Editorial November 8, 1924 Issue

Goodness and Greatness

Ella W. Hoag

Most men have desired greatness, but comparatively few have realized that only that is great which is good,—that goodness alone results in greatness. When David declared, "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty," he indicated very clearly that to God belongs all greatness. Man, therefore, can only express greatness as he reflects it from God. Since every quality of God is good, these qualities must all be as great as they are good, and one's own expression of greatness can appear only in proportion to his demonstration of goodness.

It is quite unnecessary, then, for men to seek greatness. Indeed, to seek it would be to fall short of attaining it. Greatness is an effect, and effects are only brought about through the activity of causes. Hence, it is the cause that must be sought; and in the degree that a true cause is recognized and obeyed, the effect will be resultingly true. Like cause, like effect, is a truism that mankind is often slow to accept; for the world is given over to dealing with effects, hoping that by working for and with them it may mold everything to its own satisfaction. Not starting with a right cause, it is constantly finding itself confronted with unfortunate effects; and then it attempts, by considering them and them alone, to deliver itself from its disasters.

Christian Science, however, shows the absolute futility of any such method. In its basic teaching that God is the one and only cause and that no effects can in reality proceed from any other cause, it lays the ax at the root of the belief that any right results can ever be brought about by working with effects. Who would expect to gain mathematical knowledge by manipulating answers to problems? In the same way, it would be useless to attempt to win right effects in any direction without finding and working in conformity with the right cause.

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