Equal Rights
In commenting on the distinctive features of civil law in this country, Andrews, "American Law" states, "The people of the United States ventured beyond the limits of precedent and founded a new system of government based on their peculiar conceptions of right, law and government." One of these conceptions or features is stated thus: "The declaration of the equality before the law of persons subject to it." This conception, in its essential nature, may not have been entirely new to the world; but its declaration as one of the primal and fundamental features of American law, with other radical conceptions, formed a distinctive system of democracy expressed in a civil government "beyond the limits of precedent" hitherto established in the Old World.
The declaration of "equality before the law," just quoted, was clearly based on Biblical teachings, which found their highest statement in the divine laws set forth by Jesus of Nazareth, centering in the Golden Rule, the rule of true equality. While not always so stated, "equality before the law" implies an equal obligation to obey the law, and an equal right to enjoy liberty within the scope of the Golden Rule. Some thinkers have admitted this, and promoted its animus; and some commentators acknowledge that this rule underlies all the distinctive conceptions embodied in American law. But have we seen this Golden Rule wrought into the fabric of American state laws affecting the rights of womanhood to the extent that it should be? Do we yet see a general acknowledgment of the fact that human law, to be just, must conform to the Golden Rule, and that fundamental law is impersonal and knows not sex?
The system of democracy established in the United States, with its laws and civil government, is leading the world to-day to find and adopt better modes of self-government, through equal individual rights and responsibilities. This system, beyond question, is based on the teaching of the Bible and of Christ Jesus. Therefore, may it not be well for those interested in Christian Science, which explains these teachings, to note how the distinctive features of "equality before the law of persons subject to it" is upheld by the Word of God and Christianity, in respect to the equal rights alike of men and women? Thinkers are beginning to recognize this equality; but there seems as yet but little recognition of its Biblical origin and its power. Christian Science, however, has already declared the basis for perfect equality of the sexes; and its demonstration is found in proving the divine Principle of this equality to be God, omnipotent and ever present.
Christian Science teaches equality evern from the first statement of spiritual creation, as written in the Bible's first chapter: "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." Though this involves far more than what is implied in personal equality, it overlies and underlies every demand for equal rights in the human realm, and is the basis for every claim to equal suffrage and equal rights "before the law." Women must be recognized no less than men as among the "persons subject to it [the law]." In Christian Science the creator is infinite good, divine Principle, impartial Love, the sole cause and maintainer of all the manifestations of good; and nothing short of impartiality will ever meet the divine demand for impartial justice. On the effect of the understanding of divine Principle, Mrs. Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 340 ), "One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, Love thy neighbor as thyself;' annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry,—whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed."
The Scriptures present many examples of this demonstration of social progress, claimed as the legitimate fruits of Christian Science. In the enumeration of possible warriors among the children of Israel, as set down in Numbers, it was stated that Zelophehad had no sons, but daughters only (five). The father passed away in the wilderness; and the daughters, having no inheritance, because of the Jewish law of property ownership went to Moses and said: "Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son? Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father." The Hebrew leader brought their cause before God; and this was the divine answer: "The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren." Then Moses wrote down his conception of the law: "If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter." This was the first statement in the Bible of a judgment foreshadowing the unfolding of the law of equal rights, to be more fully discerned later. Another incident is to be found in the closing chapter of Job, wherein the writer tells us that the patriarch, leaving three daughters, recognized obedience to the law of equality in that he "gave them inheritance among their brethren."
Looking well into the teachings of Jesus, we find that his attitude was uniform. "What I say unto you I say unto all," were his impartial words; and he illustrated his teachings in healing the sick woman, as well as the sick man. Neither was denied the rights and privileges of health, holiness, and forgiveness. Not a single word or act of the Master could possibly authorize the limitation of the rights of womankind, which until recent years has clouded Christian civilization. It remained for Christian Science to unfold the truth of Jesus' teachings of impartial justice to all.
In stating the facts concerning the "universal rights of men" in the government of the Christian Science movement, Mrs. Eddy writes in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 254 ), "The church is the mouthpiece of Christian Science,—its law and gospel are according to Christ Jesus; its rules are health, holiness, and immortality,—equal rights and privileges, equality of the sexes, rotation in office." Under this government, with all the goodly influences to be evolved therefrom within the civil world, the rights of men and women everlastingly rest on the rock of divine Truth. These rights must be increasingly seen and acknowledged to be under the protection of God and the Golden Rule—absolute and impersonal equality. May the cause of equality be won, not by the forcing of these rights, but through the recognition of their actuality by men and women of nobility and of courage, working in unity, wisdom, and good-will to illustrate the practical benefits of equal rights.
A broader application of these common rights can never offend or harm whole-souled manhood, nor deprive womanhood of its virtue and gentleness; for the perfection of harmony on earth will be attained as divine justice leavens character, and true mutuality through an understanding of Principle brings joy and peace everywhere.
