Article June 3, 1916 Issue

Called Out of Darkness

REV. CHARLES D. REYNOLDS

The Scriptures refer to light as a synonym for God, but more often God's manifestation in human consciousness is spoken of as light, and those having an understanding of God are constantly referred to as those having light, or as walking in light.

David said, "Thou art my lamp, O Lord," and we read again in the Psalms, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Speaking of the divine manifestation, John declared, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." Referring to the power of the spiritual understanding which he and his disciples were bringing to mankind, Jesus said to them, "Ye are the light of the world," and of himself, "I am the light of the world." Paul, writing in the same strain to the converts at Philippi, said, "Ye shine as lights in the world," and it was he who testified that he saw a light at midday "above the brightness of the sun." Peter refers to the redemptive power of the light revealed by Jesus and the feeling of gratitude it inspires in those who have been called "out of darkness, into his marvelous light."

In Christian Science the term is figuratively used in the same way to denote spiritual understanding and to illustrate its transforming work in human consciousness. When this understanding comes to human sense, its first impression is that of light. The perception of spiritual truth brings with it an illumination that can be best described by the impression produced by light on one who has been in darkness. The legitimate and only possible effect produced by light is to reveal that which is invisible because of the darkness. The relation between light and darkness illustrates the relation between spiritual understanding and the testimony which the material senses seem to present. The power of light demonstrates the fact that what appears to the senses to be darkness is in fact not a reality or entity, but an illusion.

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