Article October 17, 1903 Issue

Tuning the Harp

W. D. MC CRACKAN.

Our Progress in Christian Science may be likened to the tuning of a harp. In order that the instrument may give out perfect harmonies the strings must be nicely attuned. As the tuner passes his hands over them, his sharp ear detects the imperfect intervals, and he perceives at once that certain strings need adjustment. He therefore proceeds to make a careful examination and to correct each string by bringing it into right relation with a fundamental note which is known to be true.

While the entrance into Christian Science is sweet and melodious, further progress involves the work of exposing imperfections which must be corrected in order that some approach may be made to the uncompromising command, "Be ye perfect," and as the hands sweep the strings, unsuspected faults are revealed. Here is a string put out of tune by self-love, by a false concept which has been latent, and to uncover it there was need of the hand of a tuner. Other strings are made unduly tense by the fear of bodily harm, the fear of failure, the fear of evil, the fear of exposure, the fear for others, or the fear of future events. All these must be brought into harmony by dispelling the fear which has occasioned the discord. Sometimes the tuner has occasion to test the instrument in various ways before detecting the more subtle phases of discord, but, as his work proceeds, every imperfection is disclosed, and falsities at first unrecognized become apparent. Here and there among the notes he finds imperfections, which are but slight, and yet, if allowed to remain uncorrected, they would mar the satisfactoriness of the effect as a whole. A very sensitive ear is needed to detect these falsities, but they must be corrected or the instrument, when used for some noble piece of music, will be found wanting at the very moment when its highest capacity of expression is demanded.

Each of us is a harp, and every day the tuning must go on. Every string must be tried and must submit to the requisite tension until it is made true; until every false vibration, every weakness, every self-assertion is dispelled, and the whole instrument is brought into perfect tune, made fit for the hand of the Master.

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Tuning the Harp

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