Editorial November 29, 1913 Issue

"Awake thou"

John B. Willis

There are few passages of Scripture that are richer in intimations than the word of the Lord spoken by Isaiah, saying, "Come now, and let us reason together." Were one man to say to another, "Come, let us consider this matter," we should at once understand several things, to wit, that the speaker recognized a difference in point of view; that he respected the intelligence of the one addressed; that he had analyzed and apprenhended the subject in question to his own satisfaction; that he felt sure an agreement could be arrived at if all the facts were but calmly considered, and that he made his appeal with the hope and expectation that unity of thought and action would be reached through the exercise of a common intelligence.

And now do not these words uttered by the prophet mean all this? In them are not you and I asked to put to use a present capacity to get at the root of our problems and solve them by knowing the truth, the law of our being, as it is embraced in the divine consciousness? This is the contention of Christian Science, and what an inspring stimulus to thought! That the attitude of divine Love revealed in the prophet's words is constant, is more clearly indicated perhaps in that remarkable passage in Revelation which reads, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock"! Think of it! The divine intelligence patiently waiting for the welcome which will make it possible to impart to us its riches! The entire "wisdom literature" of the Old Testament represents God as thus appealing for recognition at the door of human consciousness, and this gives one a better understanding of the meaning of Mrs. Eddy's demand for "a fuller acknowledgment of the rights of man as a Son of God" (Science and Health, p. 226).

When we individually compass the deeper significance of the divine appeal that we "reason together" with God, infinite Truth, the exalted possibilities and privileges pertaining to our spiritual selfhood appear, and we gain a new sense of man's dignity and of the incongruity of any identification with or consent to the selfishness and sensuality, the pride and pettiness, the ignorance and ignobility of material sense.

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November 29, 1913
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