The Lesson of Elijah in the Cave
There is a great lesson that all must learn, namely, that, first and last, real power is divine. All permanent gain in the betterment of the human race may be traced to the power of divine Principle, Love. To hold thought in such relation to this divine power as to be governed by it is the greatest of human attainments, enabling one to fulfill his God-appointed mission. Much attention is given by students of Christian Science to the laying off of that element of the so-called human mind called will-power, through submission to the divine will.
We are told in the Bible that Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, "durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee." Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, has set up many a signpost of warning and admonition against the exercise of the human will otherwise than in subjection to the divine. In a letter to The Christian Science Board of Lectureship she wrote (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 249), "When error strives to be heard above Truth, let the 'still small voice' produce God's phenomena." In her keen analysis of the human mind, Mrs. Eddy has laid bare this harmful, self-assertive human will in its myriad guises, and has shown that it must be guarded against up to the point of its extinction. On page 490 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she exposes its nature by describing it as "an animal propensity." While a vestige of this element remains in human thought to influence action, it tends to lead into byways of error into darkness and confusion.
Though Jesus' rebuke to error was often necessarily severe and sharp, we may be sure that his words and acts were divinely impelled. In the warfare with error in ourselves and others we may not avoid the use of the sword, the two-edged sword of Spirit, which is all we are ever called upon to wield; and a deep-lying motive of love and good will to men is our only authority for wielding it.
An occurrence in the life of Elijah the prophet, one of the great characters of the Bible, furnishes a beautiful lesson in self-abnegation and humility, qualities through which the supremacy of the divine over the human can be reached. By his fearless denunciations of the idolatrous sins of the rulers of Israel, this zealous servant of God had stirred up much wrath and great antagonism against himself. In his contests with these rulers, and his relentless pursuit of error, a conflict arose which resulted in his slaying of four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. Fleeing the threatened vengeance of his enemies, and escaping their immediate wrath, he turned to God for aid, and came to Horeb. He found himself, however, in the mesmeric condition symbolized by a cave, with the light obscured. Despair, fear, and discouragement prevailed. He knew not how to proceed further. Into this state of consciousness he retired to consider the unpromising situation. This faithful and earnest man of God could not be less than honest; and his sincere desire to meet the situation rightly was rewarded by a spiritual illumination. In this illumination he was given to see that tempestuous, destructive, relentless forces do not represent divine power, but are the manifestations of self-destroying error; and through a sharp experience he learned the consuming and transforming power of divine Love. The voice of Truth speaking in the inner consciousness rebuked a human sense of his responsibility in the conduct of God's work. The element of personality was brought low,—the adamant of that error was rent,—and he recognized his entire dependence on Spirit, God.
As the omnipotence of God and His complete control were revealed to Elijah, his confidence in human ways and means was shaken and removed—swallowed up as by an earthquake, according to the vivid account in the text. The false sense of self and of human power was consumed by the fervor of the divine Word. These manifestations were not the Word itself; they were the effects produced on the human mind by the Word. The Word itself was the "still small voice" of Truth. Wrapped about with the mantle of humility, he was now able to look forth and see his problem anew, from a right standpoint, and to receive the answer to his seeking. In the clarified atmosphere of spiritual perception, he saw how to strengthen that wherein he had been weak, and was consciously assured of divine guidance and protection. Strengthened, encouraged, with a new sense of security, and invested with a diviner sense of power, he now went forth to reflect the invincibility of Truth and the dominion of enlarged spiritual understanding. How complete was his subjugation of the human will may be learned from subsequent events. In his next encounter with the enemies of Truth we read that it was "fire from heaven" that consumed them.
It is interesting to note the strong impression made upon Elisha by the tutelage of Elijah, his loved master, in his later period. On the occasion when a great army fell into the hands of the Israelites, Elisha commanded that they be not smitten, but fed and sent home. The record adds, "So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel."
The true method of Christian warfare is clearly indicated in the following lines of a hymn:
"The Christian warrior, see him stand
In the whole armor of his God;
The Spirit's sword is in his hand;
His feet are with the gospel shod."
In a letter to the church at Corinth, Paul writes: "Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
