Article January 6, 1940 Issue

The Demand of the Hour

FLORENCE IRENE GUBBINS

On page 362 of "Miscellaneous Writings" Mary Baker Eddy writes, "We all must find shelter from the storm and tempest in the tabernacle of Spirit." Today one hears on all sides the need for protection and shelter; and the student of Christian Science knows that the only true shelter is a right state of consciousness, since that which is held in consciousness is expressed in one's experience.

The Christian Scientist has a supreme duty, therefore, to the community at this time of seeming danger, to preserve in his consciousness this sanctuary of Spirit, the realization of the allness of God and the nothingness of evil, in order to keep his thought clear from the aggressive mental suggestions of disaster and destruction. He knows that the most effective shelter is the consciousness of good's omnipotence and omnipresence. With this consciousness he is assured of protection wherever his duty may take him. To such a state of thought the fearful and the sorrowful will surely come for comfort, strength, and healing.

In Isaiah we read that "a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest." And today there is abundant opportunity to fulfill this prophecy. There is no lack of opportunity for courage, persistence, and faithfulness in the Christian Scientist's work for mankind. It requires heroism to stand undismayed, many a time, before sense testimony, and to hold steadily to the allness of God under all circumstances. But the student who is willing to do this through good and evil report, is rewarded in spiritual growth and in an increasing sense of the reality of good and the consequent unreality of evil. He becomes less and less disturbed by the errors of personal sense, and more worthy of being a pillar in the temple of his God, infinite good, as described in the book of Revelation.

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