In these days of unusual revolutions of thought, not a few, catching glimpses of the government of God as revealed in Christian Science, may speculate as to how this supreme rule of divine Principle is to affect the future of human government. Some, glancing backward over history with slight knowledge of the subject, may hope that within what has been called theocracy will be found the final order whereby harmony is to be maintained on earth; but the present needs of humanity for world-wide law and order do not encourage thinkers to build much on visions, the perversions of which would only tend to upset the best ways and means of government now being developed through democracy.
The ideal of democracy is a Christian ideal based on the teachings of Jesus and inseparable from the precepts of human conduct laid down in the Sermon on the Mount. No plumb line of human thought has ever sounded the depths of this ideal, and much needs yet to be done to bring our standards and application of this ideal of self-government nearer to all that true democracy makes possible. Well does Cowper admonish us "to understand a treasure's worth," while advising those who pray for progress that "seeking grace t'improve the prize they hold, would urge a wiser suit than asking more."
Government in Christian Science means the reign of God, of Principle, in everything,—in wisdom, justice, mercy, peace. Humanity is on the way toward this goal; and while much of the world is far from acknowledging the spiritual fact in the way Christian Scientists see it, many do unite on the human basis of democracy. One of the present needs of Christian Scientists is therefore to secure a better understanding of the possibilities of democracy, and to aid in every right way in establishing its operations at home and abroad. Forward views of the supreme government and comments on the evidences of the upward trend encourage those ready for progress to work more patiently for the ways and means which will finally be seen as something higher than government by the people.
