Editorial October 22, 1921 Issue

Suffering Good to Be So Now

Gustavus S. Paine

THE words of Christ Jesus to John the Baptist, "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness," have been used by many people as a reason why they may allow themselves to continue indefinitely in all sorts of materiality, whereas Christ Jesus himself was continually proving that man lives in Spirit, not in matter. He knew, for instance, the truth that baptism is spiritual purification which can never be limited to any human ceremony. Thus he declared: "I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!" In other words, he was always alert, eager, and ready for the spiritual unfoldment which is irresistible in its purifying force, no matter how it may be humanly regarded. It was the unfoldment of spiritual good, not any clinging to materiality, that actuated Christ Jesus. As Mrs. Eddy says on page 56 of Science and Health, "When our great Teacher came to him for baptism, John was astounded. Reading his thoughts, Jesus added: Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.' Jesus' concessions (in certain cases) to material methods were for the advancement of spiritual good."

Real toleration is not merely the forbearing to judge a human sense of things harshly, but is the understanding of divine intelligence and its expression as infinite and not confined by human opinions. The infinity of God, divine Mind, expressed as infinite idea, does not endure or permit any supposition of evil for an instant, for infinite Mind knows that, with its unlimited manifestation, it is all that exists. This allness of spiritual good, then, has never yielded in the slightest to a supposition of an opposite. It is only suppositional mortal mind, which is utterly illusory, that has ever misinterpreted "the advancement of spiritual good" as a concession to matter. Spiritual right action has always been the reality even while mortal mind has supposed a material counterfeit to be actual.

Every one who turns to infinite Mind and its manifestation gets a glimpse of the truth which broadens his experience immeasurably. As one extends his demonstration of infinite Principle through his experience, he can well afford to be patient with those who do not seem to have the glimpse of the truth which he is proving, or who may be seeing the infinity of Principle from what seems a different human standpoint. This patience is by no means an acceptance of error. On the contrary, it is the acceptance of the truth that unlimited good is present despite any seeming. Actual good is all that can really be tolerated by the one who desires to live in Spirit and walk in Spirit now; and this actual good, which must be suffered to be so now, is not limited to any human concepts of what it ought to be.

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October 22, 1921
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