Vivid imagination unsurpassed

Dear readers,

Over the 14 years we have been writing on this blog, we have read all bar two of the books of the Bible. Nahum is one of those two books.

In the June 1934 issue of The Christian Science Journal, there is an interesting piece about Nahum. It’s from Westminster Commentary* and it includes this lovely remark: 

His vivid imagination and his power to express what passes rapidly before his mental eye in vigorous, well-compacted, realistic language are unsurpassed by any of the Old Testament prophets. Expressing himself in as few words** as possible, he sets before his readers the entire scene which he describes in such a way that they are made to feel that it is actually being transacted before their eyes. It is like a picture which an artist sketches… His constructions are classical and idiomatic, and his language forcible and pure; they reveal the intensity of his feelings and create the impression that he is convinced of the certainty of his prediction, the truth of his charge, and the necessity of his denunciation.

The gist of Nahum’s “powerful prophecy”*** is that the flourishing Assyrian nation will be overthrown.

Is Nahum’s message that good always overthrows evil? Let’s take a look and find out.

Julie Swannell

*Aren't we grateful for Bible Commentaries!

**e.g. Nahum 1:9 "...he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time."

***from the Encyclopedia Americana – quoted in The Christian Science Journal June 1934

The Sound of Love

There is a passage in Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy by Irving Tomlinson that has particular resonance for me. It is on pages 108-109.

 

Sarah Pike Conger, (who “was the wife of an American diplomat and served with him in China at the time of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900”) had had an interview with Mrs Eddy in 1897. Her description of how she heard the words of Mrs Eddy that day shows us what might be called “the sound of Love”. Here’s what she wrote (the underlining is mine):

 

“After a few words about the weather and me going to Brazil, she started out in Christian Science, every word sounding in the pure atmosphere of Love. Such a day I never saw before nor since - Love was the key note and all other notes were in harmony with it. Those words of advice and encouragement were from the mother-heart and all was love. To make unforgettable—permanent—her points, she would tell some of her demonstrations. Her words and their intonations—her earnestness—her tenderness—her positiveness—her great understanding awakened and quickened my heart-beats with new life and its activity.

 

“… when I heard her voice utter the words there was a life in them beyond the written word—and they have vibrated in sweet-echoing tones through these years, helping me to remember and to detect the Christ-hand ever pointing the way heavenward.”

 

What is this language of Love which quickens the heartstrings? What does Love sound like? How can we hear it and speak it to others? Sarah Conger writes that Mrs Eddy said, “I have striven earnestly to have my students speak in a language which would be understood.”

 

I am reminded of Mrs Eddy’s poem Christ, my refuge: (See hymns 253-257 and 550-552.)

 

O’er waiting harpstrings of the mind
There sweeps a strain,
Low, sad, and sweet, whose measures bind
The power of pain,

And wake a white-winged angel throng
Of thoughts, illumed
By faith, and breathed in raptured song,
With love perfumed.
(Hymn. 253:1, 2)

 

It is Love stirring one to know and feel its presence, its harmony, its light. That is the sound of Love!

 

Marie Fox

A high ideal

Page 244 of this month’s book, Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy by Rev. Irving C. Tomlinson, tells us that “Mrs. Eddy held aloft a high ideal for her own sex, in religion, in social welfare, and in statesmanship.”

Tomlinson quotes her: “Our sex seems to be needed at this period to lift the darkness and to cheer the faithful sentinels at their posts of love and duty. God sustains you and will bless you in just this way.”

One can claim it for our period as well. Is it still the women behind the men who have more effective influence in our time?

She is not a contemporary figure, but Eleanor Roosevelt comes to mind. It was reported that Dean Rush, Secretary of State (USA) said at her passing, “She would rather light a candle than complain about the darkness.” Possibly a Chinese proverb*.

Those of us who sometimes find it difficult to go to sleep at night should find the following poem helpful. Mrs. Eddy said of it (Twelve Years, page 272):

“I love to think that my life is hid with Christ in God—with Truth in divine Love. Every night I say over to myself this little verse of the hymn**:

“The Spirit’s sweet control

   Freely we will confess,--

   Fly to Thine out-stretched arms of love,

   And there find health and rest.

                      M.J.H. Zink”

Joyce Voysey

*Ed. A little research reveals that American politician and diplomat Adlai Stevenson famously eulogized Mrs. Roosevelt with the statement, “she would rather light a candle than curse the darkness, and her glow warmed the world.” Apparently, the source of the saying was 19^th century minister Rev. William L. Watkinson who was quoting Thomas Carlyle***, the famous English essayist. (professorbuzzkill.com) 

**Ed. This hymn - Teach us Thy way, O God - was in the Christian Science hymnal 1889, p. 109, but is not in our current hymnal. To see the music and words for the whole hymn see https://hymnary.org/text/teach_us_thy_way_o_god#pagescans

***Ed. Interestingly, Thomas Carlyle has been mentioned previously on this blog site. Here's the entry:

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) -- a Scottish chap: Sentinel, 25 January 1958. Carlyle is mentioned in Eddy's Message to The Mother Church for 1901, p. 33 and The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, pp. 154, 193. In the latter reference, Mrs Eddy commends Carlyle's sentiment: 'Give a thing time; if it succeeds, it is a right thing' (My 193: 22).