The word grace runs through the Bible like a golden thread which may be followed in searching the Scriptures to trace the never ending, ever developing longing of the human heart to turn from erroneous conclusions based on the evidence of the material senses, to the eternal verities, which unfold in the ratio that thought relinquishes sense and self and turns to God, divine Mind.
Noah, tempted by the mesmerism of wickedness, destruction, violence, and fear which raged about him, threatening to obscure and distort his spiritual view, "found grace in the eyes of the Lord." The definition of "eyes" on page 586 of Science and Health elucidates this passage and reveals the vision of the Christ-mind, displacing the evidence of the corporeal senses. It reads: "Eyes. Spiritual discernment,—not material but mental." If Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, he must have turned from mortal beliefs with their distorted pictures and have opened his understanding to discern the line of demarcation between man in God's likeness, as God beholds him,—perfect, sinless, unfallen,—and the view of man which the senses present; namely, sinning, sick, and dying, a deformed and distorted image, not a model of grace and glory.
We, too, may learn, as we grasp the significance of Noah's seeking, to look out upon men and nations through the lens of Truth, and to gain, as did he, the shelter of the ark, which rides in safety above the waves of sin, sickness, disaster, fear, and all the machinations of the enemy. This enemy, or reasoning based on the belief of life in matter, employs the whisperings of the serpent through every avenue which, willingly or ignorantly, lends a carnal belief through which it may communicate. So long as the serpent has these carnal beliefs through which to operate, so long will it present to thought a distorted picture of man and the universe; but the endeavor of the heart to turn away from the philosophy of the serpent with its false representations, and to see as God sees, has brought the blessing throughout the ages. Thus we find Zerubbabel shouting undismayed, "Grace, grace," and reducing the mountain to a plain; also Moses humbly praying for grace to see God's way rather than his own; Jeremiah speaking in comforting words of the grace found in the wilderness; David praying, "Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death." These move grandly through the sacred pages, illustrating the gleam of light which leads out of the wilderness, and establishing by demonstration, or "signs following," the value of seeking grace in God's sight.
