Article December 28, 1940 Issue

According to the Pattern

AGNES H. REYNOLDS

Many of the activities in manufacturing businesses require that a pattern be used, and artisans are employed to make patterns which are accurate in every detail. In the book of Hebrews we have the admonition, "See . . . that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount."

Thus in our human experience we have a spiritual pattern by which to work, and it is most important that we conform to this pattern at all times. Christ Jesus gave us a wonderful example of always conforming to the pattern of perfection, of love and compassion.

In contemplating the Bible passage quoted above, the writer was reminded of an incident which came to her notice several years ago, one from which she gained a useful lesson. A building contractor had a young apprentice working for him, and one day this contractor made a pattern for a roof rafter and told the young man to cut a given number of pieces of lumber exactly like the pattern, admonishing him to use the pattern each time. Being left alone with the task, the apprentice, after cutting several rafters, thought it would be much easier to use each time the one he had just previously cut instead of the original pattern. When the roof was started and the rafters laid, it was found that there was quite a variation in them, enough variation to make it necessary to cut more lumber and make more rafters. After talking with the apprentice and finding where the trouble lay, the contractor explained to him that while there was only a slight difference in the first few pieces cut, that difference increased as he went along until the last rafters cut varied considerably from the original pattern.

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