The Voice of Truth

Annie M. Knott

Students of the Bible find therein many statements respecting the divine voice being heard by those who were spiritually prepared to hear it. Mrs. Eddy usually characterizes this voice as the voice of Truth, and in one instance she refers to it as "a voice from harmony" (Science and Health, p. 559). The voice of God, when heeded and obeyed, never fails to bring harmony, even though its message may at first seem to be a sharp rebuke to error. We may therefore be glad and rejoice, whether Truth demands, "Where art thou?" or says, "This is the way, walk ye in it."

Mrs. Eddy further says (p. 308) that "the Soul-inspired patriarchs heard the voice of Truth, and talked with God as consciously as man talks with man." Christian Scientists understand this statement, and therefore they accept it, even though others might argue that if this had ever occurred, it was no longer possible; yet many devout people insist that it has come within the range of their own experience in some hour of great trial, when help greater than the human was urgently needed. All students of the Bible are familiar with the account of the divine call to the child Samuel, and those acquainted with Mrs. Eddy's writings will remember that in the chapter called "Voices Not Our Own" (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 8) she describes a similar experience. The chapter closes with these lines, quoted from Mrs. Hemans:—

Shall I not rejoice
That I have learned at last to know His voice
From man's?—I will rejoice!

Unless thought is spiritually alert, the harsh sounds of mortal discord, or the seductive tones in which the unwary are wooed from the straight and narrow path of righteousness, would often mislead the wayfarer. At many stages of the journey from sense to Soul the call to Zion, "Awake, awake; put on thy strength ... Shake thyself from the dust," is what we most need, even if it does not come in these very words. Many make the mistake of thinking that the voice of Truth, of Spirit, can be heard by material sense, a belief which Jesus rebuked when he said to those who sought to condemn him for healing the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda, that they had never at any time heard the voice of God, for the reason that God's word did not abide in them.

In the twelfth chapter of John we read that a voice from heaven came to assure Christ Jesus of the divine presence and support. The message was not, however, understood by those who were present, some of whom said that it thundered, while others, whose spiritual sense was doubtless much clearer, said that an angel had spoken to Jesus. It is surely clear that if "the pure in heart" see God, they may also hear His voice and understand the message. This may be illustrated on the human plane, where an animal can hear the human voice but can gather nothing from a learned discourse, nor can an unlettered person grasp much of its meaning. It requires a knowledge of the subject presented to do this, but it calls for something far above material knowledge to hear the voice of God and to grasp what He would have us know. If we really desire to hear the divine voice, we have the gracious invitation of the Master, "Learn of me." As we do this, and as our spiritual sense unfolds, we shall hear, it may be in the hour of our deepest need, that great voice from heaven which St. John heard on Patmos, saying to us, "There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

Let us be glad and rejoice that our former belief in a distant deity, whose voice we could not hear, has passed away with the coming of Christian Science, and with this change has come, in the measure that our thought is spiritualized, the passing of pain and sorrow. Christ Jesus said, "I do always those things that please him," and if we desire above all else to obey the divine will, we shall hear the voice of Truth and so never lack divine guidance.

Annie M. Knott.

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