Editorial December 9, 1922 Issue

Patience

Duncan Sinclair

In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 515), Mrs. Eddy says, "Patience is symbolized by the tireless worm, creeping over lofty summits, persevering in its intent." The tireless worm, humble, inoffensive, persevering in its patient effort, symbolizes the overcoming of the seemingly impossible. Patience is necessary to the accomplishment of every task. There can be no achievement without it. In the mastering of an art, the establishing of a business, the acquiring of knowledge along any line of human endeavor, patience is always requisite, patience to carry on, step by step, day by day, to the desired end. In all the affairs of men it-is like that. And nowhere is patience more needed than in the study and practice of Christian Science.

When Christian Science first comes to one, not infrequently it seems to present difficulties. Its points of view are often very different from those previously held. Thus, Christian Science tells us that God is All-in-all, and that God is Spirit. Since Spirit is infinite, matter (so called) is unreal; and since God is good, good is infinite and evil is unreal. Certainly Christian Science places before the beginner truths which often stagger him for a little, until he begins to see their bearing upon life and conduct. But then, whenever the grandeur of these sublime spiritual facts is comprehended, it is as if he had entered upon a new existence; and indeed such is the case; for the moment one realizes, even faintly, the allness of God, good, and the unreality of matter or evil, he has caught at least a glimpse of the meaning of the Apostle John's words when he writes in Revelation of "a new heaven and a new earth."

But what a distance mankind seems still to have to travel before it will have entered fully into the heavenly kingdom! How far off this kingdom sometimes appears to it to be! How heavy the material burdens meanwhile borne by humanity! But—and here is where the joy, the inexpressible joy, comes in—Christian Science, through its great revelation of divine Being, has forever broken down the barrier which, in belief, material sense had constructed to try to keep men out of the kingdom of heaven. Never again can material sense occupy the position it once held. Recognized by Christian Science, as it now is, to be false, it need no longer obstruct the progress of men out of gloom and suffering into the harmony of perfect spirituality. Patience, however, is absolutely necessary,—patience which, combined with perseverance and steadfastness, will surely carry every honest student of Christian Science far into the kingdom of heaven. Christian Science shows us the way; and if we are prepared to "lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and . . . run with patience the race that is set before us," we cannot fail to make sure and steady progress.

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