The Judgment Day ANNIE M. KNOTT, CSD         Throughout the entire world there has been held by all peoples a very definite belief in a judgment day when wrongs would be righted and the wicked punished. There has indeed been a very general agreement upon this subject, even when we take into account the widely differing religious beliefs of mortals; and ofttimes men have been led to believe that justice and judgment would never be manifested in human affairs until that time. In the prophecy of Malachi we find this question coming from the doubters: "Where is the God of judgment?" While a great change has undoubtedly come over the world's thinking with respect to this question and many others, we turn to the Bible, and especially to the words of Christ Jesus, for something definite. In the tenth chapter of Matthew's gospel we read that when Jesus sent out his disciples to heal the sick and to proclaim the ever presence of God's kingdom, he said respecting those who rejected their teachings, "It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city." On another occasion he said, "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."         To the extent that these statements have been interpreted from a materialistic viewpoint, many have supposed that they could for the present defy God's law and forget both judgment and mercy, but there is nothing in Scripture which would warrant such a conclusion; for the sentence upon those who indulge this delusion is plainly written concerning those who treasure up "wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." The belief that either men or nations can delay the payment of their debt to divine justice only adds to that debt; for its payment is certain, God being omnipotent good and the source of omnipotent justice. Students of Christian Science will find much illumination by turning to the words of Christ Jesus, as found in the twelfth chapter of John, where he says, "Now is the judgment of the world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out." To him every day was a judgment day, inasmuch as he not only taught but demonstrated the righteous judgments of God upon all evil and their mortal effects of sin, sickness, and death; and so it has been throughout all human experience.         At the present time as never before the judgment of truth upon error has come to humanity; and even now the evils which have so long deceived and enslaved mankind are being uncovered and brought to the bar of Truth. An article in The Christian Science Monitor, published not long since, turned the light upon the terrible wrongs committed in the name of human justice even in our modern prisons. At the first glance one was tempted to shrink from the reading, in view of the fact that so many phases of error are being arraigned because of the great awakening of humanity to the demands of Truth, — the drink curse and many other evils, — but almost instantly came the thought that this light of Truth is so intense that its rays penetrate all the darkness of mortal existence, and that now in its fullest sense the judgment is upon us. In speaking of the world's great struggle Jesus said, "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." It is vain to shrink from this uncovering, or to desire that it might be delayed; and that one reform might slowly follow another as the centuries go on is no longer admissible.         On page 291 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy says: "The suppositions that sin is pardoned while unforsaken, that happiness can be genuine in the midst of sin, that the so-called death of the body frees from sin, and that God's pardon is aught but the destruction of sin,—these are grave mistakes." It therefore rests with those who love Truth to welcome the judgments of Truth, and to participate to the extent of their understanding in the establishment of God's reign on earth, especially as we are assured by our Leader on page 97 of our textbook that "those who discern Christian Science will hold crime in check. They will aid in the ejection of error. They will maintain law and order, and cheerfully await the certainty of ultimate perfection."         The day of judgment must undoubtedly mean a longer period than a single revolution of this planet on its own axis. It is really not a question of time at all, but of spiritual awakening and the inevitable transformation of humanity as it appeals to the judgments of the one perfect Mind in settling all questions. The strong support of the Christian Scientist is the firm conviction of the truth so long taught in Christian Science that in spite of all appearances evil is unreal and Truth is real and eternal. Mortal mind has contested this declaration all the way through, but its correctness has been proved in the healing of unnumbered thousands of cases which were pronounced hopeless by medical authorities; and now its truth is being applied to the larger world problem, which will also be healed on the basis of God's allness and the nothingness of all that is unlike Him. In Revelation we have terrible pictures of the world's final struggle, but there is left no question as to its outcome. What is more, when the new heaven and the new earth appear, when God's perfect ideas come down to men, no least trace is found of this struggle on the mortal plane, although the divine sentence stands forever against idolatry, sorcery, falsehood, and all impurity.         How good it is to read that when the "pure river of water of life" is shown to humanity, and again the tree of life, the leaves of which are "for the healing of the nations," there follows swiftly the assurance, "There shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him." And what service this will be when those who serve shall have seen God face to face, and His name, His character, shall be written upon them! Who, then, would not welcome the fuller judgment which brings all this to pass, and shows us and proves to us that the God who gave us light amidst the struggle is to "reign for ever and ever"?   "The Judgment Day" by Annie M. Knott, CSD Christian Science Sentinel, October 5, 1918

 

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