Article March 30, 1912 Issue

PRECISION AND PATIENCE

CAMPBELL MAC CULLOCH.

The statement has been made that the measure of the understanding of a Christian Scientist is his ability to reflect God's thought and to put the truth thus realized into practice in the overcoming of evil. To some who are still groping in the tangled mazes of orthodoxy, such a test or requirement may seem calculated to restrict individual development and to be wholly subversive of spiritual growth, but comparatively little thought is needed to show that true individual spiritual progress can be obtained in but one way, and that by obediently following out the precept of Jesus, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," for it is obvious that only by patterning after the perfect can perfection be obtained. It must not be forgotten that this mandate carried with it the correlative requirements of exactitude and patience, for the Master thoroughly recognized the need for accuracy in speech, thought, and action, and this recognition is abundantly emphasized throughout his teachings. Thus it follows that only by carefully and painstakingly following the rules laid down by Jesus, and so thoroughly and clearly restated by Mrs. Eddy, can we hope to gain even a modicum of this perfection.

For the moment no better illustration of the result of such practice of precision comes to mind than the manner in which the needle of the talking machine so patiently and exactly follows the varying intricate track that has been graved for it upon the surface of the record. Here is a path outlined which must be traveled without departure by even a hairsbreadth if satisfactory results are to be obtained, and in the exact ratio in which this requirement is heeded is the original music reproduced with all its attendant harmony. Let the needle vary ever so slightly from the true course, however, and instant and even painful discord is the inevitable result; and this analogy may here be carried a step farther, for it is now seen that the resultant discord becomes the signal that issues a clamant call for immediate rectification of the error.

It becomes evident, as we progress in our understanding of Christian Science, that there is but one perfect mold in which all our thoughts must be cast if we are to approach the glory of spiritual reflection; that as there is but one Mind, all real thoughts must be the emanation of that Mind. Thus we are forced to the conclusion that in reality there are no thoughts but God's thoughts for us to reflect, just as there was but the one narrow way for the talking machine needle to follow, and but one series of accurate indentations over which it must travel.

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