"AWAKE THOU THAT SLEEPEST"

WILLIAM HOLMAN JENNINGS.

The modern English word "wake" is from the Anglo-Saxon wacan, arise. Then the word of Jesus to Jairus' daughter, "Damsel, I say unto thee, Arise," could be rendered in plain English, Young woman, I say unto thee, Wake up. And the Master's word to the sick of the palsy, "Arise and walk," could be read, Wake up and walk. In the case of Lazarus, Jesus said, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep;" but, to meet the dull senses of the disciples the Master finally said, "Lazarus is dead."

The psalmist sang, "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness." In this text man's perfect state of being in God is declared, and also the way of salvation. God is perfect, therefore the real man is perfect. If any illusion of imperfection is upon us, we need to awake to the perfection of man in God, and so be disillusioned and have our waking thoughts bright with the praise of "perfect God and perfect man" (Science and Health, p. 259). Thus sin, sickness, and death are shown to be but ugly dreams that attend those who are asleep and dead in the senses. The way out is to wake to the perfection of God and man, and the spiritual law and order, to see the kingdom of heaven on earth and everywhere else,—God's will and law working on earth as it is in heaven. In other words, heaven is universal and eternal, and we must awake to this fact of present and eternal and universal harmony.

And how shall we wake up? By knowing the truth! God, Mind, Spirit, never slumbers nor sleeps, and the real and spiritual man in God's likeness never sleeps, but like God is ever conscious and always active. If, then, the real man is always awake, mortals must need the awakening, but how are they to be waked up? The most natural way to wake up is to let the light awaken us; so truth is the light which wakes men to the perfect and divine, the Life which is God. We read in Isaiah, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." The voice is another wakener of men. We speak to sleeping children, we tell them to wake up, and Mrs. Eddy says that the disciples were "wakened by their Master's voice" (Science and Health, p. 35).

A study of the words "to wake" and "to awake" in the Bible and in Science and Health will yield much fruit in practice. It is not wise to save the student the work and profit of a careful study of these words in our text-books, but we venture to note these texts from Science and Health: "If sickness and sin are illusions, the awakening from this mortal dream, or illusion, will bring us into health, holiness, and immortality;" and again, "If it becomes necessary to startle mortal mind to break its dream of suffering, vehemently tell your patient that he must awake" (pp. 230, 420). Verily, as Paul says, "it is high time to awake out of sleep." Again he says, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." We read that when Peter and John "were awake, they saw his glory." Let us all be wide-awake men and women, "awake to righteousness,"—to the eternal righteousness, the universal perfection of all things in God. As we awake and walk in the light of Life eternal and Truth universal, we shall reflect and radiate the glory and splendor of God in the majesty and power of the Godlike man.

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