Editorial February 25, 1911 Issue

"DEEDS, NOT WORDS."

Archibald McLellan

To the student of Christian Science there is food for reflection in the method adopted by the Master when the disciples of John questioned him to know if he really was the long-expected Messiah. Though John had been cast into prison, word was brought him of the wonderful works that were being wrought in Judea by that "one mightier" whose coming he had himself foretold, and he sought to know if this was indeed the Christ. The disciples came and delivered their message, but the Master, busied with the healing works that filled his days, answered them not. But as they stood there, waiting, they saw the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers cleansed, the dead raised, and heard the gospel preached to the poor and lowly.

The Master made no wordy claim to his right to be accredited as the Messiah—he was too much engaged in his Father's business for that. He simply bade the messengers go and tell John of the things which they had seen and heard. He knew that mere words were not sufficient to carry conviction to these earnest seekers for truth, but there was no gainsaying the proofs of the healing of the sick and the sinning, the works which they had witnessed. The formalism and dogma which preceded the advent of Jesus and prevented the universal acknowledgment of his divine origin were the outgrowth of unfruitful preaching, a slavish adherence to the observance of the letter of the Mosaic law, but with no concept of its spirit. It was because he recognized the barrenness of this preaching that the Master substituted the works, those wondrous proofs of his understanding of the allness of God, omnipotent good, and the nothingness of evil.

Mrs. Eddy saw the need of proving the power of Christian Science to heal, before she could be sure of the truth and value of her discovery, and the thoroughness of the test to which she submitted her system is shown by the nine years which elapsed between her discovery and the publication of her book Science and Health, in which she made it known to the world. Just as the Master let his works attest the truth of his teachings, so Mrs. Eddy believed that practice must demonstrate the truth of the message which she had received and which had made an entire change in her view of life.

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