In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy gives the metaphysical meaning of wilderness in the following illuminating definition (p. 597): "Loneliness; doubt; darkness. Spontaneity of thought and idea; the vestibule in which a material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence." Now it is plain that since all of God's children must sooner or later arrive at a right concept of man's relation to God as taught in Christian Science, we must all sometime or other pass through this wilderness in order to gain necessary understanding. The actual nature of this journey will no doubt differ in the experience of each one of us, it being dependent upon the mental condition of the individual; that is to say, upon the degree to which his desire has risen superior to the deceptions of mortal sense when he feels that the time has come for making a real effort to put off the old man and to put on the new.
Upon the extent to which one has become willing to be emancipated from the erroneous beliefs regarding the reality of matter will depend the aspect which the wilderness presents to him, for this emancipation is the deciding factor in the measure of his ability to detach himself from the distracting influences of the storm and press of everyday life around him and to feel himself alone with God. It is noteworthy, however, that according to Bible records it was actually in the wilderness, or desert, that many of the main problems were worked out in connection with the advance of the Israelites along the path towards that improved understanding of God which ultimated in monotheism. Thus it is related how, quite early in the known history of these people, when alone at night, in a place so secluded that it possessed no particular appelation even in a country remarkable for a profusion of place names, the patriarch Jacob underwent the remarkable experience which taught him the supremacy of Spirit over materiality and which so directly influenced the religious beliefs of his progeny.
Again, it was amid the desert solitudes that Moses heard the call and gained the inspiration which subsequently enabled him to lead the Israelites out of bondage into a sense of freedom such as is enjoyed by none more than by those sons of the desert, the Bedouins, who, owning no rood of territory, yet assert their liberty to roam the torrid wastes without let or hindrance from earthly potentates. It was likewise to the solitary hills, which constitute so prominent a feature of the wilderness that was the scene of the Israelites' wanderings, that Moses withdrew for the purpose of seeking divine guidance in the task of giving the Israelites a moral code, from which seclusion he returned to the wondering people, his face all glowing from the reflected light of Spirit. After being delivered from their bondage it was in the wilderness, or deserts of northern Arabia, that the Israelites sojourned during forty years while, under the firm and wise government of the divinely inspired Moses, they grew out of that sense of dependence and moral flabbiness engendered by the centuries of servitude which they had endured, and made some advance toward consolidation into a nation.
It was in the desert, too, that the simple shepherds, tending their flocks by night, their unsophisticated minds ever susceptible to signs and portents, beheld the mysterious comet, called a star, blazing in the heavens, and realizing the higher significance of that glorious effulgence, hailed it as the herald of him who was indeed to become the light of the whole world. John the Baptist also made his abode in the wilderness, despite his sense of the great significance of the announcement which he was called to make to mankind.
In the fourth chapter of Matthew we find the record of an incident surpassing in its significance all other wilderness experiences. There we read that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to undergo that which is commonly known as our Lord's temptation; in other words, that period of withdrawal from the disturbing influences of everyday life during which he set himself to ponder over the problem of good versus evil, of reality versus unreality, undisturbed by the opinions of the worldly wise or the deceptive suggestions of the materially minded, but face to face with God.
It is worthy of note that even at a later period in his career, Jesus, notwithstanding his spiritual growth and realization of the ever presence of the Father, drew apart from the crowd at certain special crises in order to meditate and to pray. In the fifth chapter of Matthew, for instance, we read of him, that "seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain" for the purpose of delivering unto his disciples that sublime address known to us as the Sermon on the Mount, which he intended to inculcate as the rule of life for the Christian; while in the sixth chapter of Mark we are told that when the apostles returned from that great special mission of healing on which they had been sent by Jesus, he said unto them, "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat."
Returning to the subject of the Master's great temptation, if anyone be led to wonder why Jesus, "the most scientific man that ever trod the globe" (Science and Health, p. 313), found it desirable to remove from the presence of his fellow men in order to prove the all-power of Spirit in overcoming evil, he will do well to remember that the Way-shower's advance in demonstration was progressive, as it is in the case of every one of us, and, indeed, was intended to be so for our encouragement and in order that we might learn that in divine Science, even as in what the world terms natural science, real knowledge is gained step by step.
Coming down to the present age when the light of true Christianity has once more shone forth upon a care-laden, weary world, which was growing increasingly skeptical as to the existence of any power capable of lifting it above its sorrows and perplexities, it can be truthfully said that equally with the inspired prophets of old and the Founder of Christianity our revered Leader, Mrs. Eddy, whose sublime mission it was to retrim the flickering lamp of spiritual truth and direct its rays upon mankind, retired into the wilderness in order to prepare herself for her task. She may not have physically secluded herself in a desert place, but that she purposely shut herself off for a protracted period from all worldly intercourse, entering the vestibule and closing the portal behind her, she herself tells us in the following passage in her book "Retrospection and Introspection" (p. 24): "I then withdrew from society about three years,—to ponder my mission, to search the Scriptures, to find the Science of Mind that should take the things of God and show them to the creature, and reveal the great curative Principle,—Deity."
It is not intended to suggest here that the Christian Scientist should play the hermit and cut himself off from all intercourse with his fellow men; for that would be, indeed, to act in direct opposition to the Master's injunctions, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," and, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works." What it is intended to convey is that in order to fit one's self for this all-important service a preliminary period of careful self-examination and preparation is essential; for he who undertakes to become an example to a critical world must assure himself as to his fitness for so sublime a task and carefully think out the line of conduct which he should pursue in order to avoid the errors and pitfalls of mere blind enthusiasm and impulsiveness of speech and action, which repel inquirers much more often than they attract them.
The most comforting assurance of all, however, that is offered to us in the record of our Lord's temptation and other similar experiences is that in every case whenever the period of seclusion for the purpose of communing with God results in a victory by the individual over error, whether the withdrawal be physical in its nature or a purely mental process, it is followed by the glorious sequel which is recorded by Matthew at the close of his account of the temptation, "Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him."
Only the Christian Scientist acquainted with Mrs. Eddy's illuminating definition of "Angels," given on page 581 of Science and Health, can realize the full significance and blessedness of such a visitation. We thus learn that whenever we break the bonds of material sense and go apart into the wilderness, animated by a sincere desire to know God and to prepare ourselves for the performance of "the whole duty of man," we shall invariably be helped. But that the struggle on such occasions is by no means a light one and that error is not soon discouraged in its insidious attempts upon us, is made very clear by the Master's experience; for we are told that even after he had successfully withstood the assaults of the devil during forty days and forty nights of fasting,—that is, of detachment from all the allurements of the material senses,—the tempter, nothing daunted, redoubled his efforts to seduce him from the path of rectitude. Nevertheless the Master's complete overcoming of every suggestion of evil shows that however pertinacious and seemingly irresistible evil may be it can always be finally vanquished by anyone who is sufficiently imbued with a consciousness of the omnipotence of God, good. Thus each one of us can, when the time comes, go forth confidently into the wilderness, there to meet and to overcome the tempter, fortified by the assurance that if our desire to withstand error is honest the angels of His presence will most certainly be there, in the first place to support us and then to reward us with that spiritual exaltation which results from a triumph over evil, and with that sense of peace which constitutes the fulfillment of the gracious promise uttered by the tender, loving Savior of mankind, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
