Editorial December 20, 1919 Issue

"The government shall be upon his shoulder"

Ella W. Hoag

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace;" so wrote Isaiah of the Christ and his universal kingdom. This perfect ideal of government, belonging to God and expressed by His Christ, has been sought by people of all ages. Ever since Moses proclaimed from Sinai God's law as revealed in the Ten Commandments, God's acknowledged people have been expected to present the highest understanding of what God's government really includes.

In later years there has come a deep, underlying conviction that in some way Christianity must be demonstrated in such perfection that the unity among men, which will evidence the ideal government and will prove the possibility of freedom from all discords and dissensions, shall be realized. The schools for the most part have postponed to an unknown future heaven the hope of this practical, present proof of Christ's reign, thus leaving the world in a well-nigh fruitless search for some satisfying concept of government for its present use. Inasmuch as men have failed to know God as divine Principle, Love, they have not based their concepts on a perfect premise, and their conclusions, therefore, have fallen short of the perfect Christ-ideal.

Jesus, however, presented the availability and necessity of understanding God's government and man's power of expressing it, giving to all men the command, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Through his every word and deed he, himself, proved that this perfection could be realized here and now, for he always refused to be governed by aught but God, thereby manifesting the ever presence of the Christ, or God's spiritual, perfect man. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 332) we read: "Jesus demonstrated Christ; he proved that Christ is the divine idea of God—the Holy Ghost, or Comforter, revealing the divine Principle, Love, and leading into all truth."

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