Article June 21, 1930 Issue

Loyalty and Protection

ERNEST C. MOSES

Not a few of the world's writers on religion and civics have commented on the goodly relation which exists between loyalty and protection; and some have declared that these factors of human progress and happiness are inseparable. One American writer on civics has stated that the withdrawal of the first factor on the part of a citizen is to forfeit the benefits of the second; and how true this is! Without doubt some of the modern writers have gained their impressions or conclusions on this subject from their study of the Bible, and from observing the application of Scriptural teachings to Jews and Christians, wherein the two factors appear more or less in the nature of cause and effect. Few would deny that the practice of loyalty to the laws of church and state, in their respective realms, does provide protection for all whenever such laws are based on, or approximate, the laws of God, the sole Lawmaker of the universe and man.

One cannot carefully study the Scriptures, especially the Psalms and Proverbs, without noting how closely their teachings depict cause and effect, righteousness and reward, loyalty and protection, love and peace, as inseparable. In Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy teaches that, as used in the Scriptures, the fear of God may mean the love of God; and this amplifies the ordinary higher definition which makes the word "fear" used in this connection connote reverence. And so the oft-repeated injunction running through the Bible to "fear God" really means to love God. Solomon understood this, for in his Proverbs he utters this statement of loyalty and protection: "The fear of the Lord tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil." This statement regarding righteousness and reward agrees very closely with Mrs. Eddy's teaching, that Life and Love are synonymous terms for God; that Life therefore is Love, and that to love aright is to live, for the exercise of Godlike love "tendeth to life." It satisfies, and it protects the one who manifests this affection from the attacks of suppositional evil.

Many, indeed, are the Scriptural verses which closely ally the effects of loyal love with safety, preservation, and success. Especially in the ninety-first psalm—the psalm of safety and salvation—does the Psalmist couple fidelity with reward, or protection, for all who dwell, live, with God in righteousness—for all who, under deific law, find their peace in the making of peace, their happiness in working for the good of all.

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