ISA. lx.
1.
“Arise, shine.”
THE Prophet is here setting forth God’s act of new-creation, of which
the first act of the old creation was a type and shadow. For as we read
in Genesis, that, when He would make the world, the first thing He did
was to say, " Let there be light, and there was light:” (Gen. i. 3.) so
here we read in Isaiah that, when He would new-create the world, bringing
back the order and beauty and innocency which had been at first, it was
as if He had said, “Arise, shine.”
For God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” (1John i. 5.) The
Presence of God is Light, His absence is darkness. No wonder that when
He shewed Himself present in that new and wonderful way, in the flesh and
soul of that little Babe, Who, as on this day, was born of the Virgin Mary
and laid in the manger of Bethlehem as it had been a cradle—no wonder that
Christ’s Birth should be compared to a light shining, as it is in various
places of the service appointed by the Church for this day. E.g. in the
19th. Psalm, He is likened to the sun, which cometh forth as a Bridegroom
out of His chamber: from the undefiled chamber of the Blessed Virgin’s
womb, wherein had been solemnized the marvellous union or marriage of God’s
Nature with man’s in His Divine Person. And in the first lesson for the
morning: " The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light:
they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the
light shined.” (Isa. ix. 2.) In the second lesson: the Glory, i.e. the
glorious Light, of the Lord, shone round about the shepherds. In the Epistle,
Christ is “the Brightness of the Father’s glory.” In the Gospel, “The Life
that was in Christ was the Light of men;” it “shineth in darkness and the
darkness comprehended it not: . . . that was the True Light which lighteth
every man which cometh into the world . . . and we beheld His glory, the
glory, as of the Only-Begotten of the Father Of the evening Psalms, the
eighty ninth says, Blessed is the people that can rejoice in Thee,” (Ps.
lxxxix. 16.) or as in the Bible version “that know the joyful sound” of
Christmas; “they shall walk, 0 Lord, in the light of Thy countenance.”
And again “His seat is like as the sun before Me.” (Ps. lxxxix. 35.) And
in the hundred and thirty second Psalm I have ordained a Lamp for Mine
Anointed.” (Ps. cxxxii. 18.) Thus we see how the notion of our Lord being
the true Light, and His Birth, the Light dawning on earth, appears and
reappears in the services for Christmas Day: and we know accordingly, when
we look at a Christmas picture, how full it is of light: how the little
Babe lying in the manger casts a glory all around Him, a Glory of His own;
He Himself is the Fountain of it, and the Blessed Virgin Mary and S. Joseph
and the other forms which are seen around Him, are seen only by that Light;
without it, there would be nothing to see in them.
But it is the nature of light to communicate itself, and make other
things shine. Things which it falls upon, are apt, as you know, either
to reflect it and give it back, as a fair looking-glass, or a sheet of
snow, gives back the light of the sun shining on it; or else they are transparent
and it passes quite through them, as through a drop of water or pane of
glass in a window. So Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, has vouchsafed to communicate
His Light. He arose and shone, that His Church might arise and shine: and
not only His whole Church, but also each individual Christian. To the whole
Church and to each one of us severally, it was in effect proclaimed from
heaven on the first Birthday of our Lord, and it is proclaimed anew every
Christmas Eve, “Arise, shine.” Let us see, how the words are spoken, and
what Christmas thoughts we may, by God’s blessing, draw out of them to
do us good.
The prophet Isaiah in the text is no doubt addressing the Church, the
Bride of Christ, bidding her arise and shine; as she did first at Jerusalem,
when the Holy Spirit descended upon her, kindling her all-over with the
glory of Jesus Christ; as He saith Himself, “The glory which Thou gayest
Me I have given them.” (S. John xvii. 22.) But we may also regard the words
as spoken to each particular soul, as relating to that moment when we are
made members of Christ, for then our “light doth indeed come, and the glory
of the Lord ariseth upon” us: then it is said unto us, “Arise out of the
water, in which you have been spiritually buried with Jesus Christ, and
shine henceforth with the light of that glory and innocency, which the
gracious Spirit has now given you, by making you partaker of Christ. Arise
and shine: shine on, through all the years which shall come after, during
which your soul shall be kept apart from the body: and when the last of
those years shall come, and the sun himself shall no more shine with this
outward and visible light, yet to thee, saith the Lord, ‘Shine on: arise
from the dead, and shine on through all eternity.’” For this cause Baptism
was of old time called “Illumination,” and is so called in the Epistle
to the Hebrews . (Heb. vi. 4.)
How did we arise in Baptism? We were, by our natural condition, dead
in sin. We “were brought very low,” lying buried in the mire and dirt of
our own bad passions and habits. Of ourselves we could not arise; we were
utterly helpless; as it is written, “ Without Me ye can do nothing.” (S.
John xv. 5.) We were prostrate in a very low pit, “in a place of darkness
and in the deep.” Then as he who would help another, lending him a hand,
out of the dungeon, must needs stoop into it himself not minding the misery
and noisome air of the place; so did the Most Holy and Merciful One stoop
into our foul and dark prison, and effectually help us out, bearing, Himself,
all the shame and misery of it; and at length arising out of it, took us
up with Him or after Him into the free, bright and fragrant air of His
pure heavenly kingdom. We are risen with Christ;" Col. iii. 1.) the
Truth has made us free; the yoke and burthen of our sins is broken from
our off our neck; we have power and liberty, if we will, to lift up our
heads and look after the things which are above: and not only to look after
them, but to follow after them; to ascend after Him, with Whom we are risen;
in heart and mind to ascend high above this world, and dwell with Him continually.
Thus, in Holy Baptism to every one of us, was the word graciously spoken,
“Arise.” So also was the other word, “Shine.” In our first unregenerate
condition we were in darkness, not at all seeing our way to heaven; very
dimly and imperfectly seeing the difference between good and evil; “putting
bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” But being made partakers of Jesus
Christ, the true Light, we are permitted not only to see our way, but to
drink-in the light ourselves, and fill and drench ourselves with it, as
the moon is filled with the sun’s light, and to show it to others. We are
like so many little candles lighted (if such a thing were possible) at
the sun itself. And because we are both to arise and to shine, therefore
it is said unto us, " Let your light shine before men.” (S. Matt. v. 16.)
Having been raised up, we are in men’s sight: and being caused to shine,
we are sure to be seen by them. It is not that we should seek to be praised
by them, God forbid! but we are, without thinking of their judgement, to
lead such lives, as may best encourage and help them to glorify God.
Since then we are, one and all, in the number of those to whom God has
said, “Arise, shine, for thy light is come;” let us take care that we do
shine; that we keep our souls, like a clear mirror, free from the mists
and stains of earth, which would otherwise dim the glorious image of the
Son of God, offering Himself to be reflected in them continually. When
Angels look down on the regenerate soul, they expect to see it all bright
and shining with a purity, something like their own; disregarding what
might kindle evil desire, and turning themselves, night and day, towards
God, with reverential love. They expect to see it also shining with cheerfulness;
enlightened evermore with a holy and religious joy; a joy in God, like
that of the Blessed Virgin Mother, when she knelt beside the manger, earnestly
beholding and adoring her new-born Babe. Also we may well believe that
the holy Angels, who waited near Bethlehem on the first Christmas Day,
and were so ready and eager with their songs of praise, and in instructing
the shepherds where they might find the Babe: we may well believe that
those Angels expect to find in us, the new-born of Christ, a certain obedient
and dutiful alacrity, a quick and bright way of going on from one thing
to another, earnestly seeking out and fulfilling all His Will. And this
may be part of the meaning of the Holy Spirit, when He says to each of
us by the Prophet, “Arise, shine:” as who should ask, “Are you not a Christian?
be not then slothful and languid: arouse yourself: be up and doing in your
Lord’s service: and when you have done a little, some one or two things,
do not stand gazing on it, but go on to the next thing; stir thyself up
continually, by devout and thankful meditation, to do more and more for
Christ; this is the way to arise and shine in good earnest.” Do your
work swiftly and clearly, but as silently as possible: after the manner
of rays of light, which come from the sun in silence, with inconceivable
speed, straight to the point where God intends them to fall. Such should
our work be; no noise, no disturbance, no loitering about other and meaner
things.
In this other respect too, the Christian should resemble the morning
light, that he should arise and shine more and more. “The path of the just,”
says the wise man, “is as the shining light, that shineth more and more
unto the perfect day.” (Prov. iv. 18.) The child’s goodness is as
it were a little spark lighted in Baptism: holy and clear, but faint by
reason of its smallness. As the child grows, into a man, God expects his
goodness also to grow, and throw its beams wider and wider. Only it must
be always remembered, that both for the first gift of grace, and for its
growth afterwards, we are wholly and only God’s debtors; our light is altogether
borrowed and reflected from His. As the Apostle asks, “Who made thee to
differ from another? or what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now
if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received
it?” (1 Cor. iv. 7.) Our goodness is all borrowed, all Christ’s; none of
it is properly our own; and for this very cause it may and ought to go
on perpetually increasing; as there is no end to the water which may be
drawn out of a deep unfathomable well. “This also” saith S. Paul again,
“I wish, even your perfection.” (2 Cor. xiii. 9.) i. e., he would have
us go on to our lives’ end, learning and practising more and more goodness
from Him Whose life was to be our example, as His Death was our atoning
Sacrifice. Do you not see, when children are learning to write, how they
are used to set their minds and eyes on their copy, and form something
as near like it as they can? We expect and hope to see them from time to
time coming nearer to that copy. But neither they nor we expect, that they
should ever (in their time of learning) quite come up to it. So and much
more in following Christ’s blessed example. A wise man will not labour
at it the less, for knowing that it is far beyond him; that he never can
hope to come up to it. That does not signify, either to his duty or to
his reward; but it does signify very much that he should go through life
improving; that so far from dying down and losing his baptismal brightness,
which is the case, alas! too commonly, he should wax brighter and brighter
as the years of his trial go on; purer, more joyful, more silently active
in well-doing, at his Confirmation, than in times nearer his Baptism; shining
again in all these respects with added light after his first Communion,
and so on from each Communion afterwards. For such are “they that dwell
in God’s House,” under His blessing, they will “go on from strength
to strength”. (Ps. lxxxiv. 7.)
Now, how is this to be? How are we to grow brighter and brighter, except
by constantly renewing our approaches to the first fountain of our original
brightness ; that is, to Jesus Christ? Even as those who would keep up
and increase a fire, still keep on throwing on more and more of the same
kind of fuel, or as good, as that with which it was at first made up. Now,
since our Lord is departed far away, and we cannot be baptized again, so
as to renew and increase our communion with Him in that way, we might be
at a loss what to do, in order thus to make our lamps burn brighter, had
He not graciously ordained another Sacrament, for a special help to us
in this very respect. He hath left us the Holy offering and feast of His
own Body and Blood, which shall ever be, to those who receive it worthily,
as a pure and living light, entering into them; and causing them to shine
all over with a growing and increasing brightness, seen of Angels, but
not always seen of themselves; because it is a hidden work, the work of
the Holy Ghost, as we read, They are changed into the same Image from glory
to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Cor. iii. 18.) For in
the Sacrament, as in Him Who gave it, is Life, “and the Life is the Light
of men.”
Whoever then would arise and shine, as all Christians are commanded
to do, his way is plain. He must become a worthy communicant. And if he
be one already, then in order to arise higher and shine more brightly,
he must become a worthier one. There is no way of perfection, that I know
of, without worthy Communion; and worthy Communion duly practised, is sufficient.
“O taste and see,” (Ps. xxxiv. 8.) all you who have hitherto drawn back;
and “taste and see” again, all you who have come already. Only take care
that you come prepared: that you come reverently, in fear and trembling,
in self-abasement and contrition of heart. The shepherds, had they not
gone to Bethlehem on the bidding of the Angel, would have missed seeing
what came to pass to-day. Had they gone irreverently, it had done them
more harm than good. So if you would see your new-born Saviour, you must
come to His Altar, for that is the true Bethlehem; but you must come worthily,
else your light will be turned into darkness.
