Article January 18, 1919 Issue

Sacrifice not Loss

HENRY M. CALDWELL

Too frequently the meaning of sacrifice is confused with that of loss. Sacrifice is voluntary reliquishment; loss is involuntary deprivation, ofttimes of that which is the most cherished of one's possessions. A moment's study clearly reveals the difference between these two words. Everything which is good comes from God. Everything created by God must of necessity be governed and protected by Him. Not one good thing can be lost, because good is always safe in God Himself. The only thing which can be given up is the material belief one has had respecting what is good. One can never lose anything good.

Mankind quite naturally look for the masculine qualities of courage and strength in man. No one doubts for a moment that the men who were on the firing line possess these qualities. Here one finds that though the conflict may take form as terrific noises, charges and countercharges, the real struggle is of necessity a mental one, where the various material beliefs which loom up legion strong are completely obliterated by the power of Truth. Through patient striving men must learn to bring out the gentler qualities of love and tenderness; for our Leader says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 508): "The Mind or intelligence of production names the female gender last in the ascending order of creation. The intelligent individual idea, be it male or female, rising from the lesser to the greater, unfolds the infinitude of Love." The women at home, who naturally express the feminine qualities of love and tenderness, must also learn to express courage and strength as a result of their vigils for their loved ones.

Christian Science is revealing man as he really is,—strong and courageous mentally in detecting error in his own consciousness and proving its nothingness, as well as pure, tender, and loving to those who need the Christ, Truth, so much. To the heart saddened by the passing on of one of its loved ones who had been on the battle field or on the water, this may seem to be a hard thing to face; but if one meets it from the true, Christianly scientific viewpoint one cannot help seeing that after all this is really sacrifice, and not loss. The supreme sacrifice is the most beautiful of all. The Master, with his clear spiritual perception, saw that the time would come when his followers would be brought face to face with this condition of thought, and he said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." One cannot lay down his life until he has learned to a greater extent than he ever did before what life really is; then laying down his life is seen as a giving up of the material belief of life for reality.

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