Editorial April 5, 1913 Issue

THE FATHER'S VOICE

Annie M. Knott

Recent events recall vividly the Scriptural account of Elijah's struggle with the entrenched beliefs of an idolatrous people, and his further struggle with the so-called destructive forces of nature, when he sought refuge from the wrath of Jezebel in a cave on mount Horeb. Before this, in an hour when spiritual law had triumphed over mortal belief, the prophet had invoked the material sense of justice and put to death five hundred priests of Baal, hence his flight from the consequences of his rash deed. Truth did not, however, forsake him who had been loyal up to the limit of his understanding, and so a new lesson awaited Elijah.

We read that in this wild mountain fastness a storm arose,—"a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks;" then came an earthquake, and after it a fire. We are also told that God was not in any of these, but was made manifest to the prophet by "a still small voice," at the sound of which Elijah came forth from the cave and communed with God. In Science and Health we read that "the Soul-inspired patriarchs heard the voice of Truth, and talked with God as consciously as man talks with man" (p. 308). This was clearly Elijah's experience as he came forth unharmed from the dread ordeal, which has its lesson for humanity today.

Until very recent times it has been customary to speak of the most distressing and even terrible experiences, including sickness and death, as divine visitations, but this belief Christian Science entirely repudiates, on the strength of Jesus' teachings and demonstrations. Often did he reproach the people with their lack of faith in God, and he said to those who sought to stop his healing work, that they had never heard the Father's voice. They doubtless attributed all distressing things to God, and did not even listen to hear what God had to say respecting His own law. That Jesus both heard and heeded no one would now deny, and we are told that he calmly slept in the midst of a storm, until called by the terrified disciples, when he stilled it by his declaration of divine law, the law which he always sustained and honored. Contrary to mortal opinion, he never needed to suspend, much less annul, its beneficent operation.

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