Editorial October 5, 1907 Issue

"NO MAN LIVETH TO HIMSELF."

John B. Willis

Christian Science teaches clearly that all human interests and conditions are to be embraced in that right consciousness, that active perception of divinely lawful rights and relations, which in its nature and effects is always vicarious.

Jesus welded love for God and love for our fellow-man into one consummate duty. They were to be indissoluble, and yet, despite the splendid attitude and efforts of unnumbered individuals, the love for humanity which has prompted to practical protest against unjust human conditions has never been a conspicuous factor in religious history. Here as elsewhere it is ours as Christian Scientists to recognize and honor the corrective presence of the Christ-idea. In our sincere desire to fulfil our moral obligations as good citizens, and as brothers to all men, we shall be helped to find our way if we remember that the requirements of the ideal are never indifferent to those improved beliefs which pertain to all human progress, and which, when made effective, certainly make the coming of the ideal more sure and speedy. The appeal of all reform is for the recognition of somebody's right to a fair chance and fair play, and we cannot fail to see that in so far as these are secured by the administration of justice, a highway is being cast up for the coming of the Prince of Peace, the reign of Love.

Of all this our Leader has given us many reminders. The practical interest which she has taken in the organized effort for the advance of international peace, and her expressed hope that Christian Scientists will follow her example, together with her recent words of joy and rejoicing "in all wise endeavors for industrial, civic, and national peace" (see letter read at Industrial Peace Conference in San Francisco, in Sentinel of July 7, 1907), are certainly very suggestive of her wishes respecting our attitude toward these things. It is often very difficult for some of us, however, to determine what endeavors are "wise," what human policy and procedure will make for peace in the many fields of present and impending strife. It is therefore important that we keep a steady grip on two or three fundamental truths, namely, that every well-meaning man should vote and vote intelligently; that at the bottom all issues are moral issues, and that they can be settled only as they are settled on the basis of strict justice; that though the many may not be ready as yet for the ideal, it is always possible to lift thought somewhat and thus to advance the Cause by the radiation of a higher spiritual sense, and lastly, that an improved belief always has the right of way, and can be made effective just as soon as it is supported by the moral sense of the majority of the well disposed. To illustrate, there is no question that to-day international dueling is condemned by the moral sense of the entire Christian world as a relic of barbarism which is not only unprofitable, burdensome, and wicked, but utterly foolish. It is conceded that it settles no question save that of brute strength, and is a disgrace both to Christianity and to the common sense of the age. Hence, it should cease at once, and it would were the existing moral sentiment organized and made effective.

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