Article December 26, 1901 Issue

Are Christian Scientists too Narrow?

BY CALVIN C. HILL.

The following statement has often been made in my hearing: "If you are not careful you will become too narrow." As I lived on a farm in my youth, the above statement brought this picture to my mind: Geese were raised by many of the farmers, and to keep them from running over the farm and destroying the products, they were put into a large pen built of wooden rails such as are used on a farm, and the gates, so-called, were made of three upright posts driven into the ground, permitting a person to get through sideways with ease. The geese were yoked with a forked stick, which made it impossible for them to get through the openings or the gate.

In Matthew's Gospel, it is written: "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, which leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Now what are the yokes which make you and me so broad that we are not able to get through this strait gate which leads to eternal life? Should we not constantly pray to be unyoked and liberated from the gods of this world—whatever is opposite to this Scripture: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me"? Our Leader says: "This Me is Spirit." And should we not become so narrow—and just broad enough—that we may walk with ease in the narrow way of which it is said, "And few there be that find it"? Or shall we continue to be yoked as were those who were bidden to the supper spoken of in Luke, 14: 18-20, and be deprived of the blessings which come from seeking "first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness"?

What is broader than Principle? "This Principle is Mind, Substance, Life, Truth, Love. When understood, Principle is found to be the only term that fully conveys the ideas of God,—one Mind, a perfect man, and Divine Science. As the divine Principle is comprehended, God's omnipotence and omnipresence will dawn on mortals, and the notion of an everywhere–present body—or of an infinite Mind starting from a finite body, and returning to it—will disappear" (No and Yes by Mary Baker G. Eddy, p. 20). Can we, then, as professed followers of Christ—Christian Scientists—become too narrow by spending our spare time in the study of the Scriptures and our beloved Leader's writings, which explain this divine Principle and the life of the great demonstrator thereof, who said: "Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free"? Free from what? From all that is opposed to God, Good. And what is so narrow as a broad knowledge of the things of this world? As some one has said, "What is the use of knowing so much if what you know is not true"—is not the Truth?

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