Editorial May 12, 1917 Issue

The Essence of Democracy

Archibald McLellan

That men have held the right of self-government to be more precious than the possession of the sense of life itself, has been recorded in all ages, but not from the time of Jesus until Mrs. Eddy discovered and promulgated the truth of Christian Science was the scientific relation of God and man declared to be the necessary foundation for self-government. This scientific relation is clearly defined on page 106 of Science and Health, where Mrs. Eddy writes, "Man is properly self-governed only when he is guided rightly and governed by his Maker, divine Truth and Love." It needs but little reflection on our part for us to realize that in this short sentence the author has stated the essence of all true democracy.

Our Master rebuked certain of his hearers who were able to read the signs of the sky, but were unable to read the signs of the times. Recent events should make clear to those who can and will read these signs, that the advance of human rights along governmental lines is steady and certain, and that the whole world is on the road to the realization of the hope and desire for democratic government which has shown itself in every civilized country and inspired those who have contended for the ideal of human freedom. That these hopes and desires are no longer regarded as chimerical, and their fulfilment as problematical, even in those countries where autocracy has flourished most dominantly, is a portentous sign of the times.

To Christian Scientists it is especially apparent that the command, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," is not simply a religious maxim, but that on the contrary it is a fundamental, demonstrable divine truth which applies to all human affairs, and which lays the axe of human progress to the root of all bondage and oppression. As Mrs. Eddy has so ably stated it: "One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constituted the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulifils the Scripture, 'Love thy neighbor as thyself;' annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry,—whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes" (Science and Health, p. 340). To her followers, therefore, has come the realization that this command is the groundwork and foundation of all human liberty. Indeed it would seem as if some vision of the omnipotence of God, some divine insight, must have buoyed and supported those patriotic men who one hundred and forty years ago pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the success of the democracy which they inaugurated at that time.

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