Be temperate in thought, word, and deed. Meekness and temperance are the
jewels of Love, set in wisdom. Restrain untempered zeal. "Learn to labor
and to wait." Of old the children of Israel were saved by patient waiting.

"The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by
force!" said Jesus. Therefore are its spiritual gates not captured, nor its
golden streets invaded.

We recognize this kingdom, the reign of harmony within us, by an unselfish
affection or love, for this is the pledge of divine good and the insignia
of heaven. This also is proverbial, that though eternal justice be
graciously gentle, yet it may seem severe.

For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,
And scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.

As the poets in different languages have expressed it:--

Though the mills of God grind slowly,
Yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting,
With exactness grinds He all.

Though the divine rebuke is effectual to the pulling down of sin's
strongholds, it may stir the human heart to resist Truth, before this heart
becomes obediently receptive of the heavenly discipline. If the Christian
Scientist recognize the mingled sternness and gentleness which permeate
justice and Love, he will not scorn the timely reproof, but will so absorb
it that this warning will be within him a spring, welling up into unceasing
spiritual rise and progress. Patience and obedience win the golden