Article March 27, 1909 Issue

THE CHURCH AND THE INDIVIDUAL

WILLIAM R. RATHVON

The earnest truth-seeker who approaches Christian Science with open mind, and who has perhaps been healed thereby, looks at times for what he does not find and finds what he is not seeking. In the ethics of Christian Science he sees perfection, and he looks for perfection in its adherents. In his ardent thought he invests the Scientists with robes that should show the radiance of sunlight, and is dismayed sometimes to find them stained with clay and dingy with dust. He may thus be tempted to confound Christian Science with the Christian Scientist, and to condemn the latter because he is not the complete embodiment of the former.

Particularly is the zealous beginner disquieted when he finds an absence of ideal unity and love among Christian Scientists; when he hears complaint of lack from one who freely speaks of the unlimited bounty of Truth, available for all. The steadfastness of his faith may be seriously tested if he finds the church of his adoption, as he may have already found its individual members, a long way removed, in its demonstrations, from the ideal presented in its manual of government. But in due time he awakens to the fact that it is not merely truth professed, but truth practised which makes a Christian Scientist worthy of the name. Then, if he is wise and true as well as zealous, he finds in each shortcoming on the part of others, a spur to better work on his own part. As he learns that the place of conquest over every error is right in his own consciousness, he becomes less concerned about the faults of others and more about his own.

In his awakening he comes to see that the words "mine" and "thine" are not to be applied to truth; that the basis of every mental endeavor, of every treatment, must be the desire that good shall result, whether such good fits in with personal preferences or not; that to outline in thought how good shall or shall not be manifested, and then do all that can be done to make it come out a particular way, is to invest the human mind with power for evil, it is to recognize minds many instead of the one omniscient and omnipotent Mind. He finds that every manifestation of error must be detached from personality; that it is right to condemn sin, but not the individual, and that in searching for discord's source it is imperative that we let the first glance be inward. This transformation will not be instantaneous, but gradual, and the outcome will be blessed and lasting.

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"KNOW THYSELF."
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