The victorious Christ is always present, and its redemptive power is forever available to men. We can be faced with no insoluble human problem, because the light of the Christ is eternally revealing to us God's supremacy. As we turn to this light, accept it, and utilize it, we behold the spiritual fact that good is real and evil unreal; that health, purity, justice, and joy are as continuous as the constancy of the divine Love which gives us these good gifts.

Glorious experiences of liberation through spiritual enlightenment are recorded in the Bible, many of which came at the darkest hours, when evil appeared most active and powerful and the supremacy of good was being aggressively challenged by material sense testimony. One of Jesus' parables (Matt. 25:1–12) likens the kingdom of heaven to ten virgins who "took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bride-groom," the five wise virgins taking "oil in their vessels with their lamps." While awaiting his coming, the virgins all slept, and the lamps of the five unwise virgins went out.

Mary Baker Eddy defines "oil" in the Glossary in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 592), as "consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heavenly inspiration." As we reflect these God-given qualities, we gain the spiritual light which enables us to recognize the presence of God, Love, of fulfillment and fruition, and the midnight darkness begins to disappear in the glory of this light.

We learn from the sad failure of the five foolish virgins, unable to borrow oil at the midnight hour, that each of us needs constantly to replenish his lamp with oil, consecration and inspiration. No one else can live the truth for us. Each must go to the source of spiritual qualities, which is Soul or God, recognize his oneness with that source, and value the oil sufficiently to buy it for himself; in other words, earnestly seek the light which enables him to demonstrate Christlike qualities in his human experience.

When the lamp of consecration and heavenly inspiration is aglow in our consciousness, we more fully realize the presence and power of the Christ, which illumines the midnight hour and dispels the sense of apathy. "In Christian Science the midnight hour will always be the bridal hour, until 'no night is there,'" our Leader tells us (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 276). "The wise," she continues, "will have their lamps aglow, and light will illumine the darkness. Out of the gloom comes the glory of our Lord, and His divine Love is found in affliction. When a false sense suffers, the true sense comes out, and the bridegroom appears. We are then wedded to a purer, higher affection and ideal."

Oftentimes when a human experience seems critical and our thoughts may have become darkened by apprehension and discouragement, God's angel messages come assuring us that evil is but a fallacious suggestion that good is not present, substantial, or active. And as we persistently and confidently hold to the reality of good, evil's pretense to presence and power fades from human thought, and its consequent outward manifestation of sickness, sin, poverty, or heartache disappears.

In the sixteenth chapter of Acts we read that Paul and Silas had a glorious proof of liberation. Their freedom also came at the midnight hour, when their human situation appeared dark and hopeless. They were in prison, even the inner prison, with their feet locked in the stocks. The carnal mind's opposition to Christ, Truth, which these brave men were bringing to their hearers, had imprisoned and bound them. Instead of being overwhelmed by the blackness of this human picture, Paul and Silas proved that their confidence in the goodness and power of God was stronger than any argument of evil.

At the midnight hour they prayed, and evidently prayed with joyous conviction, because we are told that they also "sang praises unto God." And this victorious rejoicing was so mighty that bonds were loosed and prison doors opened not only for them, but for all the other prisoners as well. The blessing extended even to the keeper of the prison, who became so convinced of God's power and the truth of the Christ-teaching that he and all his family were baptized.

We too can face the midnight experiences in our own lives with so great a love for God that we trust Him completely and lean on His guidance and care so confidently that we shall sing His praises, whatever the claim of evil may appear to be. The result for us will be the same freedom and victory which have always come to those who love God supremely and are faithful to His law.