Page:The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany.djvu/255

Rh The great Master said, “For which of those works do ye stone me?” He said this to satisfy himself regarding that which he spake as God's representative — as one who never weakened in his own personal sense of righteousness because of another's wickedness or because of the minifying of his own goodness by another. Charity is quite as rare as wisdom, but when charity does appear, it is known by its patience and endurance.

When, under the protection of State or United States laws, good citizens are arrested for manslaughter because one out of three of their patients, having the same disease and in the same family, dies while the others recover, we naturally turn to divine justice for support and wait on God. Christian Scientists should be influenced by their own judgment in taking a case of malignant disease. They should consider well their ability to cope with the claim, and they should not overlook the fact that there are those lying in wait to catch them in their sayings; neither should they forget that in their practice, whether successful or not, they are not specially protected by law. The above quotation by the editor-in-chief stands for this: Inherent justice, constitutional individual rights, self-preservation, and the gospel injunction, “Neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”

And it stands side by side with Christ's command, “Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” I abide by this rule and triumph by it. The sinner may sneer at this beatitude, for “the fool hath said in his heart. There is no God.” Statistics show that Christian Science cures a larger per cent of malignant diseases than does materia medica.