Article May 17, 1924 Issue

"A large place"

JOHN SIDNEY BRAITHWAITE

In his great song of gratitude for deliverance from imminent dangers David speaks of having been brought forth into "a large place." Is this a reference to the physical dimensions of some locality, or does it refer to the mental freedom which he was then for the first time acclaiming? Inasmuch as he had not been under any physical confinement or imprisonment, there is no reason to suppose that he was referring to his material environment. The things from which he had been delivered are all set out in this pæan of praise. They were "the waves of death, ... the floods of ungodly men, ... the sorrows of hell."

Perhaps those expressions, forcible though they are, sound a little archaic or old-fashioned, and one wonders how we should describe them to-day. Suppose one substitutes for "the waves of death," the intensity of fear; instead of "the floods of ungodly men," overwhelming arguments of evil; and for "the sorrows of hell," acute depression. The language is not so poetical as was David's, but at least David's experience is now within range of our own, so that we can see that his deliverance means something to us also. What use would it be to us had he given thanks for deliverance from something we are never likely to experience? But if he underwent experiences like those which seem so desperately real in our time, and found relief from them, then it will pay to look farther into the means by which he achieved his deliverance. At the time of which he speaks, those three things—fear, evil suggestions, and depression—held him manacled, so that his whole thought was in danger of becoming warped and embittered. And now he tells of "a large place." He is free; and praises God for his freedom. The "large place" is clearly a mental condition from which has been expelled all fear and evil thinking, now replaced by a sense of peace and harmony, combined with a wonderful vision of the goodness of God, and the utter impossibility of any power other than God.

Let us leave David serene in his assurance that it was nothing else than right thinking that had made possible his escape, for he declared, "The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness," and consider in what way Christian Science can help one who finds himself similarly held down to-day. So far from being like David, he will say in a self-disparaging way, which may pass for modesty: "I am not religious at all, but a very matter-of-fact person. I have no particular faith in God, and never took much interest in that kind of subject." Now, matter-of-factness ought to mean that one is putting his faith in that which his reason accepts. It is the opposite of the superstition which discards reason and rests faith in non-sense. Will your matter-of-factness allow you to follow the light, which reason has declared a safe beacon and no will-o'-the-wisp? Reason cannot do more than this. It cannot take the place of faith, whose mission is to supply reliance on divine Mind, God. If you are not prepared to obey the dictates of reason to this extent, your claim to be matter-of-fact is but an empty boast.

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