In considering the subject of the Christian Church, one naturally turns to the inception of that Church as described in the teachings of Christ Jesus. Once when the great Master was endeavoring to lift the thought of his disciples above the contemplation of himself as the carpenter's son to the recognition of God's anointed one, he asked them, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" The answer was apparently unsatisfactory: and he inquired again, "But whom say ye that I am?" Then Peter, in an outburst of spiritual illumination, exclaimed, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God"!

This acknowledgment of the Christ was the spiritual Rock upon which Jesus declared the Church of Christ should be built for time and eternity. To emphasize the holy character of this Church and the inviolability of its foundation, Jesus added, "And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Thus the initial unfoldment of the Church of Christ brought to light its real mission as the apprehension and demonstration of the Christ, Truth, which overcomes sin and hell.

Later, "the Revelation of Jesus Christ" was given through his angel to the beloved John, concerning the seven churches in Asia. In the revelation, John saw the seven candlesticks, which "are the seven churches," and in the midst of them "one like unto the Son of man," whom Peter had acknowledged as the Christ. The number seven is typical of completeness; and these symbolical candlesticks, typifying the full and complete illumination which Christ bestows upon his Church, indicate exactly what it is in the Church of Christ that makes the challenge to sin and hell effectual.

Only the Christ, Truth, can uncover or expose the nature of sin; and when Truth does uncover sin, the same Truth is there to correct it in God's own way. This uncovering of the nothingness of sin is essentially the province of the Church of Christ, even to the opening of the seven seals of error; and the account of the opening of these seals in the book of Revelation follows the messages to the seven churches. The warfare between the Church of Christ and the forces of hell is further described in the twelfth chapter of Revelation as a woman in travail, beset by the great red dragon.

In the account of the fourth day of creation, as given in the first chapter of Genesis, two great lights are mentioned, whose office it is to rule: one to rule over the night, and the other to rule over the day. In the prophetic vision of Micah, one of these two "that is to be ruler in Israel" was to be a man and the other a woman. The Revelator also describes one of these divinely appointed witnesses as a woman, whose child "was to rule all nations with a rod of iron." Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, does not hesitate to name these two witnesses as Christ Jesus and Christian Science (see Miscellany, p. 347). She further pictures them in "Christ and Christmas" (p. 41) as a man and a woman, the latter bearing the scroll of Christian Science. Moreover, she declares, in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 565), that "Christ, God's idea, will eventually rule all nations and peoples—imperatively, absolutely, finally—with divine Science."

The great red dragon, who "was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed," is also referred to by the Revelator as the Babylonish woman,—type of lust and sensuality,—who rides the beast with the seven heads and ten horns. The book of Daniel describes this same beast, and indicates clearly that only the Christ shall prevail over it. The Revelator confirms that statement, and shows that this beast received a deadly wound, and then healed himself; whereupon all the world marveled. That is to say, lust and hypnotism claimed to equal the works of Truth. The ten horns of this beast are described as ten kings who "receive power as kings one hour with the beast." One should not, therefore, keep his attention too long on the waning power, else he may overlook the next "king" whose turn it is to reign.

These kings may be easily recognized, because it is their purpose to war on those "which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Mrs. Eddy explains in Science and Health that these ten horns, or kings, war against the Ten Commandments or complete law,—that law which Christ Jesus came to fulfill. Whatever opposes the law of the Church of Christ must, therefore, be that same beast with the seven heads and ten horns, upon which rides the Babylonish woman.

Now to bring this lesson to present-day experience. It will be admitted by all Christian people that the mission of the Christian Church is to challenge and vanquish sin and hell. Indeed, without the church organization, there is nothing with which to challenge and overcome the beast and the false prophets. We are taught in Christian Science that "a knowledge of error and of its operations must precede that understanding of Truth which destroys error" (Science and Health, p. 252). We also learn that when the church, or an individual identified with it as a member or as an officer, challenges sin, it is the nature of sin to turn the lie, if possible, upon its accuser. Hence the necessity of learning how to protect one's self in this warfare. When the crowd threatened to throw Jesus over the "brow of the hill" because of the wrath his words aroused in them, his understanding was sufficient to withstand their attack, and to enable him to pass through the midst of the crowd unharmed.

Knowing that it hath but a short time, the beast naturally turns to rend its destroyer. The beast would, if it could, disintegrate, disrupt, or even destroy church organization, which has become its tormentor. One of its methods is to alienate from the church those members who are not wise enough, as Jesus was, to protect themselves from such an attack. In the days of the western pioneers, when the wagon trains were moving slowly across the plains to the Pacific coast, those who could not stand the discipline necessary to such a great movement turned back and were killed by the Indians. Their safety, so long as they were facing the grave dangers known to exist along the way, depended upon their moving along in one harmonious unit or organization. It required them to put down self, and to learn the discipline of working harmoniously with others and of obeying rules essential to the life of the organization.

While our Leader was personally with us, guiding and directing her flock, an attempt to pick a quarrel with Mrs. Eddy was a sure sign of losing one's true concept of Christian Science. A sure sign of losing that true concept to-day is to try to pick a quarrel with her institutional activities. When, for various reasons, one begins to lose his respect for the Manual of The Mother Church, and becomes a discordant and disobedient member, he is to that extent aligning himself with the purpose of the beast. Those who admit such seeds into thought may discover that this may result in their being shaken out of their place. When Jesus once became aware that some of his own professed followers were becoming disaffected and believed not, he propounded a law that should define the way of salvation. To this end he declared, "No man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father." That teaching evidently had an immediate effect; for the very next verse says, "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." This shaking-out process is still going on, "that those things which cannot be shaken may remain."

Within the broad channels of the Christian Science church organization are provided all the essentials for that complete understanding of the Christ-idea which brings salvation to all. When one turns aside from this organization, claiming for himself an advanced revelation, or that organization is no longer necessary, he is being blinded to his own disobedience and unwillingness to observe the discipline essential to his own spiritual growth in the organization. He should remember, moreover, that the two witnesses whose office it is to rule or govern were ordained simultaneously with creation. Those Christian Scientists who are willing to acknowledge the woman in the Apocalypse will have respect for the church founded by Mary Baker Eddy, and will the more readily obey its rules of government. Mrs. Eddy says, "Church laws which are obeyed without mutiny are God's laws" (Miscellany, p. 203). Then it will be understood why the Founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, must be a woman bearing the message of Christian Science that is sweet to the taste, but bitter to the digestion.

As the mission of the Church of Christ, Scientist, was revealed to John, he saw unrolled before him the sum total of human sin and its final destruction. But he was not disturbed nor impressed by this uncovering of evil, because he never for one moment lost his grasp on the ever-presence and omnipotence of divine Love. Some day, all people must understand as much of the real meaning of the Church as John did when he wrote the book of Revelation. Then they will no longer be disturbed over the warfare with evil; and the purpose of church organization will be fulfilled.

One prayer that fits every circumstance and condition is the prayer for wisdom and understanding; wisdom to know what to do, and understanding to know how to do it. Every worthy action is the outcome of worthy thought; thus too with evil deeds and evil thoughts. Thoughts are seeds. Actions are fruits. The seeds we plant determine the fruits we gather.—W. R. R.

Copyright, 1924, by The Christian Science Publishing Society, Falmouth and St. Paul Streets, Boston, Massachusetts. Entered at Boston post office as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing at a special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 11, 1918.