Article May 10, 1913 Issue

ACCURACY

DAISY CYNTHIA WOOD.

Accuracy is a demand of Truth, and Truth demands obedience; hence, to be truly obedient one must be accurate. Faithful obedience to the demands of God enabled our Leader to give to the world accurate, because inspired, statements of truth. When one less inspired attempts to quote or read these statements, and is unmindful of obedient accuracy in so doing, it must result in a loss, to some degree, of the positive healing power of the word of Truth. Egotism, satisfied with its own attainment of knowledge, blinds its victim, and breeds careless, slipshod expression. Obedient accuracy is demonstrated only when self-immolation displaces self-satisfaction; then the truth stands forth in all its impressiveness.

Obedience awakens thought to perceive with the "seeing eye" and the "hearing ear." This quickened sense readily detects inaccuracies, and when these are corrected and replaced by the exact truth, the native power and effectiveness of the word is brought to bear. Healing by means of argument requires accurate statements of truth, whether expressed audibly or silently. Otherwise, thought is blurred and confused, and the results may be only such as Mrs. Eddy describes in "Miscellaneous Writings," "chronic recovery," instead of "instantaneous cure" (p. 355).

Readers in our churches need to strive assiduously for accuracy. An inaccurate rendition of a paragraph, omitting a phrase, supplying a "the" or an "and" where it does not exist, incorrect or indistinct articulation or accentuation, interdicts or weakens the efficacy of the absolute truth contained therein. Take, for instance, the matter of inaccuracy in giving expression to the "scientific statement of being" (Science and Health, p. 468). This inspired message of our Leader epitomizes the Christian Science method of healing and regeneration for all mankind; hence, its correct rendition is of the highest importance. Nevertheless, one frequently hears the words, "for God is All-in-all," read with a supreme emphasis upon the "in," when in fact the hyphenated All-in-all indicates simply a supreme sense of All. Accentuating the "in," unwittingly leads the uninstructed thought into byways of pantheism, and leaves a subtle impression that God, infinite Mind, can sometimes be in something,—some finite sense. This is a direct contradiction of the premise, "All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation," and amounts to a positive untruth. Science and Health defines the word "in" as a "term obsolete in Science if used with reference to Spirit, or Deity" (p. 588). Truth demands of each one of us the "seeing eye" and the "hearing ear" which result in obedient accuracy.

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