Article July 16, 1932 Issue

"One to another"

JOHN SIDNEY BRAITHWAITE

The confession of one's secret faults is, according to the epistle of James, a commendable thing; but whom shall we make the repository for this confession? And if another be found who is willing to act as repository, how can one be sure that the confession that is made is genuine—neither understated nor overcolored?

The student of Christian Science soon learns that a mistake is not so much a topic for conversation as something to be worked over and corrected, and that the true remedy for most of our troubles is more likely to be found in self-examination than in a mere rehearsal of our shortcomings.

Self-examination may, and usually does, act as an effective antidote to self-complacency. There is little to be gained by imparting to someone else a picture of one's depravity or dishonesty, but in the hour of self-examination one may find a critic both severe and helpful. Self-examination is a kind of colloquy between two voices, each seeming to be one's self, yet talking as one to another.

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