Article July 24, 1915 Issue

Scientific Citizenship

JOHN MONTGOMERY TURNER

On page 313 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy writes, "Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that ever trod the globe." Christ Jesus, the world's greatest teacher, is now generally recognized as the best citizen of all times. He applied the one perfect Principle to his every thought and act, both public and private. His citizenship and teaching being of the highest order, the rules he laid down for his followers must be perfect guides. Indeed, all that is good in moral codes and systems evolved and promulgated for the civic and economic advancement of mankind are epitomized in his immortal words, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." With each citizen measuring his thought and acts by this standard, conforming thereto as nearly as in him lies, we should soon be living in a perfect world, one which knew no need for those disciplinary or eleemosynary institutions which are the signs external and the direct results of wrong thinking. The millennial state prognosticated in the eleventh chapter of Isaiah would then exist to human consciousness; none of God's children would be preying upon one another. So gladly would man be sharing his brother's burden that it would soon be realized there is no burden to bear; that, as Isaiah says of the Christ-man, "the government shall be upon his shoulder." Temperance, soberness, and chastity, universal harmony, would reign.

"Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required." To the student of Christian Science is given the privilege of applying the specific remedy for every wrong in human affairs, including human government. Wrong thinking, selfishness, mad ambition, lust of place and power, have wrought in civic, state, and national affairs conditions which require correction, and it logically follows that what the world calls right thinking, and what the Christian Scientist understands to be right knowing, alone can bring about the needed changes. Inasmuch as his is the highest ideal, an ideal capable of realization here and now through the application of the immutable Principle of good, it is but reasonable to expect from the student of the one perfect Science more than is looked for from another. He should be, and usually is, the best type of citizen.

Inharmony in governmental functions is healed in precisely the same manner as are physical ailments. In the case of the latter, "the realization that man is the idea of God, reflecting and so possessing only the qualities of his Marker,—divine Mind, good,—and the use of such contributory arguments as will better enable the human mind to understand these truths and consent to them (physical beliefs being superseded by spiritual facts), brings about a condition of bodily harmony. Likewise, knowing that "the Lord God omnipotent reigneth," that nothing can resist the power of divine Love, is certain to cause the present amelioration and eventual destruction of evil in public affairs and institutions. In each case we must "emerge gently" (Science and Health, p. 485). The declaration and realization that man is not material, but is spiritual, does not result in immediate translation out of the flesh, but it does bring us health, strength, and vigor. The knowledge that in reality there is one government, that of divine Principle, and that God's rule is universal, beneficent, and just, does not bear fruit in immediate perfection, but it does bring us a greater degree of righteousness in human government.

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