"Citizens of the world"

MABEL ALBERTA SPICER

In its application to the needs of humanity Christian Science is as broad and impartial as the Sermon on the Mount. Radiant with love, it embraces all mankind in its beneficent ministration, leaving no room for personal, national, or racial prejudice. The words of Mrs. Eddy in our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 227), "Citizens of the world, accept the 'glorious liberty of the children of God,' and be free!" proclaim the same universal invitation as the Master's words of old: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Ever since Christ Jesus preached the advent of the universal kingdom of God on earth, poets have dreamed of Utopias, and reformers have vainly sought to establish ideal states; but not until Mary Baker Eddy wrote the Christian Science textbook was mankind given a practical, demonstrable method whereby the reign of righteousness might be made an actuality on earth. Even Jesus' disciples were slow to grasp the nature of this righteous kingdom; and theologians have sought to transfer it to a future life, though Jesus preached that the kingdom of God was at hand. All the mysticism of false interpretation was forever stripped from these words of the Master when Mrs. Eddy wrote on page 571 of Science and Health, "The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity." Here is found no impractical attempt to establish a perfect social state with imperfect individuals, no evasive postponement to a problematic future existence, no vain dream of distant Elysium, but the very practical method whereby the beginning of a reign of harmony may be established here and now.

The cement which unites all right interests Mrs. Eddy shows to be the fact of the existence of but one Mind, God, good. In answer to the question, "What is Mind?" on page 469 of the Christian Science textbook, she explains the exterminator of all error to be the fact that "God, good, is the only Mind," and that "the supposititious opposite" of God, called evil, has no real existence. On the following page she says, "The children of God have but one Mind." Here, then, may the children of men find the remedy for the strife and enmity resulting from the false belief of many minds, with their conflicting purposes. Here, indeed, is the cement of common understanding, uplifting humanity and unifying all interests. It is self-evident that in the degree to which thinking is brought into subjection to the one unerring Mind, and living in conformity with divine Principle, which is Love, the kingdom of God becomes actual on earth, and men and women enjoy the "glorious liberty of the children of God."

As salvation through scientific right thinking and living, as demonstrably taught in Christian Science, finds authority in Jesus' declaration that the kingdom of God is within spiritual man, the divine image; so, it is evident that within the individual consciousness must be laid the foundations for a universal reign of righteousness. It should be clear to every one that no government can exceed the righteousness of those comprising it; yet, men continue their vain efforts to rear a lasting structure on the unstable base of human frailty. It is plain that if but two people in all the world shared the right understanding of one spiritual fact, a practical cement of spiritual unity would have made its beginning. Also, it is plain that as this understanding grew to include the whole truth about God and His creation, and was shared by an ever increasing number, a commonwealth of right thinking and righteous living would be the inevitable result. Every worthy endeavor would amplify every other or any other phase of belief which could possibly develop into separateness.

Such a commonwealth of scientific, spiritual thinking had its rise half a century ago, when Mrs. Eddy discovered Christian Science and taught her first students. To-day, it has spread to practically every country, and includes a vast number of people from every station in life. Such a movement must make for that higher humanity which "will unite all interests in the one divinity,"—to use our Leader's words quoted above. Beginning with the correcting and uplifting of his own thought, the student of Christian Science becomes a factor for good in the family, the community, the nation, and the world. His every activity must tend toward the welfare of humanity, making him actually a citizen of the world.

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