3
4 THE LIGHT OF GOD'S WORD
course which thought and conduct should follow, and on the efforts which are necessary to that end. With the Word of God at hand, we should be in no doubt about the greatest practical question with which man has to deal : the true road to everlasting happiness in another life.
The Function of the Bible.
1. The text aptly describes the true function of the Holy Scriptures for the Christian soul. Their use in the first instance is practical, not speculative. It is in the earnest, devotional study of the Bible that we may look to obtain light. This is the use of it which all alike must make, whether child or peasant or philosopher, if they will become " wise unto salvation." The Bible was designed to be to us in our journey through life what
' a lantern is to a wayfarer who would pass in safety along a dangerous pathway during a dark night. He wants the light to fall upon the ground over which he must walk at each successive step. The illustration is simple enough, but not so the carrying out of the principle with which it deals. The ease or difficulty will vary with the disposition of those who use the Bible. They who seek to know the truth that they may walk in it, who would know the will of God that they may do it, shall never lack the light ; they will both perceive and know what things they ought to do. On the other hand, those who do not strive by God's help
A to live up to the light which they have, those who know what they ought to do and do not make the honest effort to do it, those who shrink from knowing their duty, or wish to get it altered — to such the sacred oracles give no message; no light from God's Word will fall upon their path. Such persons are like Saul, whom the Lord would not answer by Urim and Thummim. Let us but will to do God's will, and we shall never lack guidance in the way of duty.
^ The Society of Illuminating Engineers and others too have long sought for a light which would, by excluding the ultra- violet rays, become fog-penetrating. An inventor has just made the desired discovery, and produced an electric lamp which can penetrate the densest fog. The Bible in the world of the soul is
PSALM cxix. 105 5
such a lamp. It is effective alike by what it includes and by ^' what it excludes. The sincere, prayerful student of the sacred page will find his way through black and blinding illusions and delusions. Let me use it as " a lamp to my feet " for practical, personal uses ; not as a Chinese lantern, engaging the fancy by virtue of its artistry and imagery, but as a signal lamp on the railway, a Davy lamp in the mine, an electric lamp in the fog. And the more we apply the sacred truths to action and experi- ence, the more precious and luminous do they become. " The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he acts ' never acts," writes Amiel ; but, bringing the statutes, command- ments, and promises to bear on life, they become ever clearer, and more fully evince their divinity.^
^ Let no man confound the voice of God in His "Works with the voice of God in His Word ; they are utterances of the same infinite heart and will ; they are in absolute harmony ; together they make up "that undisturbed song of pure concent"; one " perfect diapason " ; but they are distinct ; they are meant to be so. A poor traveller, "weary and waysore," is stumbling in unknown places through the darkness of a night of fear, with no light near him, the everlasting stars twinkling far off in their depths, and the yet unrisen sun, or the waning moon, sending up their pale beams into the upper heavens, but all this is distant and bewildering for his feet, doubtless better much than outer darkness, beautiful and full of God, if he could have the heart to look up, and the eyes to make use of its vague light ; but he is miserable, and afraid, his next step is what he is thinking of ; a lamp secured against all winds of doctrine is put into his hands, it may in some respects widen the circle of darkness, but it will cheer his feet, it will tell them what to do next. What a silly fool he would be to throw away that lantern, or draw down the shutters, and make it dark to him, while it sits, " i' the centre and enjoys bright day," and all upon the philosophical ground that its light was of the same kind as the stars, and that it was beneath the dignity of human nature to do anything but struggle on and be lost in the attempt to get through the wilderness and the night by the guidance of those " natural " lights, which, though they are from heaven, have so often led the wanderer astray. The dignity of human nature indeed ! Let him keep his lantern till the glad sun is up, with healing under his wings. Let him take good heed to the " sure " Xoyov while in this ahyjinp^ ro'rnjj — this dark, damp, unwholesome place, " till the day dawn and puafopog — the day-star — arise." ^