The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1948-06-10

force is being channeled into the
affairs of men, The Christian Sci
ence Board of Directors today urged
Christian Scientists, in annual meet
ing, here, to work strongly and &C
lively for the defense of free gov
ernments throughout the world.
Rightly conceived, the Directors
told the Annual Meeting of The
Mother Church, The First Church
of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Mass
achusetts, democratic government
is something more than an aggrega-
ton of legislative acts and legalized
rules of conduct.
1T is the orderly embodiment of
the moral character and spiritual
integrity of its citizens" the spokes-
men for the worldwide Christian
Science movement affirmed. AS
such, they said, free government
rightly merits active defense of its
sacred purpose, in addition to the
pious declarations of allegiance to
its outer form.
Thousands of Christian Scientists
from many parts of the world heard
the Directors issue a distinct chal-
lenge to the proud, boastful "Goliaths
of today, as they go to and fro in
the earth. Denying God, they are
denying their own life, for God is the
only life of man." they stated.
In free governments, now serious
ly endangered by the modern Go
liaths, the Directors commented,
there is a force that gathers its
strength from ''the same eternal
truth given by Christ Jesus in his
peerless Sermon on the Mount"
Ultimately it shall be seen, they said,
that mo individual or nation on
earth can Withstand the power and
presence of God and His Christ"
The Directors statement high
lighted a series of papers and re
ports made to the Annual Meeting
Set against the background of the
great Mother Church dome and the
Church park resplendent with mid
Spring blooms, the reports stressed
the renaissance of religious activities
throughout the postwar world, and
reemphasized the privileges of free
assembly and freedom of worship
as the human symbols of spiritual
freedom"
With the warnings of serious
dangers to democratic government,
the Directors also gave assurance
that the antagonists of free govern
ment, like the Goliaths of old, were
merely inviting their own doom"
The Iseraelites of old were faced
with similar problems, the Direc-
tors continued. Confronted with
seeming determination by the over
whelming armies of the Philistines,
who sent forth Goliath to intimidate
them, they did not quail, the state
ment said. Did Goliath succeed in
defying the armies of the living
God? No!
"He fell a victim of his own false
trust. The Christ, Truth, guided the
hand of the shepherd boy, and the
enemy was slain through David's
absolute trust in the power of God"
Defense of the democratic form of
government, the Directors reason
ed, requires a practical prepared
ness, one inspired by prayer and
guided by divine wisdom. And they
added that a union of nations, to
endure, must have spiritual foun-
dalton.
Nations must possess kindred
qualities of thought, culture and
purpose. These, when based on
spiritual elements which survive
the destructive effects of friction,
serve as the only lasting bond and
impregnable bulwark of men and
nations"
To the standard bearers of Christ
ian Science gathered in The Mother
Church, the Directors gave this adj
monition: ''The celestial light given
in the Sermon on the Mount fills the
world with it's irresistible power and
presence. No goddess boasting, no
theology, no atomic force, no iron
curtain can stay its power"
The incoming President, Harry
c. Browne, whose only official duty
is to preside at the Annual Meeting,
declared that the success of any or
ganization, institution or govern
ment depends upon the spiritual
efficacy of the governing or control
ling instrument.
with the problem of world peace
confronting us" he said, "these same
divine qualities applied in individual
thought and action will be found as
potent and as powerful as they were
in Jesus time"