Editorial May 31, 1919 Issue

The Way that is Best

William P. McKenzie

Many have noticed how in one of his psalms King David expresses increasing confidence in God. First he says of the Almighty: "He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved." He goes on to say, "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him." The word "wait" as here used means to be silent, to cease, to stand still; so the psalmist calls upon his inner sense to cease from mental contest with his enemies, to silence resentment, to stand still before God. Then he can repeat what he said before about God being his defense, or high place, but with added confidence; for he now says, "He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved."

It is not at all strange that the Leader of the Christian Science movement should have understood well the spiritual experience of the psalmist, and should have enriched it with her vision of the Christ. From what she proved in her own life she was able to be interpreter for mankind of spiritual experience, and hence reveals the basis for that trust in God which cannot be moved. This she explains in "Retrospection and Introspection" (p. 93) thus: "The best spiritual type of Christly method for uplifting human thought and imparting divine Truth, is stationary power, stillness, and strength; and when this spiritual ideal is made our own, it becomes the model for human action."

It is the characteristic of error to have no silence, no peace, but to make perpetual invasion upon the quiet lives and the useful and peaceful occupations of the men of good will in the world; for as Isaiah says, "Every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood." Ezekiel describes the invasion of a city, saying, "Thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, a men enter into a city wherein is made a breach;" so does it seem if one forgets that Mind is his defense, and allows the hordes of suggested thoughts to enter with their noise and confusion. David evidenced stages of recovery from the invasion of error in his case, saying first, "I shall not be greatly moved," but ending with the actual realization, since he could emphatically say and know, "I shall not be moved."

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