As a woman traveled alone one night through the countryside, with utter darkness behind, to the right and to the left, and with the headlights of her car penetrating but a little of the gloom ahead, she thought, "How symbolic of my human experience right now." Since she was a student of Christian Science and was earnestly seeking God's guidance, His presence and care were immediately made manifest by the following angel message: Darkness was powerless to impede her progress as long as light was focused on the highway. Though no other rays of light appeared in the darkness with which she was surrounded, still she realized gratefully that all the light necessary had been provided and would enable her to reach the haven of home, where she was expected and needed.
With joy she acknowledged it could be equally true of her human experience. She would henceforth look away from the darkness and more diligently follow the light of Truth and Love, and surely all would be well. She never forgot the promise of that night, and as she followed faithfully the light of Truth, the promise was fulfilled and gloom passed into radiance.
Isaiah promised (35:8, 10): "An highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness... And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."
Had the traveler on the deserted road stopped and wondered when the darkness would lift, what was taking place in it, and then waited for someone to dispel it, what would she have gained? Had she been appalled by the largeness of the darkness and the smallness of the light, her arrival home would have been prevented.
The darkness that would engulf us does not come from God. He commanded (Gen. 1:3), "Let there be light: and there was light." What is of God is established forever. God's light cannot be temporal, fragmentary, momentary, incomplete, for it is spiritual. It is omnipresent, and all of God's equally loved sons are included in it. His light seems absent to us only when our eyes are closed to the presence of good. Obscurity, induced by ignorance and error, must be dispelled by the understanding of God and of man's relationship to Him. Then we behold distinctly the spiritual and real. The shadows of sin, sorrow, sickness, and death, which have loomed large and frightening at midnight, are proved in the light of Truth to be lifeless and mindless.
In "Retrospection and Introspection" Mary Baker Eddy speaks of a midnight hour in her experience and of the blessings which were found in it. In the article entitled "Emergence into Light," she writes (p. 23): "The world was dark. The oncoming hours were indicated by no floral dial. The senses could not prophesy sunrise or starlight. Thus it was when the moment arrived of the heart's bridal to more spiritual existence. When the door opened, I was waiting and watching; and, lo, the bridegroom came! The character of the Christ was illuminated by the midnight torches of Spirit."
The blackness of mortality is dispelled by the coming of the Christ, Truth, to consciousness. It is the character or nature of the Christ to come to us where we are, in a manner we can understand, to comfort, encourage, enlighten. Let us be willing and ready to grasp the "torches of Spirit"— admit the spiritual into consciousness. The "torches of Spirit," lit by gratitude and praise, held high by consecration, perseverance, and fidelity, reveal the love of God. Instead of being a long way off as we had feared, heaven is shown to be here. We awake at home in a realm where Love is law, good is infinite, and evil has neither place, nor presence, nor power.
The midnight hour is no time for doubt, fear, speculation, hesitation. It is no time for wavering between the material and spiritual, the human and the divine. It is the hour when error would rob us of our most precious gems of faith: expectancy of and gratitude for good and clear understanding. Yes, the robber would even declare that what it is taking away is of no value. To come safely through the darkest hours demands constant tending of the truth and faithful following in the way till we reach home, heaven.
A student of Christian Science watched as her husband suffered through an illness, the symptoms of which argued that death was inevitable. As he lay unconscious, with day and night nurses in attendance, the material evidence grew increasingly frightening, though a consecrated practitioner was faithfully working.
It had been the custom of the student to come to the sickroom each morning and read the Lesson-Sermon as outlined in the Christian Science Quarterly to the nurse and patient, though the latter had been unconscious for a number of days. One morning as she entered the room, death seemed imminent. The suggestion came to the student that she did not have the strength to read the lesson and that it would seem just words. Vehemently she rejected this lie with the assertion that all she could read in the Bible and in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy was true and that the truth was what was needed to overcome the material sense testimony.
The subject for the lesson that week was "Spirit," and the Golden Text was from John (4:24): "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." After repeating this aloud, she added: "To worship Him truly, Spirit must be acknowledged as All, and only that which is spiritual is real and true. Then why are we concerned about matter?" She was grateful that matter had nothing to do with her loved one's individuality and identity, for they were of Spirit. She saw clearly that matter poisoned or purified, weak or strong, conscious or unconscious, dead or alive, was all misconception, illusion, and therefore was not of God, Mind. Certainly Spirit had no need of matter to express the spiritual.
Strengthened, uplifted, and no longer afraid of matter's doings, she read the entire lesson. At its conclusion she approached the side of the bed, reaffirming audibly the allness of Spirit. The patient was now conscious, and firmly and gratefully repeated other statements from the lesson and agreed with them. From then on he remained conscious; improvement was evidenced and continued until the complete healing was realized.
Later the student learned that the practitioner had consistently and constantly affirmed the allness of Spirit and the nothingness of matter; and the light, so clear and bright in his thought, had helped to guide the student and her husband through the darkness of error into spiritual light. Truly the "torches of Spirit," burning through the midnight hour, illuminated for them the character of the Christ.
Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong,
fear not: behold, your God will come...and
save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be
opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and
the tongue of the dumb sing.—Isaiah 35:4-6.
