"Come thou and all thy house into the ark," was the divine command to Noah thousands of years ago when it was revealed to him that a great flood of waters was to cover the face of the earth. Paraphrasing this, one might say that "Come thou with all thy thoughts into the safety of immortal thinking" is the all-embracing demand of Christian Science today when a deluge of mortal suggestions threatens to inundate human consciousness. While the demand may seem exacting, it is also protective.

Great care, we read, was to be taken by Noah not only in the building but also in the protecting of the ark. He was directed to build it of gopher or cypress wood and to pitch the ark within and without, thus making it impervious to the waters. Then it mattered not how severe the deluge or how high the rising of the waters—the ark would rest above the flood.

Comprehending the mental process indicated in this account Mrs. Eddy, on pages 592 and 581 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," in part defines "Noah" as "Knowledge of the nothingness of material things and of the immortality of all that is spiritual," and "ark" as "safety; the idea, or reflection, of Truth, proved to be as immortal as its Principle; the understanding of Spirit, destroying belief in matter." Gaining the knowledge of the indestructibility of all that is spiritual and eternal and the nothingness of matter and of false and temporal mortal beliefs enables one to rise above the flood of materiality and to rest safely in the understanding of what is true concerning God and His spiritual creation, including man.

The record states that Noah gathered the living creatures into the ark, as he was bidden to do. So must spiritual attributes and ideas be maintained in our consciousness, safeguarded from the suggestions of mortal mind.

In Science and Health (pp. 511–515) our Leader interprets some of the qualities typified in the animal kingdom. She speaks, for instance, of the tireless worm as symbolizing patience; the birds, upward-soaring aspirations; the cattle, perseverance and diligence; the lion, moral courage; the serpent, wisdom, charm, and adroitness. All the qualities of the divine nature must be expressed in man, since he is the complete representation of Mind, which includes all right ideas.

Noah's ark was to be built according to definite instructions. So also he who has embarked on the study of Christian Science must build the ark of safety according to the specific instructions contained in the Bible and throughout our Leader's writings. One of these directions, given on page 210 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," reads, "Beloved Christian Scientists, keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them."

A worried sense regarding having to protect ourselves from the intentional or unintentional wrong use of thought—which is mental malpractice—vanishes when we see that false suggestion from any supposed source falls powerless unless fear, resentment, or other mortal thoughts find entrance into our consciousness and thus, so to speak, bring about a leak in our mental ark. This weak acquiescence would constitute wrong mental practice within and needs close attention that we be not a prey to suggestions from without. Much care must be given this pitching of consciousness from "within and without" in order that our mental ark of safety may prove impervious to floods of erroneous suggestions. Helpful counsel as to how this must be done is found in Jesus' command to his followers, "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and ... shut thy door."

After a prolonged period of deluging rain, Noah hopefully sent forth a dove to find out whether the waters had subsided sufficiently for it to find a resting place; but the time was not yet ripe and the dove returned to the ark. The second venturing forth showed some gain, and the dove brought an olive leaf, showing that the flood had lessened somewhat. When the dove was sent forth the third time it did not return, thus indicating that the abating had been sufficient for it to find an abiding place.

Our Leader also experienced many periods of patient waiting, not only during her three years of retirement to study the Scriptures, after her discovery of Christian Science, but during the succeeding years when she published her textbook and established her church.

Each one of us may have to preserve tireless patience, endurance, wisdom, courage, inoffensiveness, and many other divine qualities while waiting for some downpour of error to cease or for some threatening flood of evil to subside. These may appear in human experience as malice, criticism, jealousy, or temptation, or as loneliness, sorrow, lack, self-pity, resentment. But all that these states of mortal mind can do is to "act, react, and then come to a stop" (Science and Health, p. 283). Immortal ideas, however, do not go through such stages, for they are unchanging, acting in accordance with immortal Mind and never apart from it, never reacting or coming to a stop. They are eternal. The individual consciousness imbued with such ideas rests in safety above the deluge, being lifted higher by the flood.

In humble hope and childlike expectancy we may have sent forth a messenger of peace, one of our periodicals, an invitation to our lectures or church services, a helpful word or offer; and how amazed we have been that on some occasions there was no welcome, no place for them to rest! Were our hope and our faith lofty enough, wise enough, and sufficiently patient to wait for the resistance and upheaval of mortal mind to subside? Was there enough perseverance and inoffensiveness to send the messenger again if necessary, not only once but as often as designated by wisdom, until there was found a mental condition suitable for its reception?

At first, Christian Science found scant reception, but it gradually gained ground as it brought peace to troubled hearts and healing from sin and sickness, until now it has found almost world-wide reception.

Everyone has his own mental ark to construct by reflecting Truth, and no one else may do this building for him. Into his ark are admitted the occupants which Truth directs the builder to select, and no one may do this work of selecting for another. He alone can "pitch" the ark and prevent the leaks. The building is of his own workmanship, and the occupants are of his own choosing. They will come forth. With great care and hopefulness does the Christian Scientist build his mental place of safety, not gropingly, for he has his instructions as definitely as Noah had. With certainty and unfaltering perseverance he proceeds, knowing that even as the creatures were gathered into the ark, eventually to come forth, so every right be represented in the individual consciousness and be brought forth in outward expression.

"Come thou ... into the ark," to the student of Christian Science, is not an arbitrary command. It is the Father's gracious invitation and loving provision for the care and preservation of every seeker for Truth.

Copyright, 1934, by The Christian Science Publishing Society, One, Norway Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Entered at Boston post office as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing at a special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 11, 1918.