“The secret place of the most High”

ARE there any tales in all literature that appeal as much to the reader as those of the Bible? And beyond the mere charm and poetry of the narratives themselves lies the possibility of discovering their fundamental spiritual meaning, of interpreting them in a manner that will afford us help to meet the conditions in which we find ourselves to-day. Truth remains the same for all time; outward circumstances alone change. It is these facts that make the Bible necessary as a book of reference and instruction to help us solve our daily problems worthily.

It has been said that adults are but grown-up children; and this is true in regard to their liking for the tale. The tale is an appeal to the reader for the purpose of holding the thought and commanding the attention, suggesting possibilities of beauty, truth, and goodness, sometimes more completely than does the statement of mere facts. The moral teaching conveyed in the simple Biblical tales is really extraordinary,—they are so picturesque, so simple, and so convincing; we are never tired of them, never weary of searching for more of their meaning.

In the tale of the Shunammite woman, for instance, we read how she perceived that Elisha was “an holy man of God,” and that she prepared him a place where he could rest on his journeyings to and fro. How easily one can visualize the prophet turning from the heat and glare and dust of the road into the cool shelter so thoughtfully prepared for him on the wall of Shunem. It conjures up so many pictures, real or fancied, of Eastern life; but it does not stop there, for the question arises, What was it that enabled this particular woman to perceive the holiness of Elisha? She alone gave him bread and shelter, though he must have passed many homes in his wanderings. The little chamber built on the wall may typify the Shunammite’s desire for goodness, for something beyond the material experiences of her daily life. She built this place to shelter the best she knew. It was a certain spirituality of thought that enabled her to perceive a truth that was a dead letter to those around her, and to appreciate the worthiness of the prophet.

There are many similar references in the Bible, especially in the Psalms, to the uplifting of thought into a specially prepared sanctuary, such as, “In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me,” and, “Thou art my hiding place;” but there is no more poetic rendering of the escape from the turmoil of mortal thought than that which describes the refuge prepared for Elisha by the Shunammite. The same idea is given in the history of Noah when God commanded him to construct the ark so that it might rise above the turmoil of evil thought and conscious wickedness; and we see from the story how Noah and his family and all that entered this sanctuary were guarded and protected from the angry waters that surged around them.

The voice of God can always be heard, if we but listen with the ear of spiritual understanding; and we have the choice either to enter into the sanctuary of spiritual thinking, where there is safety, or to stay outside the sanctuary and be tossed about by the waves of human opinion and mortal thought. Much the same thing was expressed by Jesus when he said: “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret.” It is only by withdrawal into the sanctuary, by shutting out the glamour and glare of mortal belief, that we can hope to realize the presence of God.

We all have our little sanctuaries; and they are filled according to our different mental states, but are not always prepared for the reception of a prophet. It is only as we destroy our belief in the reality of evil that we can enter into the “secret place of the most High,” into the ark, defined by Mrs. Eddy, in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” (p. 581), as “the understanding of Spirit, destroying belief in matter.” In the continuation of the tale of the Shunammite we see how her faith in the “man of God,” the man overcome in the little sanctuary constructed to protect the holiest thought made manifest to her.

Centuries after the passing away of Elisha and the Shunammite woman, another prophet, greater far than Elisha, assembled his disciples for the last time in the upper chamber of a house in Jerusalem. Here, too, was a sanctuary, a holy place, where the Word of God was spoken to those who were in some measure prepared to understand it. It was a shutting out of mortal beliefs by the uplifting of thought to God. Throughout the Bible, the primary and spiritual meaning of the ark, of the curtains round the ark, the tabernacle, the pavilion, the little resting place on the wall for Elisha, the chamber with the windows opened towards Jerusalem where Daniel prayed to God three times a day,—all typify that isolation of thought which alone can prepare men to reflect spiritual perfection. Surely some such idea was in the thought of Paul when he said, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate.”

Mrs. Eddy has shown us how to find our resting place,—the same mount that Jesus climbed, the little hills we read of in the Psalms, the sanctuary of holy aspiration, the pavilion prepared by God for His children. Jesus said, “What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.” What has been taught by symbols and parables can now be demonstrated in action, according to our spiritual apprehension. Science and Health includes a “key” to the Scriptures, and by its use we are enabled to unlock their secrets to find that their teaching is living truth, applicable to all time and thought, and not merely a dead history of the past.

The symbols fade away; the real meaning emerges, and we clasp hands across the centuries with those spiritually-minded men and women whose footsteps along the path of Truth have worn a way for us to tread in. Mrs. Eddy, through the revelation of Christian Science, has made it possible for us to understand the inner spiritual meaning of the Word of God. She shows that what seemed to be the dead word is really a living, demonstrable power. All reverence and honor are due her for this wonderful achievement.