The Christian turns him this way, and turns him that way, as, from every stall in the fair, he hears manifold expositions of the goodly wares. But he betakes him to One, who, amid all the din and uproar of so mighty a gathering, offers and gives him Rest! He lays aside his common stock-in-trade. He bids adieu to his fellows and competitors. Through the retirement of death and the grave, he goes to competence and Rest! Rest in Christ! Rest in Heaven! Brethren, grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. May we each, may we all, find Rest in Christ! DAVID'S CANDLE. PSALM xviii. 28. "For Thou wilt light my candle." T is a blessed thing to realize our dependence upon od. It is a signal triumph to be able to say, with uth-" I can do all things through Christ that rengtheneth me." When threading our way through rk passages, to feel certain that presently a light ll spring up to guide us in our perplexities, is as oil the lamp of our souls, even Hope. How privileged › Christians are! Our God is Light; in Him is no rkness at all. The poor heathen may grope in darkss and never find a glimmering light, but we Chrisns should not do so; we are translated from the ngdom of darkness; we are now light in the Lord; walk as children of light. Indeed, the darkness sorrow and affliction may come over us at times; è infirmities of nature may cause darkness; the wer of sin too, strangely eclipsing the light of heaven, may throw our souls, for a time, into obscurity; yet, in all such cases, faith stands close by, and prompts us to say some such speech as this-" Thou wilt light my candle." There is nothing like faith to balk the Prince of Darkness. Consider Abraham ; consider David; consider Paul; consider any of God's faithful servants, at the work of their salvation, and you must be greatly surprised at the power of faith. It may be, in its beginnings, only like a mustard seed, but it grows and spreads, till, by and by, you marvel at its strength and greatness. Oh, yes! faith is the substance of things. hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. . Are you in darkness and see no light? Do the shades of sorrow, or the gloom of trial, or the flitting clouds of temptation, or even the darkness of sin, that darkness that may be felt, shroud and gloom the depths of your experience? Let me try to cheer you. Let me bring David into your presence, and not David only, any man of God, and you shall behold him, and hear what he says in such a case. See! he looks upward. His face is marred certainly; the graver of sorrow has been there at work; the pangs of his soul's experience have sent forth their scouts, even to these outskirts of his nature. He speaks, hearken! . . . . "For Thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness." Happy man! Happy to be afflicted; and happier still to bid a kind of holy defiance to the powers of affliction. We will try and examine this case. .... |