Individuals unite in their efforts to protect their civic and...

Individuals unite in their efforts to protect their civic and religious rights, and these efforts result in governments of state and church. According to the ideals entertained will the quality of the governments be, for the latter can rise no higher than the understanding of the individuals who form them. True government expresses Principle, but if a concept of God is entertained which is incompatible with Principle, the quality of government will straightway be lowered. Mrs. Eddy has pointed this out unmistakably on page 94 of Science and Health: "The eastern empires and nations owe their false government to the misconceptions of Deity there prevalent. Tyranny, intolerance, and bloodshed, wherever found, arise from the belief that the infinite is formed after the pattern of mortal personality, passion, and impulse."

How can the consecrated Christian Scientist best support his government? Is it not true that he must do this by upholding constantly the right idea of government in thought and deed? To protect the weak, to correct public mistakes, to instruct the citizen in ways of helpfulness, to safeguard religious liberty and the right of all men to choose the method of healing in which they have confidence, to insure justice, and to beautify existence,—these are some of the duties and privileges of good government. As humanity grows more honest and learns the lesson of unselfish cooperation, government is enabled to develop further activities, but it must ever repose upon the one cause, upon God, as its sure foundation. Therefore, the study of the nature of God elucidates the basis of true government and makes obedience scientific and gratitude natural. In proportion as men gain a clearer understanding of God, they can pray for their own countries under arms without wishing evil to enemy countries, and their prayers can produce repentance where it is needed and alertness where mesmerism has induced sleep.

Mortal fears, mysticism, spiritism and spying, hypnotism and electricity used for transmitting evil messages, hasten a human government to its own destruction. The same destruction will attend the methods of persons who use their official authority to play a game of "hold up" for financial rewards, mentally blindfolding the unwary private citizen and sandbagging him with threats, to hold him at their mercy. Such criminal "hold ups," whether exercised through so-called business investments, food supplies, or public works, imperil the rights of rich and poor alike. Ignorant people are sometimes tied to individuals who bleed them of their well-earned savings by the lure of "get-richquick" schemes.

Christian Science opens the eyes of the blind and gives spiritual perception, so that the reward of honest labor cannot be caught in a dishonest trap, set by pernicious greed. Christian Science reveals a hunger and thirst after righteousness so intense on the part of the heavenly minded that it may almost be called a spiritual greed, whereby a man lays hold on divine realities and adds them to his kingdom of God within. This is the true desire, the counterfeit of which known as human will power, beats the timid to their knees and robs the innocent investor.

There can be no compromise with error. Human governments are called upon to protect their citizens against fraudulent organizations in the same manner as Christian Science saves men from the deceptive beliefs of sin, sickness, and death. As we read on page 225 of Science and Health: "What is it that binds man with iron shackles to sin, sickness, and death? Whatever enslaves man is opposed to the divine government. Truth makes man free." When governed by Christian Science a man is a better citizen and in better health, more genuinely successful in the business world, and more alert to the machinations of the agents of evil sent to sow discontent with good government and to implant satisfaction with corrupt government. Christian Science quickly exposes the disseminator of false news, and teaches its followers to be wide-eyed, not to take the bait offered by the enemy, nor to mistake for solid ground the surface of the bog which is designed to bury the innocent in the mire of mystery.

At this time, especially, Christian Science warns the spiritually awakened against maneuvers for a false peace, based on careful calculations of human weakness and plans prearranged according to national idiosyncrasies. This mental strategy of a premature peace has a double purpose, to preserve the vanishing vestiges of autocracy and to create a back fire which would destroy the good efforts of those who uphold liberty. Such intrigues find support from the regime of the greedy, who use as their ammunition against true government the familiar "pull" of personal control, and sell themselves promptly for a mess of pottage. Thus the worst elements of a community may hold the keys of a healthy, righteous city in their hands, exacting tribute from the defenseless and instituting a reign of terror.

Here the Christian Scientist can intervene in behalf of honest government, both local, state, and national, by bringing the Christian ideal before the world as a purifier in all things. Well-meant pacificist sentiment is used by a clever enemy to halt the advance of soldiers marching to victory, and pacificism acts the part of treason. Mere human goodness in ages past has ever played into the hands of occultism, and to-day would sacrifice brave comrades through the shocking assistance of would-be idealists. The pretended peace is rejected in order that the real peace of righteous government may prevail, where God dwells and man is free to talk and walk with Him. The army of the Lord loses not one single member of the heavenly host. It counts them over correctly and finds no one missing, no one gone astray, but rather one always added at every counting, namely the one whose form is "like unto the Son of God." This divine victory makes it clear that the enemy has blundered and fallen into its own trap. Therefore let the call of Mrs. Eddy go forth among men and nations, as found on page 393 of Science and Health: "Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind governs, and that in Science man reflects God's government."