IN every age the worth of some man is recognized by his peers and he is acknowledged to be truly great. The masses are apt to idealize this man, and when one who has admired him afar off comes to meet him face to face, it frequently happens that disappointment is expressed because the great man is so simple and quiet. The unformulated expectancy in human minds, that greatness implies complexity, obtrusiveness, and display, is taken advantage of by the pseudo-great, who have the trumpet blown before them and cause the incessant drum-beat of publicity to accompany their goings. They are unable to greet human beings simply as man to man, but have a complex theory of station and place and ancestry, and a list of insincere speeches suited to every estate. The great man has laid off the hampering garments of pride and the time-wasting ceremonies of ostentation, and is indued with power from thought; he who is psuedo great depends for gratification on ability to excite the wonder or stimulate the admiration or arouse the envy of others, and is more likely to become an actor playing a part than a doer illustrating the resources of intelligence.
The question regarding what it is well to do becomes a simple one to the man who is working for the approval of his own highest sense, rather than "to be seen of men," because a standard of perfection eventually is revealed to him. We are bidden to "mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace." There is no peace, however, to the life of him who aims to win applause from the ever changeable crowd. Complex and confused becomes that life with contradictory theories, amid whose tumult lawless self-will is vainly striving to produce order, while pride shuts out any aid that kindness might bring. The old prophet described such a condition as being "like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt."
Occasional lives in the past have been blessed with harmony. To this age Christian Science has come, so that harmony may become not merely occasional but universal. Men who have kept the simplicity of the child-heart, have discovered their unity with God, and hence we have the messages of peace from seer and poet and prophet, the best of which constitute our sacred Scriptures. They all had a vision of universal good. The origin of the good which they knew and trusted was not a local power, but was "the God of the whole earth." Christian Science not only proclaims universal good, but also teaches the method whereby man may discover and prove and enjoy his unity with God.
