Article August 1, 1925 Issue

The Ninety-first Psalm

ALEXANDER WARENDORFF

Possibly one of the most universally read chapters in the sacred Scriptures is the ninety-first psalm. It has often been called the psalm of protection. Many a reader has found marvelous peace in its verses, and many will find peace and solace in them in the future; but for centuries mankind has been robbed of the full significance of the psalm because it has failed to realize that there is much more to be derived from the words than a merely figurative interpretation. This applies to the Scriptures in their entirety, because it is in the spiritual understanding of the sacred writings and in the demonstration of this understanding that their chief value lies.

Take for example the ninth and tenth verses of the psalm, which read, "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling." Some one may ask: How can one make the Lord his habitation? Is that a present possibility? Can it be made practical here and now? Christian Science answers emphatically, Yes, not only is it practical, but it is imperative that every one should prove it to be so in order to make his sojourn here the heaven on earth which is promised to all who obey the divine requirements.

If we turn to page 469 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, we may learn how to make the Lord our habitation. To the query, "What is Mind?" she answers in part: "Mind is God. The exterminator of error is the great truth that God, good, is the only Mind, and that the supposititious opposite of infinite Mind—called devil or evil—is not Mind, is not Truth, but error, without intelligence or reality. There can be but one Mind, because there is but one God; and if mortals claimed no other Mind and accepted no other, sin would be unknown."