If Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, had not proved and tested her discovery, she would have had no evidence upon which to base her assertion that Christian Science is the reinstatement of the primitive healing of Christ Jesus and that all spiritual healing is based on an invariably scientific law. She saw that without demonstrable proof in healing, one had no evidence that this Science is really understood. Therefore throughout her works Mrs. Eddy urges the student to prove his understanding by his healing works.

Hundreds of thousands bear witness to the fact that as the light and vision of the Christ dawns upon their thought, they find themselves saying: "This is the truth—the absolute truth of God and man. This is the truth for which I have long been searching." In her book "Retrospection and Introspection" Mrs. Eddy beautifully describes her own joyful acceptance of the truth of being. She says (p. 23): "The character of the Christ was illuminated by the midnight torches of Spirit. My heart knew its Redeemer. He whom my affections had diligently sought was as the One 'altogether lovely,' as 'the chiefest,' the only, 'among ten thousand.' Soulless famine had fled. Agnosticism, pantheism, and theosophy were void. Being was beautiful, its substance, cause, and currents were God and His idea. I had touched the hem of Christian Science."

When the glory and meaning of the absolute truth of being, the infinite incorporeal Christ, appeared in full revelation to our beloved Leader, there came also the realization that clearly here was the fulfillment of the Master's promise (John 14: 16–26), "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.... The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."

Coincident with Mrs. Eddy's own appreciation of the Christ there naturally came the compelling urge to give her revelation to mankind. Every Christian Scientist, when he grasps the meaning of the Christ and experiences its blessings, finds himself moved by that same incentive which impelled our beloved Leader. It is our appreciation of the spiritual idea and its importance to mankind that underlies our enthusiasm, our love, and our continued desire to work for what we call the Cause of Christian Science.

When one knows man as the expression of Love's being, that Love reflected finds visible expression in the natural impulse to fulfill the Master's command (Matt. 10:8), "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give." One of our hymns (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 394) expresses the true evangelism which characterized our beloved Leader and today motivates every earnest student of Christian Science:

The visible evidence of one's awakened love for God and man finds expression in consecrated work for the Cause of Christian Science, but underlying this activity is the scientific and absolute understanding that Christian Science has given us the knowledge of man's present and forever perfection. Christian Science does not acknowledge or seek to redeem a fallen mortal, but it reveals and brings to light man's true selfhood and shows how his present and eternal perfection may now be demonstrated.

As Mrs. Eddy says in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 325): "In Colossians (iii. 4) Paul writes: 'When Christ, who is our life, shall appear [be manifested], then shall ye also appear [be manifested] with him in glory.' When spiritual being is understood in all its perfection, continuity, and might, then shall man be found in God's image. The absolute meaning of the apostolic words is this: Then shall man be found, in His likeness, perfect as the Father, indestructible in Life, 'hid with Christ in God,'—with Truth in divine Love, where human sense hath not seen man." It is the knowledge of man's complete and perfect being which brings forth the human evidence of healing and spiritual redemption.

Referring to the appearing of the Christ-idea and the accomplishment of its divine purpose, the prophet wrote (Isa. 9:7), "The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." In the Glossary of Science and Health (p. 599) Mrs. Eddy defines "zeal" as "the reflected animation of Life, Truth, and Love." It is this zeal, this "reflected animation" of Love, which Christian Scientists express in their consecrated work for the Cause of Christian Science—a zeal and a spiritual enthusiasm which must never be lost or lacking. The Mother Church and its branches provide the avenues whereby every Christian Scientist may have a joyous part in this activity.

The Cause, the spiritual animus of Christian Science, exists in the consciousness of those who have named the name of Christ and are seeking to demonstrate it in their lives. The activity of Love and Truth in consciousness is therefore the very essence of the Cause of Christian Science. It finds its human manifestation in righteousness, in purity, kindness, integrity, humility, and in the steadfast high endeavor of each church member.

Richard J. Davis