To all who would advance the Cause of Christian Science, the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, has this arousing declaration (p. 570): "Millions of unprejudiced minds—simple seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert—are waiting and watching for rest and drink. Give them a cup of cold water in Christ's name, and never fear the consequences." Further, we read, "Those ready for the blessing you impart will give thanks."
How to give "a cup of cold water in Christ's name" has been dramatically portrayed in Matthew's account of Jesus' healing of the daughter of the Syrophenician woman. This woman was a Greek. The stage is set in the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. The actors are the world's greatest character, Christ Jesus, with blessings for all; a woman of Canaan, a pagan eager for the blessing; the disciples, urging the Master to send the woman away: and, unseen in the background, the young sufferer, a so-called incurable demoniac, sadly needing a blessing.
The curtain rises on this woman of Canaan crying out to the Christian practitioner of Judea, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil."
What was the Master's response to this piteous appeal for a blessing? He had come to bring blessings to others. Was not this his opportunity? How, then, explain the Gospel narrative, "He answered her not a word"? Is the explanation of the Master's silence the fact that, having as yet no evidence of the woman's readiness for his impartation of the healing truth, he wished to test her faith? His was a message from Spirit, God. What he had to offer was the "pearl of great price." His realm was spiritual consciousness. Was the woman ready to turn from materialism? Was she ready for the pearl priceless? Must he not have evidence of her preparedness to receive?
Certainly not as the son of David, as she had called him, not as a corporeal mortal, could he bring God's spiritual blessing. So "he answered her not a word." Did his silence indicate refusal? His disciples so construed it, beseeching him to "send her away." Jesus may have been considering whether she was among those ready for the blessing. He would neither accept nor reject her application for help until he had tested her. He could not bestow the gift of Truth while she looked for a blessing from personality. He affirmed the pre-eminence of his revelation: "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." She stood the test. It gave her no offense, for she worshiped him, saying, "Lord, help me."
Yet he must know that her prayer was for something more than loaves and fishes. So he gave the woman another test, saying in the words of a modern translator, "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." Hearing this, an enemy to Truth might say of Jesus: "How cruel! He has come to her land to heal, but when a sorrowing mother appeals for help, he scorns, and belittles her by comparing her to a dog."
But she had glimpsed the truth and endured the test, saying, "Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." Of her answer, Joseph Parker, D. D., a former eloquent pastor of the City Temple of London, has said: "Is it possible for any answer to be keener in its wit, tenderer in its pathos, more hopeful in its sentiment? ... No grander answer was ever returned by human lips."
Her words gave proof that she was indeed ready for the blessing. They witnessed to humility—the open door for spiritual growth, the essential requirement for healing in Truth. Her words showed her self-renunciation, her willingness to be called anything if only she could share with the Master a crumb of this bread of Life. Meekness was her passport to the heavenly kingdom. Truly her thought evidenced readiness for a spiritual blessing. What untold rejoicing is there in Jesus' answer, "O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt"!
"Even as thou wilt"! What tender pathos! What boundless love! What healing compassion accompanied those few words! A glorious climax to the final act of this drama is Matthew's simple ending, "And her daughter was made whole from that very hour." A daughter made whole; insanity healed; a demoniac restored; a so-called fatal disease proved to be curable; a Gentile welcomed into the household of Israel; Christianity proved universal! The religion of the Nazarene, overwhelming the boundaries of sect, marches forth to conquer the world for Christ.
What vital lessons this drama contains for modern disciples! Episodes similar to this one are enacted many times in the experience of Christian Scientists, longing to give their glorious message to those in need of blessings; of happy friends, eager to share their treasure with loving companions; of practitioners, called upon to welcome new patients; of churches, about to accept applicants for membership.
In every case the test that Jesus gave the strange woman is not to be forgotten. Is the eager searcher ready for the great blessing of Truth? The answer is important, not only for the applicant, but even more for friend, for practitioner, for teacher, and for our Cause.
Experience shows that only through humbleness of heart and willingness to emerge from material selfhood is the applicant fitted to receive Christian Science. Wise practitioners, teachers, and churches know that a life dedicated to giving, not to getting, receives the blessing of Truth. If one is admitted to church membership whose chief desire is to get, he may not stand firm in times of trial and tribulation. One afflicted with mad ambition, who puts self first, may not meet with equanimity the experience of frequent disappointments and the defeats for office. He who loves the Cause most and self least wins the blessing of Truth.
True appreciation of the worth of Christian Science is a good preparation for the blessing of Truth. The mere uniting with a church does not signify freedom from life's problems. The higher one goes in spirituality, the greater is his privilege of meeting and overcoming the more subtle errors of materialism. The true Christian Scientist does not pray that he may have no problems, but he does pray that he may be victor in every life battle. As Mrs. Eddy often said to her household of the problems she had met and overcome, "I have always known that the victory is as certain now as it will be a century hence." The Christian Scientist knows that the truth revealed in the Bible and in Christian Science is the one thing worth while, and he allows nothing to take his eyes from the goal of ultimate perfection.
Any laxity in reverence for the sacred Scriptures proportionately deprives one of the blessings of Truth. "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, the textbook of Christian Science, cannot be separated from the Bible. In Christian Science, disobedience to the Ten Commandments and to the Sermon on the Mount is anomalous— even treason. Mrs. Eddy says that the Bible was her only textbook. Disregard of the Scriptures is disloyalty to her revelation of Truth. A stalwart love for the Scriptures prophesies unending love for Christian Science.
The realization that Christian Science is a revelation from God fits one to receive of its blessings. Human opinion, mortal belief, doctrine, or dogma will so darken the vision that Truth will no longer be apprehended as the bread of Life. Being a divine impartation, Christian Science is a complete revelation which is sufficient for the world's redemption. No further revelation is called for. Obedience to the teaching of the Scriptures and of Science and Health will solve every human problem and enthrone the kingdom of heaven on earth. He who calls for a different plan of world salvation has voted himself unready for the blessings of Truth. He who lacks the true concept of Christian Science is unready for church membership.
Progress in the truth is rapid for him who knows that Christian Science has come in this age through the God-appointed revelator, Mary Baker Eddy. He realizes that "Christ Jesus and Christian Science" are "His two witnesses" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 347). Such a student gains inspiration from studying the Lesson-Sermons in the Christian Science Quarterly, containing correlative passages from the Bible and Science and Health. He who understands, loves, and reveres the revelator has made himself ready for class instruction and church membership. Consistent love for the revelator of Christian Science opens the door to the blessings of Truth.
It is imperative that those who seek Christian Science should understand that it is the gospel of Love. Imperative, also, is it to know that this religion is not without law and order. Christian Science is authoritative. It is the law of God, and commands obedience as firmly as do the laws of Moses.
The Leader of the Christian Science movement is Mary Baker Eddy. Authority is vested in the Manual of The Mother Church. He who would attach himself to the Christian Science movement should comprehend that a clear understanding of and complete obedience to the Manual is essential for every member. This obedience to the By-Laws means that every member shall pray daily not only for himself, but for all mankind; that he love his neighbor as himself; that only the Bible and the writings of Mrs. Eddy shall be accepted as his textbooks for self-instruction in Christian Science; that he who can afford it shall subscribe for the Christian Science periodicals; that he shall be temperate in all ways; that he abide by the religious Tenets, the last of which includes the promise to "do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure" (Science and Health, p. 497).
The testing of the pleading mother by Jesus showed her to be devoted, zealous. Devotion to Truth, consecration to the church of Mrs. Eddy's founding, being industrious in good works, are qualities worthy of blessings. These qualities in the membership constitute a healing church, a rich blessing in the community, and a spiritually founded institution for world salvation.
A Christian Science church with tested adherents, who rejoice in giving more than in getting; who show their gratitude for blessings in devotion to the teaching of their revered Leader, in consecration to her sacred Cause, in obedience to her rules and the By-Laws; who practice what they preach, will give to "simple seekers for Truth," as our Leader directs, "a cup of cold water in Christ's name, and never fear the consequences." In their prayers for growth in understanding, in their desire for better and quicker healing, in their earnest wish for increase in membership, they will hear Truth's voice saying, "Great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt."
Copyright, 1938, by The Christian Science Publishing Society. One, Norway Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Entered at Boston post office as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing at a special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 11, 1918.
