. The world needs the peace that is demonstrable as the eternal order of heaven, the peace that abides in the depths of man's Christliness. Mrs. Eddy says in Miscellany (p. 278), "Peace is the promise and reward of rightness." She continues on the next page, "God is Father, infinite, and this great truth, when understood in its divine metaphysics, will establish the brotherhood of man, end wars, and demonstrate 'on earth peace, good will toward men.'"
Christian Science reveals the metaphysical knowledge of existence as beyond matter, beyond strife, beyond the cognizance of the physical senses. The responsibility of the Christian Science movement is to increase in the world the understanding of man's eternal and peaceful existence in Christ. Through the activity of the Christ-spirit, the individual Scientist will truly celebrate Christmas. He will extend peace with its unfailing "reward of rightness."
