Editorial June 30, 1923 Issue

Christian Tolerance

Duncan Sinclair

When we reflect on the question of Christian tolerance, thoughts come to us of one of the most gracious of the Christian virtues. Tolerance has a host of spiritual qualities behind it, such as humility, loving-kindness, compassion, patience, charity,—all based on the understanding of divine Principle, God. And patience and charity are especially linked up with that virtue without which human existence would be unbearable. To be tolerant does not imply any condonation of evil, or that one is afraid to handle the belief of evil; rather is it the case that Christianly scientific tolerance is a most efficient weapon with which to meet and overcome evil and to neutralize its effects.

Perhaps one of the most striking instances of tolerance recorded in the Old Testament was that of Abram with Lot. A strife had arisen between Abram's herdmen and Lot's herdmen. Perceiving the situation, "Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee?" And then, with wonderful magnanimity,—for Abram possessed the Christ-spirit in great measure,—he offered to Lot the choice of "the whole land," to the left hand or to the right hand. After Lot had chosen, "the Lord said unto Abram, ... Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever." Thus was the tolerance of faithful Abraham rewarded.

What a lesson is here taught by the patriarch! No bitter words escaped his lips, no recriminations. Fear was also absent,—fear lest his generous offer should militate against his interests, or deprive him of something necessary to his own well-being. He simply forgot self in thinking of another's good; and the result inevitably followed,—he was rewarded beyond measure. "Nothing short of our own errors should offend us," writes Mrs. Eddy in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 224). And how well the tolerance implied in her words was exemplified by Abraham, whose trust in good was so great as to be able to overcome every one of the mean impulses of mortal mind which would have prevented his act of unsurpassed generosity!

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