A Light in a Dark Place
We have not followed cunningly devised fablesƒWe have a more sure word of prophecy; whereto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place. What a dark place the world is! Dark with mystery and misery. Mystery! Everywhere the world confronts us with mystery. We are compassed with it. The sky is heavy with it. The heart is oppressed with it. The poet refers to this when he writes- Misery! How great is the world's misery-with all its wants and woes, all its heart-breaking, all the tears it is shedding, all the burdens it is bearing, all the sorrows it is enduring, all its chaos, all its discomfort, all its failure, all its darkness! Dryden had this in mind when he wrote: "The gods from heaven survey the fatal strife, and mourn the miseries of human life." Mystery and misery. These make the world indeed "a dark place." Where shall we turn for light? "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Blessed Book of Light! How many millions of feet it has lighted along life's mysterious and wearisome pathway. What a light it sheds on the mystery of human sin, of human pain, of human inequalities, of human death, and all those great and pressing perplexities that make existence a puzzle. And there are the practical problems of everyday life, ever present to weary and harass the brain of man. What a light this blessed Book pours upon these problems. Who can tell of the multitudes it has comforted in their miseries and sorrows? Who can tell of the suffering it has alleviated, the heartaches it has soothed, the trials it has softened, the burdens it has lightened, the fears it has banished, the tears it has dried away, the clouds it has turned into sunshine! To a world groping in a bewilderment of mystery and misery, the Bible comes as a "sure word" of relief and hope-A LIGHT IN A DARK PLACE.
So runs my dream; but am I?
An infant crying in the night;
An infant crying for the light:
And with no language but a cry.
