Article September 2, 1939 Issue

Held in Remembrance

JOHN MURRAY BURRISS

In recent years reference has frequently been made to "the forgotten man." The sentiment expressed in these words makes instant appeal to the anxious thought of many who, through no fault of their own, have regarded themselves as helpless victims of the disordered economic conditions prevailing throughout the world.

Even in the midst of plenty, so far as material things are concerned, the thought that one has been forgotten by friends or loved ones may give rise to a sense of loneliness and disappointment; but when the supply of material things, which seem so necessary to human comfort and welfare, is greatly reduced or entirely exhausted, and apparently one has sought in vain for some channel through which relief might come, it can readily be understood how such a one, yielding to a sense of discouragement, might conclude that God had forgotten him. But discouragement cannot long becloud one's thinking, so as to render him less capable of helping himself, if in childlike humility and earnestness he will lift his heart to God and ask for wisdom and guidance. "If this heart, humble and trustful, faithfully asks divine Love to feed it with the bread of heaven, health, holiness," writes Mary Baker Eddy (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 127), "it will be conformed to a fitness to receive the answer to its desire."

The Scriptures record the touching experience of Hagar. Cast out of the environment in which she and her son had enjoyed every material comfort, she was set adrift to wander in the wilderness, where the material benefits she had enjoyed and the human friendships she had cherished were lacking. But in her extremity she was enabled to see in the wilderness a "well of water," from which she refreshed herself and her child. So was Love's ever-present and never-failing provision made manifest.

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