Article May 29, 1965 Issue

"The sweetest similes"

EDNA MAY EVANS WHITE

In an article included in "Miscellaneous Writings" entitled "Heart to Heart" Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes (p. 263): "These two words in Scripture suggest the sweetest similes to be found in any language —rock and feathers: 'Upon this rock I will build my church;' 'He shall cover thee with His feathers.' " When one thinks of the word "rock," firmness and stability may come to thought, and are not these the Christly qualities Jesus referred to when he declared to Peter and the other disciples that he was founding his church on the rock, Truth?

The word "feathers" suggests warmth and love, and these qualities are clearly made evident in the Master's teachings as in the parable of the shepherd, who, when he lost one of his flock, left the ninety and nine and searched for "that with [had] gone astray" (Matt. 18:12) until he found it. Firmness and stability, warmth and love, are exemplified by Jesus' life and work, showing that rock and feathers, instead of being antagonistic, are symbolic of the qualities of God to be found in the nature of each one of His ideas, made in His image and likeness.

In her scientific definition of God in the Glossary of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy gives us seven synonyms for God, two of which are Principle and Love. Like rock and feathers, these two synonyms may seem to be complete contraries, but Christian Science reveals them as interchangeable.

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