Editorial March 3, 1917 Issue

Self-government

William D. McCrackan

Two utterly distinct concepts of government make themselves felt among nations, the autocratic and the democratic. The former assumes in a general way that the state exists as a separate entity and that the governed find their places under it according to conditions prescribed by the state itself. Self-government, on the other hand, places man in the forefront and presupposes certain natural rights for him which he learns to safeguard by establishing a suitable form of government to express his thought. In other words, the first school of thought magnifies state and proportionately minimizes man, while the second magnifies man and views government as a convenience which men in cooperation with one another may alter and adjust to suit their needs or to further their progress out of one condition into another. As stated by Lincoln, democracy is a "government of the people, by the people, for the people."

Without in any way undervaluing the great qualities of other branches of the human family, but merely stating an obvious and universally conceded historic fact, self-government thus broadly viewed has been especially characteristic of the English-speaking people in different quarters of the globe. For many centuries their political point of view has largely coincided with their religious development. In general terms and without dogmatizing it may be stated that they have leaned toward an individualistic conception of Christianity and have not laid much stress upon mere church government as a guaranty of salvation. Civil and religious developments tend to follow parallel lines, and as the people of any nation, for example, have become more democratic in their thought they have become freer both in politics and in religion. In other words, self-government and religious liberty have mutually supported each other; or, to paraphrase the psalmist's statement about righteousness and peace, self-government and religious liberty "have kissed each other."

The metaphysics of the situation is worthy of close study at this hour in world history. Mrs. Eddy lays special stress upon the right of self-government, and in her definition of it carries thought back to the source of all power and authority, namely, to God. She states on page 106 of Science and Health: "God has endowed man with inalienable rights, among which are self-government, reason, and conscience. Man is properly self-governed only when he is guided rightly and governed by his Maker, divine Truth and Love." Again on page 125 we read, "Reflecting God's government, man is self-governed." The teaching of Christian Science therefore emphasizes the close, yes, the inseparable connection between divine government and true self-government, and this explains why it was that Christian Science could only be discovered and founded in a national environment enjoying the benefits of self-government.

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