«^^h/l l/» '''^"^^?^*'°" °' "^^ ^'S^^" TwicS the phrase thy light is employed; once to mean the light which is thine because it shmes on thee ; once to mean the light which is thine because it shmes from thee. The other word, three times repeated for rismg is the techmcal word which expresses the sunrise and IS applied both to the flashing glory that falls upon Zion and to the hght that gleams from her. Touched by the sun, she becomes heaSsi '"^ ^^^^"^ ^"^ * splendour that draws men's
1. "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead" Here we have an exhortation to the dead. It is addressed to them by God, who is the Giver of life. It is the first of all exhortations. When the dead hear the voice of God they come forth. The moment that Jesus spoke that word of power to the man who had his dwelHng among the tombs, that moment the man felt that he must obey. He became alive unto God for evermore. And not only alive for evermore, but also a witness for God, a witness to His power to raise the dead.
Go home and tell thy friends " ; and he went.
2. The present passage may come next— "Arise, shine; for thy light IS come." This is not the voice of God the Creator. It 18 the voice of Jehovah, the covenant God. He speaks to His own people with whom He has made a perpetual covenant, that they will reflect His light and glorify Him upon earth.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven " « God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
r.u ^^^rt ''^'^%' °''''^' ^° ^ meeting I was addressing, a brother who had been, for years, earnest after the ordinary fashion of Chnstian young men, and the Lord so guided me that I spoke about the usefulness that some young men might acquire if they would but bestir themselves. I urged the desirability of some attempting to preach in the street, who might find their gifts
S^S ;;\\' ^^^^Y°?•. "^^^^ ^^'^ :^^^^g ^^^ ^^^t back and tried what he could do for Christ, and God greatly blessed him.
^ A. Maclaren.
436 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
That young man was Mr. W. P. Lockhart, of Liverpool, who is at this moment pastor of the church meeting m the Toxteth Tabernacle, a large edifice erected by the people whom he gathered by his preaching. Our friend has, with much acceptance, occupied this pulpit, and been of great service to our denomination; but, if it had not been for God's awakening him under that particular address, he might have remained just the ordinary trader that he was, serving the Lord in a very proper way, but nothing noteworthy might have come of it.^
3. "Arise and be doing" (1 Ch. xxii. 16). This comes third because it directs us to some definite way of letting our light shine. It may be "Arise and build," as in 1 Ch. xxii. 19, Neh. ii. 20, there being so many who give their life to pulling down rather than to building up. Or it may be " Arise and go to Nineveh," as the command came to Jonah (i. 2, iii. 2), that we may do some- thing which demands faith and self-control. This is the voice of the Lord the King.
4. Last of all we hear the voice of the tender friend. He speaks from the humble supper-room where He deigns to hold fellowship with His own : " Arise, let us go hence " (John xiv. 31). He calls us now to the fellowship of His sufferings, that we may be made conformable unto His death.
1[ I heard M. Monod say last year at Keswick, mourning as he was the death of his wife, which had taken place only a fortnight before • " As the gates seem to open, and the Master's voice is heard saying, ' Arise, come away,' it is never going alone, or to be alone, but it is ' Let us go hence.' " ^
IL
Shine.
If we are light, we shall be able to shine ; if we are light, we are bound to shine ; if we are light, we shall want to shine.
1. If we have light we shall he able to shine. — Any man can manifest what he is, unless he is a coward. Any man can talk about the things that are interesting to him, if only they are interesting to him. Any man that knows Jesus Christ can say 80 ; and perhaps the utterance of the simple personal conviction is
1 C. H. Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No. 2617, p. 170. ' H. W. "Webb-Peploe, Calls to Holiness, p. 191.
ISAIAH 437
the best method of proclaiming His name. All other things are surplusage. They are good when they come, they may be done without. Learning, eloquence, and the like of these, are the adornments of the lamp, but it does not matter whether the lamp be a gorgeous affair of gilt and richness, or whether it be a poor piece of black tin ; the main question is : are there wick and oil in it ? The pitcher may be gold and silver, or costly crystal or marble, or it may be a poor potsherd. Never mind. If there is water in it, it will be precious to a thirsty lip. And so, every Christian man has the power, if he be a Christian, to proclaim his Master ; and if he has the Light, he will be able to show it. This suggests for us the condition of all faithful and effectual witness for Jesus Christ. Cultivate understanding and all other faculties as much as you like ; but remember this, the fitness to impart is to possess, and that being taken for granted, the main thing is secured. As long as the electric light is in contact with the battery so long does it burn. Electricians have been trying during the TJp past few years to make accumulators, things in which they I t can store the influence and put it away in a corner and use it C» so that the light need not be in connection with the battery; m' and they have not succeeded ; at least, it is only a very partial | \ success. You and I cannot start accumulators. Let us remember personal contact is power, and only the personal contact. Arise, shine.