Article September 23, 1905 Issue

In the Garden

ROBERT L. ZILLER.

THERE are voices which are best heard in the silence of quiet meditation, and when thought is "absent from the body;" wrapped in the contemplation of God's manifest glory, one may listen to the sermons of the birds, the blossoms, and the bees. Nature holds before our wondering gaze the great panorama of the universe, and he whose lamp is filled with inspiration's oil may read upon this chart the wondrous lessons of Life. From time immemorial poet and prophet have sought the forest aisles, green meadows, and rock-ribbed mountains to engage in prayer and meditation. From these quiet hours have sprung mighty deeds, and earth has been enriched by those who have heard the silent sermon of a flower.

Christian Science is emphatic in its declaration that the objects cognized by the physical senses do not present the true aspect of the universe. When, therefore, a beginner in Christian Science sees a more advanced student viewing studiously and with absorbing interest the manifestations of nature, he is often at a loss to account for this apparent contradiction in thought. However, as soon as it is realized that above and beyond the unreal aspect there is forever the glorious reality, unseen to the physical senses, and that by properly viewing the deflection, some idea of the transcendent reality may be gained, the study of these types and symbols assumes a profound interest. Therefore it is that Christian Scientists look out upon a world teeming with multitudinous objects of entrancing beauty and interest, where before they often beheld what seemed but a charnelhouse of chance and change, where hope lapsed into a mournful reflection that all things are as the grass of the field which withers and passes away.

It is morning! Look out upon the kindling rays of the rising sun. O, the grandeur of the eastern glow, the dewy morn, the velvet hush wherein hope whispers anew its pure promises! Does it not tenderly tell of the night that is past, when the "Sun of righteousness [shall] arise with healing in his wings"? Does it not prefigure a glorious morn when men shall no longer toil in the darkness of materialism, but know the truth which makes men free through the "Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world"? From o'er the purple hills great shafts of mellow light flood the vale. Behold! it has showered diamonds in the night! The meek grass is diademed with light. Each little drop throws out its wondrous prism, reflecting in varied tints of delicate beauty the white light of the sun. How tiny these drops of purity's emblem, yet the jeweler's art seems crude beside their matchless brilliance. In their purity they make manifest, or reflect, the qualities of the light. Glorious thought! so may we, though likewise but little ones in God's kingdom, reflect His nature in proportion to our purity. How well do the myriad voices of the dew echo the hillside sermon, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." Down the dim forest aisles, beneath interwining boughs, the earth is spattered with gold. Overhead the tiny leaflets dance for joy, and out of their full hearts the dear little birds send up songs of praise. A squirrel whisks up a bending bough, and cunningly holds up a nut as if to say, See how well we and the birds are provided for from the great treasure house of Love. Then thought reverts to the words of him who said, "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?"

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