Editorial January 2, 1904 ISSUE

Revivals

K.

In the book of Habakkuk, that old Hebrew classic which challenges the admiration of modern poets with its sublime imagery, we find the petition, "byline" That even one was wont to pray thus, gives proof that the sacred light of Truth was burning, if but dimly, and that ever anon the prophetic spirit breaks forth to awaken mortals from the long dream of materiality.

Paul reminds us that God has never left "Himself without witness," and as the ages roll on they are marked by revivals,—that quickening to human thought and spiritual interest which finds expression in art, in literature, in religion, and in the higher ideals of life. The word "revive" has the following definitions: to give new life; to recover from a state of oblivion, obscurity, or neglect; to bring into action after a suspension. In this broad sense the prophets were all revivalists, and to the extent that they were heeded, the people recognized the Divine presence in their deliverance from sin and sickness, and in their national prosperity and peace.

When Jesus came to revive the work of Truth he did so in a more effective way than had ever been known before. He never failed, however, to recognize what had been done by those who preceded him, and he began his public ministry by declaring in the synagogue, that the prophecy of Isaiah which he had read was fulfilled in his work. He frequently reminded them of the lofty hopes which had centered about the birth of their nation, and said that not a jot or tittle should pass from its law till all was fulfilled. Not only did he carry his revival of true religion into the hearts and the homes of the people, but he went into the very temple and there he rebuked and cast out that which symbolized the worship of mammon,—then he healed the sick therein by the power of the Word, and thus revived Truth's work in that age; and it is a sad thing that it should ever have been lessened, ever have ceased, since without the demonstration of the divine activity, humanity inevitably drifts into moral and social chaos.

In our time there has come a mighty revival of spiritual understanding which bids fair to gather up all the treasures of the kingdom of good, and bring them within the reach of those who love Truth's appearing. As the centuries have passed, many have longed for a revival of true spirituality, but for lack of the right knowledge it has not come. Says Lowell,—

Many loved Truth, and lavished life's best oil
Amid the dust of books to find Her,
Content at last, for guerdon of their toil,
With the cast mantle She hath left behind Her.

Not so the prophet who prayed that God's work would be revived, and who at the same time declared, "The Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him." Not so those who understand and love the Christ Science which proclaims the eternal fact that spirit fills the universe, and that material sense must "keep silence" before God. "Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord."

It is interesting to note how all-embracing is our sense of brotherhood when we are revived by Spirit. In the light of Christian Science men awaken to a brotherhood which includes all the children of God, and this is significant. That Enoch "walked with God" is of vital importance for him who is learning how he too may walk with god, and find with the patriarch eternal Life.

In our individual experience the revival of Truth's work is greatly needed, for mortal sense would dull the hopes of youth, would check the heavenward aspirations, and quench the light of love in the disappointments of advancing years. When, however, we are revived by the understanding of Truth, our hopes reach infinitude, our aspirations lay hold upon nothing less than the realization of the Christ ideal for ourselves and others, and

We find the joy of loving, as we never loved before,
Loving on unchilled, unhindered, loving once forevermore.

"In the midst of the years" has come this glorious revival of truth, and its Leader has said, "One moment of divine consciousness, as the spiritual understanding of Life and Love, is a foretaste of eternity" (Science and Health, p. 599).

K.
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