Article September 17, 1910 Issue

POINTS OF AGREEMENT

W. D. MC CRACKAN, M.A.

Individuals frequently disagree on matters of taste and sentiment, nations on matters of tradition and custom, and yet the points of agreement among nations as well as individuals are already numerous and are multiplying rapidly. Points of agreement which may be described as second nature to the men of today have often been won by a long process of education out of the darkness wherein every man's hand was against his neighbor.

A distinguished American, novelist has pointed out that the customs of polite society are really points of agreement which operate without special regulations or the posting of special notices. How much more should self-operative good manners prevail when people meet together, animated by a common impulse to further the interests of righteousness, whether in church or state. Much of the administrative work of the British government has been carried on for centuries without written instructions and solely by custom and precedent. There is, for example, a simple mathematical tabulation in general use among men, over which no dispute ever arises, which never excites the least jealousy, the value of which is well-nigh inestimable. Yet this tabulation, consisting virtually of a series of points of agreement, is never enumerated among the crown jewels of any monarchy or the assets of any republic. It is independent of race or climate, latitude or longitude, prejudice or opinion. It is indispensable alike to the affairs of a palace, a church, a hotel, a factory, or a laborer's cottage. It is just as available in the waste places of the earth as it is in the crowded centers, on the top of the highest peak as at the bottom of the sea. Without it, human occupations would be thrown into inextricable confusion. This valuable possession, belonging equally to all men and nations, is the multiplication table.

Today, Christian Science awaits this universal acceptance. This Science, which has always been true, even before the foundation of the world, which has always been available by him who could understand it as revelation,—this Science stands knocking for admission at the hearts and minds of modern men and women. This understanding of God and man, which explains every human perplexity, whether individual or collective, which can be applied to regulate every disorder, overcome every evil, assuage every grief, and wipe out every enmity,—this Science is even now establishing points of agreement among men. It is preparing mankind for the glad tidings of universal peace, when nothing shall remain to vex and mar the normal unity of all under the one Mind, one God.

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