Article October 28, 1911 Issue

"PATIENCE"

ERNESTINE HADKINSON

There are moments when we are more than ever impressed with the wonderfulness of the teachings of Christian Science. They include vastly more than mankind has ever dreamed of. Words which we have thoughtlessly spoken take on a higher sense when analyzed in the light of Truth, and lessons are learned for which we cannot be too grateful. Not long ago the question was asked: "What is the meaning of the word 'patience'?" In the old way of thinking the word implied waiting for something. The dictionary defines it as "the power of suffering with fortitude; perseverance; enduring without murmuring, etc." In the Scriptures we read, "Let patience have her perfect work." Here the word means perseverance, although it could not be perseverance in suffering, but rather perseverance in knowing the truth, which Jesus declared would free mankind from suffering. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 242) we read of "patient obedience to a patient God:" and this brings up the question, Is God patient? and if so, can He be waiting? He who "spake and it was done" could not be waiting in the old sense. The word here necessarily takes on a higher meaning and stands for knowledge. God is Mind,—"the great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle" (Science and Health, p. 587), knowing nothing but good.

To be patient in this higher sense must therefore mean to know what God knows, namely, good only! This knowing would blot out belief in evil and obliterate the fear of failure to demonstrate absolute good. It would also do away with the fear which would make us believe that it sometimes takes a long time to bring out a demonstration, a proof of the allness of good, and would turn away thought entirely from any form of sense testimony and keep it fixed in and on the knowledge of God and His infinite manifestation. We would then never say that a case took long to heal, well knowing that with thought steadfastly fixed on knowing only what God knows, on the life "hid with Christ in God," upon the truth of the real man's being, consciousness could not take in a belief of error of any sort, and so would naturally reject any mistake about God's creation.

Patience would mean standing fast "in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free," and not be any more entangled in "the yoke of bondage." It would mean reflecting that one Mind, that perfect understanding which is the "I am," and cognizant of nothing outside of its own perfection. Patience, then, might be defined as steady control of thought; the mental poise which cannot be disturbed or shaken, or thwarted out of its right path ("the narrow way"); and so, in letting the human yield to the divine in "patient obedience to a patient God," we shall prove that purity of thought which will fulfil in us the promise, spoken of old: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."

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