Justice and Honor

BY M. BETTIE BELL.

We can only honor God by acknowledging His creation as spiritual and immortal. Then nothing can take away our faith in and understanding of the spirituality of the sons and daughters of God. To honor God it is necessary to take three steps: First to learn to know God as the Principle and only Creator of the universe and man; Second to honor the real self as a part of His creation; and, Third, to honor our brother man by understanding that he can manifest no deflection as he is forever reflecting his Creator. It is thus that Truth and Love are honored and justice becomes peacemaker to mankind. If justice comes of law and law is Life, then sin, sickness, and death are not justice and not the law of Life. Many are saying, "What authority have you Christian Scientists for presenting the Word in the way you do, and why are you so radical and narrow-minded as to disbelieve in preachers and want all your churches to read from the book?" Hear the command of Jeremiah to Baruch and let it answer:—

"Then Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying:...Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the Lord in the ears of the people in the Lord's house upon the fasting day; and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. . . . Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house, in the ears of the people. . . . And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears" (Jeremiah, 36: 6, 10, 15).

We will observe that Baruch did not preach the word from his own conception, but obeyed the command and read it from the roll or book.

In the last chapter of Esdras (Old Testament Apocrypha), it is declared twice that Esdras was the reader of the law.

"And he read in the broad court before the holy porch from morning unto midday, before both men and women; and all the multitude gave heed unto the law. And Esdras the Priest and Reader of the law stood up upon a pulpit of wood, which was made for that purpose (1st Esdras, 9: 4I, 42).

Every true Christian Scientist is a healer, teacher, and preacher of the word, but, as of old, the law is expounded in the pulpit by the Readers chosen "for that purpose." How can justice and honor be established on the earth and the One Mind reign if the law is not read and understood and all of one accord come together to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth? The prayer, in the fourth chapter of I Esdras from the thirty-seventh to the forty-first verses inclusive, denies emphatically the whole material condition, and declares that Truth is "the strength, kingdom, power, and majesty of all ages." This Scientific prayer of declaration won the victory, built the pulpit of wood, established the reading in the pulpit, and was accepted of all, having one opinion. It is thus that justice strengthens and enriches, giving us the opportunity to demonstrate one gospel, one ministry, one law. Through justice is the law fulfilled, and "as thy days, so shall thy strength be."

Jesus trod the wine-press alone; bore the ignominy of his persecutors; suffered the woe of Gethsemane; and endured the agony of the Cross to destroy the illusive doctrines of injustice and demonstrate to the world the justice of pure religion. Justice is a tree of life laden with the fruit of reason. Resentment, hate, jealousy, anger, and variance between members of the body must disappear through the just action of a righteous law. Justice gives us dominion over all evil. It says, "The way of transgressors is hard," and if you know the way and refuse to walk therein, you shall be beaten with many stripes.

Love demands of us each day a higher proof of our loyalty to Truth, a stronger denial of self-affections, a firmer understanding to part with sense-pleasures until the dream is broken and His kingdom is come and His will is done.

Let us strive to walk in Wisdom's way by overcoming a false sense of justice and injustice, honor and dishonor, that we may expel from consciousness that which binds, and exchange the "stony heart" for a "heart of flesh." True Christianity expresses itself through justice and honor. It never leaves us nor forsakes us. It is the "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end." The Christianity of Christian Science is the Christ-nature speaking through man. This is the twain wedded together which brings out a knowledge of God in the understanding of life. It is here we find grace and charity, peace and purity, piety and affection, power and holiness, strength and temperance. Clothed with these, man is wedded to his Maker in the bond of perfection. In our lives we must grow to express these qualities, do justice to our religion, and give honor to God.

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The Harmony of Life

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