Article January 29, 1910 Issue

LIGHT AND LAW

GEORGE C. PALMER.

The writer has found it helpful to realize the analogy which exists between the light of the moon shining on a dark night and the light of Love as presented to the students of Christian Science, turning them from the contemplation of a seemingly dark and sin-smitten world. In itself the moon gives forth not one ray of light wherewith to make glorious the "stilly night" or to charm the nightingale from his repose to sing the sweetest melodies. Were it not that the moon is in the sunlight beyond the reach of the earth's shadow, it would never be seen: and thus we may remember that if we voice human opinions of Truth, seek self-aggrandizement or popularity, we may seem to self to exist, but we emit no spark of light to darkened mortals who are often seeking and rejecting Truth at the same time.

If, on the other hand, we strive to see ourselves only as God sees all things, to speak when divine Principle requires, and always to act as the reflection of the Divine, we shall be led to perceive the meaning of Jesus' words, "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.... The same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me;" also of our Leader, who likens the manifestation of God through mortals to light shining through a windowpane, and says, "The mortal mind through which Truth appears most vividly is that one which has lost much materiality—much error—in order to become a better transparency for Truth" (Science and Health, p. 295).

While speaking of light and shadow, a thought is presented which helps me to understand St. Paul's words in Romans: "I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." To mortal sense the earth is always half dark and half light. Darkness seems to roll round and round, o'er each continent, ocean, and island, on an endless journey, although we know this is but a false sense of the actual condition. The sunlight also seems to travel round and round with unending regularity. It would be absurd to argue that because of the aggressive nature of the darkness the sunlight is compelled to shift its position in order to maintain its existence; but we may affirm, that the sunlight dispels the darkness and thus represents to us law, in that it expresses the outgoing or reflection of Principle.

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