Are you sure?
This bookmark will be removed from all folders and any saved notes will be permanently removed.
Sticking to the Pattern
A Child, taught to sew by piecing quilts, after becoming somewhat proficient was allowed to cut the blocks that were to be thus put together. She was told by her mother to use the pattern always, and not to cut one block from another. There was a great temptation to disobey this admonition; and one day her mother allowed her to go on for some time cutting one block from another. When many had been thus cut, the child was surprised to find that the last one varied perceptibly from the pattern; and the lesson was one that could be profitably applied many times thereafter.
Is there a temptation to apply to our problems the deductions of another, rather than the absolute truth? Does it seem to be narrow to feel we must stick closely to divine Principle and follow the way our dear Leader, Mrs. Eddy, has outlined in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" and the Manual? If we should find ourselves tempted to go around from one to another, thinking to gather something easily understood or previously digested, let us remember that the pattern remains absolutely correct, but that the deductions of others, though they vary but a hair's breadth, may be the beginning of our swerving from the true pattern,—from divine Principle. It is our privilege to give out that which has become ours through demonstration, and thus help to feed the hungry; but we must remember that we can help others to have the same blessings only as we point them to the source of our help.
Are we tempted to underestimate the importance of reading Mrs. Eddy's writings? It is true that "the letter killeth," and that Mrs. Eddy tells us in "Retrospection and Introspection" (p. 85), "Of this also rest assured, that books and teaching are but a ladder let down from the heaven of Truth and Love, upon which angelic thoughts ascend and descend, bearing on their pinions of light the Christ-spirit." We need, however, to use this ladder that our thoughts may ascend ever upward; and in order to use the gems of Truth found in our Leader's books, we must learn through study that such helps are there.
Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.
September 20, 1924 issue
View Issue-
Finding God All
MARY ALEXIA CUSACK
-
The Foundation of Success
ANDREW JAMES FRASER BLAIR
-
"By the word of their testimony"
CLARA E. MC KENZIE
-
Rejoice!
PRISCILLA W. OKIE
-
Sticking to the Pattern
JANE ADAMS SELDER
-
Guidance
F. HAROLD RICHARDS
-
A Prayer
FREDDA R. GRATKE
-
The Christian Science practitioner is forbidden to use a...
George C. Palmer,
-
Christian Scientists are actively engaged in a ceaseless...
Miss Kate E. Andreae,
-
In a recent issue there is a review of a book entitled...
Miss Ellen Graham,
-
A bishop is reported as having said that one of the mistakes...
Carrington Hening,
-
Christian Scientists as a body are earnestly supporting...
Douglas L. Edmonds,
-
Our critic has not only presumed to speak without a...
Charles E. Heitman,
-
Mary Baker Eddy is the Discoverer and Founder of...
Hugh Stuart Campbell,
-
In an issue of the West Middlesex Gazette there appears...
Charles W. J. Tennant,
-
"And he delivered him to his mother"
EVELYN L. WEBB
-
"In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings"
Albert F. Gilmore
-
Courage
Ella W. Hoag
-
The Might of Mind
Duncan Sinclair
-
From the Directors
The Christian Science Board of Directors
-
The Lectures
with contributions from Hugh H. Tweedy, Boyer Hurd Curry
-
For seventeen years I have been receiving the benefits...
Amy F. Dalrymple
-
It is now nearly six years since Christian Science came...
Walter A. Tanner
-
In November, 1921, I felt so ill that I had to be absent...
René Bachmann with contributions from Bertha Bachmann
-
Like many others, I began the study of Christian Science...
Hamilton Coleman
-
I began the study of Christian Science from the standpoint...
Doris Kintner with contributions from Arthur H. Marcon
-
A time came when I had to give up my life's ambition...
Eva M. Mosher
-
Although the World War had made many gaps in our...
Frances von Drigalski
-
To include in a testimony all that Christian Science has...
Leah R. Lannamann
-
The Oil of Joy
HAZEL V. HARRIS
-
Signs of the Times
with contributions from Edward M. Cross, E. C. Philleo, Elwood Worcester