Editorial September 26, 1925 ISSUE

Tenderness

Duncan Sinclair

The name Father-Mother, which Mrs. Eddy gave to Deity, is most helpful in bringing to human consciousness the fact of God's tenderness towards His whole creation. Christ Jesus referred to God as the Father, thereby drawing attention to God's wisdom and protecting care; and our Leader, perceiving through inspiration that Deity contains within Himself the qualities of both Father and Mother, beheld God as the Father-Mother of all, and thus emphasized to mankind not only God's wisdom and protecting care, but also the tenderness which accompanies them. On page 332 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy writes, "Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which indicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation."

The great truth, then, is that God loves His creation with infinite tenderness. A human mother may love her child with a great tenderness, but human mother-love at its highest is but as a drop of water to the ocean compared with the tenderness of the love of God; for God is infinite Love, and infinite Love must be infinitely tender. What a thought—the creator of all, the Father-Mother of the universe, actually loves His creation with a tenderness which is measureless! This means that man, individual man, is cared for, protected, governed by divine Love, absolutely perfectly.

Now the student of Christian Science is deeply grateful for the revelation of God's infinitely tender love which Christian Science has given him; but well he knows that as yet he but meagerly apprehends its meaning. For is it not true that often still he is in fear,—in fear of the unknown, in fear of disease, in fear of evil in some form or other, perhaps of pestilence, earthquake, hurricane, or fire? And if he be in fear of anything, does it not mean that he is failing to remember the infinitely tender nature of God's love? Were men clearly to realize that God's idea, man, is forever at-one with God, is forever at-one with divine Love, which is infinite, all fear would be destroyed, and they would be rendered immune from every form of disaster, and from every form of human suffering.

The world presents to-day plenty of opportunity for the Christian Scientist to put into practice what he understands of the love of God. When, for example, he is situated in a district concerning which the belief is generally held that it is liable to devastation, due to earthquake, tempest, or fire, he should be alert—not occasionally but persistently alert—to handle the belief, in order to prevent anything untoward happening. The so-called forces of matter are not real forces; they are but beliefs of mortal mind. And these beliefs, one and all of them, can be met and nullified by the spiritual understanding of God and of His creation which Christian Science gives. Christ Jesus proved this when he stilled the storm at sea, walked upon the water, healed the sick, and raised the dead.

It was Christ Jesus who said, as John records: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Was not the Master demanding of his followers the reflection of that tenderness toward each other which was in the bosom of the Father-Mother, and which he himself so wonderfully exemplified in his life? "Tenderness accompanies all the might imparted by Spirit," writes Mrs. Eddy (Science and Health, p. 514 ); and thus it might be said that one's spiritual understanding determines one's tenderness. If tenderness be lacking, one can scarcely expect to find any great depth of spiritual enlightenment: thought will be materialistic, unspiritual; and what is more, exactly as it is unspiritual, it will be devoid of healing power. How greatly the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science esteemed the quality of tenderness is evident from these words of hers, to be found in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 247 ): "The little that I have accomplished has all been done through love,—self-forgetful, patient, unfaltering tenderness." And when one remembers how much Mrs. Eddy did accomplish, one recognizes how deep must have been her love for God and man, how great her "self-forgetful, patient, unfaltering tenderness" towards suffering, sorrowing humanity.

It is certain that as our love for God, good, increases, so does our tenderness grow towards our fellow-men. It were well, therefore, to recognize the value of tenderness and seek to cultivate it. That is to say, we should strive for a greater understanding of the love of God, knowing that that understanding will manifest itself in greater tenderness in all our human relationships, and that the possession of it will enable us more consistently to convey the healing truth of Christian Science to the world.

Duncan Sinclair

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