Hooliganism restrained
The bus was nearly full when a woman stepped aboard. As she looked for a seat on the top deck, she was disconcerted to find herself in the midst of a mob of young men who were shouting viciously. Then fighting broke out. Nobody made a move to stop it.
What could one person do? Humanly not much, perhaps, but as the woman turned to look more closely at the trouble-makers she knew that spiritually she could do a great deal. As a Christian she knew that Christ Jesus had already proved love and truth to have dominion over hate and violence. Christly gentleness is the master of hostility, however ruthless the opposition may seem to be. Love can be expressed with dominion when it rests on the understanding that God is omnipotent divine Love, the Father of all, and that all men and women are in truth God's image and likeness, as the Bible reveals. Such love has power to establish calm in place of a storm, friendliness where there has been hatred.
Now, as she looked at these young men on the bus, the woman quietly turned away from the picture of evil written on their faces and aimed to discern the truth of man as God has made him, heir to innocence and goodness. She knew from her Bible study that God loves all His offspring, and she mentally rejoiced that this love is expressed through His creation.
Christian Science had taught her the truth of Jeremiah's statement: "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." n1 And this is true for everyone, she knew. There are no exceptions.
n1 Jeremiah 31:3.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes: "Love giveth to the least spiritual idea might, immortality, and goodness, which shine through all as the blossom shines through the bud. All the varied expressions of God reflect health, holiness, immortality -- infinite Life, Truth , and Love." n2
n2 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,m p. 518.
When we understand this, Science teaches, it becomes natural to see love, not hate, around us; beauty, not ugliness; peace and joy, not violence and fear. And the consequence can be peace not only for us but for others as well -- just as the "great calm" that came when Jesus stilled the storm on the Sea of Galilee must have reached beyond the boat in which he was a passenger. The "other little ships" with him on the lake must have benefited too. n3
n3 See Mark 4:36-39.
As the woman pondered this fact of the omnipresence of the expression of God's love, suddenly everything on the top of the bus became quiet. There was no more shouting and bad language. There was peace. The Christian Scientist sat down on an empty seat with a feeling of awe at the immediacy of the transformation. Calm had descended on the passengers, and it persisted for the rest of the journey.
The scientific understanding of God's love for man restrained hooliganism in this instance, and it always can. Peace can be established when we insist upon the truth of man's perfection as the child of God, divine Love, instead of accepting ugly pictures of violence. Whatever form destructive incidents may take and whatever their cause -- whether anger, boredom, simple indiscipline, or criminal greed -- they can be nullified.
The Christly understanding of God's love for man, and of man's eternal, spiritual perfection and completeness, is powerful beyond all other means. At the height of crisis, it can bring calm instead of riotous hooliganism, and in the longer run it can adjust whatever social wrongs need correction. It will help to establish justice and harmony as well as peace on earth for everyone. DAILY BIBLE VERSE I have seen violence and strife in the city. Day and night they go about it on the walls thereof. . . . Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice. . . . He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. Psalms 55:9, 10, 17, 22
