in the Light, that you may become
a child of the Light. Take off the extinguisher; cast away your
prejudice; put off those misconceptions; have done with those unworthy
habits; putting them all aside, let Jesus kindle you. "Arise, shine;
for thy light is come." "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the
dead, and Christ shall give thee light."

We were kindled that we might kindle others. I would like, if I might
have my choice, to burn steadily down, with no guttering waste, and as
I do so to communicate God's fire to as many unlit candles as possible;
and to burn on steadily until the socket comes in view, then to light,
in the last flicker, twenty, thirty, or a hundred candles at once; so
that as one expires they may begin burning and spreading light which
shall shine till Jesus comes. Get light from Christ, then share it;
and remember that it is the glory of fire that one little candle may go
on lighting hundreds of candles--one insignificant taper may light all
the lamps of a cathedral church, and yet not be robbed of its own
little glow of flame. Andrew was lit by Christ Himself, and passed on
the flame to Simon Peter, and he to three thousand more on the Day of
Pentecost. Every Christian soul illumined by the grace of God thus
becomes, as John the Baptist was, a lamp. But there is always the same
impassable chasm between these and the Lord. They are derived; He is
original. They need to be sustained and fed; He is the fountain of
Light: because, as the Father hath life in Himself, He hath given to
Him also to have life in Himself, and his life is the light of men.

II. THE INEVITABLE EXPENDITURE.--"He was a burning and shining lamp."
_If you would shine, you must burn_. The ambition to shine is
universal; but all are not prepared to pay the price by which alone
they can acquire the right to give the true light of life. There are
plenty of students who would win all the prizes, and wear all the
honours, apart from days and nights of toil; but they find it a vain
ambition. Before a man can become Senior Wrangler he must have burnt,
not only the midnight oil, but some of the very fibre of his soul.
Conspicuous positions in the literary and scientific world are less the
reward of genius than of laborious, soul-consuming toil. The great
chemist will work sixteen hours out of twenty-four. The illustrious
author acquires, by profound research, the materials which he weaves
into his brilliant page.