Editorial April 20, 1912 ISSUE

BUILDING ARIGHT

Archibald McLellan

Some one has wisely said that to work for the good of all is indirectly to compass our own. While this is doubtless true, it is also to be remembered that the foundation of collective goodness is based upon that of the individual. When Jesus gave to humanity that great saying which has since been called the golden rule, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them," he was but restating the old Mosaic law, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," a statement entirely consistent with his other great saying, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God," for this is likewise a foundational premise, in that with the attainment of this kingdom is coupled the promise that "all these things," all the good that is man's rightful heritage, shall be added.

The mistake of some reformers has been that they have endeavored to build from the superstructure down to the foundation, depending upon the enforcement of human law for the accomplishment of results, rather than upon the regeneration of the individual from within. Not so Christ Jesus. He was content to take a few fishermen and others of equally low degree, from the worldly point of view, and to inspire in them individually the love of God and man which destroys all sin and all selfishness. He knew that only by precept and example, which would show that the kingdom of God was more to be desired than all else, could he build up that kingdom on earth. He knew, as some are beginning to understand today, that men are not made pure, temperate, unselfish, holy, by statute law. Paul knew this when he wrote to the Philippians, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Mrs. Eddy knew it when she wrote, "Keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them. ... There is no door through which evil can enter, and no space for evil to fill in a mind filled with goodness" (Pamphlet, What Our Leader Says).

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