Gentleness and Greatness

Ella W. Hoag

What Christian has not responded with all his heart to the exquisite statement of David, "Thy gentleness hath made me great"? What a vista of God's loving-kindness and tenderness do these words unfold! They immediately open the thought to that which is harmonious and peaceful, beautiful and adorable; and they awaken deep desire to know more of the mighty God who can at the same time include such gentleness. Added to all this, there is presented the vision of the greatness which the reflection of this gentleness supplies.

To a tired world, worn with the friction of its own mistaken concepts, this divine gentleness comes with such a loving, soothing message that men cannot choose but listen and begin to look up with rejoicing. Their hearts are comforted even before they understand how or why; for such simple and profound words as these of the Psalmist always carry with them God's law of salvation.

Christian Science emphasizes the necessity of gentleness and its reflection, if true greatness is to be attained. The Christian Scientist, therefore, soon recognizes these essentials to his own demonstration, and many are the human beliefs which must be brought into subjection. Among these latter there is, perhaps, none more prominently opposed to gentleness than the frequent habit of needless and unkind criticism. If it were not that Christian Science exposes so completely the total depravity of so-called mortal mind, the amazing human tendency of a willingness to contemplate and talk of the faults and foibles of its neighbor would be almost unbelievable. How unlike the divine gentleness which results in greatness is that harsh quality which is ever ready to expose and magnify every least mistake of another!

How contrary to such false criticism and misjudgment is the spirit of gentleness which breathes through every line of Mrs. Eddy's autobiography! From cover to cover of her book "Retrospection and Introspection" our Leader has portrayed so much the gentleness that is greatness, that no one could read its pages without being lifted into a higher, holier purpose. No one, be he Christian Scientist or otherwise, could study its contents without being sent home to his own mental abode to effect that correction in his own thinking and living which would necessarily bring him forth sufficiently purified to cover with a mantle of charity not only the mistakes but the willful wrongs of his neighbor.

It is a familiar proverb that people in glass houses should not throw stones. The true Christian Scientist understands that the more he realizes his own delinquencies and the more he recognizes the necessity for frequently praying, "God be merciful to me a sinner," and, "Lord, strengthen my faith," the greater becomes his compassion and mercy for his fellow traveler on the way from matter to Spirit, and the less likely is he to throw the stones which would wound and discourage. As our beloved Leader says in her precious poem entitled "Love" (Poems, p. 6):

"The arrow that doth wound the dove
Darts not from those who watch and love."

Certainly the mental sense herein portrayed belongs to that gentleness which ever expresses the greatness of unselfish love. Who that has felt the tender compassion, the wise kindness, the loving mercy, which has ministered to him in some hour of discord and distress, could fail to desire to reflect such healing gentleness to others under similar circumstances?

And the best of it all is that gentleness is natural to all of God's children! Our Father-Mother God, who is Love itself, and who includes all gracious qualities, could never have a child who was not the perfect reflection of all His perfect divinity. It is therefore the great comfort of the Christian Scientist to know that however often he may have been betrayed into captious criticism, ungentleness, unkindness, he may always turn resolutely and hopefully to the truth of being. Then he may insist on the undesirability and unreality of all such human inclinations as would tend to personalize evil at any time or under any circumstance. As he learns through his varied experiences to rise above all disturbance over ignorant criticism of himself by others, as well as to avoid expressing similar ungentleness to his neighbor, he will become conscious of that greatness which is divine, and which proclaims the Christ in ever increasingly attractive measure. Ella W. Hoag

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Among the Churches

December 3, 1927

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