August 26

They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the fimiament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. — Dan. xii. 3.

The most radiant thing on earth is the character of a rood
August 26.

man. The world calls men of genius and intellectual force its

lights. The Divine estimate, which is the true one, confers the name on

righteousness. This Divine purpose concerning us may be realised by us,

the Alpha and the Omega of which, the one means which includes all

other, is laid down by Jesus Christ Himself when He said, “Abide in Me,

and I in you, so shall ye bring forth much fruit.” Our path will brighten,

not because of any radiance in ourselves, but in proportion as we draw

nearer and nearer to the fountain of heavenly radiance. The planets that

move round the sun, further away than we are on the earth, get less of its

light and heat; and those that circle around it within the limits of our

orbit, get proportionately more. The nearer we are to Him, the more

shall we shine. The sun shines by its own light, drawn indeed from the

shrinkage of its mass, so that it gives away its very life in warming and

illuminating its subject-worlds. But we shine only by reflected light, and

therefore the nearer we keep to Him the more shall we be radiant.

That keeping in touch with Jesus Christ is mainly to be secured by the

direction of thought and love and trust to Him. If we follow close upon

Him, we shall not walk in darkness. It is to be secured and maintained

very largely by what I am afraid is much neglected by Christian people of

all sorts nowadays, and that is the devotional use of the:/ Bibles. That is

the food by which we grow. It is to be secured and maintained still more

largely by that which I, again, am afraid is but very imperfectly attained

to by Christian people now, and that is, the habit of prayer. It is to be

secured and maintained, again, by the honest conforming of our lives, day

by day, to the present amount of our knowledge of Him and of His will.

Whosoever will make all his life the manifestation of his belief, and turn all

his creed into principles of action, will grow both in the comprehensiveness

and in the depths of his Christian character. “Ye are light in the Lord.”

Keep in Him, and you will become brighter and brighter. So shall we

“go from strength to strength, till we appear before God in Zion.”