Article November 20, 1909 Issue

OUT OF DARKNESS INTO LIGHT

FANNY CARSTARPHEN BRADY.

We read in the first epistle of John that "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all;" and in Genesis, that "God created man in his own image." I had been reared very carefully in an orthodox faith and was taught by God-loving parents to read and study the Bible every day; but when quite a child my eyes began to trouble me, and they became worse as I grew older, until finally I could not see to read at all. After a while I became totally blind, and one of the finest oculists in the country said I would never see again. I then pondered very much the beautiful verses above quoted, but to me they seemed very contradictory, for if God was light at all times, and if man was made in God's own image, how could man for one instant be in darkness? Yet here was I, living in total darkness. I believed that I was made in God's image, and that God is light, and yet I seemed to be a manifestation of darkness. The more I pondered these two quotations, the more perplexed I became, until I gave up in despair.

After several oculists had pronounced my case hopeless, I was persuaded to try Christian Science. I had no faith that it would heal me, but I was told that Christian Scientists have a wonderful understanding of God, and I was perfectly willing to pay for this spiritual understanding, although it might never heal me. When they began to read to me from their text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, I saw at once that it gave the true interpretation of the Bible, and when they read the statement on page 504, "The rays of infinite Truth, when gathered into the focus of ideas, bring light instantaneously, whereas a thousand years of human doctrines, hypotheses, and vague conjectures emit no such effulgence," it dawned upon my consciousness slowly but surely that this divine light was represented by a state of consciousness which included the entire universe; that God must be absolutely unconscious of anything unlike Himself; that being All-in-all, there could be nothing else; and all His ideas have always existed, did exist now, and would always exist, perfect,—even as the Father in heaven is perfect. I saw that as God had made all, there could be no other authority or power,—God being the only power,—and to claim that man ever was or could be sick or sinful was a denial of the truth.

As this wondrous spiritual light dawned on my consciousness, the physical sense of sight came to my eyes, and I was perfectly healed of blindness. I, however, found that to remain healed I must dwell in this state of consciousness wherein I had proven to the material senses, so called, that "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." I saw that in my religious life, my home life, my social and business life, I must not for one instant see or acknowledge as real any life or light but that of God, Spirit. It is now over twelve years since I began the study of Christian Science, and all these years I have continually read and studied these two books, the Bible and Science and Health, and have endeavored to live according to their teachings. My eyes have remained perfectly healed, for which I lovingly thank God, and I am deeply grateful to our Leader, Mrs. Eddy.

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OUT OF DARKNESS INTO LIGHT

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