"The Lion of the tribe of Juda"

In an inspiring message addressed to First Church of Christ, Scientist, London, England, Mary Baker Eddy writes (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 183 ): "To-day a nation is born. Spiritual apprehension unfolds, transfigures, heals. With you be there no more sea, no ebbing faith, no night." With what spiritual vigor and promise have these words of our Leader's shone out during the difficult and dangerous experiences of these times, and never more than during the great air battles over London itself!

While approaching hours of darkness may bring with them an ever-increasing sense of tension, of possible loss, hardship, dislocation, an intangible feeling of apprehension, in the sense of fear, what a welcome sanctuary is revealed in the realm where thought may seek and find refuge from confusion, turmoil, and conflict— in the universe of divine ideas! In her message already quoted Mrs. Eddy has given us the true meaning of apprehension—the unfolding to thought of the beauties and wonders of God's perfect universe of ideas, wherein is no conflict or danger.

During these weeks, lengthening into months, of intensive night bombardment, all the usual standards of peace, comfort, certainty, and normality were, to human sense, being jeopardized; distress, homelessness, loss, and destruction appeared widespread. Then it was that the ever-availability of the divine universe with its nightless radiance, its undimmed faith, its freedom from tempest-tossed beliefs to which our Leader directs thought, became indeed a precious sanctuary, where faith could be renewed and stability preserved in the certainty of the final triumph of good over evil. Here, though sleep might be unattainable, the consciousness of Truth would give repose; here spiritual apprehension would unfold the indestructibility of divine ideas.

In the fifth chapter of Revelation, John writes of one who sat upon the throne holding in his right hand a book, sealed sevenfold. He speaks of himself as weeping much because no one was found worthy to break the seals and read the book which should solve humanity's problem. It is then that there appears to him "the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David," he who prevails to open the book and "to loose the seven seals thereof."

Mrs. Eddy throws great light on this passage on page 514 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Under the marginal heading "Qualities of thought," she says, "Moral courage is 'the lion of the tribe of Juda,' the king of the mental realm." Here then is the fundamental quality in character which will lead to victory—moral courage, which is allied to honesty, since it knows nought of mere expedience or compromise, while it includes selfless devotion to duty in its sphere of human activity. Again and again has it been proved that unflinching adherence to a given right objective has been the path leading to victory.

In the field of spiritual combat, devotion to duty is allegiance to divine Principle; it is adherence to an ideal revealed through prayer and communion. Similarly, in the study and practice of Truth, the path to be traversed, the heights to be won, the victories to be consummated, are those which consist of the daily overcoming of sense testimony, the "bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ," the exchanging of false and unworthy objects for spiritual ideas and replacing shallow, futile, purposeless thinking with that which is vigorous, constructive, purposeful. Here, too, it will be found that the path of duty is the way to divine glory.

In Isaiah's prophecy, that "the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them," all-inclusive divine consciousness is revealed. Mrs. Eddy writes (Christian Healing, p. 10 ) that "the beast bowed before the Lamb; it was supposed to have fought the manhood of God, that Jesus represented; but it fell before the womanhood of God, that presented the highest ideal of Love."She adds in the same paragraph, "There is but one side to good,—it has no evil side; there is but one side to reality, and that is the good side."

The opportunity before humanity today is to prove not only that there is "but one side to good," but that steadfast devotion to the right side, the cause of divine Principle, will inevitably bring the fruitage of victory and of individual and collective progress. The Christian Scientist's part in the victory is the elucidation of spiritual values by his steadfast allegiance to and acknowledgment of God's kingdom on earth, operative in his daily experience and in his work for the world.

Faithful adherence and selfless devotion to the highest ideal of character and service to which so many have willingly dedicated themselves during this period of trial, and the recognition of the intense significance of these sublime qualities in the history of humanity, must surely bring a more universal acceptance of true values and a greater desire to attain them. It is to be noted that sacrifice not only means something laid down, but also implies a lifting up, since its root meaning is "to make sacred." This is the redemption of the human by the divine.

As the symbolic sacrifice of beasts has given place to a higher recognition of the sacrifice of beliefs of animality in mortal thought, so advancing spiritual consciousness will behold "the Lamb of God," and, beholding, will strive to attain that which is in the midst of the throne of God, that which is "to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing."

Then will the apprehension of divine Science bring to pass the full meaning of the prophecy which declares, "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." Then will "the highest ideal of Love" be universally acknowledged, in that apprehension of divine all-inclusive consciousness, manifest as the fatherhood and motherhood of God.

I thoroughly believe in a university education for both men and women; but I believe a knowledge of the Bible without a college course is more valuable than a college course without the Bible. For in the Bible we have profound thought beautifully expressed.