Editorial December 16, 1922 Issue

Justice Kind

Albert F. Gilmore

The notion has generally prevailed among men that justice is an abstract quality, cold and inexorable, to be exercised without sympathy or compassion, without mercy or any consideration arising from the possibility of extenuating circumstances. The familiar figure, often seen upon a courthouse, of a woman blindfolded, holding the scales even, has seemed to symbolize the common concept of the right method of administering justice, free from sympathetic bias because insensible to conditions that could by any possibility lead ever so slightly from the straight pathway of exact equity. Aristotle declared that "justice is that virtue of the soul [sense] which is distributed according to desert," a statement which manifestly contemplates no modification of the verdict of justice through repentance and desire for reform on the part of its recipient. Accordingly, one's deserts alone determine the course justice must pursue; and the sinner would be punished exactly in accord with its eternal law. This view, held in the distant ages, has, however, undergone sharp modification through the teachings of Christ Jesus, who made clear that the sinner by no means escapes from the punishment of sinning, but that through ceasing to sin the penalty is removed. His precepts, redolent with and forgiveness for him who will but turn his face to the light of God's mercy, are again revealed and applied through the teachings of Christian Science. Addison saw the divine quality of justice and expressed it. "There is no virtue," he declared, "so truly great and Godlike as justice." Surely, a Godlike quality or attribute has possibilities of unlimited kindness. and compassion, with which justice may be tempered.

Christian Science has revealed and emphasized the Nazarene's sense of justice, proving that God's government is that of divine Love, which never departs from its infinite capacity for mercy; and while the reign of Love is constant and firm in its administration of justice to God's children, it is ever loving and unfailingly impartial. Mrs. Eddy has perfectly expressed this in a familiar sentence in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 13): "Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, 'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.'" In Proverbs, the wise man expressed the same thought in different words: "It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment."

To be sure, mortals, with at best a limited vision and in consequence frequently with a mistaken notion as to their welfare, seek favor for themselves which would in itself, if acquired, defeat the very ends of justice. Christian Science teaches that God's bounty to man—never more or less than what perfectly meets his needs—is in exact proportion to his spiritual understanding, and contains nothing whereby his highest welfare can be infringed. Only that which best promotes his growth is Love's bestowal in its expression of justice; for, obviously, the sense of right, which pervades the all-wise divine Mind, can never do less than administer to man's constant unfoldment and growth. In speaking of the uses of adversity, Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 266), "Universal Love is the divine way in Christian Science." Not what mankind may mistakenly believe is best to meet its desires, but the perfect bestowal of Love characterizes true justice, which is divine.

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