THE all-important question, the all-pervasive note in present-day affairs, is freedom. The highest, the noblest, the most sacred quality in human life is freedom. The clarion call of Christian Science— that exact, unchangeable, and unwavering knowledge about God and the universe, including man — is, and forever will be, the call to freedom. The most glorious deeds of men and women in all history have been wrought upon the basis of freedom. The world has produced no hero, no heroine, whose loftiest and most ardent ambition has failed to go forward and conquer in the name of freedom. Without this attribute, the divine nature would be shorn of its goodness. and greatness, man would be robbed of his inheritance as image and likeness, and all created things would bear the mark of "chaos and old night."
It was in behalf of freedom that the patriarch Abraham manifested so potentially a clear and unfaltering "faith in the divine Life and in the eternal Principle of being" (Science and Health, p. 579); that he stood immovable for Love, as he best understood it, and that he lifted the thoughts of his fellows heavenward, — into the bliss of goodly hope and peace and contentment. Obedient to Truth, that always makes free, this father of the Hebrew nation merits the tribute which has been paid him throughout the ages. In choosing God when all around him were idolaters and temptations legion, he proved his strength and brought to view a loyalty unshakable and superb. Verily, as Mrs. Eddy goes on to say, "this patriarch illustrated the purpose of Love to create trust in good, and showed the life-preserving power of spiritual understanding."
It was for the sake of the greatest freedom which he knew, that Moses delivered to Israel the moral law of Sinai, imparted so transcendentally to him during a high and glowing realization of the truth. Quickened to action by the bondage of his people, and knowing such bondage to be contrary to God's law and order, he completely disregarded his own personal interests, — the throne of the greatest monarchy of his time and the possession of vast wealth, both of which lay within his very reach, — in order to seek those invisible honors which God had set before him. "By faith" he esteemed "the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." Forsaking matter, he sought "the fruit of the Spirit." As in the case of Nehemiah, there was no emolument connected with his office. No charge of nepotism could be brought against him. Meekness was his chief quality, and in this meekness he obeyed God and was favored. Freedom was his all-in-all. Laboring night and day in its behalf, he made signal progress. Contented and happy, he rested in God, using each of his talents to the best advantage, and praying for a higher, more practical understanding of the divine will. Mrs. Browning says, —
