Many of the events related in the Bible have wide appeal and meaningful application to our own times. When viewed in their spiritual significance, they contain lessons that are helpful in overcoming problems, in dissolving fear and surmounting false beliefs.

All human experience is the result of thought brought into action. If thought is attuned to the real, the true, the good, the resulting experiences are harmonious, fruitful, and blessed. If thoughts are evil, selfish, or debased, no inspiring results will follow, but on the contrary fear, sin, sensuality, and disease will be their products.

The story of Noah is of particular interest. Noah was saved from the flood because he "found grace in the eyes of the Lord," and because he "was a just man and perfect in his generations" (Gen. 6:8, 9). Mary Baker Eddy defines "Noah" in the Glossary of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 592) as "a corporeal mortal; knowledge of the nothingness of material things and of the immortality of all that is spiritual."

It was the flood of evil thoughts, of materiality and sin, that beset mankind from which Noah was primarily to be saved. The same erroneous beliefs are besetting mankind today. Their origin is always the same fictitious mortal mind. Time has not destroyed them, nor can time erase them from human experience. They are removed only as they are expunged from human consciousness by lifting thought to God, by understanding man's relationship to Him, and by being a "just man and perfect."

The ark which Noah was instructed to build was to be pitched with pitch within and without, to be sealed securely against weakness from within and protected from seepages from the waters without. "Ark" is defined by Mrs. Eddy in part thus (ibid., p. 581): "Safety; the idea, or reflection, of Truth, proved to be as immortal as its Principle; the understanding of Spirit, destroying belief in matter. God and man coexistent and eternal; Science showing that the spiritual realities of all things are created by Him and exist forever."

In the light of the foregoing definition, the spiritual nature of Noah's experience becomes clearer and its application to present-day needs more apparent. Noah indeed followed the directions given to him: he pitched the material ark from within and without, and doubtless he sealed his own thoughts against the wiles of the carnal mind and guarded them from fear and false selfhood. In the fact of man's coexistence with God and his indestructible unity with Him, it is logical to conclude, Noah found his ark of absolute safety.

So must we all learn to trust at all times in God's protecting care. A student of Christian Science recently had occasion to demonstrate the practical nature of the protection which correct and positive thinking provides. He was flying with others in one of the Latin-American countries in a single-engined plane. The airport from which they had departed was surrounded by high mountains which had to be crossed to reach their destination. As the plane gained altitude and was about to fly over the mountains, dense smoke began to pour out of the engine and oil splashed over the plane.

The first suggestion which came to the student was, Is this the end? The student had for many years been declaring and striving to realize man's coexistence with his Maker. Instantly the response came, Mind is ever present and sustains man under all circumstances. Fear and doubt were instantly dispelled, and the student declared silently and trustingly that "underneath are the everlasting arms," and that no disaster could overtake God's image.

None of the other passengers were Christian Scientists, but calmness instead of panic reigned; and although the plane and its occupants seemed doomed, the pilot was able to land the ship at the airport, and all emerged safely. With gratitude the student recalled the comforting words of the ninety-first Psalm: "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee. ...For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." The student, like Noah, had indeed pitched his spiritual ark from within and without and had found it a haven of safety.

Many men and women who were engaged in the armed services have likewise experienced the power of divine Love to save and to preserve. Many reassuring experiences are being related in testimonies printed in the Christian Science periodicals and given at the Wednesday testimony meetings held in Christian Science churches. These men and women have proved that, notwithstanding material conditions which would ordinarily have disastrous results, their faith and understanding, even in a degree, of man's true existence as God's idea have carried them through safely.

The Bible relates that Noah did what he was commanded to do. Obedient to the divine command to apply his spiritual understanding, which we may symbolize by the pitching of the ark, he was spared the destruction which fell to the materially-minded. We too can and must be obedient to God's command. Our ark of safety and security must indeed be pitched from within and without. We must be alert to false suggestions of evil, which claim to originate within our own consciousness. We must firmly seal our own spiritualized thoughts against the intrusion of erroneous beliefs from without. Thus we may prove "the nothingness of material things" and "the immortality of all that is spiritual."