What is a man of faith? Mrs. Eddy shows us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 23) that faith is an active spiritual quality, whose existence can be proved by demonstration. She says true faith "demands self-reliant trustworthiness, which includes spiritual understanding and confides all to God." Surely, then, Noah may be called a man of faith. From his birth he seems to have been dedicated to serve and comfort the world; while the various experiences of his human childhood and manhood appear but to have developed in him a greater realization of the transitory nature of material things, and a stronger faith in the permanency and immortality of that which is spiritual.
It was this faith and spiritual understanding that gave Noah whatever power he had to resist evil, so that he could do God's saving work when the time came. This time came when the Adam-dream had multiplied and the false testimony of the senses increased, till "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil" and had begotten greater evils, until "there were giants in the earth in those days." Having no basis in Truth, they contained the elements of self-destruction. As error multiplied, it corrupted the earth; for deterioration had already set in, and violence and strife were the natural results. Fear had overtaken them.
But Spirit is never without its witness. Throughout all this turmoil of so-called mortal mind, Noah was not deluded by the seeming power of material things. Through his recognition of the powerlessness of evil and his faith in good, he became a witness of Spirit, of the governing power of omnipotence. Every trial of his faith but made it stronger, until he was able to express God's protecting power in an ark of safety that would ride the waves of error and withstand whatever storm mortal belief might claim to produce. This ark, conceived by divine inspiration, —the command of God,—Noah built while as yet the flood had not overtaken them. Steadily, day by day, its building went on, despite human laws and opinions, despite mockeries and railings, according to measurements of righteousness as given by God. Thus Noah proved for all time that by adhering to divine Principle, measuring our work by the divine standard, as far as we are able, our Father does open the way for its accomplishment. He showed that nothing can hinder one if he obey the truth that is in him; for, as John declares, "Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world."
