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LIGHT IN DARKNESS

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Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 21, 1856

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 8, No. 16.

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LIGHT IN DARKNESS.

By H. L. H.

Unto the upright there ariseth Light in the darkness. Ps. cxii, 4.
WHILE the Royal Preacher at Jerusalem surveyed with solemn sadness the unrighteousness of the human family, and sought in vain for men of strict and perfect rectitude, he exclaimed, "Lo, this only have I found that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions." Eccl. vii, 29. That man's primal condition was one of uprightness is evident. A contrary supposition involves the blasphemy of charging the Creator with the making of unholy things. But that mankind are not now upright is equally evident. By the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they lost their uprightness, and all their many inventions have never repaired that self-inflicted injury.
How, then, shall man, so fallen, become upright, and secure these forfeited blessings which are consequent upon uprightness? For an answer to this question we refer to the words of David. "The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honey-comb.
Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me; then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent of the great transgression." Ps. xix, 7-13.
Thus by being cleansed "from secret faults," and kept back "from presumptuous sins," man may become upright before God. But in order to this we "must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," with all the heart, and, washed from our sins, "in his own blood," we shall be written among the upright unto whom light ariseth.
Having thus become upright, the individual shares innumerable blessings. "The generation of the upright shall be blessed." Ps. cxii, 2. His uprightness is first within. He is "upright in heart," but with David he can say "I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart," he walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness." He then learns by blessed experience that "light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." Ps. xcvii, 11, and with David can say, "my defense is of God, which saveth the upright in heart." Ps. vii, 10. Hence he will not fear the wrath of the wicked who "bend their bow . . . that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart." Ps. xi, 2, and though now "the just upright man is laughed to scorn," [Job xii, 4,] it shall not be so forever, for "upon the wicked God shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest; this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright." Ps. xi, 6, 7. "For the Lord God is a sun and shield, the Lord will give grace and glory; and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." Ps. lxxxiv, 11.
Such is the condition of the upright. Pardoned, washed in the blood that cleanseth from all unrighteousness and made meet for the service of God. His course is upright, his heart is upright, his conversation is upright. He fears no reproach, he flees from no danger, he walks honestly and fearlessly "as in the day." His heart is fixed trusting in the Lord, and his steadfast hope is like an anchor to the soul. He walketh uprightly and walketh surely. Prov. x, 9. As he journeys he finds that "the way of the Lord is strength to the upright." Prov. x, 29. And he goes rejoicingly on towards his brighter home. In the midst of perplexities he rejoices in the promise that "the integrity of the upright shall guide them," and in difficulties and dangers he believes that "the righteousness of the upright shall deliver them." Prov. xi, 3, 6. He fears God, and, standing forth from the society of fawning sycophants and purse-bought flatterers, he looks up to God to learn his duty, and then in the integrity and independence of moral uprightness, he goes forth to do it at every hazard, if he may but win the approving smile, and at last the joyous welcome of that God whom he serves.
And what is the portion of the upright? Is it grief or gladness? is it gloom or glory? is it darkness or is it light?
They judge wrongly who applaud the man that exhausts his garners in feasting and rioting, while they pity him who, amid storm and sunshine casts his seed into the fertile field. The prodigal may seem the richer now, but when he shall beg in destitution and have nothing, then he who sowed in cold and weariness and tears, shall find in the ripening plenty which crowns his harvest-fields, the reward for all his toils. So they may seem happier who for a little while devour with swinish greediness the vapid pleasures of this world, and sport themselves in lust and wickedness, but the harvest of corruption which they shall reap at last shall finally undeceive them, though too late for remedy.
The righteous then are content with fewer joys until the toils are past. "Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." Ps. xcvii, 11. His light and gladness are sown, not reaped; growing, not ripened; standing, not gathered and garnered. Hence his present sorrow. The fruits of heavenly joy are now acid and bitter, until the sunshine and rain shall have ripened them in all their treasured richness in the Paradise of God. So he may well be sad. What matters it; if weeping doth endure for a night, if joy cometh in the morning and the mornings gray already lights the heavens! What matter if privation and scantiness be felt for a few brief days, if the eternal harvest is already ripening on our view? Will not the morning's endless joy wipe out the memories of night's brief sorrow? Will not the angelic songs, as they shout the harvest-home swallow up the sighs and crying of him who sowed in tears?
But at present the upright are in gloom. The wicked rejoice—they walk in the flickering light of a phantom-fire, and in the sparks which they have kindled—but their transient lustre shall fade in the gloom of despair—"the blackness of darkness forever and ever." They, though in the light, are children of darkness—the righteous though in the darkness, are the children of light." They walk in the light, as Christ is in the light—they put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, they "are not of the night nor of darkness," and their sun though briefly obscured, shall soon burst forth in the unclouded and unsettling splendor of perpetual day. To the sinner there cometh gloom on all his glory, but "to the upright there ariseth light in the darkness."
We shall find this sentiment true in the present spiritual conflicts of the people of God. We have proved this very many times. O, how often have sorrows rolled like a shoreless ocean around us. How often has the heart grown sick and sad while darkness like that of Egypt seemed thickening every hour, and our failing strength seemed unequal to our pressing needs; and when in the depth of our anguish we lifted our despairing cries to God, O then, how sweet the answer that broke the silence of our woe. "Fear not, I am with thee . . . hast thou not known? hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary." "I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee." Thus to the upright there ariseth light in the darkness. Thus when he is tried he comes forth as gold—thus when theenemy comes in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard.
We see it again in the providential dealings of God with his faithful servants. Joseph goes into Egypt as a slave—this is darkness—he presides over Potiphar's house, this is light. He is cast into chains and lies in prison and distress, this is darkness; but he comes forth by God's good providence to rule next the king and to preserve Egypt and his own family. The three Hebrews are condemned to die, this is darkness, but light arises, they walk unscathed amid the burning flames, and emerge honored by God and man. Daniel is condemned to death and hurled into the lion's den, and this is darkness; but God's angel shuts the lion's mouth and Daniel comes forth unharmed to enjoy greater power than before, this is light. Job is smitten of Satan, forsaken of God, stripped of wealth, derided by his wife—upbraided by friends, insulted by foes, his heart broken with grief: this is darkness, out of it light arises, and in the peaceful possession of seven-fold blessings he rejoices again in the favor of the Lord. Stephen is dying beneath the stones and curses of infuriate foes; but light arises and he said, "I see Jesus at the right hand of God," and he fell into sleep, so sweet that no fury of man or devils could disturb the soft repose. Peter is lying in prison bound, to-morrow he must die; this is darkness; but light arises out of it; the door opens, the angel enters, the Apostle goes forth and the upright in heart rejoice in the Lord. Paul and Silas are in a Phillipian jail, red from the lash, their feet in the stocks, their hearts sad; this is darkness; but they pray, they sing—the prison trembles, the jailor is converted, the stripes are washed, the ruler humbled, the saints comforted, and they go on their way rejoicing that "unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness." Paul is tossed by the winds for fourteen days upon the stormy Mediterranean, but an angel stands by him; light arises, and God gives him the lives of all that are with him. John is an exile on Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Christ, away from friends, brethren and privilege, but there light arose out of darkness, vision after vision unfolded the changeful fortunes of the church and world, until finally the harp-notes of the ransomed stirred his heart with floods of liquid melody the sunlight of eternal glory burst full upon his view and, anticipating the joyous scene, the only words which could tell the fullness of his ardent longing, were, "Amen, even so, come Lord Jesus!" Thus did light arise out of darkness, and the gloomy hills of Patmos became radiant as the very gates of heaven—and he who had looked upon it as only an abode of dreary exile found like the slumbering patriarch in Bethel that "God was in the place."
And how oft have we seen the wrath of man thus made to praise the Lord. In the hour of the saints' extremity the mercy of the Lord has appeared, and just when the wicked were hoping for our downfall, deliverance came. How strangely their schemes were thwarted and their purposes overturned, and on the upright who in despairing hope had committed his cause to God, how sweetly did light arise out of darkness! Ah! let not the wicked triumph, nor glory while there lives an Omnipotent God who beholdeth the upright with love, and who will not suffer his feet to slide.
And when poverty and sickness comes on, when there is but a handful of meal in the barrel, when hunger, and want, and sickness are heaped upon us, when the cold world and a colder church look heedlessly on—when Priest and Levite pass on the other side, how sweetly does the light arise as some dear disciple of the Lord comes to our relief, and when God's wondrous providence supplies our needs and teaches us, by tokens known to those that trust in God, that "the very hairs of our heads are all numbered." So too, when the business of this world has bound us in chains or plunged us in sorrow—when we see no way of escape from the whirlpool that sucks us down—then how often light ariseth and the trembling expectation that "the Lord will provide" is changed to the exulting exclamation "the Lord is my strength and my song—he also is become my salvation."
In nature's last extremity, in the darkness of death's valley, and the gloom of death's shade—in the hovel of adversity or in the abode of comfort, in the desert, in dens and caves—in the damp and noisome prison-house, in the flame of the faggot-fire, or where ever the child of God has met and has struggled with his last enemy, the grim king of terrors, there has light arisen out of darkness. When all earthly lights are quenched, when the gloom of despair settles sadly over the wicked who "is driven away in his wickedness," then "the righteous hath hope in his death," and in the certain prospect of a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, he can sweetly fall asleep in Jesus with the light of hope glancing into the darkness of the sepulchre, and the glory-beams of eternity bursting in auroral splendor along the clouds and gloom of time. Thus "unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness." And we can, with joyful interest, "mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." We may take a broader glance, and view the same principle in the dealings of God with his chosen nation in ancient times.
Egypt was to them a place of darkness, but light arose, and they bade adieu to bondage and went forth to worship God. The Red sea's border was to them a place of darkness, as Pharaoh urged his infuriate hosts in hot pursuit, but light arose—the Red sea was divided, and soon they sang the song of victory upon the distant shore. Mizpeh was a place of darkness when Philistia's haughty lords gathered their swarming myriads against repentant Israel; but Samuel prays—unto the upright there ariseth light, peal upon peal of thunder rolls above their heads—lurid lightnings glance among the invading ranks until they flee, and from rejoicing Israel the shout goes up, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." Again, when the countless hosts of the Assyrians gathered around Jerusalem and the boastful Sennacherib poured forth his insulting blasphemies and threats, it was a time of darkness—but when God heard the cry of Hezekiah, and his angel went forth and laid an hundred and eighty-five thousand dead upon the plain, and sent the rest affrighted to their homes, then light arose out of darkness, and Israel could rejoice in peace and quietness beneath the divine protection. Babylon was a place of darkness, but when in the midst of riot and revelry Belshazzar was slain, the captives who had wept by the Euphratean waters felt that the chains were bursting, that light was rising, and a voice was saying as in the days of old, "Let my people go!" The cruel decree of Haman overshadowed the nation with gloom; but light arose—God wrought deliverance by Esther, and the malice of Satan was defeated by the love of God.
We may take a still wider view and comprehend the universal church of Jesus Christ. We see them scattered, oppressed, persecuted, dejected and disconsolate. We see them subjected to innumerable sufferings. We see them in dungeons and chains. We see them in bondage and affliction. But in all this, light ariseth, even the glorious light of hope. The scene of groaning and bondage, and depression, will be over, the agonies and sorrows shall have an end, and when the unjust with their kingdoms, sceptres, diadems and thrones are ground to powder and swept from the earth as by the bosom of destruction, then "the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning." Ps. xlix, 14. In that morning, when the light that has been "sown for the righteous" shall blaze forth in the beauty of its final harvest, it shall be seen that the darkness of the upright has for ever passed away. The curse shall be removed, the power of the oppressor broken, the prince of darkness dethroned, the groaning creation delivered, and Christ the head of his redeemed and glorified church, shall be enthroned amid the shouts of the rejoicing Universe.
Christ hath abolished death, but it is prospectively. Christ hath brought to light life and immortality, but the immortality is not yet "put on," and the life is yet "hid with Christ in God." Now the church is in the gloom of death's sentence, or in the darkness of its execution. Our treasures are in the mouldering tomb—our hearts' idols are rotting in loathsome sepulchres—our joys are turned to dust and ashes beneath the valley's clods. Our dearest friends are so vile and putrid that we would not
touch them. A nauseous stench comes up from those whose flesh was fresher than a child's. The cheek that glowed with roseate beauty is but a festering mass of filth—and where the eye once glanced in love, the death-worm revels and corruption reigns. And this is death—it has rifled our homes, and slaughtered our friends, and crushed our hopes, and blighted our joys, and made this world a waste and howling wilderness to us. Our eyes are dim with weeping, and our hearts are broken with grief and still the work goes on; while we write he reaches for our heart-strings; while we read the death-lock of the grasp is upon the friends that we love best. O how the church of God, for nigh six thousand years, has fallen like serried grain before the mower's scythe—how few are left—nothing but the gleanings remain. But shall the sword devour forever? Shall death make an utter end? Is there no healer of the breach, no deliverer of the captive hosts who have slept in chains so long?
Yes even here, "Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness." There is death—there shall be resurrection. There is sorrow, there shall be joy. The reign of the destroyer shall cease, the thrall of the monster shall be broken, countless myriads shall emerge from the grave in angelic beauty, and stand forth, glorious before the throne of God. And of prostrate death whose sting is now in every heart, and whose victory is in every dwelling, it shall be inquired in tones of lofty and perpetual triumph, "O death, where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy victory?"
Such are some of the illustrations of the great truth of light for the upright, which sparkle like stars of brightness along the dreary night of ages past, and which spread like a sea of glory into the illimitable future. The full development of light is future—the exceeding "weight of glory" is yet unrevealed. But it shall be revealed. Out of the darkness of human oppression and misrule shall come a purer era when the desire of all nations shall appear, and "he that ruleth over men shall be just, ruling in the fear of the Lord, and he shall be as the shining of a morning without clouds"—as a Sun that shall never descend from its meridian brightness to scenes of darkness and gloom. And in that morning the upright shall have their dominion and their glory. For the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be "given to the people of the saints of the Most High whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." The upright, long lost with the troubled tumult of an unrighteous world, shall there find their congenial element in that "new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." Here the sorrows that have swelled his bosom shall subside, and the rivers of water that run down his eyes "because they keep not the law" shall be forever dried up. The voice of the oppressor shall be heard no more, and the weary captives and bondmen shall be forever free.
The ruinous work which death has carried on, lo, these many centuries, shall be undone "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," and countless myriads, brilliant as dew-drops from the womb of the morn, shall soar to meet the Lord as on the lightning's wing. The ransomed church in all her congregated glory shall out-sing the ocean's billows, and the echoes of her lofty anthems shall burst like peals of mighty thunder along the distant heavens.
And if upright, we shall be there! You and I, reader, may prove after our earthly experience of sorrow, that "unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness." You and I, may shine then, as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars forever and ever. But are we upright? Are we walking in the fear of God? Have we been pardoned and cleansed from secret faults? Are we then upright in the sight of the Lord? He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness shall abide in God's tabernacle. The upright shall remain in the land when wicked doers are cut off. Let us see to it that we are upright in heart, and in walk—let us watch that we be found in Christ at last. Let us be penitent for our sins and clad in Christ's righteousness—so unto the upright light shall arise out of darkness and our sun shall no more go down. Reader, willyou be there? Writer, will you be there? Grace be with you all. Amen.
H. L. H.—[Cross and Crown.