Part 6

Another quality that pertains to the nature of light is that it is revealing. Darkness obscures. Where it is not light, a pit may gape at our feet, a murderer may be waiting in our path, a dagger aimed at our heart; we do not see and know, our vision is held. It requires light to perceive these things. And so in the spiritual world, Christ is the great Revealer. By Him we come to know God and our true selves. By Him we learn who and where we are, what our needs are, and how to relieve them. One of the hardest things in the world is to make people believe that they are guilty and lost beings. The reason is, they are in the dark. They need the light to show them themselves. And that light is Christ. Only let a man examine himself in the light of Christ's life and teaching, and it will not be long until he sees that self of his to be a mere mass of guilt, and things appearing quite differently in this world of imperfection and sin.

And to mention the final feature, light is life-giving. Without light the world is dead. Where the sun rarely shines, or not at all, there is barrenness, dreariness, perpetual winter, desolation. It is the warming light of spring that starts the dormant germs, that swells the buds, and clothes the vineyards, the field, and the woods with vegetation, fragrance, and plenty. So with the spiritual Light. Where Christ is not, life is not, there is spiritual barrenness, winter upon the soul. But when His beams shine in upon the soul, the seeds of virtue put forth, the tree of faith lifts up its fragrant bloom, and the fruits and flowers of love and grace spring and bud.

Thus, by a few comparisons with the material, natural light, have we sought to explain in what sense Christ is called, or rather calls Himself, the Light.

Let us inquire how we ought to conduct ourselves toward Him. First of all, if you would enjoy the blessings of this Light, you must receive the Light; the outward illumination must be followed by a corresponding inward one. What good does the light do the man who, when its morning rays shine into his room, will pull down the shades and close the shutters and pull the cover of his couch over his head? It's only the worse for the man. The thing is to receive it, to throw open the shutters of your heart, and to let its radiant sunbeams burst into its every corner and crevice. That is what it is for, and we fail of its purpose and benefit if we fail to so treat it. What if the incoming rays do show us the dust that lies upon furniture and floor? Should we therefore dislike it, reject it, or should we cleanse the furniture and the floor? What if the spiritual Sun reveals to us our darling sins and ignorances? Should we therefore avoid it and dislike it? It is extremely sorry to see the attitude of the most of mankind, how they will cling like bats and owls to darkness who fly away to some dismal haunts, and there sit and blink whenever a ray of spiritual sunlight reaches them. Christ Himself said: "Men love darkness rather than light." Let it not be so to us. Let us accept and profess it, take its blessed rays into our souls.

And, again, let us reflect it. The Bible directs us not only to be radiant and luminous ourselves, but to give light and shining so as to enlighten others, just like the moon and the planets, who, borrowing their light from the sun, are directed to do service in their way and sphere. So, borrowing from the Sun of Righteousness, we must shine forth, each in his respective sphere. "Let your light so shine before men," says our Savior, "that they may see your good works." And be it understood this pertains to every Christian, to be a lamp and light-dispensing orb. Parents are called to a large share in this office. Young men and young women in the Sunday-school partake in the same commission. The officers to be installed this morning, every man, woman, and child in the church have a large and responsible share, and charged to let his or her light shine in carrying light to the souls of others. With this opening of the new year let us be reminded of our Christian duty. Having seen the Sun of Righteousness rising over the hilltops of Bethlehem, and rejoicing in its spiritual splendors, see that the benefits be of lasting impression. Ask yourselves, at the outset, where its Sundays will find you. And know they are the rays of brightening and illumination in sacred thoughts and improvements, the days in which the divine Word shines forth in its radiancy and the gracious Light of salvation flashes in its glory; then, how can you be children of light and yet forsake the assembling of yourselves together where the light is? How can you thus be light-bearers, according to God's direction? And so in every particular. Taking on the brightness of the true Light, may it exhibit itself in your energies and

## activities. "No man lighteth a candle and putteth it under a bushel

or under a bed, but on a candlestick, that it may give light to all that are in the house." Let it be in your houses, and if in the past year the candle of your faith and devotion has been flickering low, it's an opportune time to trim the wick afresh and to brighten the flame.

We have seen that Christ is the true and only Light. Let us believe in Him and walk in Him, now in this day of Gospel brightness and salvation,--so that we may become partakers of that still more stupendous Epiphany, that glorious manifestation, when the Son of Man shall appear in full splendor of His glory to take us home to the inheritance of the saints in light. Amen.

FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY.

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.--_Eccl. 12, 1._

There is no idea, my beloved, more common among men than this, that not childhood, nor youth, nor manhood, but old age is the most suitable period for becoming religious. The argument in support of this idea runs thus: In old age we have less to do with the affairs of this world, and consequently shall have more time and leisure for those of the next; then this world will afford us little enjoyment and pleasure, and with our passions quenched, with hair turning gray, hands palsied, limbs tottering, can we fail to recognize these as the heralds of the grim king and hear his voice that says: "Be ready, the Judge is at the door"? As a vessel, rocked by storms and falling to pieces, makes all haste to get to port, so will we. So runs the argument.

Prevalent as this idea is, it's a wild fancy, a mocking and baseless delusion. For various reasons: At no time is change of heart more difficult than in old age. Not as if God's grace were less powerful then, but because the difficulties of conversion increase with years; the heart grows more callous, the sinful habits stronger. Take a sapling, for instance; it bends to your hand, turning this way or that, as you will. When seventy springs have clothed it with leaves and the sun of seventy summers has added to its breadth and height, it scorns, not yours only, but a giant's strength. Every year of the seventy, adding fiber to its body and firmness to the fibers, has increased the difficulty of bending it. In the matter of our everlasting welfare it is much the same. Advancing time hardens the fibers of man's heart. Of all tasks we know, there is none so difficult as to touch the feelings and rouse the conscience of godless old age. Moreover, it is an extremely doubtful matter whether we shall ever reach old age. Few do, and the probability is that we shall not. Of all our race, nearly half die in infancy. Another large proportion sinks into the grave ere the summer of life is past. Ask that aged man with stooping form and slow gait, where the playmates are of his childhood; where the boys that sat by him at the desk in school; where the youths, flushed with health and full of hope, with whom he started in the race of life; where his fellow-workmen or partners in business. With one blow of His hand, one sentence of His lips, God may dash all our expectations of threescore years and ten to pieces. This night thy soul shall be required of thee, and then think of the folly that suggests that old age is the best for getting an interest in Christ, peace with God, and a meetness for the kingdom of heaven. Do men act with such infatuation in other and far less important matters? Here is a man who insures his life,--why? Because, he will tell you, life is uncertain, because nothing is more uncertain, because the chances are he may not live to be old; "and if I would be cut off suddenly, what is to become of my family?" Men regard this worldly prudence. But, oh, that man would reason as soundly and act as wisely where high interests are at stake! Let me change but a little the terms of that question: If you should be cut off suddenly and early, what is to become of your family, and ask: If you should die suddenly and early, what is to become of your soul?

Let me this morning, prompted by the Gospel-lesson of this Sunday, which presents to us the youthful Savior in the temple, ask you, especially my young hearers, to ponder with me the words of our text: "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth." We shall consider, _I. that youth is the most favorable season in which to begin a religious course_; _II. point out some of the beneficial results of early piety_; _III. conclude with a word of general application_.

Youth, my beloved, is the most favorable time to begin a religious course, because, we would say, in the first place, it's the critical time of a person's life. Childhood receives impressions easily, but these impressions, while lively, are not deep or abiding. How soon the infant forgets its mother and transfers its love to another, and the children that stood so pitiful at a parent's casket, a few weeks afterward are as buoyant and gay at their play as the happiest of their playmates. Manhood, again, on the other hand, like the solid rock, retains impressions once made, but does not easily receive them; what the intellect has gained in ripeness, the heart has lost in tenderness; and impressibility, lying between these two periods, is youth; then it is that our minds, like the wax to which the seal, or the clay to which the mold is applied, possess both the power of receiving impressions and the power of retaining them. Then the character is fixed; then the turn is taken either for God or for the world; then the road is entered which determines our future destiny. It is an old and trite saying, found in another tongue, "What the boy does not learn, the man does not know." In youth the powers are more volatile, the memory is receptive and tenacious. The mind is lively and vigorous, the affections are more easily touched and moved, we are more accessible to the influence of joy and sorrow, hope and fear, we engage in an enterprise with more expectation, ardor, and zeal.--Moreover, the season of youth will be found to contain the fewest obstacles, and is most free from the troubles which afterward embitter, cares which afterward perplex, and the schemes which engross, and engagements which hinder one in more advanced and connected life. And, hence, it has been the advice of the wise men: "In the morning sow thy seed." It is the young and tender root that penetrates the soil; it is when the fibers are delicate that, entering the fissures, it passes into the heart of the rock; and the earlier the mind is brought in contact with religion and becomes acquainted with its great and immense objects, the more thoroughly in after life will it comprehend and, like a root wrapped around the rock, the more firmly hold to it. It is the young recruits that become the best soldiers, and young apprentices the best mechanics, and the best Christians, in like manner, are those who have been so early. Run, in evidence of that, over the list of names which God so honorably distinguished in history, Joseph, Samuel, David, Solomon, Jonah, Timothy, John,--and you will observe that in almost all cases they are examples of early piety. And if we come to later times and read the biographies of those that have been eminent in God's kingdom, like our great reformer, Dr. Luther, and his colaborers, of Dr. Walther, and scores and hundreds of others, the Almighty seems to have acted almost invariably by the same rule, and appears to have seldom conferred distinguished honor, with very few exceptions, except on early piety. They were all men that feared the Lord in their youth. How important and reasonable, then, is youth to begin a religious course.

And, again, we would remark, it is, of all others, the most honorable period in which to begin a course of godliness. Religion is an ornament. Piety in any situation or age is pleasing to the Most High. It is well, when the world cannot fill our hearts, to turn our trembling steps from its broken cisterns to the fountain of living waters. It is a grand testimony to religion to see a gray and bent old man standing by the door of mercy and with loud and urging knocking imploring God to open and let him in; but it's exquisitely more attractive and noble to see a youth in the beauty and dew of his age giving himself to Christ and a life of high and holy virtues. Would you thank any one to offer you the shell without the kernel, or the stalk without the flower, or a purse without the money? And think you God is pleased with the dregs of the cup, the refuse and few declining years of a man's life? Is it fair and reasonable that men should employ their time and talents, their health and their strength, and their genius to serve Satan, the world, and the flesh, God's degrading rivals, and then ask Him to gather among the stubble of life after the enemy has secured the harvest? In the Old Testament God commanded that green ears had to be offered; the _first_ had to be chosen for His services: the _first_-born of man, the _first_-born of beasts, the _first_ fruits of the field. It was an honor becoming the Lord they worshiped to serve Him first. And, correspondingly, it is your duty in the New Testament that you should give Him the first-born of your days, the first fruits of your reason, the prime of your affections. It is with such sacrifices that God is well pleased. The Apostle John was the youngest disciple; he was called the disciple whom Jesus loved. It's the most suitable and honorable, and it is the most profitable and advantageous. It has its reward. That is our second consideration, _viz._, the beneficial results of early piety.

Here we would note, as the first advantage, that to serve God in youth is a safeguard, a defense against vice and temptations. No age, indeed, is secure. Till we arrive in heaven and have laid off this body of sin and infirmities we are never safe. Here, like travelers in the mountains, where a coating of snow hides the treacherous ice, and one false step may prove the Christian's ruin, we walk in slippery places, and have need to lean on an arm stronger than our own. Still youth is of all ages the most dangerous. With its ardent temper, its inexperience, its credulity, taking appearances for realities, its impatience of restraint, its unbroken passions, and feeble hands to control and guide them, it requires the utmost care and vigilance. "Lead us not into temptation," should be its daily, constant, earnest prayer. We read at times in our public prints of the wrecks that happen on the shores of our great lakes or the ocean, of vessels gone down in disaster and storms. What is that list of wrecked vessels to the number of men and women who year by year are wrecked in their youth on the dangers and vices of our towns,--our town? What a graveyard of virtue, honor, and honesty! Let the places of business where employers show no regard to the welfare, but only to the work of those in their service; let the houses where no friendly interest is taken in their domestics; let the halls of public amusement, the haunts of drunkenness, and the hells of vice, give up their secrets, as the sea does the drowned cast upon the beach, and we should have a roll like the prophet's, "written without and within with lamentations, mourning, and woe," as shocking, if not more so, as the field of battle, covered with the carnage of war. And out upon the scene, from the virtuous influence of home and school, steps the unsophisticated youth, a thousand avenues of seduction opening around him and a siren voice singing at the entrance of each. Evil companions surround him, erroneous publications ensnare his eye, means and opportunities of temptation and sin. He may flatter himself that his own good sense and moral feelings will render him secure, but as the wise King Solomon says: "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool." The force of examples, the influence of circumstances, the voice of railing and ridicule, the fascinations of the pleasure party, stifle the finest resolutions, and often render us an astonishment to ourselves, as the old proverb says: "Give the devil an inch, and he will take an ell." No, depend upon it, there is nothing that will do to keep you virtuous, noble, and happy but a hearty consecration of soul and body to the God that loves you, and the Savior that redeemed you, nothing else than the restraints which that God inspires in His holy Law, and the helps that He provides in the rules and ordinances of His Church. Let a young Christian love the habitation of His house, the place where His honor dwelleth, and let Him follow the Savior's direction to watch and pray, and he will retain an undefiled soul in an undefiled body.

Nor only thus before God, but as it says of the youthful Savior in to-day's Gospel. He increased in favor with God and _man_. Early piety is honored, commands the respect of every right thinking person in this world. You will remember how the sterling piety of the youthful Joseph was honored by Potiphar and afterwards by the King of Egypt himself. Nor need I remind you how Daniel and the other three Hebrew youths, because of the excellent spirit of piety that was in them, was promoted to the highest post of dignity and responsibility in the Chaldean empire, and whilst God does not promise you that if you seek Him in your youth, you will be advanced to sit among princes and to rule kingdoms, He promises you honor and respect, in whatever station you may be placed. The most worldly people and religiously careless people would rather have the godly lad in their employ, the young man who is loyal to his conscience and of genuine integrity of character, who will do his duty, "not with eye-service, but in singleness of heart, as unto the Lord," than any other kind. In brief, as the Apostle says, you will find that "Godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."

Let me, then, in conclusion, charge you, my dear hearers, to consecrate to the Lord the first fruits of your days. "Remember," says our text, "thy Creator in the days of thy youth." What though frivolous men and thoughtless women ridicule your devotion, and scoff at your churchgoing and professions! What though some shallow-minded companions charge you with fanaticism or singularity, hypocrisy or pride! The day is fast coming when they will be compelled to justify your conduct, to confess that you have chosen the better part, and to mourn that they neglected to seek the Savior in the morning of their existence.

And to those among you who have feared the Lord from your youth, and are now glorifying your Redeemer in the maturity of life, I would say: "Go on, earnestly pursue the glorious course which you have begun; be not weary in your religious life, grow in grace as you advance in years, be illustrations and stimulating examples unto others, and thus spend your life usefully for God and man, before the evil days come and the years draw nigh, when you will say: "I have no pleasure in them," when eternity stands at the door, and you will face your Maker. God strengthen you in this determination for Christ's sake. Amen."

SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY.

Marriage is honorable in all.--_Hebr. 13, 4._

"And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." These words of Holy Scripture immediately following the statement: "And God created man in His image, male and female created He them," contain the divine verdict regarding the social relation that we call matrimony or marriage. Declared the all-wise God: "It was very good."

That, however, was in the holy and happy days of Paradise, in the midst of righteousness, purity, and bliss. Sin entered, and things changed; the image of the divine Maker was forfeited, that purity effaced, over that bliss was written in indelible letters: "Paradise Lost." What, then, became of the marriage relation? Was it, too, dissolved, forfeited, lost? Wonderful Providence! From that universal wreck,--of the few things which God permitted man to carry with him, remains, to insure him happiness and welfare in the midst of a world otherwise steeped in misery and tears, the marriage estate. It was not lost.

The Gospel-lesson of to-day presents the Savior as being present at a marriage feast, and records that on that occasion He changed water into wine and manifested forth His glory. By His presence and by that miracle He also manifested forth, endorsed, sanctioned, and placed His divine approbation upon matrimony, as He once did amid the scenes of Eden's creation and loveliness. Nothing could be more significant than that, when the God-man came to found His kingdom upon earth, and entered upon His Messianic work, His first work should have been wrought in honor of the wedding tie. And so God's Word speaks of marriage throughout. When the Apostle desires a comparison to set forth the holy and pure relation between Christ and His Church, he knows none more sublime and noble than the union that exists between man and woman in wedlock, for which reason the Church is called Christ's bride--Christ is called her Bridegroom.