PEOPLE usually turn to Christian Science for one of two reasons: either they want to be rid of some physical discomfort, or they are looking for a satisfying religion, failing to see that the two may be united. The carnal mind is such a "house divided against itself" that it is incapable of appreciating unity. In other words, it sees nothing except its own divided sense of things. Now the individual who is looking for a religion to fill the emptiness of his heart is coming very near to the fulfillment of the sixth beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." And the one who seeks physical healing, though perhaps not so conscious of mental poverty, is nevertheless groping for the truth to the extent that he is able to envisage it at the time. And so our ever present, ever loving Father-Mother reaches down to His children in every age through His messengers, and draws them ever nearer to the heart of ageless, timeless Truth.

Christ Jesus was God's perfect messenger, the very embodiment to humanity of divine sonship in visible form. In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy (p. 350), he is referred to as "that life-link forming the connection through which the real reaches the unreal, Soul rebukes sense, and Truth destroys error." Jesus was so entirely unerring in his realization of God's fatherhood that he expressed the

Christ so fully as to become the way by which all may understand and demonstrate their own individual sonship with God; and he brought the Christ to humanity's attention by his healing work. One instance of this work, which all of us will do well to ponder, is the healing of blind Bartimaeus. How was it that he was healed so readily? And how may we receive as complete healing as he did? To begin with, Bartimaeus admitted that he needed healing. We may not all be physically blind, but mortals are in their seeming nature unseeing. Again, in Science and Health (p. 374), we read, "This mortal blindness and its sharp consequences show our need of divine metaphysics." Can we doubt this statement, when we see sick and sinning humanity struggling along, not even knowing of what it needs to be healed?

The instant Bartimaeus heard it was Jesus of Nazareth that passed by he began to seek healing. He did not waste time asking questions, arguing, or doubting. He put himself at once into the attitude of receiving; and that, in spite of all the efforts of those around to stop him. And what was the glorious result? First the ability to rise out of darkness to cast away an encumbering garment; and then his communion with the Christ. These steps enabled him to answer that great question which Jesus put to him, in such fashion as to bring light instantaneously. And next, instead of resting content with his physical healing, and going his way in a sense of physical ease and advantage, we read that as soon as he received his sight he "followed Jesus in the way."

In the Bible there stand these records of the healing work of the greatest Christian Scientist who ever walked the earth. They are there for to read and put into practice; but until Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, saw that Jesus was the Scientist he was, and not merely a wonder worker for his contemporaries or a supernatural being impossible to emulate, the reading of these mighty deeds brought comparatively few practical results. To-day, the repetition of these works, in accordance with our Master's commands, through the light thrown upon them by the study of Christian Science, shows them to be, in very truth, the "signs following" of which he spoke; and they illumine that "living way" which our Saviour illustrated, so that all may walk in it.

Are we, as faithful followers of the Saviour and loyal students of Christian Science, demanding and accepting our sight with the humility and persistence of Bartimaeus, and are we receiving it to the extent of following Christ in the way, instead of going our own way? Our dear Leader has shown us so plainly in the Christian Science textbook what God is, that man's divine sonship is plainly revealed in such a way as to make every word and act of our Master glow with healing and regeneration for all mankind. To-day, instead of groping with Thomas in doubt and uncertainty, we can shout a glad "Yes" to the voice of Christ Jesus, "Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know." It is not so much the speed with which we walk in the way, as the persistence with which we stay in it, that makes for progress. Digressions from it necessitate returns to it; and often they seem hard and thankless, because they are dark, while the way is always light. Sometimes, indeed, that false sense of things whispers or clamors to us of more than one way. When that happens, let us sit and wait by the highway side confidently; for as Isaiah tells us, "Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." Our healing cannot fail to follow.

Great joy and happiness come to all who are faithfully striving to keep in this sacred, glorious way, which to mortal sense seems so straight and narrow, and even uninteresting because it is spiritual—the way of Truth, Life, and Love. It is all summed up for us by her who has kept this way more closely than any other since Jesus. In Science and Health (p. 242) Mrs. Eddy says: "There is but one way to heaven, harmony, and Christ in divine Science shows us this way. It is to know no other reality—to have no other consciousness of life—than good, God and His reflection, and to rise superior to the so-called pain and pleasure of the senses."