LEAGUES of desolate snow-covered plains, a gray repellent sky, an endless horde of ravenous wolves stealthily moving across the bleak waste, — thus had the artist conveyed his conception of "Famine." Driven deep into his soul by bitter experience was a similar picture in the labor leader's consciousness when, on being invited to consider Christian Science, he said, "Let us settle this 'bread and butter' question first."
No one knew better than did our Master that man lives not "by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," yet he commanded the disciples to feed the multitudes "lest they faint in the way." Even so the Christian Scientist does not offer mere platitudes to humanity, a barren jargon of words that choke instead of feed. He knows too well that it doth not profit, "if a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body." Nay! it is mostly because he too has seen the famine-wolves of hunger and disease flee before the warm sunshine, the truth of Christian Science, that he offers the loaf to his brother and sister. The laboring man wants hard, concrete facts,—quite rightly, too,—and Christian Science wants every man to be satisfied with nothing less. The sick man healed, the poor sister's poverty removed by the command of a demonstrable Science which the simplest can understand, sin destroyed, worry dispelled,—are not these the very things that are most needed?
Men may say that these do not restore justice, remove evil, inequalities of position and wealth; but are they not mistaken? Of what use are the chains and fetters, if the slave is free and smilingly regards them as relics of an ancient nightmare, dispelled as he awoke to their fictitious character? The emancipation of one by a given rule, prophesies the freedom of all; as Ruskin shows us in "Unto This Last," that the power of a guinea in a man's pocket depends upon the absence of a similar sum in the other man's pocket. If this is so, and Christian Science destroys the sense of lack in the "other man," the power of the tyrannical trust or capitalist is broken.
The Christian Scientist knows how valueless are all material honors; nevertheless he renders "unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's," knowing that these are but the gilded toys of a childish age, and will pass with the grass that withereth and the flower that fadeth: "because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it." Some one said to a Christian Scientist who had previously been much interested in economic reform, that he no longer tried to help humanity in any active way, but kept apart and "mused upon his abstract holiness." Perhaps this young Scientist was responsible in a measure for this criticism; his first view of the work of Christian Science may have caused the pendulum of mortal mind to swing to its other extreme of passive endurance to the wrongs from which humanity suffers. Every phase of consciousness must be brought into subjection to the law of Christ, and to the political economist and social reformer who hesitates in his approach to Christian Science because he fears that it will make men endure wrongs rather than overthrow them, we can say that Christian Science will turn and overturn, until he come whose right it is to rule; then wrongs will be righted. We cannot tell how this material world is going to fade from human consciousness, but this we do know, that while citizenship is a part of that consciousness it has to be dealt with in a scientific manner, and to overlook is not to overcome.
On this plane of existence men have family duties, business duties, and civic duties, from none of which does Christian Science relieve them. When one learns the fictitious nature of material birth, this understanding does not take away the necessity of supporting his aged parents or of educating and clothing his offspring. When he learns that "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made," this revelation does not make him cease performing those labors whereby he gains an honest income. In like manner, in becoming a Christian Scientist, he does not cease to vote; in fact, he should value this right all the more as a means of expressing that intelligence which is God-governed, and which for this reason must achieve its redemptive mission. There may be a tendency on the part of some, when they come into Christian Science, to retain the old idea of work as divided into the secular and the sacred, but is the healing of one's toothache sacred and the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act secular? Of course not; and the labor leader would be engaged in religious work if he would but use the term "bread and butter" to symbolize his somewhat faint conception of man's eternal heritage and God-given abundance. These are but the glimmerings of that divine light which will shine unto the perfect day, and he is wise who salutes them and honors them as parts of the way whereby God's kingdom shall come into man's consciousness here and now.
While men are not made good by Acts of Parliament, nevertheless a good man makes good Acts of Parliament; and he will go on making them, until mankind needs them no longer. While there remains an unscrupulous employer, Factory Acts are an absolute necessity not only to protect the employes but to protect the upright employer from unfair competition. The mistake that the economist has made is in considering laws as primary causes, and not as effects which can be made to influence other effects. To permit men with inferior views to make our laws for us is surely unwise. Had our ancestors followed such a policy we should still be governed by the feudal system and the "overlord's right" would still be claiming its victims.
To call one's self a Christian Scientist is to lay upon one's self the task of proving one's sanity on all questions concerning the commonweal. To leave our parents and children to the mercy of unscrupulous men with "itching palms" is not proving one's sanity, but rather a demonstration of the contrary. This, some may say, will increase our work and take time which we might otherwise give to the study of Christian Science. It may seem to, but if we look upon it as an opportunity to realize the guidance of the one Mind, and to know that God gives us time to meet all the demands which right living on this plane involves, our studies will improve under this "experimental tuition." All this, it must be confessed, does not seem so attractive a work as the healing of the individual, since this last seems more impersonal and we are very desirous of seeing the quick results of our mental work. The fulfilment of our duties to our fellow-man certainly requires much patience and a good deal of walking by faith and not by sight, but if we are honest we shall see that it is not always in the way which suits our temperament that we do the most good, and we shall be led to face bravely the evils which through our selfish ignorance we know very little about.
It is well for the practitioner in Christian Science to be aware of the particular evil by which his patient is obsessed, for he can then handle the belief more intelligently and expose its nothingness. Likewise it is sometimes an advantage to be aware of the special beliefs by which our nation is obsessed, so that we may help to lift the burden from the unknown sister or brother who may be the unfortunate victim of a given form of evil. All this keeps us steadily in touch not only with our mental work but with the larger view that caused our Master to lament not over an individual but over Jerusalem. The true citizen will appear as we subordinate selfish aims,—those which strive only for individual peace and personal security,—envy, greed, jealousy, and the host of evils that show the rottenness of "movements" not built upon a scientific basis. No matter how fair the cause, how propitious the launching upon the vast ocean of possibilities; if the mariners that steer the ship be not able to steer a true course of moral conduct, then the cause waits but a testing wave to find its overthrow.
The coming of Christian Science at this period is an indication in itself that we may expect rapid developments of great crises. Here in this refuse heap "without the gate," this Gehenna whose fire dieth not, civilization has thrown the broken pieces of humanity, the useless remnants off the roll of labor, the burred chisels of human effort, and men have foolishly considered them as dead; but there may be a rude awakening, if we do not keep our lamps trimmed and burning. As in the parable of our Master, they who have cried, "Lord, Lord," may be surprised to find that they ought to do not only the things they are doing but other things as well. We reap the fruits of the good endeavor which our forefathers sowed, but the acceptance of these entails the acceptance of their duties, the call to do the things they left undone. Christian Science has come to annul the world's legacy of injustice, and the "Golden Age" of which all reformers have dreamed is beginning to dawn. Christian Science will steady the revolutionary purpose, and take from the vengeful hand of the "white slave" the weapon of retaliation, that the fair morning of labor's long delayed millennium may not be sullied by blood.
There are two methods of reform, and both of these are open to the Christian Scientist; one is political—the removing of unjust laws and the making of better ones. This is our duty to posterity, to prevent the waste and spoilage with which our present systems bestrew the sands of time. The other is individual; and this commences before the improved enactments have time to manifest their character. This heals the victims of the bad law of the past, and restores them to the army of good workers and useful citizens.
