Article August 7, 1937 Issue

Patience Rightly Understood

WILLIAM MACNAGHTEN MACDONALD

On page 242 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy has written, "In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error,—self-will, self-justification, and self-love,—which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death." In this sentence, our Leader has defined the true character of patience when exercised in obedience to Truth.

The great value of patience is early recognized by those who take up the study of Christian Science. In this connection the alert student will be watchful to guard against any suggestion creeping in of passivity or apathy. He will resist all temptations to listen to the voice of error, which may present such a falsity as, "What cannot be cured must be endured." Such an erroneous suggestion is detrimental to progress and, if not resolutely refused admittance into thought, may lead to doubt and mental laziness.

The terms patience and passivity are derived from the same Latin root, but, actually, the character of the two is widely diverse. Yet, the word "patience," in general use, is not infrequently confused with "passivity," which definitely implies an unresisting endurance of discordant or wrongful conditions. Such being the case, it is obvious that passivity, in any form, can have no part in the practice of Christian Science.

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