Toward the close of St. Paul's famous discourse on Mars' hill, he pointed to the passing of the time when ignorance of God should serve as an excuse for idolatry of any sort, and he added, God "hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." In spite of the fact that the demands of Truth were pressed upon the immediate attention of his listeners, in the statement, "God . . . now commandeth all men every where to repent," the judgment-day has by common consent been relegated to a dim and distant future, and mankind in general have pursued the way of belief in a life separate from God, and in human interests which have separated man from man, quite forgetful of the eternal fact that in one Father "we live, and move, and have our being," and that He "giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." Mortals have thus wronged themselves and each other, and have chosen to ignore the judgment of all human thought and action by the Christ, concerning which our revered Leader says, "No final judgment awaits mortals; for the judgment-day of wisdom comes hourly and continually, even the judgment by which mortal man is divested of all material error" (Science and Health, p. 291). This perpetual judgment by Truth does not lessen present human responsibility, but rather increases it, for repeated transgressions of divine law are like an accumulating debt which must some time be paid.
We may well admire the splendid daring of Paul, in declaring that the world with its pomp and power would be judged by the one who, but a few years before, had been condemned to an ignominious death by the representative of its highest authority. But Paul spoke from actual experience. He had been brought before "the judgment-seat of Christ" and called to account for the wrong he was doing and thinking—the wrong he mistakenly believed to be right. At that bar of justice he learned for the first time what it means to be judged "in righteousness." and later he learned that there is "no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Henceforth he was governed by the law of Spirit, not the asserted law of matter or mortal belief.
Many centuries have rolled by since Paul's immortal utterances were heard, but to-day they are being proved true. The whole world is being judged by the Christ teaching, as given in the Sermon on the Mount, and demonstrated by the Master as he went about daily doing the Father's will. In spite of the fact that this teaching has for long years been misunderstood and misrepresented, and as thus perverted has even been associated with injustice and cruelty, the hour has struck when it is becoming known for what it is, and the oppressed and down-trodden to-day hail the name of Christ Jesus, though they know little of his teaching except that it stands for righteousness. The Master himself said, "I judge no man, and yet if I judge my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me." In his arraignment of the false decisions of mortals, he said, "Ye judge after the flesh;" in other words, they accepted material evidence rather than the spiritual evidence on which alone righteous judgment can be based. Christ Jesus summoned the theology of his day to the bar of divine Truth, and though he refused to become a personal arbiter in any vexed question, he maintained the authority and dignity of spiritual law as the final court of appeal for all questions.
