Editorial July 4, 1925 Issue

"The truth shall make you free"

Duncan Sinclair

It was after Christ Jesus had declared his Messiahship in these words, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life," that he gave utterance to one of the most momentous sayings which has ever reached the ears of men. John records it in the eighth chapter of his gospel; and it reads, "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Now Christ Jesus was unquestionably referring to the absolute truth when he spoke as he did, not to any human or limited concept of it. In his teaching there is the clearest evidence that when he referred to the truth he meant the truth of Truth. His great promise was thus dependent for its fulfillment upon obedience to his word, which had revealed God "to those Jews which believed on him;" for then they should know the truth which would make them free.

As history has shown, the Christian world early began to substitute dogma for the truth of Truth. The result was the loss of the power to heal as the Master had healed, and as his followers healed for, possibly, well-nigh three centuries at the beginning of the Christian era. It is true that healing by prayer must have taken place between then and the discovery of Christian Science, but it was more the result of deep faith in God and earnest desire for good than the effect of the understanding of the truth and its scientific application. No one would deny that many pious men and women, during that long interval, were often in close communion with God; but while their faith at times must have been both deep and steadfast, undoubtedly they lacked that great essential—the scientific certainty of spiritual understanding—whereby healing takes place as the result of the application of divine law.

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