The political events of the present month should enlist a profound interest on the part of all who love the freedom-born institutions of America, and Christian Scientists are certainly included in that class. It sometimes occurs, however, that the beginner in Christian Science thinks he should no longer concern himself with what he has been accustomed to consider human authority and government. His views have undergone such a radical change on the most vital of questions,—the nature and laws of God,—that it is not surprising if he comes rather slowly to a proper understanding and adjustment of his relations to the present order of things. So enlarged has grown his sense of being that he may say in the words of the Eastern sage, "Foregoing self, the Universe grows 'I,'" and in this widened view the needs of one's own country and time may be overlooked, until spiritual growth shall bring a higher and holier sense of patriotism along with other virtues.
Any one who is in doubt as to the duty he owes his country should learn of our great Exemplar, Christ Jesus, who taught that we must not only render "unto God the things that are God's," but "unto Cæsar the things that are Caesar's." There were in that day plenty of self-seeking traitors and noisy demagogues who would fain have had the people believe that this great Prophet was a deceiver, and disloyal to his country, but they sleep in deserved oblivion, while the world will ever love and reverence the true man and true patriot who wept over Jerusalem, foreseeing her impending doom,—the inevitable result of her rejection of Christ, Truth.
Christian Science teaches that we must clearly recognize the sovereignty of Truth and maintain our allegiance to it by an ever-deepening sense of the majesty of the divine law and order. Of old the prophets declared that God's "dominion endureth through all generations." Is there not danger that we may lose the blessing of participation in the Divine purpose if we deny the all-presence and power of good? We may be sorely tempted to admit the material evidence which would make error real, and which would tell us that the twin evils—tyranny and anarchy—must continue to perpetuate fratricidal strife between classes and nations but surely all Christian Scientists can see that to admit the reality of such conditions is to deny the "everlasting dominion" of Truth and Love.
