Article February 20, 1932 Issue

The Glory of the Lord

ETHEL REYNELL WIGGINS

On page 566 of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, we read, "As the children of Israel were guided triumphantly through the Red Sea, the dark ebbing and flowing tides of human fear, ... so shall the spiritual idea guide all right desires in their passage from sense to Soul." We are indebted to the revered Leader of the Christian Science movement for this beautiful similitude between the story of the journeyings of the Israelites from Egypt to the promised land and the mental journey we all must make from the darkness of material beliefs to the light of spiritual understanding.

The story of the triumphant journey through the Red Sea is vividly narrated in the fourteenth chapter of Exodus; and the protective nature of the divine guidance is described in the nineteenth verse, which says, "And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them." It is to be noted that in this difficult situation, with the pursuing Egyptians behind them and the Red Sea before them, the Israelites were commanded by God to "go forward."

There are times in the mental journey of the student of Christian Science when, after many battles with self, he knows he is making some headway in the overcoming of that in his consciousness which is unlike good; but still the Egyptians of criticism, persecution, and doubt of his motives seem to be pursuing him hard and fast from behind, and the Red Sea—"the dark ebbing and flowing tides of human fear"—to be stretching out in front of him. Yet, if he would progress in his understanding of God, the command is ever to "go forward." If only the blows would not come so thick and fast, he thinks, or if I could find some refuge from my foes for a short time, where I might work out my problems in peace! Has he forgotten the pillar of cloud ever between him and his pursuers, ever shielding him while he makes his advance? The nature of this protective covering is described in Isaiah as "the glory of the Lord." which, we are told, "shall be thy rereward."

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