"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of dark-'ness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels." (2 Cor. 4:6, 7.) "Among whom ye shine as lights in world, holding forth the word of life." (Phil. 2:15, 16.)

Since man turned from God, who is light, this has been a dark world, so dark that men have ceased to know there ever was a light. The only light now is that which the people of God themselves supply:"Ye are the light of the world." Recognizing this, the children of God have been, intelligently or otherwise, seeking to " let their light shine." There is one thing to remember, if we are to shine aright. All our light is reflected light. We are not suns with light in ourselves, but, like the moon, we are reflectors. The verses quoted at the beginning give us the. source, order, and means of shining.

As to the source, it is God. "God hath shined in our hearts." He who "spake and it was done," has done the same in our dark hearts. It is well to pause and dwell upon this. Do we realize that such a work has been done in us? Something every whit as wonderful; in one sense far more important, than that pouring forth of light over this world? How a sense of this subdues the soul, fills it with a holy joy; God has been near, He has sent the light into my heart. Light is given not to dazzle, far less to fill with pride. It has shined into the heart. It is not merely that the mind has become enlightened, but the whole man, from the center of his being has been visited. We have next the character of this light:" The light of the knowledge of the glory of God." God is the true center. When man fell he made himself the center. Every thing was measured by its contributing or not to his interests. All this only ends in sorrow. Man is not, can never be a center. God and His glory are what alone can be the center of all. So the shining of the light into the heart has this as its effect-it gives the knowledge of the glory of God. This shows us first, as it did Isaiah, that we have come short of it. The light first shows the disorder. Man never gets a true estimate of himself till he is thus seen by the light of the glory of God. Like Job, he now abhors himself. But, blessed be God ! the light that has shined in our hearts has done more than show us our sin. It is the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That glory which we failed to exhibit, which could be found nowhere in all this world until in "God manifest in the flesh"-that glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ. Here He finds one who has manifested Him. It is as risen and ascended that this glory shines in His face. This reminds us of the time when darkness gathered about that face, when the cry was, " Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" And seeing the Lord thus, must remind us that it was for us He was thus forsaken. So too the glory into which He has entered is the witness not merely of the personal acceptance in which He ever was, but the acceptance of the work of redemption which He accomplished, and, as a result, of our acceptance in Him, by virtue of that work. But what thoughts are here ! God's glory, Christ's person and work, and our acceptance linked together! This is the light that has shined in our hearts. It shows us God's glory, but it is for us, nor against us; it shows us Christ's person, and we can say, "This is my Beloved ; " it shows us His work and we can say, " For me ; " it shows us ourselves, yet not ourselves, only as in Christ. And all this in such a way as not to lessen the sense of God's holiness, His righteous demands, nor our helplessness. We have the treasure in earthen vessels. It makes God, not self, the center ; His glory, and not even our salvation, the highest object. This is the light. It has shone in. Now it is to shine out. The same light.
This brings us to the order of shining. First, God hath shined in. We all admit that. But there is to be a constant shining. The light may be obstructed by things of earth. If there is to be an out-shining, there must be the constant in-shining. So the first business of the saint is to keep in communion. It is not our first business to lead others to Christ even, that and all else follows if the light shines unhinderedly in. Martha-service is the result of putting excellent things in the place of the light, and so preventing the shining in. But what care this means ! What jealous guarding of the heart, lest any thing shall come between us and that face. Our "one great business here " is this. All else is the fruit.

When the light thus fills the heart, like Moses, who wist not that his face shone, the saint is unconscious of any special excellence. Indeed, the sense is that the earthen vessel needs to be broken, to be kept out of sight. Like John the Baptist, such an one says, "He must increase, but I must decrease."

This brings us to the means of the out-shining. We have seen the order to be, first, the light shining in, and as a result, the sense that we are but earthen vessels. Now we are to shine in the midst of a dark world by " holding forth the word of life." The word is what brought the light to us ; it is that which will bring it to others. The word as known and operating in our own hearts and lives will make the light for those who sit in darkness. How simple, then, is the path of usefulness for the Christian- first drinking in the light for his own soul, he reflects that light by means of the word-both by lip and life.

May we all thus have our lives truly useful by ever walking in the light.