It is a safe plan, when problems come up for solution and we are led to wonder whether our methods are right, to make a more systematic investigation. For this purpose the Bible, with Science and Health, a dictionary, with pen and paper, are frequently found to be most excellent friends, and it is indeed a profitable way of spending a happy evening. Our natural proclivities, as we call them, and our conscience, together with the constant discipline of Christian Science, do much for us; but for every problem the time invariably comes when a methodical search into the various points of the subject which so far have not been defined with sufficient clearness, must be made in order to make further progress and to impress on the consciousness the light already received.
The necessity for fine discrimination as to the right time for firmness or for leniency, as well as a vague uneasiness as to her own use of these qualities, prompted the writer to investigate the question more closely. The queries: What is leniency? What is firmness? Is it possible to be firm and lenient at the same time? were followed by the final question, Which of these two qualities is nearest to the reflection of Love? The dictionary tells us that lenient comes from a Greek word meaning soft, and a typical synonym given is "merciful," which brings to thought the beatitude, "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." Then surely leniency must be an expression of love. The word firm comes from the Latin word firmus, meaning firm, and the synonyms given include "fixed," "unchanging in purpose," "constant," "stable;" the word firmament has the same derivation. Then surely firmness must express love. Still softness and firmness are by no means synonyms, they would appear to be opposites.
In explaining the Hebrew verb meaning "to believe," Mrs. Eddy on page 23 of Science and Health gives the meaning "to be firm or to be constant," and then adds: "Firmness in error will never save from sin, disease, and death." Often when frail mortals are firm, they combine with it harshness and personal feeling, and the result is not helpful or constructive, while too often leniency is another word for lack of moral courage, lack of insight into Principle, mere sentimentality. In Jesus' career we find many striking instances of mercifulness, —a depth of mercifulness of which we have little conception,— while on other occasions he seemed to treat offenders with a degree of severity from which indeed our courage would shrink; but whether merciful or severe, he always healed, for it takes a pure sense of mercy to be truly merciful, and that mercy sometimes takes the form of severity.
