Article March 9, 1935 Issue

Love's Sanctuary

DOROTHY DESMOND

In medieval days, if a person in danger could reach a church he was declared to be in "sanctuary" and could not be taken by his enemies. In modern days, does not everyone long for a sanctuary where he cannot be reached by the din and difficulties of the world? Everyone is seeking to be delivered from some form of materiality, from unhappiness, ill health, poverty, loneliness, or some other offending error of mortality. To each of these seekers, the study of Christian Science offers sanctuary, for through it he becomes aware of the all-presence and all-power of Spirit, God, of the availability of the divine Principle, Love.

The very word "sanctuary" indicates safety, being safeguarded by love. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 15) our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, gives us the more spiritual significance of this thought. "In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings," she writes, "we must deny sin and plead God's allness." Beginning at the bottom of page 14, she elucidates how this is to be done: " 'When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.' So spake Jesus. The closet typifies the sanctuary of Spirit, the door of which shuts out sinful sense but lets in Truth, Life, and Love." Clearly, then, no mere physical locality can offer men the peace and safety they are seeking. These are to be found by entering the temple of spiritually right thinking through the door of pure desire.

Some students of Christian Science who were seeking a quiet place in which to study and think, went into the country, where they came upon a bird sanctuary. While strolling through its grounds, they realized that the birds knew nothing of the love which had provided this haven for them, but, nevertheless, they instinctively felt a sense of protection within its boundaries. So secure did the birds feel that the sight of persons did not alarm them. A pheasant walked by unhurried, a warbler sang from the lowest limb of a tree; and the bird songs seemed to the listeners sweeter for this assurance of safety.

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What Is Thy Need?
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