Editorial November 14, 1925 Issue

"What is that to thee? follow thou me"

Ella W. Hoag

When Peter asked Jesus what work John was to do, Jesus' answer was very plain and very positive. In a manner which made it quite impossible for Peter to fail to understand his meaning, Jesus replied, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me." Clear and simple as is the lesson, it appears to be one which most men hesitate to learn. Even Christian Scientists, who accept that God is the only Mind and consequently the only guide and governor, apparently find it difficult not to keep inquiring as to what their brother's duty is.

When the revelation of Christian Science comes to its students, they generally see quickly that there is but one method for its practice. They also accept the pronouncement of their Leader in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 265), where she says: "Diverse opinions in Science are stultifying. All must have one Principle and the same rule; and all who follow the Principle and rule have but one opinion of it."

Now the students of this Science find no opportunity for disagreement on the great fundamentals which it presents. They know there can be but one omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient God, who is always All and includes all; that man is always the image and likeness of God—is always reflecting Him; that God is always God and man is always man, even though God and man are inseparable and at-one; that, as Mrs. Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 480), "Man is not God, and God is not man." Man lives and moves and has his being in God, as Paul avers; but man can never be God, as certainly as effect can never be cause. Neither is man a part of God, since God is indivisible, the perfect One. On such fundamentals as these and on many others equally unquestionable, Christian Scientists cannot disagree. The statements of the Bible, of Science and Health and Mrs. Eddy's other writings, which we all accept as our textbooks, are too unequivocal to admit of any difference of opinion or conclusion.

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