^ " Let there be light." This is at once the motto and the condition of all progress that is worthy of the name. From chaos into order, from slumber into wakefulness, from torpor into the glow of life — yes, and " from strength to strength " ; it has been a condition of progress that there should be light. God saw the light, that it was good.
2. The Bible is not a handbook of science, and it matters little to us whether its narrative concerning the origin of the world meets the approval of the learned or not. The truths which it enfolds are such as science can neither displace nor disprove, and which, despite the strides which we have made, are yet as im- portant to mankind as on the day when first they were proclaimed. Over the portal that leads to the sanctuary of Israel's faith is written, in characters that cannot be effaced, the truth which has been the hope and stay of the human race, the source of all its bliss and inspiration, " the fountain light of all our day, the master light of all our seeing"; it is the truth that there is a central light in the universe, a power that in the past has wrought with wisdom and purposive intelligence the order and harmony of this world of matter, and has shed abroad in the human heart the creative spark which shall some day make aglow this mundane sphere with the warmth and radiance of justice, truth, and loving- kindness. " Let there be light : and there was light."
^ Let me recall to your remembrance the solemnity and magnificence with which the power of God in the creation of the universe is depicted ; and here I cannot possibly overlook that passage of the sacred historian, which has been so frequently commended, in which the importance of the circumstance and the greatness of the idea (the human mind cannot, indeed, well conceive a greater) are no less remarkable than the expressive brevity and simplicity of the language: — "And God said. Let there be light : and there was light." The more words you would
40 LET THERE BE LIGHT
accumulate upon this thought, the more you would detract from the sublimity of it ; for the understanding quickly comprehends the Divine Power from the effect, and perhaps most completely when it is not attempted to be explained ; the perception in that case is the more vivid, inasmuch as it seems to proceed from the proper action and energy of the mind itself. The prophets have also depicted the same conception in poetical language, and with no less force and magnificence of expression. The whole creation is summoned forth to celebrate the praise of the Almighty —
Let them praise the name of Jehovah; For He commanded, and they were created.
And in another place —
For He spoke, and it was;
He commanded, and it stood fast.*
3. In creation it was the drawing near of God, and the utter- ance of His word, that dispersed the darkness. In the Incarnation, the Eternal Word, without whom " was not anything made that was made," drew nigh to the fallen world darkened by sin. He came as the Light of the world, and His coming dispersed the darkness. On the first Christmas night this effect of the Incarna- tion was symbolized when to the " shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night . . . the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them," The message to the shepherds was a call to them and to the world, " Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the bright- ness of thy rising."
^ Thirty years ago last December I went to a place where they practised cannibalism, and before I left those people to go to New Guinea, and start a mission there, so completely were idolatry and cannibalism swept away that a gentleman who tried to get an idol to bring as a curiosity to this country could not find one ; they had all been burnt, or disposed of to other travellers. I saw these people myself leaving their cannibalism and their idolatry, and building themselves tolerably good houses. We had our
* B. Lowth, Lecture* on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews, 176.
GENESIS I. 2, 3 41
institutions among them, and I had the honour of training a number of young men as native pastors and pioneer teachers. What is the use of talking to me of failure ? I have myself baptized more than five thousand of these young people — does that look like failure? In thirteen or fourteen years these men were building houses and churches for themselves, and attending schools, and, if you have read the mission reports, you will know that some of them have gone forth as teachers to New Guinea, and across New Caledonia, and some of the islands of the New Hebrides. The people, too, have been contributing hand- somely to the support of the London Missionary Society, for the purpose of sending the Gospel, as they say, to the people beyond. They have seen what a blessing it has been, and their grand idea is to hand it on to those who are still in heathen darkness.^