Christlike Tenderness

ELIZABETH MARIA CORDSEN

On page 95 of "Retrospection and Introspection" our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, in her untiring endeavor to guide her followers wisely and to forestall a possible rift in their armor by timely admonition, quotes a verse by A. E. Hamilton, which ends with these lines:

And comforters are needed much
Of Christlike touch.

In the preceding paragraph she writes as follows: "I am persuaded that only by the modesty and distinguishing affection illustrated in Jesus' career, can Christian Scientists aid the establishment of Christ's kingdom on the earth." Who that is a student of the Scriptures has not been impressed with the compassion which Christ Jesus constantly evidenced? His tender love for all who came in contact with him made him the helper and healer of mankind. Compassionately he wept over Jerusalem. Fain would he have taught its inhabitants the gospel of love, which it was his mission to impart. Yet, while the multitudes listened to his spiritual elucidations on the fulfillment of law through love, comparatively few comprehended his teachings sufficiently to profit thereby to any great degree.

His example, however, was unwavering. When the leprous man approached him in childlike faith and asked for help, Jesus not only readily supplied the healing, but we read that he "put forth his hand, and touched him," thereby indicating to the man whose illness had made him an outcast that he neither feared nor shunned him on account of this apparent misfortune. This humane act alone must have done much to restore the man's confidence. To the widow of Nain whose only son they were carrying out for burial, he spoke the tender words, "Weep not." Then he lovingly removed the cause of her grief by restoring her son to her.

No better aim can Christians have than to endeavor, in meekness and humanity, to follow the example of the master Christian. Do we not all know that the expression of a more general and a more specific love, practiced individually, cannot fail to further the recognizable appearing of Christ's kingdom on earth? The demonstrable doctrine of Christian Science that man is now, as he ever has been, the perfect reflection of his perfect Father, God, establishes a better understanding and a closer unity between all of His children. But Christian Science has given us the additional revelation that God is both the Father and the Mother of man, since He is the sole cause of his existence. This at once opens up a wonderful vista of God's tender relationship to all. Man, then, is not only subject to God's fatherly care, but he is also the object of God's tender, motherly love. A recognition of this latter great truth will cause those who grasp it to be more patient and loving towards other people in daily contacts. Inasmuch as man in His image reflects the divine qualities, these may be expressed on the one hand in compassionate helpfulness, and on the other hand in graceful acceptance, due appreciation, gratitude, and ready reciprocation. On this basis there may be established a loving interchange of giving and taking.

When the heart is filled with love that emanates from an understanding of divine Love, there is no uncertainty with regard to the manner of approaching other hearts. A loving heart unerringly touches the right chord, finds the specific statements of spiritual truth that apply to the needs of another, and, confident of the comfort and uplift they are sure to impart, voices them unhesitatingly. Likewise does the loving hand intuitively add the right material help if it appears to be needful. The Christian Scientist who consciously places his every act under the guidance of God knows that he cannot fail to do the right thing at the right time. No sense of futility can accompany his consecrated efforts, and neither ingratitude nor indifference can rob him of his reward. His harvest will be a greater love than ever before experienced, for rich is the reward of kindness.

Confidently, therefore, the earnest worker looks to God for wisdom in everyday relationships, in business affairs, in political and economic intercourse, as well as in industrial and home matters. Very helpful is the Apostle Paul's charge to the Romans, "Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another." This pure brotherly love which Paul here sets forth as the accompaniment of a kindly affection among mankind is unselfish, sincere, courteous, and comforting. To this may be added what Mrs. Eddy wrote in a newspaper statement, as recorded in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 275), namely: "Christian Science can and does produce universal fellowship. As the sequence of divine Love it explains love, it lives love, it demonstrates love."

Copyright, 1931, by The Christian Science Publishing Society, Falmouth and St. Paul Streets, Boston, Massachusetts. Entered at Boston post office as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing at a special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 11, 1918.

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