Editorial August 24, 1918 Issue

"Thy holy hill"

William D. McCrackan

According to the psalmist, dwelling "in thy holy hill" is a spiritual state reserved for him "that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart." Living on a material hill does not make one better, and unless individuals have the right idea they will get no lessons from the hills. Yet Scripture is constantly referring to hills and mountains, thus pointing to an important spiritual significance. Moses went up into the mount to receive the Ten Commandments, Jesus preached his immemorial Sermon on the Mount and was transfigured on a mount, and Paul addressed the Athenians about their unknown god and his own known God from Mars Hill. It is natural for the spiritually minded to exclaim with the psalmist, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help." The Christian Scientist who has stood on Bow Hill and at Pleasant View is made glad to think that Mary Baker Eddy spent so much of her earthly life in high places graced by noble prospects and far visions.

When spiritually interpreted, hills have a tendency to turn thought upward, to produce mental elevation by symbolizing strength, exaltation, and endurance. In that wonderful analysis of creation which Mrs. Eddy has given us in the chapter entitled "Genesis" in her book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," she states (p. 511), "Spiritually interpreted, rocks and mountains stand for solid and grand ideas." Such mountains are indeed hills of God, the high places of true worship, secret places of the Most High, rising above earth's mists into the pure air of God's kingdom. To be "poor in spirit," to be meek, to "hunger and thirst after righteousness," to be merciful and "pure in heart," and to be a peacemaker are all qualities which prepare one to rise into the hills of God and learn of His "solid and grand ideas."

Christian Science teaches the spiritual reality of God's everlasting hills. That God is good is one of these unshakable ideas founded upon the rock of ages. This idea, when it falls upon the erroneous belief that God can display transitory human qualities, grinds that belief into the powder of nothingness. That God's man is made in God's image and likeness and hence is wholly good is another solid and grand idea upon which one can lean in the hour of trial. The soldier at the front may pillow his head upon it and, like Jacob of old, have the vision of a ladder with the angels ascending and descending upon it. This imperishable idea can be a life-saver to those at sea attacked by hidden undersea foes. It comforts anxious parents, feeds the fatherless and widows, supplies shelter for the homeless, clothes the forlorn, rejoices receptive minds, stills the questionings of would-be philosophers, and makes the worldly-wise like unto little children.

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