THE CLAMOR OF MATERIAL SENSE

John B. Willis

No Bible story is given a more dramatic setting than that of the fateful truth-test upon the summit of Mount Carmel, as told by the author of the book of Kings. In the center of an unbroken forest that looks down upon the western sea, and supported by a background of the assembled people, the majestic figure of the prophet of God stands forth, the embodiment of that lofty dignity which expresses the soul's consciousness of rectitude, and that restrained authority which bides its time but forgets not one tittle of Truth's demand. Over against him are the four hundred false prophets, who during the long hours from early morn "until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice" continue their frenzied but ineffectual brawling before the altar of their god. When the clamor of these hosts of Baal has fully spent itself, Elijah calls for the wood and the sacrifice, and then, in answer to his simple but knowing appeal to God, the approving fire descends and consumes the offering with all that pertains thereto. The question of the supremacy of Israel's God is settled beyond all peradventure, and the swift destruction of the false prophets closes the scene.

This picture illustrates for Christian Scientists their oft-repeated struggles with material sense, against whose blatant voices, crying day and night betimes, there is such imperative need of a patient but unflinching stand, until their din has risen, if so be, to its flood ere the demonstration of the presence and power of God is made. In the experience of all who have given their allegiance to the spiritual ideal presented by Christ Jesus, this humanly tragic test comes ever and again. In the secret chamber of consciousness, when some long-indulged appetite is squarely faced; in the associations of social and business life, when ethical issues are clearly discerned,—in every field of human interest and activity the spiritually aspiring are sure to come upon their Peniel. Especially does the Christian Science practitioner at the bedside of the sick and dying hear the assertive clamoring of unnumbered Baal tongues speaking subtly in behalf of long-honored laws of nature and materia medica, of inherited predisposition and congenital weakness, of habit, instinct, impulse, incurability, etc.; and if these legions are unrecognized for what they are, if the truth is unrealized for what it can do, courage is sure to fail and defeat will ensue.

Elijah did not ignore the Baal-belief, but while its priests were howling themselves hoarse he was knowing its falsity, resting in Truth, with the calm of an imperturbable confidence. Sequent events proved that, though patient with the problem, there was no consent on his part that error's claim was either legitimate or real, and his attitude in this was vital. If we have not followed him here, the defeats of our past are wholly explicable. There is nothing that tests the fiber of our faith more surely than the call, when we have "done all," to stand fearlessly and unmoved in the presence of the mob of material beliefs which are ready to rush into riot if we flinch so much as a hair's breadth.

The greatest, the saddest, and the most incongruous mistake is made by those of us who, while honestly resisting the claims of error as a whole, have half-knowingly consented to and coddled some one of its sleek minions. We have honestly tried to keep out the wolves, but have removed the bar to let in a mouse, and in the end we might as well have opened our door at once to the whole pack. Elijah did not err here, he made his mistake in thinking that he had to smite personality in order to complete his demonstration. Christian Scientists have learned a better way. Says our Leader, "Error, urged to its final limits, is self-destroyed" (Science and Health, P. 476).

John B. Willis.

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