To understand the healing power of divine Truth, we must understand the way in which Truth comes to human consciousness.

Truth is absolute. It is All. It is God. Being All and being good, Truth knows no error, no evil. And being Spirit, Truth knows no matter. We who seem to be individual mixtures of truth and error, good and evil, the spiritual and the material, have come to know Truth through Christ, the impartation of Truth. We can understand the healing effect of Truth if we acknowledge Christ Jesus as the incarnation of Truth. Jesus as the incarnation of Truth. Jesus said (John 10:9), "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."

Christian Science is the Science of the coming of absolute Truth to human consciousness, the Science of Christ. If there were no human consciousness, no seeming mixture of truth and error to be saved from the falsity of error, there would be no Science of salvation. There would be nothing to be saved.

In its desire to be left alone, undisturbed, materialism develops a philosophical view which eliminates the Christ. Not wanting the human consciousness to be redeemed, materialism suggests that we may demonstrate Truth by ignoring error.

"By beginning with Truth," it says, "we need never face error." Then it reasons that we no longer have need of the incarnation of Truth in a human Jesus. John warned us of this when he said (I John 4:1–3): "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world."

Divine Life can be understood by human consciousness only through the acknowledgment of Jesus as the embodiment of the Christ. This acknowledgment looses human thought from materialism and makes one a Christian. On page 556 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy writes: "Christian Science may absorb the attention of sage and philosopher, but the Christian alone can fathom it. It is made known most fully to him understands best the divine Life."

The human consciousness which acknowledges the incarnation is awakened in some degree to the reality of divine Life as concrete fact. Without this acknowledgment one may think of or talk of divine Life, but the thinking and talking concern mere abstraction.

This kind of thinking and talking is sometimes more appealing because it demands so much less of the human being. It evades the need for repentance or for reform or for thinking of error at all. It mentally soars above the clouds of earth without taking into account what may be needed in order to get off the ground. It claims to be inspired of God and often proclaims that its words are the words of God. It is the spirit of antichrist. And it is certainly anti-Christian Science.

Christian Science is the Comforter promised by Christ Jesus. Its appearing in this age is therefore directly linked to him. It is the prophesied outcome of his work on earth. Mrs. Eddy's discovery and revelation enable us to understand the Master and to find the Saviour. Through her work we understand the ever-presence of the impersonal Christ, Truth. And we appreciate the love of God, which brings to humanity the truth it needs in order to be free from the error of materialism and mortality.

On pages 315 and 316 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy explains: "Wearing in part a human form (that is, as it seemed to mortal view), being conceived by a human mother, Jesus was the mediator between Spirit and the flesh, between Truth and error. Explaining and demonstrating the way of divine Science, he became the way of salvation to all who accepted his word."

Through Christian Science we may understand the way, find the door, and enter the consciousness of real being. This way includes living the life Jesus told us we must live. His words and his deeds have shown us that Truth is All, and man is the embodiment of Truth. Therefore we can destroy hatred with love, overcome discord with harmony, and replace lust with purity. Every quality of mortal error must yield to the qualities of God, and every human is capable of realizing the presence and the power of God's in his own human experience.

In order to demonstrate this capability, to cleanse the sinner and heal the sick, we must acknowledge the door, enter, and follow Jesus in the way. We must be willing to face the error of mental inertia and overcome the resistance of mortal mind to healing, to the concrete expression of divine Truth in human terms. We must sacrifice the desire which seeks oneness with God but is unwilling to give up oneness with matter or to take the steps necessary to destroy material belief. When we do so we shall begin to understand the divine Life and fathom Christian Science as the Christian alone can.

Carl J. Welz