Editorial June 18, 1921 ISSUE

On Losing Your Way

Frederick Dixon

THE Hebrew people, it is well known, used the historical books of the Old Testament as a means of instilling spiritual instruction. For this purpose it does not matter whether the incidents of the Hexateuch are historical or not; for this purpose it matters not at all whether Abraham existed in the flesh, or was a mere figment of some writer's imagination; and for this purpose it matters nothing whether the record of the forty years in the wilderness is history or allegory. What does matter is that the spiritual lessons founded on these stories, and intended to be drawn from them, should be scientific. "The one important interpretation of Scripture," Mrs. Eddy writes, on page 320 of Science and Health, "is the spiritual."

The story of the exodus and of the entry into Palestine is a perfect example of this teaching. The exodus typifies the beginning of the individual struggle out of the flesh toward spiritual realities. The Book of Exodus, with the other books of the Pentateuch, describes the struggle between material sense and spiritual perception, whilst the last book of the Hexateuch tells the story of the victory over the flesh by those who have come through the conflict. The forty years in the wilderness were to the children of Israel precisely what the forty days in the wilderness were in after years to the Christian Church. But whereas Christ Jesus came through gloriously triumphant, a whole generation of Israelites perished of their own materiality between the cities of Egypt and the banks of the Jordan.

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Meeting in Unity
June 18, 1921
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