_DAYBREAK IN THE SOUL_
ISAIAH ix. 1-7.
It is a lonely and a chilling experience to sit in the darkness. And the
gloom and the cold are all the more intense when there is death in the
house. In such conditions we are in great need of light and fire.
And that is how the children of men were feeling before the Saviour came.
They "_sat in darkness_" and in "_the shadow of death_." The world was
cold, and sin and death were in it, and they longed for light and cheer.
And "the great Light came," and His wonderful Presence not only illumines
the house but banishes the fear of sin and death. "_They that dwelt in the
land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined._"
Where can we get this living light except in the Lord Jesus Christ?
Everything else is candle-light! It fails us in the midnight. It flickers
amid conflicting currents. It goes out in the rough blast. The light of
art and of literature fails me when I need them most. When I sit in the
darkness, with death in the house, these kindly ministers have no
effective beams. I turn to the Master, and He shines upon me, and it is
daybreak in the soul!