Editorial May 18, 1918 Issue

Light and Gladness

Annie M. Knott

All through the Scriptures we find the idea of light associated with joy and gladness; and there is no teaching of the Master which we should so often recall as his command to let our light shine before men in order that our heavenly Father may be glorified. Immediately following this command, which is to be found in the fifth chapter of Matthew, are these words: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." The Master then warns us against the danger of breaking even one of the least of the commandments, and he insists that the righteousness of his followers must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees in any age.

This brings us back to the command, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works." At this point we may well recall Mrs. Eddy's words on page 510 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "Light is a symbol of Mind, of Life, Truth, and Love and not a vitalizing property of matter. Science reveals only one Mind, and this one shining by its own light and governing the universe, including man, in perfect harmony." Here it may be said that nothing else expresses the ever presence of infinite good so completely as does light; and when we think of light as dispelling darkness, we see that this action is instantaneous. This explains the immediateness of Jesus' healing work, and also the many remarkable cases of healing brought out in Christian Science through the understanding of the divine Principle of that work. These demonstrations would indeed tax the credulity of mortals, and can only be fully understood as the divine Science of man and the universe is recognized. To Christian Scientists the light of Truth is understood to be all; and the darkness which vanishes before the light requires no place in which to manifest itself, since it never was anything but a negation, although it seems very terrible to the human sense until the truth is known.

In Isaiah's prophecy we have the emphatic command, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." Many times each day the Christian Scientist may with profit recall these words, especially when the clouds of sense seem to obscure for him the light. Let us assume that he is tempted to be impatient because of the error manifested by some one, by the mortal beliefs of selfishness, dullness, and opposition to truth; or it may be even the sorrowful beliefs which at this period are so much in evidence, and when the utter powerlessness of mortal mind to remedy the ills which afflict humanity is so apparent. Then here is the highest opportunity to do good and at the same time to bring joy and gladness into one's own life. "Arise, shine; for thy light is come." "Let your light so shine" that the clouds of sense, whatever their nature, may be instantaneously dispelled, for the light itself will do the work if only we are willing to reflect it.

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