Article August 15, 1908 Issue

"THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES"

HENRIETTA MARCUS

Jesus once said, "Ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" The meteorologists in England have been extremely puzzled by recent abnormal barometric changes, and the leading newspapers have had lengthy articles on the extraordinary rise and fall in the mercury, but though many opinions have been advanced as to the possible cause, the majority of physical scientists agree in declaring that at present the whole thing remains a mystery. Christian Science has an explanation for this problem, as it has had for so many others, and it solves the difficulty by recognizing that what are called physical phenomena are but the expression of mortal mind.

In this connection it is interesting to note that in May, 1876, Ruskin gave in one of the letters of Fors Clavigera the explanation of an extraordinary hail-shower from which England had suffered during that year. Ruskin who, with many limitations, was on some questions really a seer and prophet, seems to have had on this particular occasion one of those flashes of insight which point to a recognition of spiritual law. We come across these gleams of light in the writings of many philosophers and poets—but they are only threads of brightness in a surrounding darkness, and while we may admire and enjoy them, we cannot profit by them practically; whereas, through her spiritual understanding, Mrs. Eddy has focused the separate rays of Truth into a steady beam of light, and by that light we can walk in safety. It is of great interest to note how the truth has always been partially discerned, and how it shines forth untarnished and undimmed, an eternal fact, while all that is untrue and worthless fades away into nothingness. Somebody had written to Ruskin to ask him if he considered that the hail which had fallen at the time referred to was sent as a punishment for national sin. He answers at some length and then concludes, "I believe that the powers of nature are depressed or perverted, together with the spirit of man; and therefore that conditions of storm and of physical darkness, such as never were before in Christian times, are developing themselves in connection also with forms of loathsome insanity, multiplying through the whole genesis of modern brains."

Out of the many voices that have cried in the wilderness of fear and doubt, this one has uttered words which contain a solemn warning, and which are fraught with meaning when considered in the light of Christian Science. If we refer to page 484 of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, we read, "What are termed natural science and material laws are the objective states of mortal mind. The physical universe expresses the conscious and unconscious thoughts of mortals. Physical force and mortal mind are one." When we realize the full import of these words the weather conundrum is explained, and we know that all which is unstable, abnormal, or destructive is not the work of a perfect God,—divine Mind,—but the expression of fretful, limited, changing mortal mind. More than this, we have faith to believe that the same divine power which heals sickness and overcomes sin, will replace all the discords of physical sense by the harmony of God's kingdom and law, so that we may intelligently pray, "The kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."

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