Editorial March 19, 1927 Issue

Good Will

Albert F. Gilmore

In the story of the nativity, recorded in the Gospel of Luke, the angel of the Lord is represented as uttering the prophetic words of the coming of the Saviour and of his mission. "And suddenly," runs the narrative, "there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Attainment of the peace which Christ Jesus came to bring mankind has avowedly been the Christian's goal from the beginning of the present era; the "good will toward men," which the heavenly host foretold, has been scarcely less the aim of Christianly desire.

Of the paramount importance of the demonstration of good will as a preliminary step to the realization of the brotherhood of man, the kingdom of God, there can be no doubt. Good will among men is the beginning of the reign of peace which Christianity, accepted and lived, will bring to all mankind. Without it the kingdom of heaven cannot be established on earth. What this good will is, and how it may be brought into realization, are questions to be answered by thoughtful Christians. We learn in Christian Science that good will is the will of good; and since God is infinite good, the will of good becomes in a certain sense God's will; and the will of God, infinite good, is never other than the will of good.

Good will toward men, then, can mean nothing less than the will of God toward men, which is eternally the divine attitude toward God's ideas and the universe, including man. The will of good bespeaks divine beneficence, includes good in every phase, forever blessing all. This is the good will which Christ Jesus came to bring to troubled humanity, and which has healed and blessed mortals in degree as they have been receptive to its gracious influence.

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