Editorial December 30, 1905 Issue

"Thy light is come."

Annie M. Knott

While listening to the singing of "The Messiah" recently, a message from our beloved Leader to one of the branch churches, at the time of its dedication, was recalled, in which she quoted words, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." This message meant much then, and doubtless means more to-day, to all those who heard it, for Christian Science brings a marvelous illumination of the Scriptures and shows how their divine intent may be perceived and obeyed. Here we have the declaration that the "glory of the Lord" is present, and what must this mean to those who, according to sense-testimony, are in the darkness of sin or suffering? Does it mean that though this is an eternal fact it has no direct relation to their need? Far from it! The command, "Arise, shine;" surely implies the possibility of rising out of all wrong conditions and reflecting the divine light. It recalls the experience of blind Bartimeus, as he sat by the wayside begging and crying out for help to Jesus, who was passing; and when the Master responded to his appeal they said to him, "Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee."

To-day there are multitudes of the sick and heavy laden, blinded to the ever-presence of Christ, Truth, by traditional belief, and to such Christian Science says, "Rise, he calleth thee," "Arise, shine; for thy light is come," and gladly they hear and obey. In many of these cases it is a sweet surprise to learn that after they are themselves set free, other sufferers are healed by their simple declarations of the truth; and they marvel, but it all comes through obedience to the command to reflect the light. The Master warned his followers against putting their light under a bushel, and our Leader says, "Let us watch, work, and pray ... that this light be not hid, but radiate and glow into noontide glory" (Science and Health, p. 367). The light of divine Love is never absent, and through Christian Science mortals are being liberated from their long-time bondage to the belief in evil's reality and power, and they begin to see the things that are of God, the things that St. John saw when he declared that sickness, sin, and death had passed away.

Christian Science is very emphatic in its teaching that when the things of Spirit are revealed to us, then is the time to be up and doing, to rise out of indolence and selfishness,—to "shine." It should not be forgotten that in the prophetic vision it was when darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the people that the glorious light of the divine presence dawned upon them, and then was the command given, Arise, shine! The British admiral's signal to his forces, "England expects every man to do his duty," may well remind every Christian Scientist that in our great and momentous struggle for moral and spiritual freedom, the freedom which is to emancipate all mankind from sickness and sin, Truth's signal is ever the same.—"Arise, shine; for thy light is come."

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