IN so far as the return of the Christmas season centers thought upon the Christ, it can but prompt the query, "Watchman, what of the night?" What promise is there of that perennial Christmas, the establishment of the rule of right upon earth, for which the Master longed when he prayed, "Thy kingdom come"? As the days gather themselves into years, and the years into centuries, injustice and wrong change their form of expression somewhat, but their hold upon human conditions seemingly remains very much the same, hence with many large place is found for pessimism. Indeed, reserve as to whether God's kingdom will ever come, is sure to visit every thoughtful man who has not apprehended for himself, through Christian Science, that evil's every claim of power is a demonstrable falsity.
The world at large is attaching peculiar value to practical Christianity today, because it is beginning to see that there can be no future coming of a Christ who is not ever present. It is looking to daily life, in the home and in business, for the proof that his spirit is ruling in the heart and shaping the conduct of professed Christians. In the tremendous recoil from bigotry, caste, superstition, and pretentious professionalism which has attended the marvelous increase in the amount and world-wide dissemination of general intelligence, men are demanding genuineness, first and last, of all who name the name of Christ. In this they are entirely right; and as the recognized exponents of a return to the faith and practise of the early church, Christian Scientists are especially called upon to be a "royal priesthood," a "peculiar people," not only in their ministry to the sick and sinning, but in their purity, their truthfulness, their unselfishness, their genuineness and compassion.
As Christian Scientists our integrity must mean much, yes, very much more than discreet care to preserve our credit, conventional regard for our neighbor's rights, and freedom from overt acts of wrong-doing. It must mean not only all-round, but all-the-year-round honesty in thought, word, and deed, and we can but recognize the legitimacy and the stimulative and restraining value of this demand, hence the privilege which is ours in having to meet it. The ideal life is no longer simply a vision of aspiration, for us it is the mandate of consistency. The righteousness of the God we preach must be imaged in our righteousness. We must heal as the Master healed, and live as he lived, in the world, yet not of it. This is the opportune and inspiring possibility to the realization of which we are both commissioned and committed. This is "the righteousness which is by faith," and its forerunners are alertness, humility, and a sincere longing to be good.
