Peter said (Acts 10:34), "I perceive that God is no respecter of persons." But spiritual equality is something which must be diligently won by mankind. Just legislation may seek to provide equality of opportunity for all men, and this effort is of itself evidence of humanity's response to God's loving will. But even if the most ideal legislation were achieved and every individual had equal access to opportunity, each would have to prove his ability to grasp that opportunity and use his God-derived intelligence to make the best of it.

Christ Jesus was implying the equality of all men in God's sight when he asked Mary to give this message to his brethren after his resurrection (John 20:17): "Say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." Through Christian Science we learn that all must some day ascend above the mortal sense of life through the demonstration of sonship with the one just God. Divine Love is impartial, giving each of its offspring perfection in the expression of intelligence, activity, ability, and abundance. Every human being must grasp this spiritual fact and prove that scientific truths provide the same opportunities for all.

Mary Baker Eddy says in "Christian Healing" (p. 19), "Tireless Being, patient of man's procrastination, affords him fresh opportunities every hour; but if Science makes a more spiritual demand, bidding man go up higher, he is impatient perhaps, or doubts the feasibility of the demand."

The heartless inequalities which the carnal mind would impose upon mankind are included in the lie of mortal existence, and Christian Science reverses that lie. God's likeness, immortal man, is ever present; but the individual must through spiritual endeavor bring to light his real self.

Real manhood is not casually proved. Even with the advantage of his unique birth, the master Christian found it necessary to labor diligently to work out his salvation from the mortal sense of self and to show humanity how to do this. Jesus demanded obedience to divine law, expressed in love, truthfulness, wisdom, justice, and mercy, as essential to the demonstration of one's God-governed, perfect selfhood. And he taught the need of persistent, spiritual effort in order to destroy the limitations of mortal life.

Statistics show that the standard of living of a people is determined largely by productivity, or the output per man-hour. One theory of economics in regard to poverty in the underdeveloped countries is that the average citizen, for various reasons, produces very little. Lack of diligence, incentives, education, temperance, health, as well as extremes of climate, are some of the causes of a backward economy.

Among other factors, it is significant that where true Christianity predominates, the productive capacity of the average individual is high. States of mind produce human conditions, and Christliness has the effect of quickening human thought, because it demonstrates real individuality. Christliness causes individuals to become active, more alive, more alert, more productive. Hence the quality of one's sense of Christianity has much to do with one's economy.

"Quicken me in thy righteousness," prayed the Psalmist (Ps. 119:40). And the Master said that "the Son quickeneth whom he will" (John 5:21). Christ, Truth, inspires diligence in righteousness and dispels the illusion of the material sense of life, in which all limitation and inequality inhere.

Every normal person has the opportunity to think for himself, to reason positively and constructively, to act tirelessly on the side of productivity and usefulness. Such thinking has its inception in the divine Mind, certainly not in the so-called mortal mind, which is negation. No one need let himself be deprived of the right to think. This is the field wherein the individual is sovereign.

Productivity based upon the individual's diligent use or reflection of intelligence, which is a divine quality equally free to all, brings freedom from poverty. Mrs. Eddy says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p.154), "God only waits for man's worthiness to enhance the means and measure of His grace."

The labor required by Christian Science to prove the reality of justice and equality may seem arduous. But as the Scientist matures in the understanding of his real status, such labor takes on the spontaneity of spiritual activity, and he feels the joy of man's God governed life. The more the individual realizes that he is responsible for his own experience, the more diligently he sets about eliminating the illusion of inequality which has seemed to deceive him and keep him in a position of so-called inferiority.

The demand for equality surging up in the world in many directions is evidence that Truth is acting upon human thought and influencing mankind to yield to the premises of scientific Christianity: perfect God and perfect man, inseparable unity between them, and merciful justice for all. These truths cannot be gained through human will. Humility—the recognition of God's supremacy and the nothingness of the fable of inequality—will inspire diligence in bringing the true order of being to light. Then it will be proved that God's gifts are impartially provided for all.

Helen Wood Bauman