Article June 12, 1915 Issue

A Silent Sentry

AMY C. FARISS

The belief, based upon material evidence, that the elements can interfere with God's ideas, is daily and hourly proved to be erroneous by the student of Christian Science. More and more is it being acknowledged that from the cradle of its own conception to the grave of its own digging, mortal mind and its so-called laws are without power and authority; and that in reality they cannot operate to harm or hinder God's child in any direction, if even so much as a grain of spiritual understanding has been planted in the human thought. Christian Science is constantly proving how omnipresent and all-inclusive is God's love for every creature of His universe. It points to His tender care and unfailing provision for all human need, and reveals how divine Love guides the tiniest workers to places of safty and rest. If, then, our industrious coworkers, the bees and the birds, can rely upon divine wisdom, can there arise a circumstance in which this same wisdom may not be relied upon to meet our every need?

During a storm one winter night, the writer dallied with subtle argument concerning the inadvisability of going to the Wednesday evening meeting. The streets were flooded, the reasoning ran; the planks which were necessary to reach the cars were liable at any moment to be carried away, so swirling was the water; the cross-line cars might not be running, as reports had it that several lines were out of commission. Visions of being stranded on the way to or from the meeting kept flashing into "thought,—even the suggestion that there would be no meeting, as possibly no one would be able to reach the church. but as error had already been busy with consciousness that month, the writer had promised herself that on this evening she would carry with her the pledge money already overdue, and one honest thought silenced the clamoring of the elements, so far as their asserted hindrance was concerned. Error should no longer be allowed a place, no matter under what guise it presented itself. Then something within began to rise up in trust and confidence. Like a barometer, which Mrs. Eddy calls "that little prophet of storm and sunshine," it denied "the testimony of the senses" and pointed "to fair weather in the midst of murky clouds and drenching rain" (Science and Health, p. 122).

No special difficulty was experienced in boarding the first car, but long before the transfer point was reached, the passengers became aware that they were making slow headway, and from time to time it seemed as if the car would stop altogether. But soon the spirit of confidence was in control. However uncertain the trip appeared to become, joy alone bubbled up in the heart of the one who had ventured out in reliance on Truth. At the transfer junction, after a few uncertain steps, the writer and another Christian Scientist who had alighted, found themselves in the middle of the street with rain falling, and as far as eye could reach in the semidarkness, a sheet of rushing water, the slightest depth of which was where they stood. Then came Love's ever watchful care, Mind's omnipresent, protecting, and all-seeing wisdom. From out the gloom loomed a figure. In a twinkle two stranded women were separately picked up in strong arms and carried to the cross-line car, which arrived just at the moment it was needed. Love's silent sentry was not dismissed. He also boarded the car; and when the church was reached, he again carried them across the rushing stream and landed them safely, almost at the door of the church.

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