Close students of the New Testament know how utterly Jesus deprecated the use of violence as a means of enforcing what one conceived to be his individual rights. The Nazarene invariably utilized his understanding of divine power, his knowledge of the omnipotence of God, in place of material means, to destroy the false conditions which, then as now, so generally beset human experience. Even in the garden of Gethsemane, when arrested by the soldiers sent to apprehend him, he rebuked an impetuous disciple who, in a moment of quick resentment at the gross injustice perpetrated upon his beloved Master, had injured a servant of the high priest. "Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword," were Jesus' significant words. All who resort to violence subject themselves to the possibility of destruction by violent means at the hands of their seeming enemies.

How far from the spirit of the Master's words and example is such a course! His precious pleading, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest," bespeaks a gentleness born of his profound sense of unity with God. How much of the distress from which mankind has so terribly suffered might have been avoided through obedience to Jesus' words, none can tell; but sure it is that in our own time, as in that ancient day, those who follow in his footsteps and abide in the spirit of his teachings find the only righteous means of establishing and maintaining their rights.

Ofttimes men fall into fallacious conclusion that because their rights seem to be infringed, they are entitled to use the means at hand, of whatever type or character and regardless of the general welfare, to enforce their own desires, thus, as they believe, protecting their rights. It is being learned and demonstrated, however, that the divine All-power is available now, no less than twenty centuries ago, to settle the disputes of mankind, contentious between groups no less than between individuals. With what assurance does Mrs. Eddy speak on this subject! On page 37 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she writes, "Mortals try in vain to slay Truth with the steel or the stake, but error falls only before the sword of Spirit."

Our Leader saw but one weapon which can be successfully used against the claims of error, and that one the "sword of the Spirit." What is that sword? On page 595 of Science and Health we read this scientific definition: "Sword. The idea of Truth; justice." And she adds, as exemplifying the material symbol, the words "revenge; anger." We, then, as Christian Scientists, are armed with the most potent of all weapons, the idea of Truth. This "sword of the Spirit" is equal to the beating down of every false barrier with which mankind may be confronted. It was the means by which Christ Jesus was uniformly victorious over the claims of error; and it is no less potent now in the degree of our adherence to the same divine Principle.

Christian Scientists, individually and collectively, undertake to order their lives in accordance with scientific truth, as set forth in the teachings of the Master. They utilize their understanding of divine Principle to establish justice in all situations which arise, in industrial disputes between employers and employees, no less than in individual demonstration of peace and harmony. They look upon the use of coercive means as contrary to the teachings of Christ Jesus and, consequently, as foreign to the teachings of Christian Science.

However righteous the claims of the contestants may be, if on either side they adopt coercion, they depart from the only path to victory; they lose sight of the divine Principle which rules with impartial and unerring justice; they scrap the Golden Rule. And, moreover, they lose the sympathy of many who feel that right fundamentally may be on their side. The Christian metaphysician sees in this situation a substitution of self-will for the divine, a substitution which never has succeeded, nor ever can succeed. Since God's will is always done, however much divine justice may seem to be delayed, it will utimately be manifest in human affairs.

The prophet Ezekiel, witnessing the debasement of Jerusalem fallen from its lofty place, voiced the word of the Lord thus: "I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him." Error has no stable foundation, and the overturning will continue until it disappears and righteousness reigns. Willingness to intrust our case to God in the assurance that divine justice will be done "in earth, as it is in heaven," aids a just cause; and confidence in God's government of His universe never lessened the strength of one's position, nor diminished the chance of victory. Rather does it insure success.

Regarding the establishment of divine justice in the affairs of all classes, Mrs. Eddy in an address read before the World's Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893 used these significant words: "To the sore question 'What are the working men's rights? Science answers, justice and mercy, wherein the financial, civil, social, moral and religious aspect of all questions reflect the face of the Father. And this question will not rest till both employer and employe are actuated by the spirit of this saying of the meek and mighty Son of God: 'Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.'"

Albert F. Gilmore