Witness the effect of a gentle rain with its refreshment and encouragement in the unfolding of beauty and fragrance. See also the blustering rain that beats against the windowpane, flattens grass and plant, and threatens with blight both bud and blossom. The two rains illustrate the need for gentleness in presenting the truth to mankind and rousing those in need of spiritual awakening from beliefs of sin, sickness, and limitations.
Christ Jesus' recorded words and works often indicate a gentle,loving attitude in his contacts with his followers. Yet he rebuked error in a way that left no doubt as to his complete rejection of evil in all forms. He knew that God made everything good and that error has no place in reality. Mary Baker Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 6), "It is believed by many that a certain magistrate, who lived in the time of Jesus, left this record: 'His rebuke is fearful.'" And she adds (p. 7), "The only civil sentence which he had for error was, 'Get thee behind me, Satan.'" But Jesus' clear recognition of the inherent gentleness of man made in God's likeness and the nothingness of evil operated to heal the sick and rouse the sinning to purity of thought and action.
True gentleness is not merely the absence of harshness or irritability. It is evidence of the presence of the harmonious and actual. It indicates the inseparability of divine Love and its manifestation, man and the universe. Gentleness is active, not passive. It shows forth clearly in words and deeds when it is cherished within as being inherent in the real man.
