"Ruler in Israel"

Evelyn F. Heywood

The prophet Micah, foretelling the coming of the Messiah, declared that he would be "ruler in Israel," and that he would "be great unto the ends of the earth." He was first to appear to human comprehension in the little town of Bethlehem, but his "goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."

This form of rulership ushered into the world by Christ Jesus, came expressing the fatherhood of God, whereby men, knowing that all power is vested in Him, can lay down their material-mindedness, their greed and enmity, and find peace. "God is everywhere," writes Mrs. Eddy on page 128 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany." "No crown nor sceptre nor rulers rampant can quench the vital heritage of freedom." This is the message which Christian Science brings again to the world; this, understood and adhered to in the face of every lying evidence to the contrary, can deliver men from the seeming despotism, the relentless tyrannies which claim to rob them of their divine rights of self-government.

The individual seeking to maintain his consciousness of Spirit's supremacy, may ask himself how in a world seemingly indifferent to the Christ-message of peace and good will, he can best obey the Master's command. How can he see the kingdom of heaven, when everywhere about him the kingdoms of this world appear menacing or menaced? He learns that in the measure of his obedience to the commands of Truth to accept the power of no rulership which is not of Principle, will he be delivered, and help to deliver others also, from the fears which beset them on every side. The Christ-message is ever the same, assuring men of deliverance from all evil. In the words of Jesus, "Look up, ... for your redemption draweth nigh." And our Leader throughout her writings has shown us the practically of these words and their immediate availability.

On page 11 of "Unity of Good" Mrs. Eddy writes, "Jesus taught us to walk over, not into or with, the currents of matter, or mortal mind." Letting our thought descend even for a moment to a tacit acceptance that the turgid waters swirling beneath us are real, are forces to be feared, then like Peter we begin to sink. But the Christ-power which lifted Peter to safety is at hand. There is no more need for us to perish, nor even to tremble, than there was for him. Daily, hourly, we can know that we are able to walk over, and that we cannot be made to walk into or with, the currents of matter or mortal mind. We have the right of Truth's supremacy to command the wave, to say, "Peace, be still," to every rising storm.

It was his conscious oneness with Principle which enabled Jesus to meet every phase of human experience with confidence and mastery, and to assure his followers that this power was theirs also in like measure. In the face of every crisis, whether it concerned others or himself, whether it presented itself in sickness or sin, in tempest or treachery, in hatred or violence, he knew that nothing could rob man of what was his from the Father, of spiritual dominion. Because of our Leader's revelation that evil is not a wielder but a usurper of power, this same truth is expressed by her throughout her writings. She taught that there is but one divine rulership. Thus she writes on page 234 of "Miscellaneous Writings," "God's fatherliness as Life, Truth, and Love, makes His sovereignty glorious."

As men come to realize that there is a spiritual rulership, a government by divine Principle which must overthrow all false and aggressive claims to power, and that the way thereto is won by prayer and consecration, they see what it was that Isaiah meant when he told the people that in quietness and confidence would be their strength. This is the kingdom within which brings not only peace but power, not only salvation but enlightenment.

Jesus had only one way of dealing with the aggressive arguments of evil when they assailed him. He ordered them hence; he refused to parley with them. He did this because of his conscious realization that they were powerless before Truth, and also because he knew that he had the right to assert his divine rulership as to what he accepted and rejected in his kingdom.

The same authoritative way of dealing with all false methods of usurpation, whether they attack the individual or the race, belongs to the Christian Scientist. He knows that what Jesus taught is what each one can prove for himself. Thus, as he listens and obeys, there will come to him, as there came to the writer of the Apocalypse, the assurance that "the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever."

Evelyn F. Heywood

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