The Messiah ANNIE M. KNOTT, CSD         In many of the large cities in the United States the well-known oratorio called "The Messiah" is given each year about Christmas time. At the close of 1918 it was given in Boston by the Handel and Haydn Society, and the announcement was made that it was exactly one hundred years since it was first heard in this city. It was hardly necessary to remind the large audience assembled in Symphony Hall, close to The Mother Church, that for many reasons the oratorio would have a deeper, grander appeal than ever before, a promise which was fully realized by those who were privileged to listen. For a moment it was almost startling to find that the opening music was not that of the overture, but instead the "Star Spangled Banner." In an instant the great audience was on its feet and joined the chorus in singing rapturously its patriotic strains. One Christian Scientist who was present looked up at the flag itself through a mist of tears, and gave thanks that wherever it waved, on land or sea, it carried some message of the Messiah, inspiring the world anew with holier ideals of justice and right, and the dawn of a brotherhood which would prove no mere dream but a glad awakening to the glorious things which God hath prepared.          The opening solo of the oratorio which begins, "Comfort ye my people, saith your God," had truly a deeper meaning than ever before, especially the passage, "Make straight in the desert a highway for our God." It was very clear that real comfort comes to men and nations only as they follow obediently the straight way of Truth, which ever leads out of the barren deserts of mortal belief. How good it is to assure ourselves that "every valley shall be exalted," not alone a few of them, but every one, and that the crooked ways and things shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. To the student of Christian Science the words, "I will shake all nations," had a most profound meaning, in view of recent events, and whatever the future may hold for us of further shakings, we cannot forget that thus alone is the way prepared for the coming of the Messiah with all that this implies.          To those of us who greatly love the Hebrew people because their fathers were so long the sole custodians of spiritual truth, it was good to listen to the beautiful aria, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion: shout, O daughter of Jerusalem," and it is true that many of these people have already begun to rejoice greatly because the Messiah has come to them in Christian Science, not only with a promise of healing, but with the healing itself, which is for all men and nations whose eyes are opened to behold the ever presence of God and His Christ, — infinite Mind, and Mind's glorious idea. On page 482 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy says: "Jesus was the highest human concept of the perfect man. He was inseparable from Christ, the Messiah, — the divine idea of God outside the flesh;" and when this ever present Christ is understood in Christian Science, we can readily assent to Paul's statement to the Colossians: "There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision "nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all."          This truth once reached, generic man is perceived, — man as God knows him, above all the distinctions and limitations of race, time, and place. With this in thought, that most beautiful solo which begins, "I know that my Redeemer liveth," finds its echo in the heart. Truth sweeps aside the tangled web of creed and dogma and rests upon the basis of the one Mind, one God, and the deathless man as the true likeness of God. The solo just mentioned closes with the lines, "Now is Christ risen from the dead, the first fruits of them that sleep." To the student of Christian Science it is very significant that the next solo, taken from Paul's words to the Corinthians, tells that "we shall not all sleep; but we shall all be changed," and this great change goes on in human experience from day-to-day as the mortal, material sense of man gives place to the understanding of man as revealed in the deathless words and glorious works of Christ Jesus, who so truly made known to humanity in his day the Messiah. Strange as it may seem, however, the world denied the Christ, and although there were many who were willing to lay their lives, their all, upon the altar of Truth then and for several centuries, the teachings of Jesus were largely obscured by material beliefs until the light was again perceived by one who was divinely prepared to recognize and accept it, and what is more to give it to the world anew under divine guidance in such a way that it can never again be lost.          The revelation of divine Truth, given through Mrs. Eddy's inspired teachings, has opened up the Scriptures in such a way that it needs not any music to make its appeal to the one who has felt the healing touch of the ever present Christ, but there are, nevertheless, none who are more deeply touched by the oratorio of the Messiah than the students of Christian Science. It may be said, however, that when the Hallelujah chorus was given it seemed as if its strains must carry its divine message the whole world over, and it was certain that all who were present, singers and listeners, felt its meaning as never before. If we are ever tempted to be troubled in the year that lies before us, we need but remember that "the Lord God omnipotent reigneth," that the kingdoms of this world have in very deed become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and that through His word, "He shall reign for ever and ever; KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."   "The Messiah" by Annie M. Knott, CSD Christian Science Sentinel, January 11, 1919

 

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