Article January 15, 1927 Issue

Mentioning God's Righteousness

FLORENCE TERRY

"I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only." So sang the Psalmist! Would that we who have had such great privileges, such wonderful opportunities in our study of the works,—the righteousness of God, as narrated in the Bible and so illuminated for us in the writings of our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy,—would that we went forth into the world each day to our business with these words of the Psalmist not only on our lips, but graven deep in our hearts!

A study of this utterance of the Psalmist should give us much food for thought. In Webster's dictionary "godliness, equity, justice, integrity, honesty, faithfulness" are given as synonyms of "righteousness," so that to make mention of God's righteousness means nothing less than daily, hourly—yes, continually—to express these qualities of God. And how may this be done? By speaking and thinking nothing but good. Not necessarily speaking of God all the time, but speaking and thinking of nothing that is not godly,—honest, wholesome, clean, pure, true,—and thus exhaling, wherever we are, an atmosphere of good. If this pure exhalation were going out from every Christian Scientist in the world to-day, think what it would mean! What an almost unbelievable change it would bring about in world conditions! Not all at once, perhaps, but gradually, gently, yet perceptibly would the atmosphere be purified and cleansed, and love, purity, and healing replace hate, sin, sickness, and death.

Such loyalty to God, good, on our part would mean nothing less than the realization of God's kingdom on earth here and now—would mean the understanding that "now are we the sons of God;" because to make mention of God's righteousness only would, as already implied, mean that we must be absolutely consecrated in thought, word, and deed to the service of God, having no possible thoughts or desires that are not in conformity with the will of God. It would mean the recognition of God as our Father-Mother, the author of our being. It would mean, moreover, an entire turning away from the contemplation of the things that seem to distress us as we go along in the daily round of pleasure and duty, on the streets, on the cars, in the office, in the home. It would mean the resolute seeing and knowing of man as in reality the perfect child of God, and the unseeing of him as unlovely, selfish, grasping, pushing; in fact, the unseeing of everything that seems to jar on our sensibilities as we go about our daily business.

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