Article March 9, 1918 Issue

Symbolic Imagery

ISRAEL PICKENS

On page 520 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy says, "Human language can repeat only an infinitesimal part of what exists." That this is a truism is especially witnessed wherever the infinite theme of absolute Truth has been treated. This inadequacy of words to describe the things of Spirit appears constantly throughout the Scriptural writings, and is one of the reasons why similitudes and metaphorical expressions are so frequently employed to convey to the disciple a clearer comprehension of the great truth of being.

Another and important reason for this is the fact that the Bible was written in ages not far remote from the days when the only form of written expression was that of picture writing, or hieroglyphics. The book of Job, which historians claim to be the oldest of books, abounds in symbol and metaphor, as do also the writings of Moses, David, and Isaiah; while the New Testament writings, although of a much later period, are likewise garlanded with the same metaphoric beauty. Indeed, nearly all of the Bible's greatest truths are thus veiled.

More than all others, however, the teachings of the blessed Nazarene possess a metaphoric imagery unparalleled in their masterful meanings. That he used the simplest language in bringing the mightiest truths to the sin-dulled ears of mortals is one of the vivid characteristics of his recorded sayings. Thus, for example, the doctrine he taught was likened to leaven which was placed in three measures of meal, "till the whole was leavened," a clear prophecy of the certain transformation of human consciousness which this doctrine would finally accomplish. The church he compared to a grain of mustard seed,—so obscure and insignificant in its embryonic state, but ultimately growing so as to reach out and extend its Christly beneficence over the whole earth.

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