^ J. Aitchison, A Bag with Holes, 105. 8 J. P. Lilley, The Pathway of Light, 63.
EPHESIANS V. 9 235
golden plovers, who in the evening ascend from slope to slope, as each becomes shaded by the intervening heights, until they are all collected on the very last ridge which the sun shines upon.^
Grant us Thy light, that we may learn
How dead is life from Thee apart; How sure is joy for all who turn
To Thee an undivided heart. Grant us Thy light, when, soon or late,
All earthly scenes shall pass away. In Thee to find the open gate
To deathless home and endless day.*
4. We must welcome the light and bask in it. "You are light in the Lord," the Apostle said ; " walk as children of the light." But his readers might ask : " What does this mean ? It is poetry : let us have it translated into plain prose. How shall we walk as children of the light ? Show us the path." " I will tell you," the Apostle answers — " the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Walk in these ways ; let your life bear this fruit ; and you will be true children of the light of God. So living, you will find out what it is that pleases God, and how joyful a thing it is to please Him (ver. 10). Your life will then be free from all complicity with the works of darkness. It will shine with a brightness, clear and penetrating, that will put to shame the works of darkness and transform the darkness itself. It will speak with a voice that all must hear, bidding them awake from the sleep of sin to see in Christ their light of life."
^ How eagerly the sunflower turns to the sun ! When the sun sets, and night falls, it folds up its leaves. But when the morning light comes once more, it opens up its bosom to its sweet, soft touch. Nor is this all ; it keeps inclining towards the sun all day, following its course through the sky.
^ Florence Nightingale tells, in her Notes on Nursing, how the patients in the hospitals turn towards the light. The light is life-giving, health-giving. It seems to draw the sufferers to itself.3
^ My purpose in writing to-day is to narrate a little and homely incident which occurred last night, and which touched me
^ J. A. St. John, A Tour in Sviherlandshire. ^ Jj. Tuttiett.
' A. G. Flfituing, Silver Wings, 77.
236 THE FRUIT OF THE LIGHT
not a little, leaving you to draw the moral. Taking a " constit- utional" before dinner in a drenching rain, I came up with a humble working man to whom I wished a " good evening." The man wall^ed alongside of me and began to talk, telling me the landlady of the house where he lived had died some little time ago. " That, my friend," I said, " is a road we must all go." " Yes," he said, " all but those who shall be alive on the earth when He comes again." The word interested me, and I replied, " I am glad to hear you speaking in that way." "We talked a little amid the pelting rain about Christ's second coming, when he remarked, " Blessed are they who hear the joyful sound ; they shall walk, 0 Lord, in the light of thy countenance!" I noticed a strange, bright, happy light about the man's homely face, which struck me; and I said, " You seem to be rejoicing in that joyful sound of the Gospel ? " " Yes," he said, " I am very happy, for I am trusting in my Saviour and humbly trying to serve Him. But some time ago," he went on to say, " it was very different. For mouths and months I was in the most dreadful misery, believing myself a lost man for whom there was no mercy. I could get no peace night nor day. But one Sunday I happened to go into Saltcoats Parish Church, and something that the minister said — it was nothing very particular — came home as true. ' That's true,' I said, ' that's true. I see that Christ is a Saviour.' From that moment I trusted Him. I am trusting Him still, and with His grace I will to the end. Life is now all changed to me, and I am the very happiest of men. No doubt many a temptation came to me to go back to the old life. But He kept by me and brought me out of a horrible pit, and from the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock. And there I hope to remain for ever."
He then went on to say that no sooner had he found this new joy than he said to himself : " I must try to do something for Him who has done so much for me." And casting about for something to do, he remembered an old friend who had gone very far astray through drink, and was then lying on a sick-bed, and hinting about ending himself. He said he stuck to that man for days and nights till God honoured him in being the instrument of effecting a great change, and, like himself, he is now a humble and earnest Christian. I asked him how he had dealt with him. "I just tell't him," he said, with a happy smile, " to look to Christ, to follow Christ, to trust in Christ." We shook hands together as we parted, mutually commending each other to God, and I ate my dinner with a happy heart. God be with you, dear Lady Frances, and give you all joy and peace in believing.^