A PLEA FOR THE AFFLICTED

John B. Willis

There is a famous picture which portrays the crucial moment of one of the many sanguinary events of the Roman amphitheater. In the foreground lies the prostrate form of a fallen gladiator, who has raised his hand in mute appeal for mercy. His antagonist stands with one foot upon the breast of his victim, his sword poised for the final thrust, while he lifts his eyes to the emperor's pavilion for the signal which is to decide the fate of the vanquished man. He who fought so fairly and so well surely merits the boon of life at the hands of his peers, and yet we look in vain through all those serried ranks for one eye that hath pity, an arm that would save. Near and far they are giving the fateful signal, while from every lip springs the hoarse cry, "To the death," and we know that the poor man's doom is sealed.

Studied in the light of Christian Science this picture lends its salient features to another scene. We are looking into the arena of present-day life, where the struggle between mortal man and that which is named incurable disease is constantly being repeated. The spectators are largely Christian believers, who, in the presence of life's sad experiences, have daily opportunity to stand for or against some fellow-man who has been compelled to enter the lists and engage in an ill-balanced conflict with this dread foe.

Knowing the bloody strifes with which even the youth of Rome were made familiar, and how all its people were educated to love and to exact a full measure of sensual satisfaction, we can explain their indifference both to the demand for justice and to the appeal for help: but no such extenuation of what Burns called "man's inhumanity to man" can be offered to-day when, in forgetfulness of the definite promises and provisions of the gospel as enunciated and demonstrated by Christ Jesus. Christian people at the dictum of false mortal law declare for the death of brave and innocent men, not only at the end of their struggle, but at its very inception. Such an attitude of though upon the part of a professed Christian Scientist would be a denial of his birthright, a contradiction of the very fundamentals of his faith.

According to the belief of mortal mind the ills of an individual are often inherited, so that he is subject to burdens for which he is in no degree responsible, and their increase at the hands of others becomes, therefore. the very acme of wrong. He may, moreover, have every call and occasion to live for those who are dependent upon him, or for the consummation of a noble end which no other can so surely achieve; he may be a loved one, a relative or friend for whom the abettors of his woe would gladly suffer themselves, even unto the sacrifice of life—nevertheless, however multiplied and moving the reproving considerations, how ready have mortals ever been to honor and enforce the verdict of cruel traditions and beliefs, and to say, "Alas, there is no hope; he must die."

It is not difficult to imagine something of the stir which would have been occasioned had any one dared to face a Roman court or a Roman mob and protest against the fulfilment of its will; but it is difficult to understand how in this Christian age condemnation could be expressed against one who did thus dare to step into life's arena and before all the world protest against the cruel injustice of mortal law. plead for the rights of men. and declare again the Master's teaching, that through Truth. Life, and Love, the smitten and suffering may "triumph over sin. sickness, and death" (Science and Health, p. 40). Surely it must be said of them as of others long ago, "They know not what they do." Christian Science is the answer of God in the hour of humanity's sore need. It has come to deny the power of evil and to rebuke those who consent to its sway. It has come to cheer and lift up the fallen, and to set the captive free.

John B. Willis.

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LETTERS TO OUR LEADER

November 9, 1907

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