IN the epistle of James we find several admonitions as to faith and patience and their close relation to each other. He begins by saying: "The trying of your faith worketh patience;" and he adds, "Let patience have her perfect work." This is deeply interesting, in view of what is said to have been his own experience. It seems that he was closely related to Jesus by human ties, but that he stoutly opposed the teaching of the Master. It is supposed that James was one of those referred to in the 7th chapter of John, who tauntingly urged Jesus to show himself to the world if he could do the works claimed for him by his followers, John's comment being, "Neither did his brethren believe in him." (The word "brethren" as here used probably refers to near relatives, such as cousins, as well as the members of one's immediate family.)
A most interesting reference to James is found in Paul's account of Jesus' resurrection as given in I Corinthians, 15th chapter, where we are told that after Jesus had appeared to "the twelve" he was seen of James. It would appear that this interview with the conqueror of death removed every vestige of doubt from the mind of James, and from that day he went steadily forward in the trials and triumphs of apostleship. In the 12th chapter of Acts we find Peter sending word to James of his marvelous deliverance from prison on the eve of his execution by the cruel decree of Herod. We are also told by some writers of that period that James came to be head of the Christian church in Jerusalem and that his utterances had great weight because of his tremendous earnestness in all he undertook as well as because of his high moral sense which earned for him the title of James the Just. From all that we can glean from the gospels, the Book of Acts, and the epistles, it would seem that James reached the truth very slowly, and this doubtless because of his deep-seated convictions respecting the material foundation of all things, religion included. But when the truth of being dawned upon him, through the demonstration of spiritual law, his faith could not be shaken, and that patience was so closely linked with it is well worth our consideration, especially when he reminds us of the "long patience" with which "the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth." It is this conviction which enables him to say at the same time with full assurance, "The prayer of faith shall save the sick"!
It would be of great help to all who are working out their problems in Christian Science if they would read and ponder the many references to patience found in the Scriptures and also in our Leader's writings. The most remarkable, perhaps, of those found in Science and Health, is the definition of Gethsemane, which reads: "Patient woe; the human yielding to the divine" (p. 586). If we link to this the statement found on page 242, "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," we shall have a wonderful lesson. These words of our Leader should be pondered deeply by patients and practitioners alike, but should never be taken to mean that we are to submit to the tyranny of error, whether manifested as sin or disease. The lesson to be learned is this, that we must be willing to wait upon God and to do His will in His way, not in the way upon which the childish impatience of mortals would insist. In other words, the real solution of any problem must come through spiritualization of thought, and until this process is begun the "law of sin and death" is operative in mortal belief.
