The "State Papers" of Christian Science

BY CLIFTON L. HILDUM.

Casting the eye over the wide range of our Christian Science literature, we find that the United States is not alone in the possession of a Declaration of Independence, an Emancipation Proclamation, or of a Constitution.

First among our State Papers comes the Declaration of Independence. It is less voluminous, less dazzling in the brilliancy of its rhetorical construction, than the one to which all Americans point with such just pride and with such assurance of the fairness of its provisions—that product of the thought of the great statesman, Thomas Jefferson: but it is more potent. It is older, it is more certain in the results which follow its adoption and maintenance. One need not be a scholar to enable him to comprehend it,—in fact, children of tender years seem often more alive to its true meaning than are those of a larger growth; and it is lisped by the child with far more assurance than that which, in many cases, attends the most scholarly articulation of a collegiate.

Our Declaration is made up of but three words, but what measureless meaning they contain! A meaning as deep and wide and high as space itself.

"God is Love." God—the divine Principle of all being,—the only Cause and Creator of the universe and man, the only Power—is—not was, or has been; not may be; not even shall be, but is, at this moment, in "the eternal now"—Love. Not human affection, not the love of one earthly friend for another, not even the love of a mother for her child; but Love itself—the very Principle of gentleness, meekness, goodness. This is our Declaration Of Independence: "God is Love."

The full understanding of this Declaration makes us independent of all the so-called claims of error, whatever form they may seem to take. And the independence which we feel as a result of our study and application of this Declaration, we know is not limited in its scope or its duration. We are independent now and forever, and no seeming power less than God can have dominion over us.

Our Emancipation Proclamation is broader in its application, more far-reaching in effects, and even of more practical value to the world at large than that masterpiece of State Literature promulgated by our beloved martyred President, the great liberator of a down-trodden race— Abraham Lincoln.

Our Proclamation was not framed in human language, and made public, until after the issuance of the one which freed the African slave: but when our Leader put into words the Scientific Statement of Being, she pointed the way to a freedom such as, for fifteen centuries, men had scarce contemplated, even in their most ethereal dreams; and enabled us to claim, in its fulness, the promise given in the words. "Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free." Verily, the revelations which have come to us through this Messenger of God will make us free indeed, if we but accept the terms of our release from the slavery of ages.

Our Constitution, too, while made up of only six short "Tenets," instead of the eight voluminous "Articles" which, together with fifteen "Amendments," go to make up the Constitution of the United States, is such a Constitution as might with safety be adopted as the supreme law in the "World State," to which some hopeful ones are looking forward, when all countries of the earth shall be united in an indestructible union.

"As adherents of Truth, we take the Scriptures for our guide to eternal life."

So reads the first Article of the Constitution in conformity with whose provisions all true Christian Scientists are striving, must strive, daily, to live. The closing Article reads thus:—

"We solemnly promise to strive, watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus, to love one another, and to be meek, merciful, just, and pure." And as, to our highest ability, we live up to the requirements of the Constitution to which we, as members of the Church of Christ, Scientist, have sworn allegiance, and see the results which follow our endeavors so to live, we are prompted to sing with the Bard of Judah,—

"Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men."

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August 31, 1899

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