The teaching done by Christ Jesus as recorded in the New Testament was simple rather than complex. His usual method was to present ideas one by one, without developing all their implications or tracing all their relations. Thus, he taught the oneness of God and man in brief words, and left the full significance of this fact or truth to be developed by the Comforter, or "Spirit of truth," which he promised would complete his teaching.

Christian Science is the promised Comforter. It glorifies the Master as no other teaching has done. It has been revealed through one of his followers who could both receive and communicate the spiritual facts of being. This Science restores the Master's original teaching as distinguished from accumulated interpretations and substitutions; it also construes and applies his teaching to practical needs as he must have intended.

Of the four Gospel writers, only one the beloved John, recorded the following sayings of the Master: "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30); and, "Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are" (John 17:11). In such a text as the one just quoted, the words "through thine own name" allude to God's nature and the constant impartation of it to man through reflection.

One of the most impressive statements in all our Leader's writings is (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 465), "Principle and its idea is one, and this one is God, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Being, and His reflection is man and the universe." Please note particularly the words "Principle and its idea is one" and the singular verb "is." The statement by Mary Baker Eddy just quoted from the Christian Science textbook appeared first in the revision of 1907. Before then, she had used such terms as "coexistent," "coeternal," "inseparable," and "united" to define the connection between God and man but had not clearly spoken of them as "one." Now we have the complete and explicit statement.

We must not fail to consider that the distinct identity and individuality of each idea is intact and eternal. Our Leader has carefully chosen the clearest terms for stating the oneness of God and man with due regard for man's identity and individuality.

The use and value of this spiritual idea in mental practice have been illustrated by our Leader in "Pulpit and Press" (p. 4) as follows: "You have simply to preserve a scientific, positive sense of unity with your divine source, and daily demonstrate this."

The oneness of Principle and idea involves the infinity of good for man—for you, and for me. It is this fundamental oneness which means that God is our Mind, Life, and Soul. It is this oneness which gives and maintains true selfhood, identity, individuality, ability, and power.

Man's oneness with God is a divine idea that needs to be fully comprehended with the aid of related facts. Prominent among them is the fact that God is man's Mind. Divine Principle is the exclusive and universal source of intelligence or real thought.

Likewise, man's unity with God means that God is man's life; God is your Life and mine. As our Leader has said, "There is one infinite Life, and that Life is eternal, and that Life is my life" (Historical Sketches by Clifford P. Smith, p. 87).

The fact that God is man's Soul, is your Soul and mine, is of fundamental importance in the study or the practice of Christian Science; for, as Mrs. Eddy has written (Unity of Good. pp. 51. 52), "In the scientific relation of man to God, man is reflected not as human soul, but as the divine ideal, whose Soul is not in body, but is God,—the divine Principle of man." Webster defines "soul": "The seat of real life, vitality, or action; the animating or essential part; the vital principle actuating anything."

The fact that God is absolute good is one of the most important of all ideas. This idea is particularly important in the practice of Christian Science, for it means that man, also, is absolutely good, and so is every act or item throughout the range of absolute being. Another idea of utmost importance to mankind is the fact that all the real man's qualities are derived exclusively from God.

We cannot know either God or man too clearly, nor can we make use of the facts of being too much or too often. The oneness of God and man means more than coexistence, but this oneness does not mean that man is merged into God. "Man is not God, and God is not man" (Science and Health, p. 480). In fact, man's identity and individuality are both imparted and preserved by the divine Mind, made evident in spiritual creation.