"The time is out of joint." Shakespeare's pithy line which he puts in the mouth of Hamlet describes such moments as those in which the human family finds itself today. Are we not seeing at this hour a fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy of the coming of a time of mighty upheaval? The voice of the Lord God spake thus to the prophet: "I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it ... until he come whose right it is." Now of course a period of undue stir and stress is not sought after, per se. For instance, what man can enjoy his customary peace and quiet with the house topsy-turvy from spring cleaning? Yet all this is wholesome and essential, if one would live in cleanliness and order. Of the need of frequent mental housecleaning, our wise Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, has written (Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 127, 128), "The human heart, like a feather bed, needs often to be stirred, sometimes roughly, and given a variety of turns, else it grows hard and uncomfortable whereon to repose."

The sad part about some overturning is that an individual, through ignorance of Truth and its normal, purifying activity, may view the commotion as calamitous instead of salutary. To be sure, a storm at sea may prove an unhappy problem for a skipper who knows not how to handle his craft; but to a seasoned sailor the experience can become an opportunity to prove his seamanship, his dominion over adversity, and leave him wiser and stronger for the testing time.

In these tempestuous days, the teachings of Christian Science are proving a boon beyond evaluation. This Science reveals and explains the effect on the human mind of Truth's appearance and activity, and thereby dissipates much of the fear and mystery in connection therewith. Mrs. Eddy writes in the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 168): "Here let a word be noticed which will be better understood hereafter,—chemicalization. By chemicalization I mean the process which mortal mind and body undergo in the change of belief from a material to a spiritual basis." And again (ibid., p. 96): "The breaking up of material beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new phases until their nothingness appears. These disturbances will continue until the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth."

This remarkable revelation of the reason for hitherto unexplainable phenomena throws light on such experiences as the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt. Whenever Truth speaks, as God spake through the illumined thought of Moses, subtle phases of carnality are uncovered and brought to the surface for destruction. In the case of the Israelites in the land of Egypt, the chemicalization was terrible. Plague after plague came upon the people; and what a task scholastic theology has had to account for this extraordinary upheaval and link it to a loving, just, heavenly Father!

In the light of Christian Science teaching, we see that what was happening in Egypt was "the breaking up of material beliefs" through the action of omnipotent Truth. We hear much these days about a clever modern device called a "lie detector." As ingenious as such an invention is, it is but a temporary substitute for the real lie-detecting, lie-uncovering, and lie-destroying law of God, that infinite Mind which is all-perceiving, harmony-bringing divine Truth.

Here is an interesting and important point to consider in connection with the mighty stirrings in Egypt. When the chemicalization assumed the appearance of great darkness throughout the land, the children of Israel had light in their houses. When a plague of boils seemed well-nigh universal, the Israelites were exempt; and when the devastating fear of death swept the land, it came not to the dwelling of him over whose door was the blood of the lamb. What object lessons are here for the latter-day children of Israel as they begin their journey out of Egyptian bondage and darkness!

Are we thanking God for the light which the Science of Christianity has brought to our mental homes? Are we facing up to the arguments of present-day plagues and discords, knowing that Truth has brought them to the surface to be nothingized, and are we nothingizing them? Is the blood of the lamb—the consciousness of undefiled, indestructible Life—on the doorposts of thought?

The children of Israel are again coming out of Egypt! A modern Moses has appeared! Again the mighty God has spoken and this time through the transcendent revelation of the Science of Christianity. Again the foundations of the human mind are shaken. Hidden errors, through Truth's overturning, are brought out into the light for destruction. The detonations may seem to be terrible beyond human conception; but says the Psalmist: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea." Then hear this comforting statement: "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God....God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. ... Be still, and know that I am God."

JOHN RANDALL DUNN