Article June 28, 1930 Issue

Sanctuary

ARTHUR TIPTON STEWART

From the earliest days men have felt the need for some haven of security, some place of refuge from the foes which have beset them. In turbulent times, when a sense of physical danger threatened, the need was met in a walled city, perhaps in a stately castle with protecting moat, or in the wooden stockade of our own frontier days.

There has also been a recognition of this same need in a spiritual sense, with recourse to God for its satisfaction. The sacred writings abound in references to Him as our refuge, our strength, and our deliverer; and none can measure the peace and comfort these assurances have brought to disturbed minds and hearts. What, indeed, can excel the beauty and majesty of the truth revealed in the profound utterance of Moses, "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms"!

One evening, as a student entered a Christian Science Reading Room in a large city and seated himself at a table spread with the authorized Christian Science literature, he realized with satisfaction that here was a sanctuary. A frequenter and lover of such Reading Rooms since his early study of Christian Science, there came to him an even deeper appreciation of and gratitude for them, wherever located. He sensed anew the simple grace and comfort of the surroundings, and the peace and harmony pervading them. At hand, in abundance, was the spiritual food he needed and had learned would always suffice. The day had been a trying one; but here, in security, was a place in which to bind up his wounds and repair his armor, as it were—a sanctuary, indeed, where through prayerful reading the adversary could be effectually barred from thought. Reflecting upon these things he felt that mankind will more and more come to recognize our Reading Rooms as places of refuge from mental turmoil. How consummate the wisdom of our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, in decreeing their establishment, and how adequately they are fulfilling the need which she foresaw!

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