Article June 8, 1918 Issue

The Ark

WILLIAM LLOYD

The study of the Bible, in connection with our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, in furtherance of a sincere desire to live righteously, gives an enlarged understanding, a protection and guidance in every affair of life, which it is impossible to describe, and which must be experienced to be either appreciated or understood. In all our lives there are periods of calm and storm. We may go on for months, even years, in the same seemingly harmonious routine, sailing on a calm sea and under a blue sky, and then, suddenly, the storm comes. If we have not secured a sure pilot, we are liable to be shipwrecked.

Noah was, first of all, a just man; and being a just man he walked with God, or lived in accord with God's law of truth and justice. He thus attained spiritual intuition, or enlarged understanding, so he was warned to prepare for a great flood, and was given directions how to build a safe refuge which would bear him and his household over the waters. Now Noah was believing, faithful, obedient, and persistent, and so he built the ark and rode in safety over the flood. The building of the ark did not save him from this experience of stress and storm, but it brought him and his household in safety through it. He did not wait until it began to rain before beginning to build. He laid the keel of the ark probably in bright sunshine under a blue sky. It was a strong and substantial ark, and it took many fine, sunshiny days to build it; but with faithful perseverance Noah labored on, adding plank to plank, examining every seam and crevice so that all might be sound and water-tight; and then one day the sky was overcast, the sun was not to be seen, the rain descended,—but Noah and his household abode in safety, because he had labored faithfully in fair weather, in the sunshine and under the blue sky, when apparently there was no need of effort.

Some thirty years ago I accepted Christian Science as my religion. I had no other choice; for from the first day I read the book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by our revered Leader, its logic to me was unanswerable. If there was a God at all and a Bible worth anything, then that book proved the one and explained the other. It was the truth embodied in plain language for all to understand. I, however, accepted it for thirteen years only as a religion; when occasion arose, others did the healing work for the household. I had the plans and specifications for my ark, but had not yet laid the keel; the sun shone and my sky was blue. Then came, through a mistaken move, a great storm upon my life; and only then, after the flood had somewhat subsided, did I lay the keel of my ark and begin to build. As the years have gone by, my ark has grown stouter; and in it I and my household have ridden in safety through many lesser storms,—so safely that now I know, had I laid the keel and built in the days of warm sunshine and blue skies, I would have been so guided that either I would never have made my mistaken move and so would have avoided the tempest, or I would have been carried, with my household intact, in safety through it. I know this; for the belated building of my ark not only has delivered me and mine in many cases of physical need, but has so enlarged and liberated my sense of right as to direct me in my business life, and enable me to meet new, untried problems and situations with confidence, direction, protection, and success.

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