Editorial May 23, 1914 Issue

"Search the scriptures"

Annie M. Knott

In the fifth chapter of John's gospel we read, "Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me; and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life" (Rev. Ver.). It is indeed significant that in Jesus' time his fellow countrymen were seeking to find life through the Scriptures, and it raises the question how many, today, are doing this outside of the ranks of Christian Scientists. Many doubtless would fain make sure of salvation, or eternal life, to begin after death, but Christian Science teaches that life, spiritually understood, has neither beginning nor end, for, as Mrs. Eddy declares, "Eternity, not time, expresses the thought of Life, and time is no part of eternity" (Science and Health, p. 468).

In the older Scriptures we find much about the endless years of the Almighty, but little to show that man's divine heritage is eternal life. It remained for Christ Jesus to make this clear by his more spiritual interpretations of the Scriptures, as well as by the proofs which gave, in in healing the sick and raising the dead, that his interpretation was based on divine Truth. That Jesus was a deep student of the Scriptures is evident from the many passages quoted by him, used indeed as weapons of defense against the assaults of evil; as, for instance, his declarations from Deuteronomy and from the ninety-first psalm during the temptation in the wilderness. As students of Christian Science learn the power of the Word, they instinctively come to use the same means that our Master did, knowing, as St. Paul declared, that these spiritual weapons are "mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds."

It matters nothing that others, even professed Christians, may doubt the power of the Word to destroy both sin and sickness, and may deride our efforts to prove its power; the fact is established forever and will not fail us when we put it to the proof. We have but to read the nineteenth chapter of Revelation to discover that the world's salvation is to come from "The Word of God," Truth known and declared against every manifestation of evil; and we need not wonder when we read that Truth's representative wears "a vesture dipped in blood," so great is the conflict, but glorious the victory.

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