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WILLIAM P. McKENZIE, CSB Gossip, on the other hand, is usually based on a determination to hold man in the bonds of matter and to deny spirituality. Long ago a gossip was the sponsor at a baptism, and as fellow sponsors met at christening feasts or similar merrymakings there was a special intimacy in the chat; many idle tales were told, often groundless rumors were started, so that gossip now implies "idle personal talk." Sometimes it may be amusing and harmless, but quite often even this phase of it is like a syrup in which the drop of poison is administered; for thoughtless gossip will often poison other minds with envy and resentment and so make them judge unrighteous judgment. A carnivorous animal makes no difference between individuals on whom it preys due to any appreciation of their intellectual attainment or usefulness to the world; it is thinking only of its own appetite. The gossip can be likewise as merciless, and every great man, burdened with vast duties for the welfare of his country and nation, has to guard against attacks of the poisoned serpent's tooth or the claws and jaws of liars. Mrs. Eddy, speaking about the necessity of improving time, says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 230): "Three ways of wasting time, one of which is contemptible, are gossiping mischief, making lingering calls, and mere motion when at work, thinking of nothing or planning for some amusement, — travel of limb more than mind. Rushing around smartly is no proof of accomplishing much. All successful individuals have become such by hard work; by improving moments before they pass into hours, and hours that other people may occupy in the pursuit of pleasure. They spend no time in sheer idleness, in talking when they have nothing to say, in building air-castles or floating off on the wings of sense: all of which drop human life into the ditch of nonsense, and worse than waste its years." Thinking of such a man as Lincoln, unrecognized by most at the time of his greatest service, unhonored by many in his own day, we recognize how clearly he knew what his country was, and that he maintained his vision amid the smoke of calumny. What he saw is now the ideal with which there is common agreement. The defamatory noise of gossipers, the malevolence of whisperers, the treachery of the secret plotters who believed they could destroy the body, accomplished nothing, because the vision and reality of the man has marched on indestructible, and other nations look now upon the land where his life was sacrificed, in the light of his wonderful vision. Great men and women are inwardly humble, thinking as they do about the greatness of God; and their own work and effort, though wonderful in the view of men, may seem to them insignificant. They do not dwell on things accomplished in the past, nor boast of past glories. In fact, Paul puts the matter exactly when he says, "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus;" and we have the beautiful expression of this modest behavior in Mrs. Eddy's life. This statement we find, for example, in the Preface to "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. ix), "To-day, though rejoicing in some progress, she still finds herself a willing disciple at the heavenly gate, waiting for the Mind of Christ." Humility, then, is simplicity, directness, kindness; and such thought should characterize conversation. An analysis of unkind gossip may help toward a cure of the habit. It is the wise householder who takes out of his treasure things new and old. The implication here is of labor, study, thought, investigation, and the laying up of treasure. There are people whose conversation is brilliant with choice thoughts from the wisdom of the ages, quotations, references, illustrations, so that when they speak they are teaching of wisdom and kindly views. This requires work, just as any treasure in life should be earned. When the idle desire honor without willingness to earn it, or seek prominence without doing service, a simple way to achieve notice appears to be to discredit others, and mortal mind is rich in evil motives through whose smoke and darkness it can look upon the acts of others. In an old-fashioned house this motto was framed and hung by the door for both incomers and outgoers to see and consider: "Bring here no tattle in nor take none out; so may the love of God dwell in this house." When we read the statement (Science and Health, p. 15), "The Father in secret is unseen to the physical senses, but He knows all things and rewards according to motives, not according to speech," we learn how safe with God is the good man. His reward is absolutely sure, and yet he must rise above some forms of tribulation. Jesus said to his disciples when he spoke his words of comfort: "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." Thinking of all the antagonism which he had to meet, Paul for a moment looked upon it as real, quoting the old saying, "For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter," but he very quickly rose above this discouragement, correcting himself with the words, "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."
Christian Science Sentinel, October 11, 1919 |
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