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An intelligent and skillful physician, vigorous, athletic, and courageous, used to pursue his professional duties by day or night without anxiety or apprehension. Often he was desired to use a lantern in his nightly journeyings, but he laughed at the idea of danger, and went his way. One night, walking in some slippery path, he fell; an injury resulted, followed by long months of weariness and pain, and finally ending in his death. It was a sad fall, and all for want of a lamp. Bitterly did he regret his self-confidence when it was too late to remedy the mischief which it had occasioned.

There are multitudes to-day who are wandering in darkness and walking in unknown ways. They are full of strength, and hope, and courage; they do not think that they are in danger; though caution is commendable in others. This world is full of darkness; clouds and shadows curtain it on every hand; the glooms of the present, the uncertainties of the future, and the shadowy mysteries of the great Beyond, teach us with emphasis that we have need of light, and light which men can never give us. We may draw wisdom from the experience of the past, but what we need is a knowledge of the future. This knowledge is not attainable through any human intelligence; it must come from Him who dwelleth in light, who is himself the light and life of men, and who sends out his light and his truth to lead and guide the sons of Adam. Of old it was written, “The commandment is a lamp, and the law is a light.” The work of the servants of God has been to turn the Gentiles “from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” It is “the light of the glorious gospel of Christ” which illuminates the darkness of this world; and those who embrace that gospel become the “children of the light,” and are “not of the night nor of darkness.” Christ was “the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world;” and “this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Being thus illuminated, and made “light in the Lord,” we are to “walk as children of the light;” and walking in the light as Christ is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.

Whatever course we may take in this life, whatever occupation we may follow, whatever profession we may choose, this divine light is needful to us all. We need God’s word, as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, to show us how to walk. We need it in the daily affairs of life; we need it in the field, in the workshop, and in the marts of business. We need the heavenly light to guide us in childhood, in youth, in manhood, in old age. We need it whether in poverty or in riches, in prosperity or adversity. We need it to show us what we ought to do to-day, and to guide us in our hopes and expectations of the morrow.

Of old it was written, “the entrance of thy word giveth light.” If we follow its guidance we shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Infidelity may threaten to break our lantern and to extinguish our light, but this is not what we want. It is not enough to extinguish the light we have; we need something better. Let the skeptic then tell us what is our duty here; let him unfold to us our destiny hereafter. Let him unravel the mysteries of human existence. Let him give us present peace and an assurance of future blessing, and we will give attention to his words. But we wish no one to extinguish the light we have, and leave us in the darkness of a midnight without sun or star, to be bewildered by the phantom lights of a false philosophy, and beguiled into the quagmires of doubt and unbelief.

As we trace the history of ages past, we find that the destiny of individuals and of nations has been foreknown and foretold. We find that men of God have looked out upon the great empires and cities of antiquity and foreseen their overthrow and announced their doom. Following in the track of history, we find these predictions have been fulfilled and are fulfilling to-day. Babylon is in heaps; Tyre is a place where fishermen spread their nets; Egypt is the basest of kingdoms; Nineveh is empty, void and waste; Jerusalem is trodden under-foot of the Gentiles; Capernaum is cast down to the depths of oblivion; Israel have been led away captive into all nations, and are scattered through every land; and abundant evidences before our eyes show beyond the possibility of doubt or question, that an Omniscient One has read the future, and that His Spirit has inspired the holy men of old who spake as they were moved of the Holy Ghost, and revealed to mankind in advance the great events of human history.

We each need such a revelation as that; one which will tell us our present duties and our future prospects; one which will show us what is the will of God in this life, and what we may expect at His hand hereafter.

And such a revelation is given us, to inspire our hearts with hope, and to guide our feet in paths of safety. We have, in the written word of God, promises to cheer us, counsels to direct us, reproofs to admonish us; and a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto we do well that we take heed, as “unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day-dawn, and the day-star arise.”

It is this Lamp to the Path which a friendly hand extends to the wanderers and toilers in a benighted and sinful world; in the hope that many may turn their feet into God’s testimonies, and their faces towards that city where the Lamb is the light, and where gloom and darkness are unknown; and prove in their own glad experience the truth of the word of Him who said, “He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

H. L. H.

Boston, July, 1884.

A LAMP TO THE PATH.