Article March 8, 1913 Issue

"THAT HE MAY RUN."

MARY JAMES ARNOLD.

Many of the popular phrases in general use today may be found in the Bible. Some have retained their original meaning; others have become so changed in their journey through time, that the lesson which is clear in the Scriptural statement now brings us only a shadow of its original significance. To cite an example: It is well that all of good shall be writ so large that "he that runs may read," but how much more strength and power pertains to the original command of God as voiced by Habakkuk: "Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it."

It is told how the Samaritan woman at the well, being convinced in her own thought that Jesus was the long-expected Messiah, went at once into the city to bear the good news to her brethren. Again, we read that the two Marys, on learning from the angel messenger of the Master's resurrection, "did run to bring his disciples word." What was the vision, the revelation, glimpsed by the Samaritan woman, and further unfolded to the women at the tomb of Jesus, which was of such importance that all who read (received) it hastened so joyously to share it? Habakkuk describes it in these words: "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Today, as never before since the early Christian era, the vision of the healing power of Truth is being writ large upon the tables of thought. In all lines of human activity men are seeking for that which uplifts and purifies, with love for God and man as watchwords in their progress. "He that runs may read" the result of these efforts for reform in the improved mental, moral, and physical conditions which we see about us; and conversely, it is well that "he may run that readeth it,"—run and bear swiftly to heart-sick humanity the joyful message that "God, the divine Principle of harmony, is ever with men, and they are His people" (Science and Health, p. 573).

This is the message (vision) which Christian Science has brought to the world: that God, good, is indeed all-power, as the Bible teaches; that man, as God's reflection, has full power and authority from his Maker to be honest, pure, and true, to express only those qualities which are godlike; that the evils — sin, disease, death—which burden mankind are the results of a wrong concept of God and man; hence, as men learn to know God as Truth and Life, these evils will lessen until they finally disappear. Of what practical import is the message? In the home, the assurance that harmony is real and discord unreal begins at once to eliminate selfishness and worry, replacing these with peace and joy. In the office, the knowledge that divine Mind governs, disarms criticism, establishes order, and assures friendly relations between workers. In the workshop, the reliance upon God as the only activity, lessens friction and fear of accident, and brings in promptness, steadfastness, and reliability.

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