Article January 24, 1920 Issue

The Need of Understanding

ALBERT H. HARDCASTLE

In John's gospel we read that Jesus said, "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." Before knowing anything of Christian Science most of us in reading this passage of Scripture doubted it, for we had long labored under the erroneous impression that Jesus was gifted with divine power which God does not intend all His children to possess.

The difficulty with mankind is, that through acceptance of material sense testimony as real, they are ignorant of their God-given dominion, and consequently cannot manifest it. Now, God is Truth, divine Principle, and the demonstrations or miracles performed by Jesus were the result of his understanding of and adherence to Truth, or Principle, thereby overcoming false belief. In order that mankind may gain the qualifications necessary to perform similar works to those of Jesus, the Bible informs us they must let that Mind be in them "which was also in Christ Jesus." The only way to do this is to gain the understanding of God which Christ Jesus presented, and if this is done the same kind of works will immediately follow, for divine thinking is the basis of all right activity. We cannot reap what we have not sown, but must follow the command to work out our own salvation. Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, in speaking of Jesus' earthly mission, tells us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 18), "He did life's work aright not only in justice to himself, but in mercy to mortals,—to show them how to do theirs, but not to do it for them nor to relieve them of a single responsibility."

In pondering these statements the following simple illustration presented itself to the writer. A child, when he first enters school and takes up the study of mathematics, must rely implicitly upon the teacher's instruction and begin with the simpler problems first, in order to gain the understanding necessary to solve the more difficult ones. Suppose some master mathematician should visit a school and work out upon the blackboard some very intricate problems. The children would not in the least understand how he worked them out, yet they would be amazed at his understanding and demonstration. The teacher in speaking to his class would say, "Children, when your understanding of mathematics equals that of this man you will be able to solve exactly the same kind of problems." Would it not be foolish to discourage the child with the assertion that it would be useless for him to attempt to gain that understanding?

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