Strictly speaking, the word "character" refers to the traits and qualities which distinguish individuals or objects, whether good or bad. But to speak of someone as a person "of character" or of a nation as a nation "of character" generally implies the possession of a high degree of moral force and righteousness. On page 277 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," Mary Baker Eddy makes a thought-provoking statement on the subject of character. She writes, "The characters and lives of men determine the peace, prosperity, and life of nations."
In this so-called atomic age, when universal health, prosperity, peace, and indeed mankind's very survival are threatened by evil in new and aggressive forms, the foregoing words take on fresh significance. They demand that every individual strive for the spirituality which characterized Christ Jesus, rather than seek success, prosperity, and happiness for himself or the world on a material basis.
The teachings of Christian Science clearly reveal that it was the Christliness of Jesus, and not human love or knowledge, which enabled him to heal the sick, cast out sin, and finally prove his superiority over all materiality, even death itself. For Christliness is coincident with eternal harmony, the summum bonum of life, sought by all men and nations.
Christian Science teaches that Christliness is the true nature of each individual and that this fact is demonstrated through the understanding of God as divine Life, Truth, and Love and of man as God's perfect, spiritual reflection. This Science denies that man is a mortal, subject to sin, sickness, and death. It reveals and demonstrates that love, not hatred, characterizes man's true nature; that spirituality, not sensuality, expresses true manhood and power; that divine will, not human will, harmonizes and happifies; that Godliness is not weakness but strength; and that righteousness will in time be proved to be universal.
As each individual understands and patterns his life on these facts, health, prosperity, and success are assured; and the spiritual fiber of nations is thereby strengthened. For as the Psalmist wrote (Ps. 33: 12), "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance."
Christian Science teaches that every individual and every nation is beloved of God, and His blessings will appear in human experience in proportion as the character of individuals and nations becomes Christlike. However, this achievement requires something more than a personal sense of goodness.
To build a character capable of accomplishing works comparable to those of Jesus, the ultimate and inevitable task of each individual, whether or not he realizes it, to stop wars and bring unity and peace to mankind, we must progressively repudiate matter and evil and reflect Truth and Love in our daily lives. We must cast out fear, hatred, belligerence, suspicion, deceit, materiality—all evil—and cultivate love, integrity, intelligence, spirituality—all the qualities of God which are expressed by the real man.
The Christliness which uplifts, heals, regenerates, and unites individuals and nations demands of us the moral and spiritual courage to do what is right regardless of human opinion or the threats of evil. We must gain the spiritual perception and wisdom which are capable of thwarting any cunning propaganda that tempts one first into appeasement, then into submission, and finally into enslavement and destruction.
Many and subtle are the forms of evil which today would deceive the unwary and weaken the character of men and nations. Some of these methods of evil prevail in the guise of harmless good, such as an inordinate desire for material pleasures and riches. They also prevail as tempting suggestions that it is smart to smoke and drink intoxicants and that it is modern to be careless or extreme in dress, manners, and morals.
Then there is the all-too-prevalent trend of seeking in divorce an escape from the self-discipline which is inseparable from the Christlike living that strengthens character and brings true happiness and harmony. Parents, through indifference or through laboring under the fallacy that children should have unlimited self-expression, sometimes allow their offspring to go undisciplined until some sad experience occurs which early spiritual character building would have prevented.
Often parents are so eager to shield their children from the invigorating experience of battling with temptations and the problems inevitable to human existence that this glorious opportunity for character development is lost. Referring to those who love God, Mrs. Eddy says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 10), "The best lesson of their lives is gained by crossing swords with temptation, with fear and the besetments of evil; insomuch as they thereby have tried their strength and proven it; insomuch as they have found their strength made perfect in weakness, and their fear is self-immolated."
Equality, unity, and freedom from oppression are individually attained. Neither the enactment nor the bypassing of human laws can of themselves effect a natural and harmonious relationship among governments, races, or nations. But as mankind seek the character of the Christ, all men and nations will progress toward equality, unity, and harmony under the government of God.
Then will be made manifest the harmonious condition scientifically outlined in Mrs. Eddy's statement in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 340): "One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, 'Love thy neighbor as thyself;' annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry,—whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed."
