Article September 11, 1943 Issue

Citizens of Heaven

THOMAS L. LEISHMAN

To the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, "citizenship" was a word possessing deep and broad implications. While she was consistently loyal to her state and to her country in every respect, our Leader's world vision made it impossible for her to confine her ideals within the limits of her native land, for it was her eager desire that all mankind should enjoy the larger freedom which she so clearly understood and so practically proved. Citizen of the United States, she was also essentially a citizen of the world, responsive to the world's problems, eager to satisfy its needs, and it is in this capacity that she addresses a rallying call to her compatriots: "Citizens of the world, accept the 'glorious liberty of the children of God.' and be free! This is your divine right" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 227).

These inspiring words have a special timeliness today, when the proponents of democratic ideals are striving for the establishment of freedom not only for themselves but also for nations temporarily in bondage, thus proving in a measure their realization of the meaning of world citizenship.

Vital as is this important concept its fullest and most effective development is to be found in that association of political liberty with the "glorious liberty of the children of God." as Mrs. Eddy so forcefully reminds us. It is this recognition and acceptance of their status as sons of God and citizens of His heavenly kingdom that can give to men release not only from the fetters of oppression but also from the mental bondage of want and woe, sin and disease, and even death itself. Thus, to be fully effective, world citizenship must of necessity have a divine basis.

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