"The Beauty of the Lord."
ONE of the petitions in the "Prayer of Moses the Man of God," is, "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us." Ps. 90: 17. What is more beautiful than light, the revealer of all beauty? It is Sabbath afternoon. The rain of the morning has passed away with the thick, overhanging, dripping clouds. Hanging over the mountain tops may be seen some floating cloud-banks, their centers yet suggestive of the rain of the morning, but with borders beautifully white and fleecy. High up in the blue vault of heaven, radiantly white in the strong sunlight, float a few islands, so frail and lacy that they scarce can hold together in their passage across the sky. Into our great window the sun pours a perfect flood of radiance, in which we bathe while we write. Boughs of trees and vines, swinging and swaying in the breeze, cast fantastic moving shadows upon the wall. The lace curtains at the window flutter in the breeze, and shimmer the inflooding light. Through the beveled glass at the top of the window the pure white light separates into the beautiful colors of the rainbow, and the opposite walls are sprinkled all over with the softest of variegated hues. All those beautiful effects were in the white rays of light which struck the glass from the outside. All together, compounded of God, they made the pure white ray. The polished, beveled glass received it, and transmitted its exceeding beauty in the varied colors. Just so Christ Jesus is "the Light of the world." In Him in purest whiteness shines the light of truth, the light of life, the light of love. It shines through the perfectly submitted human element, and divides, separates, and scatters its beauty in various colors upon different human characters. Each has a peculiar shade and beauty of his own; all together they reflect the perfect light. We look without. Overhead is the great arched sky. All the rays of light are absorbed save one, and the great dome above reflects the unfathomable, irreproducible, soft, always beautiful blue. Upon the earth, far and near, spreads a carpet of growing, living green, dotted with the darker spots of live oaks and other evergreens, while the ghost of the vernal hue hangs over the deciduous trees. Geraniums lift their heads, and the scarlet, maroon, and white proudly tell us of the rays of light stolen from the sun, while the modest violet reveals its deeper kisses from the sky, while near by is displayed the gold of the lemon and orange. These trees and plants and flowers and fruits not only reflect the beauty of the light, they refract it. It has entered their willingly yielded tissues and left there some of the virtue of light. Even so the light of God shines upon us through His word and Christ the Incarnate Word. If we refuse it and withdraw into ourselves, we shall decay in our own corruption. If we will willingly, aye, gladly, receive it, and let it shine in, and on, it will transform us into His image and place upon us some manifestation of His wondrous beauty which we can reveal and, in a degree, transmit to others, while in us, unconsciously to ourselves perhaps, will be answered our prayer, "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us."