The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Thessalonians — Section 116

longing "'to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in bis own power." Such knowledge was not for the flpostles ; it is not for the Church. "Of thflt day and that hour knoweth no man." But, in sf.ite of these words of Christ, hum><n thought has ever busied itself, it busies itself stil, to pry into this awful secret. St. Paul bad told the Thessalonians all he knew; there was no need to write it again. Bnt he deals gently with them. He tries to quiet their restless anxiety. 2. They knew that it could not be known. It cometh suddenly, when men are least expecting it; when they say, "Peace and safety." It cometh as a thief in the night. They knew thf Lord's illustration. St. Paul had told them. It was enough for them to know. Suddenly, as the lightning that cometh out of the east and shineth even to the west, the Son of man shall come. That we know; nothing more can be known. It ii e thought full of awfulness, full of deep lessons and solemn warnings. II. READINESS FOB ITS OOHING. 1. Christian, are not in th.e darkneu. DarkneBB is the element, the sphere of the unconverted lire. Darkness is ignorance of God, igno- r11.Dce of the atoning work of Christ, ignorance of the blessed influences of God the Holy Ghost. Such darkness is either intellectual, darkness of the understanding; or spiritual, darkness of the heart and will. The two act and react upon one another. Darkness of the understanding produces in some cases and in some measure darkness of the heart. Darkness of the heart often results in darkness of the understandin~. There are cases of darkness which seem to us the most perplexing of problems ; men and women who have from the very beginning of life been enveloped in an atmosphere of ignorance, brutality, and sin, from which there seems to be no escape-who seem to us, as people say, to 1' have no chance," no possibility, humanly speaking, of attaining to enlightenment and the knowledge of God. What can be done in such cases? We must, each one of us, do all that lies in our power to help the helpless and to teach the ignorant; and then, when we have "done what we could," we can only leave them, in the trustfulness of faith, to his mercy who, we know, will require little of those to whom little has been given. But the darkness which we have to face in our daily walk is, more commonly, not like this, but wilful darkness. "He that hateth his brother" (St. John says) "is in darkness even until now." Any wilful sin deliberately indulged darkens the heart. "If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.'' The soul that cherishes a secret sin cannot believe, cannot see God, cannot be in readiness for the coming of the Lord. If such are not awakened to a sense of guilt and danger, the great day must overtake them as a thief, coming upon them in all its sudden awfulness. 2. They are ,ons of light. " God bath shined in their hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." The true light now shineth. We are in the light, the light of the knowledge of God, the light of the presence of God. We belong to the light; it is all around us; it is in us. Indeed, the true light " lighteth every man." The Lord is loving unto every man. "The Lamb of God ta.keth away [beareth] the sin of the world." We must believe, in spite of sad and dark appearances, that there is no child of man on whom the heavenly Father hath not shined; none who are left to perish without a hope of sahation. The light shineth upon all; but they are sons of light whose souls within are lighted witb that heavenly glow, who come to the light and rejoice in the light, and in the bright- ness of that light see what others cannot see because their eyes are holden-the fair beauty of the Lord, the exceeding loveliness of the blessed Saviour's life, the aureole of golden light that bathes the cross of Christ in a glory of unearthly radiance. 3. 'l'herefore they mud walk in the light. They must live in the consciousness of that light, feeling irs warmth and glory ; as they move hither and thither in their daily life, they must walk in the sense of that light which is all around them. It shows things in their true colours. Sin is hateful, loathsome; you see its utter hideousness when the light shines upon it. Holiness is fair and bright; you see its attractive beauty when the heavenly light shines on it in its glory. The light shines into our hearts; it shows us our guilt, our misery, our danger. But, blessed be God, it does more than that. It bath a purifying power; it cleanses what was unclean; it brightens what wa~ <lark. "If we walk in the light . . . the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." •4. They are sons of day, therefore they must watch. The light shows ihe danger of sloth; it rests upon those awful words, "Thou wicked anu slothful servaut,"_ anJ brings them out into full distinctneHs. They mu~t not sleep, as do othel'll. lndilfsr 5  116 THE FIRST EPIR'l'LE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [oa. v. 1-28.