IN recent years there has been an increasing movement of visitors from one country to another. Their object has been to see what is going on outside their own homelands and thus to enlarge their horizons through study and observation. Often these visitors are entertained in private homes, and they return to their countries with a better understanding of their fellow men.

The ethics of entertaining strangers are set forth in an interesting manner in the Bible as part of the Mosaic law. In Exodus (22:21) we read, "Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."

There is a beautiful experience related in the Old Testament which illustrates the significance of expressing good will to the stranger Three men approached the patriach Abraham as he sat at his tent door "in the heat of the day" (Gen.18:1). Because of the difficulties of travelling and of obtaining food in this region of the world, it was, and to some extent still is, customary to receive and entertain the stranger who comes to one's door.

Abraham cordially provided refreshment and food for these men who, it was later revealed, represented angels of God's presence, coming to bless the patriarch and his wife. During this visit they assured Abraham that his wife Sarah would have a son in her old age, to carry forward the purpose of the Lord, and this promise was later fulfilled in the birth of Issac.

In Christian Science we learn that God is the Father and Mother of His vast creation of spiritual ideas. This makes all God's sons a universal family of brothers, of harmonious ideas, governed and maintained by divine Love. But mortal sense, or the carnal mind tells a different story. Claiming that man is a mortal, separated from God through the sins of the so-called first parents, Adam and Eve, it insists that selfishness, hatred, and creed cause divisions, enmity, and wars among the human race. Thus men become strangers and enemies to each other.

Christ Jesus came to show the way to the establishment of God's kingdom on earth and the bringing together of all men into one common brotherhood. He urged his disciples and followers to love one another as he had loved them. And John, the beloved disciple, said (I John 4:20), "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?"

Although it is no longer the custom to entertain every stranger who comes to our door, still every Christian Scientist has a duty toward all who come into his experience, whether through personal contact or through some other means of communication.

In Christian Science we are taught that our responsibility to those with whom we come in contact does not cease until we prayerfully see them in their true identity as sons of God. Thus we fulfill our obligations to the stranger and bless ourselves as well. In this way we may even see the effect in an im proved character, the overcoming of prejudice and hatred, and the establishment of peaceful relationships between individuals.

The great effect of the power of the Christ reflected by the individual is seen in an experience of Mary Baker Eddy when she went to visit in his prison cell the assassin of President Garfield. She relates the experience in one of her addresses. She says that she considered him to be in a state of moral idiocy, adding: "He had no sense of his crime; but regarded his act as one of simple justice, and himself as the victim. My few words touched him; he sank back in his chair, limp and pale; his flippancy had fled" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 112). The jailer thanked Mrs. Eddy for coming and told her that she had helped the man ; whereas other visitors had only brought him flowers.

There is hope for everyone in Christian Science regardless of his past experiences or acts. And it is the duty of the Christian Scientist never to cease maintaining the goodness and perfection of man nature right in the face of the most objectionable display of enmity.

Today we all have the glorious opportunity of letting our thought reach out in Christlike compassion to all men, knowing that the Christ, though it may seem dormant, is represented in everyone. But it can be awakened through the recognition by the Christian Scientist of man's eternal, perfect, pure nature as the son of God, here and now and forever.

In a letter to a branch church, Mrs. Eddy wrote (ibid., p. 155), "Forget self in laboring for mankind; then will you woo the weary wanderer to your door, win the pilgrim and stranger to your church, and find access to the heart of humanity."

Harold Molter