Article July 10, 1926 Issue

Asserting Our Citizenship

ARTHUR TIPTON STEWART

A person journeying through a land other than his own might be subjected to many indignities. He might be set upon by bandits, with intent to despoil him of his possessions; he might be threatened with imprisonment; or he might seem to be placed in peril of life itself. Under any of these circumstances he would have at hand a remedy, the effectiveness of which is recognized the world over: he would need only to assert his citizenship, and claim the protection of the government to which he was subject; and if his cause were just, he could be certain that, to the extent it might seem necessary, every resource of that government would be utilized in seeing that he was made secure in the enjoyment of his rights. This would be equally true whether his rank were high or humble, his citizenship always remaining the same. Many times, indeed, he would need to do nothing more than merely proclaim the fact of that citizenship, in order to gain full protection from that which threatened him. The danger would vanish in the presence of the knowledge that he knew his rights, and was prepared to enforce them.

In belief we are all journeying through a region other than our homeland. But Mrs. Eddy has defined both our status and our destination in these words of singular comfort, to be found on page 254 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "pilgrim on earth, thy home is heaven." Pilgrims are we indeed, homeward bound, all of us; and our course lies through not only a strange land, but a hostile one as well; for the belief is that it is under the control of the so-called carnal mind, which Paul tells us is "enmity against God." Such being the case, we may expect to be set upon like the person mentioned above; and if we are wise, we shall understand that our remedy is as sure as his. We need first to recognize that we are subject to the divine government and to nothing else, and then understandingly to invoke its protection, being certain that if our motives and aims be right, we shall have the necessary protection.

We do not always do this, for several reasons. We may be conscious of our citizenship and our rights, but disinclined to take advantage of them through an unwillingness to accept the responsibilities and the obligations which they impose, and which we may expect to find exacting. This "enmity against God" of the carnal mind does not always express itself in things which we may recognize as actual depredations upon our harmony. On the contrary, it is apt to assume alluring forms, which would stupefy and stultify, lulling one into a sense of satisfaction with present material surroundings, and causing him to postpone his homeward progress until "a convenient season." Gratification of the senses and ease in matter make one loiter on the way, and possibly become a willing sojourner in the land of mortal mind. This may continue until one's sense of real citizenship is dimmed and he has difficulty in recognizing his rights when these unstable things cease to satisfy, as eventually they must. Again, we may be wholly ignorant of our rights, or, if we have some recognition of them, be unaware of the means we should take to enforce them effectively.

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