Were we to search the Scriptures, we could find no words that more perfectly define the ideal of the true humanitarian than those of Jesus: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." This Christly gift of life, in all its wealth of joy and beauty, was his to bring, because he both possessed and understood it; he knew whence it came, how it might be preserved, and he brought it not to the circumscribed few, but to all who were willing to accept and utilize it. Those to whom Jesus referred were not merely his friends, his family, his fellow countrymen. This divine mission of benediction, of abundant good, was universal. The ignorant, the inimical, might resist it, might endeavor ruthlessly to destroy it, but Truth and Life had been revealed; in the receptive heart, wherever found, the seed would be sown and would spring up, bearing abundant fruit. The open door to the kingdom was for one and all who came to it in obedience and selflessness.
The full significance of this great event, this incarnation of Truth, dawned upon John, on the Isle of Patmos. Mary Baker Eddy describes it thus on page 561 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "John saw the human and divine coincidence, shown in the man Jesus, as divinity embracing humanity in Life and its demonstration,—reducing to human perception and understanding the Life which is God."
This revelation of divinity to humanity, no longer afar off, to be worshiped and longed for, but comprehensible, available, actually all-embracing, was Jesus' supreme gift to the world. In every intrepid, compassionate word and action of our Leader, she has shown that this was her purpose and ideal, to make practical in men's lives the divinity which shapes and hallows their relations to each other, and which, in teaching them that God is their Life, destroys their false, limited sense of existence. As a result, Christian Science has brought health and joy to vast numbers who thought that for them life was well-nigh spent; and more abundant life to those who have grasped even in small measure the spirit of its teaching. Thus in our day there is to be found everywhere the evidence of "divinity embracing humanity in Life and its demonstration."
How steadfast must be the courage, how consecrated the lives, of those who would dedicate themselves to the great task of establishing Christ's kingdom on earth! In this way only can the unleashed powers of evil be defeated, enmity and fear be stilled, and men learn that the way of spiritual satisfaction is the way of peace.
On page 571 of the textbook our Leader has written: "Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity." It is well that we do not overlook the four significant words found immediately opposite this statement in the margin: "The armor of divinity." He who allows himself to personalize evil or circumscribe good may find in times of fierce provocation or bitter partisanship that his armor—his "panoply of Love"—is wearing thin; that his humanity, so far from maintaining the nature of divinity, has fallen from its high estate; that the needs of some, rather than the needs of all, are influencing his thought and deflecting his judgment. The way of partisanship and of self-seeking never leads to a more abundant life. It leads not to the continuous ascension of the spiritual idea, but to that which persecutes and is persecuted.
As a correct idea of a higher humanity is revealed to men, they will concern themselves less and less with the ruthlessness and greed of self-interest, which separates and antagonizes, and will seek that common meeting ground of spiritual fellowship, where the accuser is cast down and the rights of each are willingly acknowledged. In so doing, they will find that their humanity, divinely directed and inspired, maintains in the face of every provocation, detachment from that which personalizes and condemns.
Deliverance from thoughts of fear or hatred is to be found only in the active consciousness of love. Negative thoughts provide no protection. The Master, commenting on the brutal attacks of the enemies of Truth, in the crucial hour of his self-sacrifice placed all hatred and revenge, even the most deliberate, in the only category where for his followers it must forever belong. In compassionate recognition of their ignorance, he declared, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
Modeling itself on the lofty ideal of Jesus, true humanity can feel only compassion for the ignorance and folly of its persecutors, whatever manifestations of cruelty and malice they may present. Christian Scientists, allowing themselves to be neither weakened nor deflected in their steadfast determination to uncover and destroy all evil, will preserve their own inner peace and meekness of heart, knowing that the success of every right endeavor lies in individual spiritualization of motive and desire. In such ways alone will all interests be finally united in that perception of humanity which has been revealed to them as the certain way to a more abundant life.
In every experience there will be lessons to be learned, which can only serve to encourage and enlighten him whose purpose is no less exalted than was that of Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy, to teach men the true meaning of life. Mrs. Eddy has forewarned her followers of the difficulties which may confront those who are called upon to defend their spiritual status, but she has also assured them of the absurdity and falsity of the claims of evil, and of the infinite resources of divine power which are at hand for those who side with God.
On page 338 of "Miscellaneous Writings" she writes: "And remember, a pure faith in humanity will subject one to deception; the uses of good, to abuses from evil; and calm strength will enrage evil. But the very heavens shall laugh at them, and move majestically to your defense when the armies of earth press hard upon you."
