More precious than fine gold are the jewels of meekness and temperance. Says our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, "Meekness and temperance are the jewels of Love, set in wisdom" (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 79). Since temperance and meekness are "jewels of Love" and are "set in wisdom," those who possess them are pure in affection and wise in action. Says the Psalmist (Ps. 25:9), "The meek will he guide in judgment." Meekness, temperance, wisdom, and unselfed love are thus concomitants. The loving and lowly of heart are, indeed, wise and moderate in thought and human behavior.

St. Paul tells us that meekness and temperance are fruits of the Spirit and that "against such there is no law" (Gal. 5:23): and Mrs. Eddy writes, "I saw these fruits of Spirit, long-suffering and temperance, fulfil the law of Christ in righteousness" (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 45). Meekness and temperance are then among the graces of Spirit, are Christly qualities, and as the individual expresses them he fulfills the law of Christ in righteousness.

Spenser well said, "He calmed his wrath with goodly temperance." The law of Christ, embodying the divinely derived qualities of temperance, meekness, wisdom, and unselfed love, conquers the lusts of the flesh and other errors of the corporeal senses. These graces of Spirit, active in human consciousness, still strife, annihilate hatred and anger, and moderate desire and behavior. They are positive spiritual forces, which neutralize and destroy the negative and lawless evils of pride and intemperance. These evils have no dominion over one who manifests meekness and wisdom.

The only temperance there is, is total abstinence from all evil. To smoke one cigarette or take one alcoholic drink is, therefore, to be intemperate. It is the loss of self-mastery and therefore violates the law of Christ. We must meekly strive to overcome also such errors as impatience, ill-humor, idle gossip about others and their affairs, and exaggeration in conversation. These are all forms of intemperance and are not normal or natural to man's true selfhood.

We often hear it said, "I really do not care for smoking or drinking, but I see no harm in taking a drink or in smoking occasionally for business reasons or in order to be sociable;" or, "I had a moral right to be indignant." This reasoning of the serpent is an apology for indulging evil. We have no right to compromise conscience to conciliate society, no sound reason for being intemperate. The man of meekness and strict integrity desires to please God by living the truth rather than placate mortals by departing from it. By bowing down to matter we surrender to controls that are foreign and alien to true manhood and sacrifice the fruits of Spirit. Fidelity under all circumstances to the spiritual perfection of man alone confers health and harmony, joy and self-respect.

It may require on occasion great courage and honesty to resist the temptations that beset us. The wise man says, "The integrity of the upright shall guide them" (Prov. 11:3). St. Paul tells us that our great Master was tempted "in all points ... like as we are," yet he silenced every suggestion of evil with the Christlike understanding of the perfection of God and man, an understanding which he expressed in such qualities as honesty, meekness, wisdom, and faith in God.

Jesus' sinless career proves that scientific understanding never yields to temptation, but maintains strict integrity and courage. Like the great Way-shower, every individual possesses in his true being the Christliness that guides him and preserves him from evil. So he does not have to yield to the aggressive suggestions of the serpent; he need only demonstrate the divinely derived elements of character that silence them. Through the denial and wholehearted condemnation of error on the basis of man's pure existence in Science we undermine the foundation of the evils of sense and conquer them. Thus we find manifold blessings.

Abstention from evil conduct because of fear of its consequences is not temperance, nor is it meekness. The entertainment of a desire or an impulse to do wrong, even if it does not take form in action, is not abstention from evil, but a form of indulgence in it. Purity of thought alone can lay claim to temperance. We must, then, be watchful to detect the presence of latent fear, egotism, prejudice, emotionalism, and other forms of error that they may be unveiled and destroyed. Pride and self-justification rebel at self-analysis, but as they yield to meekness and pure affection for good, lurking errors are uncovered and annihilated, and temperance, joy, and love obtain the mastery. Thus the graces of Spirit unite in rescuing the individual from error of thought as well as action.

There is then hope and speedy salvation for those who have been drawn away by the lusts of the flesh, have drifted with the dreams of sense, and are struggling to awaken from them. The prayers of the penitent are not uttered in vain. Divine Love is not deaf to the appeal of the contrite of heart. The Master showed by the parable of the prodigal that when the individual acknowledges his errors, turns wholeheartedly from them, and earnestly seeks his immortal, sinless selfhood, his Father-Mother God comes to meet him and bestows upon him infinite blessings.

Christian Science separates evil from the individual, reduces the former to its utter nothingness, and saves the latter from it. It demonstrates that the tempter and the tempted are one and that this one is not man or a quality of his being, but a falsity of error. As we pursue this Science, it unfolds to us the immortal man of God's creating, in whom is no sin and no capacity to sin or suffer.

Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 348), "I have never supposed the world would immediately witness the full fruitage of Christian Science, or that sin, disease, and death would not be believed for an indefinite time; but this I do aver, that, as a result of teaching Christian Science, ethics and temperance have received an impulse, health has been restored, and longevity increased." The individual Christian Scientist can do much to further the cause of temperance and ethics. As he exercises restraint in thought and behavior and through Christian Science obtains mastery over evil in himself, he blesses mankind.

To the extent that all Christian Scientists realize and demonstrate that there is but one Mind, and that man is Mind's sinless idea, ethics and temperance will be forcibly felt throughout the world. As this Science is deeply inscribed in the hearts of men—is written "in their inward parts" (Jer. 31:33)— pride will be leveled, hatred and distrust destroyed, health restored, and the brotherhood of man universally acknowledged and demonstrated. Then will the peoples of the earth be governed by divine Principle and its law, instead of by the whims of men, and temperance and meekness, the "jewels of Love," will govern all human relationships and reign at the councils of nations.