An understanding faith is a listening quality of thought. It is that through which angels whisper. Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 482), "Angels announced to the Wisemen of old this dual appearing, and angels whisper it, through faith, to the hungering heart in every age."
Noah, through faith in the immortality of Spirit, listened and prepared the ark. Abraham, through faith in God as the guiding Principle of being, listened and journeyed toward the land of promise. Moses, through faith in God as the lawgiver, listened and gave to the world the Ten Commandments. Jesus made great demands upon the faith of his followers, and his own transcendent faith in God as the ever present Father enabled him to hear His word as the law of Life, annulling every claim of so-called material law with which he was confronted, Mrs. Eddy, through faith in God's word to His people as proclaimed in the promises of the Scriptures, put them to a practical test, and through this utilization of divine law, which resulted in her immediate recovery from a supposedly fatal injury, she caught the whisper of angels, defined in Science and Health (p. 581) as "God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality." Through this exalting experience she was enabled to draw a clear dividing line between Truth and error, Spirit and matter, Life and death, thus crowning the faith of a«es with the light of understanding. Her discovery revealed the star of this age, Christian Science, guiding mankind to Christ.
The Wisemen who followed the star of Bethlehem had faith in the spiritual idea, and, in fidelity to this heaven-sent vision, they held their eyes steadfastly to the guiding point of light. Their example is for all to follow. We, too, may catch the whisper of angels guiding safely through the surrounding gloom, if we will hold our gaze in unfaltering faith to the day-star of Christian Science. It is the guiding star of being, and as we lift our eyes to this light we are guided to the Christ. Should our gaze falter and drop to the contemplation of the earth fables through a belief in the reality of matter, and should we allow ourselves to listen to the confusing evidence of the material senses, pouring forth like a flood to drown the spiritual idea, we must, if we would resume our journey in safety, lift our eyes again to the star and abide faithfully in its light.
