"LET your light," said the great Teacher, "so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." It is evident from this counsel that Jesus expected his disciples, the chosen ones who had left all to follow him, to be bright and shining lights to those still sitting in the darkness of sin and sorrow. Of course we do not always stop to think of this particular phase of the matter, that is, of the influence our words and acts may have on our brother; nevertheless, this is a factor to be reckoned with. All unconsciously, it may be, we are helping to mold the lives of those about us—our family, friends, and associates—either for good or evil. If we were to recognize and think a little more about our personal responsibility, it would help to sway the balance in the right direction, for no true man or woman is willingly a stumbling-block to another.
If it has been our privilege to receive richly of the blessings which Christian Science confers, there is the greater need for us to be watchful and prayerful that we offend not Christ's little ones, the younger members of the flock who are looking to us as an example of what a Christian Scientist should be. Our revered Leader deemed this of such importance that she makes it a moral obligation on the readers of The Mother Church and its branch churches that they "keep themselves unspotted from the world,—uncontaminated with evil,—that the mental atmosphere they exhale shall promote health and holiness, even that spiritual animus so universally needed" (Manual, Art. Ill, Sect. 1). Surely none of us would admit that the standard of conduct here set forth is any higher than we desire for ourselves; that to be Christian Scientists in word and deed we must do nothing that will in any way dishonor ourselves or the cause we are pledged to promote.
The Christian Science church is different from most religious bodies in that it has no so-called social side to its work. It is difficult, ofttimes, for those who have been brought up in other religious faiths, to get away from the sense that the socials, picnics, and other forms of entertainment are an essential feature of the church program if the young people are to be held. Our children and youth have a right to innocent amusement, but it should be provided by parents and friends rather than by the church. Mrs. Eddy also lifts us to a distinctly higher plane of thought when she points out that "material gifts and pastimes tend to obliterate the spiritual idea in consciousness, leaving one alone and without His glory" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 262).
