I will direct their work in truth.—Isaiah, 61: 8.
Christian Science is essentially a gospel of work and of joy in work. Its teaching adheres strictly to the Biblical injunction that men must "work out" their "own salvation," and it concedes no by-path for an easier attainment of that end. For idlers it has neither provision nor promise, as is clearly manifest in all the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, its Discoverer and Founder.
To-day two insistent and persistent cries are coming up from the arena of the world's work, from the seething ferment of its unrest. These are first, for the "right to work," on the part of every man who can work; and second, for the "square deal" in work. These rights once obtained, any healthy-minded man will be content to abide by the outcome of his work, for under conditions of labor which are just, the shirker and the incompetent are the only grumblers. The social disquiet and clamor which is thus voicing itself, crudely represents a far deeper seated and more vital protest. Continued suffering from human injustice has seemed to warrant doubt of God's justice. Religious faith should check the latter cry, but too often it fails in its true service, inasmuch as such faith is born, and consists largely of hope,—hope for justice, for the "square deal" now as well as hereafter; hope for those conditions of life for which good men labor and sacrifice; hope that God will vindicate himself through His servants; hope for the brotherhood of all men, and for unhandicapped opportunity to rise to freer conditions of life, howsoever rugged the path. The realization of this hope has been so long deferred as to make humanity heart-sick; it has given to doubt its seeming defence.
