Article April 13, 1918 Issue

The Coming of the Son of Man

EZRA W. PALMER

The distinction between spirituality and materiality is being clearly discerned by a larger number of people than ever before in the world's history, and this great boon to humanity has become practicable through the discovery of Christian Science. Christian Science makes clear the line of demarcation between the universe of Mind, God, and the world of sense phenomena, and to see this is the great need of humanity to-day, because without knowing the difference between the workings of the divine energies of Spirit and the aggressive forces of evil we can have no intelligent grasp of events and phenomena in individual affairs or of the tremendous struggle of the nations.

Christian Scientists understand more clearly, doubtless, than any other body of Christians the absolute nature of Spirit, its all-inclusiveness, immutability, omniscience, and omnipresence; and they are also cognizant of the evanescent, unsubstantial, and illusive character of the material world and of physical sense testimony. They recognize that God is the all-knowing Mind, that man in reality is wise, intelligent, deathless, perfect, spiritual, because he receives these qualities from his Father, divine Love. They likewise know that human, mortal man is the mere counterfeit of the real man, and that their chief business in life is to "put off the old man with his deeds" and to demonstrate the fact of man's real existence as a spiritual being, the child of God, utterly divorced from materiality.

Christ Jesus came to earth to show men the way of eternal life, and he made this way clear and plain by opening the understanding of men so that they could grasp the nature of the things of Spirit, and thus become aware that matter, mortality, ritualism, lust for power, sin, sickness, and all the manifestations of sense phenomena, are mere dream shadows without law and without Principle. Christ Jesus was the Son of God, but in order to leaven the darkened thoughts of mortals and gently lead them along the straight and narrow path from sense to Soul "he was appointed to speak God's word and to appear to mortals in such a form of humanity as they could understand as well as perceive" (Science and Health, p. 332). Jesus is often referred to in the Bible, and particularly in the gospels, in Romans, Hebrews, the first epistle of John, also in Revelation, as the Son of man and as the Son of God. In his absolute selfhood he was the Christ, the Son of God; as the man Jesus, the anointed of God, he was the Son of man who came to present the spiritual idea in such a form that men could comprehend it. The understanding of this spiritual idea, the Christ, heals them of the ills of mortality and demonstrates life eternal. A most inspiring and valuable study is to compare and ponder the various passages of Scripture where Christ Jesus is spoken of as the Son of man or as the Son of God. By this study and by the study of correlated passages in our Leader's writings we can understand how "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."

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