Article November 14, 1908 Issue

WORKING OUT OUR PROBLEM

REV. G. A. KRATZER.

Many students of Christian Science, as well as Christian people generally, make a mistake in attempting too much at the start, or rather in not rightly selecting the phase or manifestation of error over which they attempt to demonstrate at the beginning. Error as a whole presents many problems to be solved, and no young student of Christianity is competent to work on them all at the same time, and find success in his efforts. He must choose among the problems, working them one at a time, although it is true that the solving of any one problem contributes to the solution of all the rest.

The most frequent mistake made by many who are trying to be Christian Scientists is in attempting to demonstrate peace without before they have demonstrated peace within. They think they must solve the world's problems, or their church's problems, or at least the problems of their family or friends, in order to solve their own. The scientific order of demonstration is the exact reverse. A man must cast the beam out of his own eye before he can see clearly to cast the mote out of his brother's eye. We must be sufficiently acquainted with God, good, and sufficiently grounded in our consciousness of Him, sufficiently able to dwell "in the secret place of the most High," so that in our own consciousness we have become largely impervious to the darts of error, before we are strongly enough placed in good to be of very much service to other people. If we have not a firm inward hold on peace and harmony, we shall not do much toward imparting these qualities to other people or to outward situations.

Beginners in Christian Science need to follow the example of Jesus. Before he entered upon his ministry, he went apart, for forty days, into the wilderness, to pray. He saw that each should have his own consciousness closely and firmly and unalterably united with God, good, before undertaking the problems of the world. During these forty days there were sick to be healed, there were evils to be cast out, there were wrongs to be righted, but for the time Jesus paid no attention to them ; he was giving his entire attention to getting so firmly placed and grounded in the abiding consciousness of God, good, that he would be able to attack these evils all the more successfully later on, and without being himself overthrown in the process.

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