Article September 6, 1919 Issue

"Peace, be still"

R. C. MC CLAY

THE availability of the presence and power of God as understood through the teachings of Christian Science has been experienced many times by the writer, and when earnestly and honestly relied upon has never failed of proof. On one occasion when it became necessary to return home from one of the island resorts off the coast of California, a distance of some twenty-five miles of open sea had to be crossed. Our boat was an open launch thirty feet long and five-foot beam. Everything was made ready the night before, and at seven the next morning we shoved off. The party consisted of my wife, our small daughter, and myself. As soon as we were out in the open sea we encountered a heavy wind, with resultant rough water. We ran along slowly for a while, but we finally decided to turn back and lay over another day for smoother weather.

Early the next morning we again started, and when we reached the open sea the same conditions presented themselves. We reluctantly turned back again. As there was a lecture on Christian Science to be given on the mainland that evening and we were anxious to hear it, we decided to face the wind and waves once more and trust in God to carry us across. On our course again it was hard beating against the "chop." The waves seemed higher, and for a while it seemed impossible to go on. At this moment my wife shouted from the stern that she would read the Lesson-Sermon, as we always take the Bible, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," and the Quarterly with us, while I did my best at the helm. She began to read, and now and then I could hear a word—such words as it seemed I never had heard before, although I had read them many times. As soon as we had taken our stand with God, fear subsided, and the assurance of a power not our own started us to work. Never a thought of turning back came, for, as Mrs. Eddy says on page 67 of Science and Health, "when the ocean is stirred by a storm, then the clouds lower, the wind shrieks through the tightened shrouds, and the waves lift themselves into mountains. We ask the helmsman: 'Do you know your course? Can you steer safely amid the storm?' He answers bravely, but even the dauntless seaman is not sure of his safety; nautical science is not equal to the Science of Mind. Yet, acting up to his highest understanding, firm at the post of duty, the mariner works on and awaits the issue."

We were now in mid-channel, about fifteen miles from the mainland. All at once I scanned the horizon, having been too interested in hearing a word of the Lesson now and then and in watching the compass to do so before. I saw that the wind was slackening and there were not so many whitecaps. We had not gone a mile farther before the water became smooth as glass. We could hardly believe our eyes, at the smoothness and calm that prevailed. Needless to say we attended the lecture.

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