The Master's Example

HERBERT BUCHER

To emulate the works of the master Christian, Jesus of Nazareth, is the constant endeavor of every loyal Christian Scientist. The healing of the sick by spiritual means alone had for centuries remained a mystery, and men had accepted the miracles accomplished by Christ Jesus as possible only in that age and by a few. But what said the Master? Even this: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." The works of healing were accomplished for about three centuries after Jesus passed from human sight; and then materiality crept in, with the result that the promises the Master gave were forgotten and the healing power that he and his disciples demonstrated was temporarily lost.

The spark of true spirituality could not be quenched, however, and it glowed steadily, though dimly, through the intervening centuries. It remained to be fanned into a bright, steady flame by one who, through a life of religious devotion and an overwhelming desire to help mankind, was found pure enough to receive a further revelation of Truth.

Mary Baker Eddy was the one who brought again to the world the truth that makes free, and established through her writings the absolute Science of Christian healing as taught and demonstrated by Christ Jesus. In her major work, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy gives positive rules which, when understood and obeyed, result in the healing of the sick and sinful now, as in Jesus' time. Through strict adherence to these rules it is seen that the so-called miracles or wonders performed by Jesus in healing all manner of discord and disease, were not supernatural but "divinely natural" (ibid., p. 591), and were the outcome of the application of the law of the one, ever present God, divine Principle. This same divine law is in operation to-day, as of old, but in order to use it in proving the divinely natural and perfect condition of man, the true relationship of God and man must be understood.

In answering the question, "What is man?" Mrs. Eddy says (ibid., p. 475), "The Scriptures inform us that man is made in the image and likeness of God." And on pages 476 and 477 she writes, "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick." Thus man expresses the harmonious and perfect qualities of God, and these qualities exist to the exclusion of all error or materiality. Evil is thus seen to be no part of man, its seeming existence being an illusion or a lie. It is the lie which would attempt to reverse the God-qualities that comprise the true substance of man; but neither God nor His perfect idea, man, can be cognized by that which is untrue. God is the source, the fount, of all good, and "there is none else beside him."

Even to human sense it is impossible to believe an error to be true, once its nature is exposed. In the working out of a mathematical problem should an error creep in during the process, an erroneous result will follow. But when a mistake is detected it can be erased, both in thought and in outward manifestation; and this done, the correct result will appear.

In order to heal the sick and "bind up the brokenhearted" the erroneous manifestations of mortal sense must be seen as mistakes and erased from thought. This done, and the correct concept of man held to, it follows as a divine necessity that harmonious conditions will appear. And this appearing should be instantaneous, since it is not dependent upon time or material conditions for its achievement.

Christ Jesus went about doing good, and his deeds were the direct result of his perception and acceptance of the real and true, and his rejection of all false evidence. He knew that material evidence is unreal and that it seems to exist only to the extent of its being accepted as real. Jesus claimed for man his rightful heritage; and his sublime example must continue to live.

Mrs. Eddy followed the Master's example to a degree that has never been equaled since the days of his earthly ministry, and she has made it possible for each one of us to follow her. We may now declare and prove, in the degree of our understanding, the perfection of man. This is our privilege. Let us accept the facts of God's allness and of man as His perfect idea, and in the measure of our acceptance will the "old man" be put off and the real man appear.

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