Everyone at some time has glimpsed the presence of the Christ, Truth, operating in his human experience. It may have been the inspiration of a holy thought bringing him joy, the tender words of a psalm or hymn bringing him comfort, or perhaps the ministrations of a friend supplying a human need. A glimpse of the Christ may have come when a glorious healing of disease or suffering was experienced.
The prophets of old caught many glimpses of the Christ, but the fullness of the Christly nature remained to be demonstrated by Christ Jesus. His teachings are reinstated today through the understanding and demonstration of Christian Science. The Christ has always been here. It is the evidence of God with us. It signifies divine power humanly available; the activity of good, and the continuity of that activity. Through the revelation of Christian Science everyone can have access to the Christ, Truth, in his experience. There is but one Christ because there is but one God. Our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, defines "Christ" in our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 583), as, "The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error." Christ Jesus expressed this divine, eternal nature of God to the highest degree. He proved the Christ to be the divine nature which is reflected in man.
Christian Scientists regard Jesus as their Ensample and Way-shower. He came to show men that the Christ speaks to the human consciousness prepared to receive it; that this divine message from God comes with healing in its wings to dispel the illusions of sin, disease, and death. Jesus taught that all may claim this Christly nature as their own and do the works which he did, and even greater works. Jesus expected his followers to claim the Mind of Christ. He said to them (John 14: 12), "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." Jesus knew that the understanding he possessed of God could be the possession of all those who would demonstrate the Christ in their human experiences. He was aware that the truth which constituted his spiritual selfhood not only was his, but comprised the spiritual identity of all God's children. He was the Saviour of the world because he came to show mankind that this divine nature was not exclusively his, but belongs to everyone who turns away from material sense and opens his consciousness to the redeeming activity of the Christ.
Christian Science shows us the value of the Christ in our human experiences when it explains that it "comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error." Christ comes to us where we are. This divine manifestation comes to us to transform our present sense of existence, to destroy our belief of life in matter. Christian Science proves that the freedom and redemption of mankind are attained by means of the Christ. Mrs. Eddy tells us what she answered when she was once asked if Christ had come again on earth (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 180): " 'Christ never left,' I replied; 'Christ is Truth, and Truth is always here,—the impersonal Saviour.'"
Since Christ is Truth, it appears to the human consciousness as enlightenment and is essential for the salvation of mankind. This Christly nature is the unfoldment within consciousness of the truth which reveals to us the right, separating us from all beliefs of wrong and showing us the divine way of health and holiness. When Christ appears, all phases of error disappear. Today Christian Science has made it possible for us to see the transforming effects of the Christ operative in human consciousness.
Some worship Christ as an abstract personality having no communication with present-day experiences. Some still believe that Christ is synonymous with Jesus, confined to his span of human existence. Yet Jesus himself said, speaking of the everpresent Christ, which he demonstrated (John 8:58), "Before Abraham was, I am." And that they might know that the Christ would remain with them after his ascension, he said to his disciples (Matt. 28:20), "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." He proved that Christ is the divine idea of God which reveals the divine Principle, Love, leads into all truth, and extends throughout all eternity.
False theology, if followed, would keep us from acknowledging the Christ as our divine nature. It tends to make us feel inadequate, to believe that we are sinners and not good enough to claim the Mind of Christ. It would have us believe that we cannot heal or be healed by spiritual means. It claims that we must wait until some future time, or until we attain perfection, before we can demonstrate the truth. It would fool us into believing that the Christ is something outside of us and foreign to our individual experiences. It insists that evil is power and that there is little which we can do about it.
True theology—the theology of Christian Science—recognizes one perfect God, who has all power and is all presence. It acknowledges the one Christ, or Son, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever—the divine power which is humanly available and forever active in enlightened thought. This theology teaches that the spiritual, real man is not inadequate but is in possession of the Mind of Christ; that man is sinless, and that he reflects the wisdom which destroys the beliefs of sin, disease, and death. It shows that time is no part of Life, for Life is eternally expressed; it destroys the belief of minds many and persons many with the understanding of the allness and oneness of God and the unlimited continuity and activity of good.
By expressing the Christly nature, man is by no means absorbed in Deity, but his individuality and identity as an expression of God are more clearly seen and felt. God's individual expression, man, is forever at the standpoint of understanding, spontaneity, and might. Man reflects the divine individuality and is forever abounding in originality, freshness, and perspicacity. God expresses Himself through man's eternal individuality. As the Christly nature is claimed, human capabilities are enlarged and latent abilities brought to light and demonstrated. God, divine Mind, includes all of His ideas, and He maintains these ideas in their distinctive and eternal natures. The individuality of man expresses the individuality of God, but it is distinct from God, as the ray of light is distinct from the sun. Man reflects the divine presence. He is individual consciousness and is forever complete; there is no limit to his attainments and capacities. His identity is not absorbed in God, but is expressed by God in infinite and boundless individuality. The understanding of these truths brings the healing, saving Christ to humanity.
A true understanding of Church naturally accompanies the understanding of the impersonal nature of the Christ, because Jesus indicated that his Church was built upon the clear discernment of the Christ expressed by Simon Peter, the disciple. Jesus continually preached the evcr-presence of the Christ, Truth, but few of his disciples were able to separate the eternal Christ from the personal sense of Jesus. When he was teaching and preaching along the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he questioned his disciples as to who people said that he was. They mentioned Elias, Jeremiah, and other prophets, and also John the Baptist. Then, seeing the need for them to get away from personal sense and from the belief of Christ as a person, he asked (Matt. 16:15), "But whom say ye that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus was satisfied with Peter's discernment of the Christ. Explaining that Peter's conclusion was not based on flesh and blood, but was revealed to him by the Father, Jesus declared, "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Peter's understanding of the evcr-presence and etcrnality of the Christ truly expresses the sure foundation upon which the Church of Christ is built.
Mrs. Eddy established the Christian Science church in accord with the teachings of Christ Jesus. We read in the Manual of The Mother Church by our Leader (p. 19), "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Mass., is designed to be built on the Rock, Christ; even the understanding and demonstration of divine Truth, Life, and Love, healing and saving the world from sin and death; thus to reflect in some degree the Church Universal and Triumphant." The Churches of Christ, Scientist, all over the world are bringing comfort and healing to sincere seekers for Truth who are turning away from false material sense and reaching out for a better understanding of God and His eternal Christ, which is here to redeem and save the world.
Let us then prove the presence of the Christ with us. Let us reflect upon the many evidences of the ever-presence of its healing nature. Let us realize that the Christ has always been here and is ever present. We must see that the Christ does not come from without, but is ever unfolding within the consciousness responsive to good. It is the impersonal Saviour of mankind. Christian Science teaches us how to let go of personal sense and find the healing Christ as our impersonal Saviour. In the words of a hymn (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 412):
O dreamer, leave thy dreams for joyful waking,
O captive, rise and sing, for thou art free;
The Christ is here, all dreams of error breaking,
Unloosing bonds of all captivity.
He comes to bless thee on his wings of healing;
To banish pain, and wipe all tears away;
He comes anew, to humble hearts revealing
The mounting footsteps of the upward way.
