The signs for the wayfarer in divine Science lie in meekness, in unselfish
motives and acts, in shuffling off scholastic rhetoric, in ridding the
thought of effete doctrines, in the purification of the affections and
desires.
Dishonesty, envy, and mad ambition are "lusts of the flesh," which uproot
the germs of growth in Science and leave the inscrutable problem of being
unsolved. Through the channels of material sense, of worldly policy, pomp,
and pride, cometh no success in Truth. If beset with misguided emotions, we
shall be stranded on the quicksands of worldly commotion, and practically
come short of the wisdom requisite for teaching and demonstrating the
victory over self and sin.
Be temperate in thought, word, and deed. Meekness and temperance are the
jewels of Love, set in wisdom. Restrain untempered zeal. "Learn to labor
and to wait." Of old the children of Israel were saved by patient waiting.
"The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by
force!" said Jesus. Therefore are its spiritual gates not captured, nor its
golden streets invaded.
We recognize this kingdom, the reign of harmony within us, by an unselfish
affection or love, for this is the pledge of divine good and the insignia
of heaven. This also is proverbial, that though eternal justice be
graciously gentle, yet it may seem severe.
For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,
And scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.
As the poets in different languages have expressed it:--
Though the mills of God grind slowly,
Yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting,
With exactness grinds He all.
Though the divine rebuke is effectual to the pulling down of sin's
strongholds, it may stir the human heart to resist Truth, before this heart
becomes obediently receptive of the heavenly discipline. If the Christian
Scientist recognize the mingled sternness and gentleness which permeate
justice and Love, he will not scorn the timely reproof, but will so absorb
it that this warning will be within him a spring, welling up into unceasing
spiritual rise and progress. Patience and obedience win the golden
scholarship of experimental tuition.
The kindly shepherd of the East carries his lambs in his arms to the
sheepcot, but the older sheep pass into the fold under his compelling rod.
He who sees the door and turns away from it, is guilty, while innocence
strayeth yearningly.
There are no greater miracles known to earth than perfection and an
unbroken friendship. We love our friends, but ofttimes we lose them in
proportion to our affection. The sacrifices made for others are not
infrequently met by envy, ingratitude, and enmity, which smite the heart
and threaten to paralyze its beneficence. The unavailing tear is shed both
for the living and the dead.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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