Article October 7, 1922 Issue

The Cross of Demonstration

LOUISE SATTERTHWAITE

The words of Jesus, when he bade the one desirous of following him to deny himself and to take up the cross, have been studied for many centuries by devout Christians who, in numberless cases, have endeavored to follow them with great faith and love; yet, if his meaning could have been more clearly understood, better results might have ensued. The bearing of the cross, sadly enough, sometimes has been construed to mean defeat, resignation to suffering, submission to all that was hard and painful. Yet could one call the Master a defeated man? Was his life, his mission, a failure? Was his walk one of submission to error? Was it not, rather, always an overcoming, a day by day dominion over evil, which every Christian should seek to emulate?

In another place Jesus bade those who were weary and heavy laden to take his yoke upon them; "for," he said, "my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." We know that each word he said was true and useful. If the bearing of his cross, the walking in his footsteps, is not failure but success, not defeat but victory; if his yoke is easy and his burden light; then, surely, because of much misunderstanding concerning this, we need to examine very closely into the meaning of these things.

The teaching of Christian Science, the demonstrable religion which is again repeating the work of the Master in healing the sick, is that Jesus' mission to the world was to reveal the true idea of God. His preaching and healing—everything that he did—was done neither to amaze people nor to glorify himself. It was not alone to make them well, to satisfy the hungry, to restore sight, that he labored. Such acts of humanity were good, but of limited effect in the alleviation of the world's woe had they stopped there. Christian Science shows, and proves, that such acts were done as object lessons, as a teacher would expound and explain his teaching by examples and worked-out problems; for every one knows how easy it is to state a thing or to preach it, but how much more difficult, as a rule, it is to prove and practice it. Christ Jesus was the master Christian, who proved and practiced his doctrine, and asked to be judged by his works.

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