"Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?" Using the same words in both instances, Jesus described the astonishment of the righteous and of the unrighteous nations, of the sheep and the goats, those whose works the King rewarded and those who were to go away "into everlasting fire," not necessarily because they had done wrong, but because they had neglected to do right.

Neither the righteous nor the unrighteous could understand how the things they had done or left undone in any way concerned the Christ. What had their achievements or their failures to do with religion, with keeping the Sabbath, and so forth? They ignored the fact that Jesus had said that "a good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things," and that he should be judged by his works. It was by this manifestation of their thinking expressed in everyday life that the King of kings would assess all mankind. And as for the individual. so also for a community or a nation; where thought is spiritually uplifted and desire righteous, the manifestation will be seen in acts of kindness, individual and collective; in the highest forms of democratic government.

As told in St. Matthew's Gospel, Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives with his disciples, engaged in answering their question, "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Jesus thereupon warned his followers to pay no heed to false Christs and teachers and prophets; and he then foretold the terrible tribulation of these latter days. By means of parables, he taught them watchfulness. He illustrated it by the householder taken unawares, the unpreparedness of the foolish virgins; and then, at some length, in the parable of the talents, he described how opportunities should be improved and natural abilities encouraged. Finally, he drew a picture of the Son of man, surrounded by the holy angels, sitting upon the throne of his glory. He foresaw the time when it would no longer be necessary to speak in parables, because Truth would have been revealed and made available to all.

Now, looking back, we can see how first the Scriptures were distributed. Progress, as demonstrated in human invention, made possible their publication in print in immense numbers, translated into every written language. Later, when the Word of God had had time to encircle the globe, Mary Baker Eddy gave us "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," that priceless "key"whereby Truth is revealed and made demonstrable. On page 275 of that book she has written: "Truth, spiritually discerned, is scientifically understood. It casts out error and heals the sick." The Science by which Jesus lived and worked is established. The Christ is enthroned!

Jesus prophesied that after this enthronement all the nations should be gathered together, united perhaps in a common peril, to be judged and separated, the sheep from the goats. By what standard did the Master say that the nations should be judged?

Jesus enumerated half a dozen states of human misery, and with such vehemence must he have driven home his point that Matthew repeats this list four times within the short space of ten verses. The questions were: Had these evil conditions been healed, or had they not? Had the nations sought to give drink to the thirsty, food to the hungry, a welcome to the stranger, healing for the sick, clothes to the naked, and to visit the prisoner? By their love of humanity should they be judged. Jesus did not ask if they had built costly churches, if they believed this creed or followed that teaching, but he demanded that want and sickness and sorrow, loneliness and captivity, should be alleviated, and that God, who is Love, should be reflected in brotherly kindness of thought, word, and deed.

Where national law based on the Ten Commandments and social services demonstrating the impartial love for humanity taught in the New Testament form the structure, the integral normality of any nation, that nation is supported by Principle, and therefore is in agreement with God, whether consciously or not; in harmony with and subject to His government.

Such a nation is not drifting with the current; it is working upstream to the one source of all good. Its course is seemingly hard. Evil tries to submerge and overwhelm it in the rapids of envy and greed and the storms of aggression and oppression. It must throw overboard all unworthy burdens and be purified by discipline, self-sacrifice, and courage. On page 22 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes, "Love is not hasty to deliver us from temptation, for Love means that we shall be tried and purified." However black the clouds or fearsome the hour, the nation seeking and finding God will be delivered, will be tried and purified.

As in their daily lives students of Christian Science mingle with their neighbors, as they are bidden by Paul to every good work, so will their consecrated thoughts and prayers help to uplift, strengthen, and inspire. That Paul encouraged participation in civic life is clear. He counseled Titus "to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work."

Mrs. Eddy set us an example of alert citizenship and of readiness to help in matters concerning the farthest corners of the earth. Our beloved Leader saw the coming of the stupendous struggle with the once hidden forms of crime, now apparent in their frightfulness. On page 540 of Science and Health she states, "In moral chemicalization, when the symptoms of evil, illusion, are aggravated, we may think in our ignorance that the Lord hath wrought an evil; but we ought to know that God's law uncovers so-called sin and its effects, only that Truth may annihilate all sense of evil and all power to sin."

The Christian Scientist, with his ripening knowledge of the mental nature of all human evidence and of the omnipresent invincibility of God, possesses the power to sustain his fellow man in whatever activity he may be engaged, and with inspired vision to look ever toward the goal of righteousness. All sincere students have enlisted in this fight against evil, and their thought is the leaven of divine inspiration in human consciousness the leaven which reveals itself in giving a cup of cold water in Christ's name to the thirsty. It reveals itself in explaining Truth to those hungering after righteousness; in extending a hand of welcome to him who is a stranger to the Word of God; in clothing with inspired and loving teaching those exposed to the icy blasts of ignorance and superstition; in healing the sick by the power of Love, and in thus freeing those whom Satan has so cruelly bound.

Blessed indeed is the nation that has afforded religious liberty to its subjects, and in so doing has protected the seed of Truth and left it free to grow and blossom. And thrice blessed is the Christian metaphysician who, humbly praying without ceasing, is ever conscious of the undimmed glory of the kingdom of God.

Copyright, 1943, by The Christian Science Publishing Society, One, Norway Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Entered at Boston post office as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing at a special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 11, 1918. Published every Saturday.