Men and Nations ANNIE M. KNOTT, CSD          Often may we ask ourselves what it is that constitutes a nation, and we need not search long for the answer, which comes very naturally. It is, Men! It of course goes without saying that until we have men worthy of the name, the nations of the earth will fail to express any high ideal, though they may ofttimes turn their gaze toward that which all must admit to be the one thing worth striving for. The American people have had more than one mighty struggle to reach and express the true ideal of national existence, which means freedom to work out the great ends of life with equal rights and privileges granted to all in so doing.          At the present hour the American people may ponder with profit these words of Moses to the children of Israel: “Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm?” In many ways the people of this country have had repeated in their national existence the experiences of the Hebrews in seeking to found a nation upon the righteousness which God’s law demands, and which alone provides for human progress and prosperity.          Many have been the temptations which have assailed this people in working out the problem of national existence and at the same time making it possible for individuals to prove to themselves the divine possibilities of manhood and womanhood. It need hardly be said that the temptations did not come from the stern vicissitudes of the earlier years of this nation’s existence, but rather did the temptations come when men trusted in materiality rather than in God and in the power of divine law to perpetuate and extend the ideals which gave them their place among the nations of the earth.          Mrs. Browning writes: — Rise up, teacher! Here’s A crowd to make a nation! — best begin By making each a man, till all be peers Of earth’s true patriots and pure martyrs in Knowing and daring.          We may well rejoice that a teacher of this sort — one with keen spiritual vision — has arisen in this land, and that her teachings are going forth from it to bless all mankind. The divine Principle of these teachings will finally unite all men in working out the ideal of the one perfect Mind.          In her sermon written for the dedication of the original Mother Church, Mrs. Eddy said of the Pilgrim Fathers: “On shores of solitude, at Plymouth Rock, they planted a nation’s heart, — the rights of conscience, imperishable glory. No dream of avarice or ambition broke their exalted purpose, theirs was the wish to reign in hope’s reality — the realm of Love” (Pulpit and Press, p. 10). It has, however, sometimes seemed as if the lofty purpose here indicated was rudely shaken with the blasts of adversity and of prosperity, yet the truth about God and man has come to this nation in Christian Science, and through it to all the nations of the earth. No longer need ignorance of the divine ideal be pleaded as an excuse for individual or national imperfection, for the truth is known and is being put into practice more and more all the world over. With it comes a tremendous demand for the righteousness which “exalteth a nation.” This call of Truth comes down through the centuries: "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the Lord your God.” No one need question that our very existence as a nation depends upon our unswerving obedience to the demands of divine Principle.          On page 200 of Science and Health we read, “Moses advanced a nation to the worship of God in Spirit instead of matter, and illustrated the grand human capacities of being bestowed by immortal Mind.” If we look below the surface of things we shall see that this task was again taken up by the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, because the spiritual ideals recognized and followed by the great Jewish lawgiver, and demonstrated in their fullness by Christ Jesus had in large measure been lost sight of by modern religionists. It was therefore necessary that these should again be discovered and scientifically stated in order that the rich blessings which they reveal might reach all mankind, and wonderful have been the results in the half century which has followed the scientific revelation of God and of man’s divinely bestowed capabilities.          Not once but many times in the history of this nation has the truth of Jesus’ words been proved: “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” Man as God’s idea can never lose his life, but mortals may be called upon to sacrifice the material sense of life in order to realize what true living means for men and nations; and in so doing those who are faithful will prove to the ages man’s immortality as a son of God. Into the true ideal of national existence there can in no wise enter “any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie;" and these words from Revelation point directly to the high ideal which has led this people onward and upward from the earliest days of their existence, — “The nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it.”          As our Thanksgiving day draws near, we count among our many reasons for gratitude, the fact that we have the light of this lofty ideal to guide us, that so large a measure of it is being realized, and that we as Christian Scientists are able to stretch forth our hands and lay hold upon the leaves of the tree which are “for the healing of the nations.” With gladness and gratitude we grasp this promise found on page 565 of Science and Health: “Christ, God’s idea, will eventually rule all nations and peoples — imperatively, absolutely, finally — with divine Science.”   "Men and Nations" by Annie M. Knott, CSD The Christian Science Journal, November, 1917

 

| Home | Library |

Copyright © 1996-2008 CSEC