Are you sure?
This bookmark will be removed from all folders and any saved notes will be permanently removed.
Exalting the Valley
Isaiah's prophecy reads, "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low." It is well to note both the promise and the rebuke ringing in this prophecy. The metaphor of the mountain evidently refers to a mental obstruction which must be removed in order that one may be lifted out of the valley. When thwarted, self-will is apt to turn to self-pity, but out of this and every other phase of sin, one can be exalted by the power of unselfed love. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 61) Mrs. Eddy writes, "Every valley of sin must be exalted, and every mountain of selfishness be brought low, that the highway of our God may be prepared in Science."
We tread this highway through the gain of humility and spiritual understanding. People faced with what appear to be inexplicable calamities are, by turns, discouraged, rebellious, and afraid. In the light of Christian Science, which exposes the dire effects of wrong thinking, the externalized calamities are not inexplicable: they are explicable and avoidable. Every distress endured by mortals is traceable to the general ignorance of God, the true and wholly beneficent cause. In the bewildering rush of external duties and pursuits, it is well, then, to consecrate regular time to the consideration of basic facts regarding causation and creation, and humbly utilize them in all that concerns health, character, serviceability, and success. The Christian Science text-book reveals these facts and the manner of their application. This teaching meets the daily needs of humanity by first and always meeting its deepest need, namely, to understand God and so win the joy and dominion of Godlikeness. The right sense of Deity alone rights human wrongs.
The answer to the Apostle James' question, "Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?" is obviously in the negative. From God, the creator, cannot emanate both truth and error, love and hate, health and disease, life and death. When a careworn individual hitherto bowed with sinful, sorrowful beliefs, or with disease and suffering, learns that God, divine Love or Principle, is the constant source of man's integrity and well-being, this divine knowledge, if accepted in the innermost heart, purges out the old bitterness and imparts the sweet assurance of God's complete provision for His own likeness. But what of Love's unlikeness—envy, hate, fear, and many other errors? They constitute the mountain of selfishness to be brought low, in order that one may tread the highway.
Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.
September 23, 1933 issue
View Issue-
Quality and Expression
HERBERT BUCHER
-
A Golden Standard
ELEANOR WARNER FISH
-
Keeping the Fourth Commandment
AMOS WESTON
-
"Now are we the sons of God"
MARGARET V. HEYWOOD
-
Right Activity
WALTER EDWARD LOWE
-
The New Publishing House
ANNA FRIENDLICH
-
Place and Opportunity
RUTH LENORE GRUHLKE
-
All is Well
ROSA M. TURNER
-
In your report of the New Hampshire Methodist Conference,...
Edwin C. Buck,
-
In an article on Christian Science in Die Auslese, there...
Count Helmuth von Moltke,
-
There is an axiom which reads, "No one knows the sea...
Hugh Stuart Campbell, Committee on Publication for the State of Illinois,
-
In yesterday's Express and Star you report an address...
Mrs. Winifred M. Hartley,
-
Forward!
ANNE CLEVELAND CHENEY
-
Observers of Times
W. Stuart Booth
-
Exalting the Valley
Violet Ker Seymer
-
The Lectures
with contributions from Archibald Carey, Helene Schmidt, Ferle L. Brookhouser
-
Since studying Christian Science I have found the statement...
Henry G. Minsenberger
-
It is with deep gratitude and joy that I submit this testimony,...
Hazel I. Phillips
-
I wish to express my gratitude for Christian Science and...
Walter Jacobsen with contributions from Eva K. Jacobsen
-
I was twelve years old when I heard Christian Science...
Christiane R. Pantet with contributions from Roger Pantet
-
Over ten years ago the thought came to me very clearly...
Kathryn Van Rensselaer Wilder
-
I am intensely grateful for the teachings of Christian Science,...
Frederick George Allen Williams
-
We became interested in Christian Science through my...
Helen B. Tate
-
I have seen many beautiful answers to prayer as taught...
Bitha Cassatt Martz
-
In the Closet of Prayer
ELIZABETH B. CATE
-
Signs of the Times
with contributions from A. E. Gregory, James Reid, O. J. Beardsley, H. L. Caldwell