Liberty's Crusade ANNIE M. KNOTT, CSD            The last month has witnessed a stirring fulfilment of Ezekiel's prophecy: "I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is." The eternal law of perfection, of absolute right, of unswerving justice, makes unceasing demand upon men and nations, and none can stay its operation until judgment is everywhere laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet. In the 9th chapter of Isaiah we have a graphic picture of human conditions, and the prophet tells of the coming of a great light to them that were in darkness. Then the rod of the oppressor is broken and the yoke lifted from the shoulders of the oppressed. He shows us a battlefield, where there is "burning and fuel of fire," — the fire which consumes all that ought to be destroyed. It is in the midst of all this that a child is born, — a new idea appears, — and we read: "The government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."          When at length the one came who is today held to be greater than any of the kings of the earth, his coming was announced by the heavenly message: "On earth peace, good will toward men;" and when he reached manhood, his ministry made good the angelic promise. But erelong we find him, after commissioning his disciples to "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils," saying to them: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." This shows that there can be no armistice between right and wrong, Truth and error, for every ray of light, like a flashing sword, pierces and dispels the darkness.          Toward the close of Jesus' earthly ministry, he sought to prepare his followers for the great and inevitable struggles which should precede humanity's final redemption from all evil, these being, as it were, the birth-throes which foretell the coming to men of the life which is life indeed. He warned his followers against all that should falsely claim the name and authority of Christ; then he foretold strife among men and nations, — persecutions, tribulations, wars, — but he at the same time said, "See that ye be not troubled," an admonition to which the student of Christian Science will give earnest heed, especially when those conditions are present in human consciousness which the Master foretold, namely, "distress of nations, with perplexity; . . . men's hearts failing them for fear." How good at such an hour, at any hour of fear and distress, to recall these assuring words, "See that ye be not troubled;" "There shall not an hair of your head perish."          Matthew, Mark, and Luke give this wonderful discourse with remarkable agreement in their statements, which shows how deeply the discourse must have impressed those who heard it, and, in turn, those to whom it was told in later years. Then as now, many were eager to know "when" the final change should come, but the great Teacher intimated that it was not a question of time — rather a question of human responsiveness to Truth's appeal. He did say, however, that the gospel — his gospel — which saved men from all that is unlike God, must first be "preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations: and then shall the end come;" not the end of God's creation, but the end of belief in, and acceptance of, that which God did not make, — the end of injustice, of hatred, oppression, tyranny of every sort, of sin, disease, and death.          Nothing is more sure than that this gospel is now being preached throughout the world, "with signs following" as never before in human history. Christian Science is rapidly encircling the globe with its message of healing and of peace to all who hear and heed. Its ministry does not call for a priestly order, but it does demand consecrated workers who are ready either to defend the cause of right or to heal the sick and sinful. Sometimes one can only preach the gospel by living it, but this is always a convincing plea in the end. Again there are others who can with boldness and eloquence arouse the self-satisfied and the timid to dare and to do for Truth's glorious cause. There are, alas, too many asleep, lulled by the delusion that death will right the wrongs which seem to prevail here and now, but this was not the Master's teaching, nor is it that of Christian Science. In calling us to liberty's "crusade" (Science and Health, p. 226), our revered Leader tells us that we must stand for "the rights of man as a Son of God," and no less; and she tells us that true freedom is won "not through human warfare, not with bayonet and blood, but through Christ's divine Science," — the Science that will overturn until right reigns supreme. Well says Mrs. Browning, — O Lord of peace, who art Lord of righteousness Constrain the anguished worlds from sin and grief Pierce them with conscience, purge them with redress, And give us peace which is no counterfeit.   "Editor's Table" by Annie M. Knott, CSD The Christian Science Journal, November, 1910

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