Bible Emblems Part 5

Christians, then, are not mere reflectors, luminous only on the surface; but they radiate light from their own inner being. This light is owing to the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit, awakening, converting, and sanctifying them. By that power they are made in the image of Christ, and saved. Such is the light they possess--a light enkindled within them, and reflected from them.

Our Saviour teaches, in the text, that this light which they have _must shine through their practical lives and conduct_. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." It is the very nature of light to shine. Christians shine through their holy lives. Their good works are the rays which they emit. The world sees them, and judges of them. In all they say and do for G.o.d, in the spirit which they manifest, and the example they exhibit, they scatter light around them. Other men see it.

The tendency of this is to prompt others to glorify G.o.d the Father--"that they, seeing your good works, may glorify your Father which is in heaven."

This too must be the motive to prompt Christians to diligence in good works. It is not to exalt themselves, but to honor G.o.d. Not to establish a ground of merit in the sight of G.o.d, not to build up a righteousness of their own, do they strive for a holy life, but to glorify G.o.d. Not to shine and bedazzle others by the splendor of their virtue; but to shed around them that light which they have received, to reflect the beams which have illuminated them, and thereby lead others to praise and glorify G.o.d for his wondrous work of grace in them.

Hence we derive the proposition that G.o.d's people, redeemed by the blood of Christ, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit, _are shining ones_, exhibiting the glory of G.o.d, beyond any other of his creatures or works.

In ill.u.s.trating this proposition I remark, that G.o.d is revealed to us only through his works. "No man hath seen G.o.d at any time." Purely spiritual in his nature, and infinite in his perfections, we cannot know him, except through his works. How he is known to angels and the pure spirits of heaven, we cannot tell; but to us, the Lord is known by the operation of his hands. His character and glory are reflected to us by his doings. Yet the different works of G.o.d manifest to us his glory in different degrees, according to their nature.

1. His material creation exhibits to us his omnipotence, his wisdom, skill, and greatness. When we cast our eyes upward and view the boundless fields of immensity studded with suns and satellites, sweeping the trackless territories of s.p.a.ce with no discord or confusion, and then turn our eye earthward and survey the infinite variety of material objects around us, with properties varying endlessly, and yet all combined in one beautiful and harmonious whole, our minds cannot resist the impression of the might, the grandeur, the magnificence of Deity. Here we behold his glory as the great Architect, the omnipotent Creator.

2. But when we advance from mere lifeless matter to his doings with living, sentient creatures, who are capable of enjoyment and of suffering, these exhibit his glory in a higher perfection than any material handiwork; for here appears the goodness and benevolence of G.o.d, seen in the const.i.tution of these creatures for happiness, and the abundant means which he has provided for their well-being. In moulding and shaping the material universe into an infinite variety of forms, G.o.d publishes his glory as a skilful and mighty builder; but when he comes to people these material worlds with sentient creatures, and displays an adaptation of all to promote their enjoyment, then does the Deity rise far above the place of a mere architectural designer, and proclaim his kindness and his love.

The irrational creation, from the summer insect which sports out its brief existence in the sunbeams, to the flocks and herds which range the valleys clothed with verdure, all unite their testimony that G.o.d is good, and his tender mercies are over all his works.

Ascend now a step higher. Follow up the scale of being from mere sentient, irrational creatures, to moral, responsible intelligences. Here is reflected a new cla.s.s of the Creator's attributes. Here there shines a glory which the whole material universe never could reveal. In creating and dealing with moral agents, endowed with reason and moral sense, the Almighty manifests the truth, the justice, and the holiness of his character. These glorious perfections of G.o.d rise infinitely above his mere natural attributes; and they require creatures endowed with a moral nature, and under a moral government, in order to their manifestation. G.o.d might build worlds upon worlds, and deck them with far more gorgeous splendors than are flung over this one we live on; but were they unpeopled by any rational intelligences, they could publish nothing of G.o.d's glory, except that he was a builder of mighty power and skill. This is what Nature, in her works, declares of G.o.d. But when G.o.d calls into being his moral creation, he advances far beyond the position of a mere architect, an almighty builder, to that of a moral governor; and in the unfoldings of his character we discover what we never could see elsewhere, the beauty of holiness, the majesty of justice, the excellency of truth.

These lofty perfections of the divine nature are reflected in His dealings with moral beings, and nowhere else. In rewarding holiness, and punishing transgression, Jehovah exhibits the transcendent purity of his own being.

Holy angels in their raptures, and fallen angels in their woes, reflect the moral glory of the G.o.dhead. In dealing with them, G.o.d publishes to the universe his supreme regard for his holy law, and that "righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne."

Is there any higher glory than this possible? Are there any perfections of G.o.d back of these which wait to be revealed; any grander purposes and movements of the divine mind which can enhance the l.u.s.tre of his character, and add to the splendor of that "light, inaccessible, and full of glory," which surrounds his dwelling-place? Yes, there are.

It is in his relations and dealings with _redeemed men_, in saving sinners, and restoring them from a fallen, ruined state, to holiness and bliss. Here is a new glory thrown around his character, a new theatre of action. Here the divine mind grapples with the great problem of moral evil, and proposes to save the sinner without compromising His truth and holiness. Here the perfections of love and mercy, compa.s.sion and forbearance, favor to the wretched, grace to the undeserving, all break forth.

These perfections of G.o.d's nature could never have been known to his intelligent universe without a plan of salvation for sinners. The angels in the realms of holiness never could have called them into exercise. Much as G.o.d might delight to reward and bless them, he could not show aught of compa.s.sion or grace to them, for there could be no possible room for G.o.d to exercise any such dispositions towards such beings. Mercy can be exercised only towards the wretched, grace only to the unworthy, long-suffering and forbearance only towards the guilty; but in the case of holy beings, G.o.d can find nothing to forgive, nothing to bear with, nothing to develop the riches of his grace.

We see then, how redeemed sinners exhibit the glory of G.o.d in a strange and peculiar light. When G.o.d moves to save them, he displays a new cla.s.s of perfections, which never could be known except as they are here manifested. Every Christian is a living epistle, publishing something of G.o.d which the intelligent universe can read nowhere else. Every Christian declares that G.o.d is a G.o.d of infinite grace and mercy, long-suffering and forgiving; a G.o.d full of compa.s.sion and love. He is a living witness to these perfections, for he is a guilty creature rescued from sin and h.e.l.l.

In him G.o.d displays precisely those traits of his character which awaken the profoundest admiration of his creatures, which attract them towards him, which enkindle love. Indeed we may say that, were it not for the plan of salvation for sinners, there would exist in the divine nature a cla.s.s of perfections of which his creatures must be for ever ignorant.

But this plan lifts the veil, and bids us behold the infinite heart of G.o.d. The Christian is the being in whom G.o.d displays these excellences; he is the trophy of grace; he reflects the glory of the G.o.dhead beyond any thing seen in all other creatures. None but he can testify of Jehovah's boundless grace and compa.s.sion, of the triumph of infinite wisdom and love in baffling the arts of Satan, and rescuing a lost sinner from h.e.l.l and fitting him for heaven. This work is the climax of Jehovah's undertakings, and the Bible plainly teaches that to angelic minds there are no operations of the G.o.dhead, throughout his vast dominions, which can compare with this in interest and in glory.

Again, as has been already remarked, Christians are not mere reflectors of G.o.d's glory; but there is a light beaming from within them which _makes them luminous_, for they are made to resemble Christ in their character; they are created anew in the image of Christ; they are begotten of him, and are said to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ." All true Christians do thus resemble, at least in some degree, the Saviour.

But Christ is the grandest manifestation of the G.o.dhead ever made to creatures. He was "the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person." No other display of the G.o.dhead can be compared with that of the Word made flesh. And surely it must follow that creatures who resemble him must reflect, in the highest degree, the glory of G.o.d. Angels may be perfect in holiness, but their character does not present the same moral aspect as that of Christians who have been saved and sanctified.

Both will be holy; but in the character of a perfectly sanctified Christian there will appear many things which an angel never can exhibit.

It will resemble that of Christ more than that of Gabriel, and in so doing will manifest the glory of G.o.d as it shone in the face of Jesus Christ.

To what an honorable and exalted position does the Bible advance the Christian! Set in the firmament of intelligent beings, he shines with a peculiar light, like a star whose beams emit a peculiar halo, and whose twinkling disc wears a brighter effulgence than its fellows. "The heavens declare the glory of G.o.d, and the firmament showeth his handiwork." Angels reflect that glory in a higher degree; but sinners raised from guilt and ruin, and made sons of G.o.d, furnish the grandest exhibition of the divine perfections ever made. Such is the relation Christians sustain to G.o.d and to other intelligences--they are reflectors of G.o.d's glory.

But when I read my text I learn that they are not mere pa.s.sive reflectors.

They are to give light not merely as polished mirrors hung in the sunbeams; they are to shine from within, as well as on the surface. There must be a settled aim and purpose to scatter light about them. "Let your light so shine," says Christ. The word "_so_" here implies that you have a deep responsibility as to the kind of light you give, and the effect produced by it. It is a light which must be made to shine through your good works, your holy lives. And those works must be prosecuted in such a way that men shall be led by them to "glorify your Father which is in heaven." Here is the great law of Christian activity: that all you do shall be done in a way which shall tell for the glory of G.o.d. Christian friend, here is the governing principle of your life. It requires you to act with reference to the good of others. It bids you keep ever in view the influence of your conduct upon those around you. 'Tis a high, a n.o.ble principle--the glory of G.o.d. 'Tis an unselfish principle, which will enable you to display to the world all the graces of a holy life without pride or ostentation, and so to walk that men will give G.o.d the glory of any good they find in you.

Ah, we fear it is a principle too often wanting, even with those who profess to be G.o.d's people. Many have no objection to let their light shine while they can be appreciated; many are willing that others shall see their good works, and glorify themselves for them; many will devote their time and labor to the cause of Christ so long as they can have the preeminence, and impress others with the idea of their own importance.

Their light will shine, but shine only to let the world see their own perfections, and pay homage to their sanct.i.ty.

But far different from this is the spirit of a Christian's service. It is not self, but G.o.d who must have all the glory. Let it _so_ shine, says Christ, that it shall lead all who see it to render G.o.d the glory. Let unG.o.dly men learn from your holy lives the reality and excellency of that salvation which you have tasted. Let the light of your example shine so that they too shall be led to seek the same divine illumination. Let all your works point them to that Redeemer who has called you out of darkness, and prompt them to seek him as their own. Thus will they glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Such is the spirit of the Saviour's words before us, and the practical inquiry for us all is, How do our lives correspond with this spirit?

First of all, have we really any light to shed around us? A mere profession is worthless as an empty lamp. Have our hearts been illuminated by divine grace? Has the darkness of guilt and ignorance and error been scattered there; and have we tasted the sweets of pardon, peace, and sanctification?

Depend upon it, we can give no light to others without first having our own hearts illuminated by the Holy Spirit. A mere profession of religion, unaccompanied by the active virtues of piety, will give no light. Let us then look closely within, and ask, Have we any light of grace ourselves?

And in connection with this, and following it, will come the inquiry, What good are we doing to the world by it? Oh, my brethren, the Saviour bids us look around us upon our fellow-men and ask, What has all our religion amounted to? What have we accomplished for G.o.d's glory? How much light have we scattered? Whom have we enlightened and saved through our Christian influence? What souls have we led to repentance and belief in Jesus Christ? Has our light shone to any purpose? Have we been the instruments of instructing and saving others? Inquiries like these must come up, for G.o.d's people are the light of the world, and their mission is to reflect his glory as no seraph even can do it. It therefore follows that the question of your influence upon the world around has vitally to do with the question whether you are a child of G.o.d at all; for if there is no light radiating from your life, there is none in you. If your light does not shine, it is because you have none; wherever it exists in the soul it must shine out.

Every Christian has a positive influence for good. All do not shine with equal power and brilliancy, but they shine. Some scatter their rays far and wide, and become the moral lights of their generation, and some only glimmer like a feeble taper; but even the taper gives light to some, and so every Christian must shed rays of light upon some soul.

Christian friends, where are those rays falling from your lives and conversation? Whose way do they enlighten? Do your children see them? And have you, by the l.u.s.tre of your Christian example, led a single soul to Christ? Oh look well to the influence you are exerting. Beware lest your profession be in vain; for "if the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness!"

VII.

The Raven and the Dove.

AND IT CAME TO Pa.s.s AT THE END OF FORTY DAYS, THAT NOAH OPENED THE WINDOW OF THE ARK WHICH HE HAD MADE: AND HE SENT FORTH A RAVEN, WHICH WENT FORTH TO AND FRO, UNTIL THE WATERS WERE DRIED UP FROM OFF THE EARTH. ALSO HE SENT FORTH A DOVE FROM HIM, TO SEE IF THE WATERS WERE ABATED FROM OFF THE FACE OF THE GROUND. BUT THE DOVE FOUND NO REST FOR THE SOLE OF HER FOOT, AND SHE RETURNED UNTO HIM INTO THE ARK; FOR THE WATERS WERE ON THE FACE OF THE WHOLE EARTH. GENESIS 8:6-9.

The narrative which contains these words introduces us to one of the darkest and most desolate periods in the history of our world. Rapid and appalling had been the progress of human degeneracy. Religion and virtue had well-nigh become extinct, and all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth. The good men of the antediluvian age were dead, while but one of the h.o.a.ry patriarchs was left to bear witness for Jehovah before a G.o.d-despising generation, and to perpetuate the succession of the faithful in the world. It was time for G.o.d to work, for men had made void his law.

The vast population of this globe was swept away by a deluge of waters--that most awful visitation of divine vengeance, the evidences of which are to this day found, and the traditions of which are preserved among the primitive nations of every continent.

Righteous Noah and his household were alone preserved by special divine interposition. Forewarned of G.o.d, he prepared an ark for the saving of himself and his family, which in due time was freighted with the remnant of the human race and pairs of the various tribes of the irrational creation, and floated upon the wide waste of waters, beneath which lay buried all the monuments of an apostate and heaven-daring generation.

Forty long days were numbered after the flood began to abate, and still the huge ark floated on the boundless deep, and the patriarch's heart grew anxious about the future. With a trembling hand he opened the window of the ark, and sent forth the raven to seek for some tidings of a buried world; but the bird came not back. Though the waters were dark and the desolation unbroken, still she returned not to the friendly shelter which had so long protected her, but chose to allay the cravings of hunger, and live amid the wrecks and ruins which drifted to and fro upon the broad abyss. Days again pa.s.s slowly away. Another messenger is dispatched to seek for tidings. The dove leaves the window of the ark, and spreads her pinions and soars away over the wild expanse; but the unpropitious skies are overhead, the green fields and shady woodlands are gone; no nourishment is found amid the shattered fragments, and no objects of delight are seen across the dreary wastes. The raven may perch upon the drifting offal, and screech out its hoa.r.s.e notes amid the awful solitudes; but the timorous dove, finding no rest for the sole of her foot, hastens her flight back to the patriarch, and nestles securely in the friendly ark.

There are materials for profitable reflection in this simple story. Let us condescend to learn lessons of true wisdom from the raven and the dove.

1. In the solitary ark floating securely on the flood you may discover no unfit emblem of that _only spiritual refuge_ which G.o.d has provided for our ruined race in the person and work of his Son Jesus Christ. The fearful apostasy of our first parent drove our race out upon an ocean of gloom and of peril. The special presence and favor of the Almighty was withdrawn, though his providential care over us as his creatures remained.

But purposes of mercy were yet cherished in the divine mind, and the plan of salvation was revealed through Jesus Christ.

Here alone, in Christ, G.o.d manifests to us his gracious presence. Nowhere else in all the departments of his works does he admit us to his fellowship, or speak to us of his mercy. Take away from the world the special manifestation of G.o.d in Christ, and there is no way left for man to hold any communion with his Maker, no pledge of mercy or grace to him, no hope of security and happiness in the favor of his Sovereign. Man is left to drift on the dark billows of sin without a ray of deliverance, and without a single speck floating upon the wide expanse to tell him that he is not utterly abandoned to destruction.

But never has our world presented such an aspect of hopeless desolation.

Even in the awful catastrophe of the deluge, when continents and isles with their teeming population were buried deep in the abyss of waters, and the sunbeams glistened only upon the boundless sea--then, when this rolling orb, which on the day of its creation looked fair and beauteous among the morning stars, had been transformed into a wandering beacon of almighty wrath--there was left one memento of lingering mercy, one solitary testimonial that Jehovah's presence and favor were not clean gone for ever; for the ark floated upon the face of the waters. Terrible as was the spectacle which the deluged globe presented of G.o.d's vengeance, still the storm-proof ark which sheltered the patriarch proclaimed the precious truth that there was one spot left where G.o.d appeared in mercy, one place of refuge and security for those who would embrace it, one point where hope gleamed over the future, and where G.o.d delighted to be gracious.

The ark was the symbol of that more glorious Ark of safety provided for lost men in the salvation of Jesus Christ. Out of Christ the world is dark and stormy, and G.o.d is a consuming fire. On the tempestuous ocean of guilt we are tossed to and fro, and no bright isles of innocence lift their heads along the horizon and invite us to their secure retreats. The salvation scheme of Jesus Christ is the only refuge. Here alone G.o.d is seen hovering over the waters, and speaking of reconciliation and fellowship. Nowhere else has he offered to us a shelter; but to this G.o.d-provided Ark we are bidden to flee for refuge, which is amply furnished against every emergency, and which will safely bear us up through the floods of temptation and the billows of death, and finally bring us to the haven of rest beyond the grave.

To its sacred enclosure we are invited, as the last spot where the soul can find its reconciled G.o.d. Outside the elements are raging, the night of guilt is brooding, the thunders of Sinai are muttering, and the dun-colored sky is lurid with the flashes of impending wrath; within is the presence of G.o.d, the a.s.surance of peace, and the hope of heaven. Over the wastes of a fallen and sin-ruined world appears the salvation of Jesus Christ like the ark of the patriarch riding out the storms of the deluge.

Here G.o.d is dwelling with men. Here is rest to the storm-driven soul. Here its guilt and alienation are put away from it, and it no longer lives without G.o.d and without hope. We have then discovered, in the ark which G.o.d directed Noah to build for the saving of himself and his family, a type of Christ and his salvation.

Let me now ask you to advance a step, and contemplate in the raven and the dove a representation of _two opposite descriptions of human character_.

The one, that which finds no enjoyment in the presence and favor of Christ, and sees and feels no necessity for the provisions of salvation which are made in him; the other, that which is ever turning from the supports of this world and its delusive promises to seek its refuge and its resting-place in the presence of Christ and the favor of G.o.d, which flies to the hope set before it in the gospel, and nestles securely in the bosom of the Saviour. These two characters are the unG.o.dly and the Christian--the children of this world and the children of G.o.d--differing in their tastes and habits and conduct from each other as the raven differs from the dove.

The ark where G.o.d and the patriarch dwelt together was no welcome retreat for the raven. Though it had saved the wild bird from inevitable destruction, and for many a weary day had carried it safely above the angry flood, still in the society which it afforded or the a.s.sociations which it furnished there was naught that was congenial to its untamed nature; but preferring to roam unprotected, even amid solitude and gloom, it instinctively seized upon the first opportunity to escape what was indeed its friendly asylum, but which appeared to it only a prison-house.

On the threshold of the open window the raven flapped its wings and soared away. Farewell to the ark, screamed the wild bird in the air, while the good old patriarch stood for a moment to watch its flight.

Though the scene without was one of unbounded desolation, where the storm clouds revelled and the fierce winds blew and dashed the dark-crested waves madly against the sky; though the fields where it once fed, and the tall trees where it was wont to build its nest were buried many a fathom deep beneath the floods, and all that was once fair and beautiful on earth was gone, still the bird of storm turned not homeward to the quiet ark; still in vain the patriarch opened again and again the window, and leaned upon the cas.e.m.e.nt long and anxiously, to look out for the absent messenger. The bird would not come back. The sun goes down in clouds, and night settles slowly on the deep, but no return. The cravings of hunger are felt, but the carnivorous rover despises the well-stored granaries of the ark, and makes its evening meal out of the carca.s.ses that drift upon the waters. Perched upon some floating ruin, it croaks out its hoa.r.s.e requiem over the sepulchres of the unnumbered dead, and sleeps without a dream of the far-off ark.

Look yonder at that RAVEN, and behold an emblem of lost and straying man without G.o.d in the world. No truth is more universally certain, than that man's real happiness and welfare is to be sought only in the smile and favor of his G.o.d. The more the human soul is brought into unison with its Maker--the nearer it advances to Deity--the more immediately it feels the presence of G.o.d and draws its supplies from him, the more sure is its present peace and its future bliss. It was once happy in this condition.