Editorial May 13, 1916 Issue

Murmurings Stilled

Annie M. Knott

St. Paul gives very sound counsel when he says in his epistle to the Philippians, "Do all things without murmurings and disputings." The American Standard Version gives the last word as "questionings," and this is very significant to the thoughtful student of Christian Science, who knows that the tendency to ask "why" one is not speedily delivered from all his difficulties is closely allied to the disposition to murmur because Truth calls for unceasing self-sacrifice until nothing remains but God's perfect idea, all the dross having been consumed in the irresistible fire of divine Love.

As we read in the Old Testament the experiences of the children of Israel on their way from bondage to freedom (and this really meant something far beyond a mortal and material sense of freedom), we see that most of them were unwilling to pay the price demanded, and they even intimated that their slavery in Egypt was not so bad after all, for they had the "flesh pots" if little else. Their abject submission to cruel tyranny did not speedily give place, in the experiences of the wilderness, to any noble sentiment, for the record tells of frequent murmurings against Moses and his loyal supporters. In the first epistle to the Corinthians we have a solemn warning against this same tendency in modern times, in these words: "Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer." It is true that the experiences of the wilderness may have seemed severe, but the effort to rise above the material sense of things develops a heroic spirit which faces each new difficulty not only with courage, but with actual gladness for the opportunity to prove one's strength. The tendency to murmur always indicates spiritual short-sightedness, and shows that the gaze rests upon material conditions, the clouds unpierced by any rays of light, a mental state which sooner or later expresses itself in disease. Mortal belief then asks why God chooses to afflict one in such a way, when a thoughtful analysis would show that the physical ill is really a product of a mental condition.

Mrs. Eddy leads thought away from materiality when she says in Science and Health (p. 369); "It is error even to murmur or to be angry over sin." No one can make another person sinful, he must himself consent to the wrong, either through fear or love of it, before he can become a participant in wrong-doing. Christian Science carries this logic into the so-called physical realm as well, and teaches that one need not be sick because others believe in sickness, for the real man's birthright insures for him dominion over all evil. It also crowns him with the spiritual understanding which rules out all occasion for murmuring. The earthly life of our Master is a record of unceasing toil and sacrifice, of privation and persecution; but not once do we find him murmuring over this. On the contrary, he said to his followers, at a time when the clouds seemed darkest, "My peace I give unto you." Following this glorious example, Paul says, "I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation," and he also tells us that afflictions can never separate us from the love of God. In his experience trials only helped to develop the latent heroism which is assuredly bestowed without stint or measure upon every child of God, but which is never a characteristic of murmurers and complainers.

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