“I wonder if we have ever stopped to think how very much we Christian people are, or ought to be, like the moon.  Just as the sun warms and lights everything about it, so the love of God lights and warms those who turn their faces toward him.  We can truly say with the Psalmist, that ‘the Lord is my light and salvation,’ but we have not fulfilled our mission on earth if we are willing merely to receive this light of happiness, of contentment, of trust and of faith, without reflecting it in every possible practical way.  When Jesus said to those about him, ‘Ye are the light of the world,’ he also said, ’Let your light shine,’ and He pictured to His followers their duty of spreading the light of their blessings to the world of darkness about them.  Paul touched upon the same great truth when he wrote to the church at Rome that its members should be ‘a light to them which are in darkness.’

“How may we best reflect this light of heaven?  It is for each of us to determine this for himself, being governed entirely by his circumstances, his abilities and his opportunities.  But, first of all, we must be sure we have received that light as God would have us receive it.  None of us can be perfect, but we can live close to our great ideal and by learning constantly from Him, we shall find the light coming to us more clearly and more beautifully as the days go by.  We shall find a deeper sympathy for those who suffer, warmer love for those whom we may have condemned, and an increasing desire to be of greater help to those who really need help.  When we have reached this condition—­when we have truly received the light—­we need give little thought to the manner in which we shall reflect it.

“Abraham Lincoln once said, ’I do the best I know, the very best I can, and I mean to keep right on doing so till the end.’  Such a life sends its rays down through the generations that are to follow, and its reflected light never fades away.”

HIDDEN SUNSHINE
    —­Missionary Day
    —­Love

How the Warmth and Brightness Stored Away Ages Ago Are Now of
Service to Man.

THE LESSON—­That the true missionary spirit is the spreading abroad of the warmth of God’s blessings which we have received.

The principles governing missions are permeated with the elements of love, unselfishness and self-sacrifice.  This talk may be used, therefore, as a missionary day topic or on any occasion in which it is appropriate to dwell upon any of its attributes.

The Talk.

“Once upon a time, long before there were any people on the earth and perhaps before there were any animals or birds or reptiles here, the world was covered with an immense, luxuriant growth of vegetation.  How do we know it?  The geologists tell us so.  They have dug deep into the earth and they have examined what they found, and they have long ago determined that this condition is true.  It would seem that in those ages of long ago the world must have been