Article June 20, 1903 Issue

Restfulness and Work

R. N.

Nothing in Christian Science has appealed to me more than the quiet restfulness that it brings. Like many others, I had for years been tossed about by many a wind of doctrine, earnestly seeking but not finding that peace which I knew must be possessed by those who could really "rest in the Lord" and "wait patiently for Him." What useless efforts one makes, and what long distances one travels, in the search for that which we know, in Science, lies here right at hand. One is reminded of the wealthy man in Tasmania who, many years ago, failing to find spiritual rest where he lived, determined that he would travel until his desire was met. Building himself a small ship he sailed round the world, and then, an unsuccessful and disappointed man, he returned to his home. There one night he had the divine vision and entered into that life of communion with God that he had for years sought in vain. He knew then that God has no limitations; that the limitation is in mortal, sensuous man and that God is nearer to us than hands or feet, and more ready to help than we are to ask.

The period of mental unrest, while it may betoken a hopeful condition in so far as it indicates aspirations for deliverance from sensuous bondage, is clearly one of infertility. It is a time of spiritual barrenness. What growth there is may too often be classed as mortal weeds that if allowed free play will soon permit "the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things" to come in and choke the word. But thank God, though, in the words of our Leader, "it is attended throughout with doubt," yet this is followed by those who enter upon the study of Divine Science, with "hope, sorrow, joy, defeat, and triumph," and then "when the good fight is fought, error yields up its weapons and kisses the feet of Love, while white-winged peace sings to the heart a song of angels" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 204).

Restfulness in Christian Science comes from knowledge. "We know whom we have believed." We know the perfect unfailing, unchangeable Principle. We know that while, to mortal sense, all things are fleeting and nothing is stable and reliable, and feel that all that is worth possessing is real and eternal; and that the pitiableness of life, that which to many makes earthly existence a saddening spectacle, is a condition that can be overcome. "I had fainted," said the Psalmist, "unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." This optimistic vision is the daily privilege of every Christian Scientist, reminding him that amid storm and the stress of life there is a "secret place of the most High" where spiritual understanding may be learned, where an abiding sense of this divine presence may be realized, and where courage may be renewed by the thought that "the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

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