Article February 4, 1922 Issue

Sanctuary

PERCY PHILLIP VYLE

Mind is sanctuary; sanctuary is in Mind. By restoring the word "sanctuary" to its spiritual classification, thus beautifying the language and exalting the thought, Mary Baker Eddy gave to humanity an enlightened understanding of these words of the Lord which came unto Ezekiel: "Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come." It must be clear to the most casual reader of the eleventh chapter of Ezekiel that the interpretative keynote is the "I," or Mind, Spirit, God, and not an edifice of wood or stone. Then why was the prophet commanded to compare the I am with a material structure? Simply because to all people in all ages, the world over, a place of refuge and protection has always been designated as sanctuary. A man's home, whether the tent of a wanderer or the castle of a potentate, is his sanctuary; it must not be entered without permission. An alleged criminal cannot be arrested until the lapse of a specified time or after diplomatic negotiations if he has reached a place acknowledged as sanctuary or commonly recognized as a country of refuge; our bird and animal sanctuaries are places set apart for their protection, rest, and peace. So that, "Yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary," instantly conveyed its analogy of protection, a place of refuge and of rest for the weary.

Christian Science is therefore logical when it teaches that Mind is sanctuary. Surcease of sorrow is never in an impassioned prayer within a material structure or before a material shrine, nor is there any protection from the assaults of evil in a proscribed place of refuge. The real sanctuary is the sanctuary of Spirit as rediscovered by Mrs. Eddy, and the path thereunto is distinctly charted for us in her books. She satisfactorily demonstrated the truth of her rediscovery during the compiling of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," for this exposition of scientific Christianity was written in an attic during a period of adversity and persecution for its author, showing that when thinking is aligned spiritually, material surroundings and circumstances are devoid of their supposed influences.

Our revered Leader presents this demonstrable definition of sanctuary quite early in Science and Health. It appears twice on page 15, while in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 150) she writes: "'If God be for us, who can be against us?' If He be with us, the wayside is a sanctuary, and the desert a resting-place peopled with living witnesses of the fact that 'God is Love.'" Here is the metaphysical relationship between the sanctuary and the secret place of the Old Testament and the subsequent "many mansions" of the New Testament. These and similar expressions represent the same idea; namely, that in Mind, Spirit, God, there are many sanctuaries, secret places, many mansions for the renewing of our thinking and so keeping it aligned with Truth. These words also convey the idea of large capacity, all-embracing, or room enough for every one. However frequently we retire to the sanctuary of Spirit, we are not crowding out another nor are we impoverishing the storehouse of Love. Retreating thither is for each one alone, and it is always instantaneously possible wherever we are and under all circumstances when we understand the truth about our Father-Mother God and ourselves.

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