Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/174



" Arise,  be  enlightened,  O  Jerusalem;  for  thy  light  is  come,  and  the glory  of  the  Lord  is  risen  upon  thee;  for  the  Lord  shall  arise  upon thee." (Is. lx.  1.)

I. Imagine  yourself  to  be  that  blind  man  who,  as  is recorded  in  the  Gospel  of  to-day,  sat  by  the  road  begging. (Luke xviii.  35.)  You  are  spiritually  blind  in  many  things, since you  are  not  able  to  distinguish  between  good  and evil, right  and  wrong,  real  and  apparent  good. You are also unable  to  discover  your  own  defects  in  such  a  manner that  you  may  justly  say  with  royal  David,  "  My  iniquities have  overtaken  me,  and  I  was  not  able  to  see." {Ps. xxxix. 13.)

II. What a  cheerless  and  disconsolate  life  it  is  to  be  in continual  darkness,  without  corporeal  light! How much more so  is  it  to  dwell  in  spiritual  darkness  and  mental blindness! "What manner  of  joy  shall  be  to  me," says the  blind  Tobias,  "  who  sit  in  darkness  and  see  not the  light  of  heaven?" (Tobias v.  12.)  Reflect  upon  yourself, and  examine  if  you  see  the  clear  light  of  heaven,  or whether  you  are  not  satisfied  to  see  the  dim,  and  false, and fading  light  of  the  earth  and  earthly  things. Consider how dangerous  it  is  to  be  in  darkness;  for  he  that " walketh  in  darkness  knoweth  not  whither  he  goeth" (John xii.  35),  and  is  exposed  to  a  thousand  unknown dangers and  falls. Learn, hence,  sufficiently  to  esteem  the benefit of  divine  light.

III. Christ our  Lord  is  "the  sun  of- justice"  (Mai.  iv. 2),  and  "the  true  light  which  enlighteneth  every  man that  cometh  into  this  world." (John i.  9.)  Entreat  Him, then, when  He  visits  your  soul  to-day,  to  produce  in  it