"The two largest words in the vocabulary of thought are 'Christian' and 'Science.' The former is the highest style of man; the latter reveals and interprets God and man; it aggregates, amplifies, unfolds, and expresses the All-God." Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, gives us the above thought-provoking statement on page 10 of "No and Yes."
The Bible tells us that those persons who believed in and expounded the doctrines taught by Christ Jesus were first called Christians in Antioch. What were the virtues and teachings of the Master which made his followers, both in Biblical times and today, proud to be called Christians?
First of all Jesus recognized his oneness, or unity, with the Father. He said (John 10:30). "I and my Father are one." Christian Science reveals that he did not mean to imply that he was God but that his relationship to the Father was like that of a ray of light to the sun. For his teaching and demonstration of man's inseparability from God his followers owe him continuous homage.
Jesus was loving. He knew that God is Love and that man, as the manifestation of Love, must be loving. Hence he was compassionate. He had compassion for the hungry multitude, and demonstrating the divine law of ever-present supply, he fed them. He discerned the sorrowing widow's need, and through his knowledge of omnipotent Life restored her son to life.
Jesus was forgiving. When he was asked if seven times was enough to forgive, he promptly replied (Matt. 18:22), "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." Even in the midst of the cruelty of the crucifixion he could say (Luke 23:34), "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
Jesus was both benevolent and beneficent. He not only desired good for humanity but, through his scientific understanding of God's power, healed the sick and the sinning wherever he went. He not only claimed but proved dominion over the material senses.
The scientific Christianity which Jesus taught and practiced has been revealed in our time by Mrs. Eddy as Christian Science. Jesus understood and demonstrated the divine Principle of Christianity, but he left no rule for us to follow. This rule Mrs. Eddy discovered through divine revelation and made practical for all mankind.
In answer to the question, "How would you define Christian Science?" Mrs. Eddy gives this illuminating reply (Rudimental Divine Science, p. 1): "As the law of God, the law of good, interpreting and demonstrating the divine Principle and rule of universal harmony." This Science is therefore not human but divine; it reveals the underlying Principle of all that is real and the rule for demonstrating it. Science is the aggregation of Mind's ideas, the amplification of Love, the expression of Life, the unfoldment of Truth. Christian Science is the Comforter which Jesus promised. This Science dethrones the false gods of materiality, namely sin, sickness, and death, and destroys them with the correct understanding of God as impartial Love, as immortal Soul, as creative Principle.
And what of the Discoverer of this Science, who was found worthy to light the torch of Truth for this age and for all time to come? How her heart must have burned within her, as did the hearts of the two who walked with Jesus to Emmaus, when she stood on the threshold of divine Science and beheld the risen Christ! She, like Jesus, knew that all wisdom and power come from God, and her great desire was to share this truth with others that they might be freed, even as she had been freed from bondage and impending death.
Numerous accounts are given by Mrs. Eddy's students of her absolute reliance on God, of her devotion to the Cause of Christian Science, and of her love for all mankind—the all-embracing love for God and man which, she said, is the true incentive in all healing.
One example of our Leader's healing love is given in the book "Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy" by Irving C. Tomlinson (p. 53). Here it is related that Mrs. Eddy and one of her students were selecting some chairs in a furniture store. The salesman who attended them had a bandage over one eye and seemed to be in great discomfort. Mrs. Eddy was later chided by her student for her seeming lack of interest in the chairs. She replied that she could not think of the chairs when she saw that the salesman was suffering. When the student returned the next day to place the order, the man asked her who it was that had accompanied her the day before, adding that he had had an abscess on his eye, but when they left he took off the bandage and found that the eye was well.
In the early days of Christian Science this statement was made in a newspaper (Pulpit and Press, p. 56): "Welding Christianity and Science, hitherto divorced because dogma and truth could not unite, was a happy inspiration." In this union we learn of God through Mind instead of matter, through Soul instead of the senses.
In the Manual of The Mother Church Mrs. Eddy has aptly described a Christian Scientist thus (Art. VIII, Sect. 22): "A Christian Scientist is a humanitarian; he is benevolent, forgiving, long-suffering, and seeks to overcome evil with good." The Christian Scientist who is living in accordance with the Principle of divine Science not only is bringing a greater sense of peace, joy, and happiness into his own life but by his example is able to help others.
By knowing that man is subject only to the government of divine Principle, one can be calm in the midst of excitement; just, when lawlessness seems rampant, pure amid corruption. By so doing he will help to hold crime in check. As his heart overflows with love for God and man, he will be helping in establish the brotherhood of man as it exists in the unity of Mind and the oneness of Principle. When spiritual harmony is attained. Spirit will be understood as reigning supreme.
A mother who was striving to practice the Principle and rule of Christian Science had occasion to prove man's inseparability from his divine Principle. An epidemic of spinal meningitis was raging in the high school where her son was a student. With very little warning the boy was seized with such a severe attack of the disease that he lost consciousness. The mother realized that here was an opportunity to reduce the claim of error to its nothingness. She began firmly but compassionately to declare that God was his life, and that he could no more be separated from his Father-Mother Love than the ray of light could be detached from the sun.
She knew that the Life in which her son really moved and had his being could not be invaded by disease. With the return of consciousness to her son, the disease had disappeared, but certain aftereffects presented themselves. Undaunted, the mother told the child that he expressed the all-seeing and all-knowing Mind and that therefore his faculties could not be lost or destroyed. The next day the boy was well and about his duties. "Christian" and "Science" had here appeared as "the two largest words in the vocabulary of thought."
With Mis. Eddy's discovery of Christian Science. God has become understandable and His laws applicable to the needs of all mankind, not merely to a select few. The Christian Scientist of today is under no lesser obligation than were the disciples of Jesus to obey the command to "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils" (Matt. 10:8). Men women, and children in many places are praising God for this precious gift of Christian Science, the new-old Christianity which was and is the revelation of divine Love.
