“A candlestick all of gold.”
You have seen candlesticks of tin, of brass, of copper, but have you ever seen a golden candlestick? Gold is so bright, so strong, so heavy; it lasts so long, and is so easily cleaned it is so valuable and looks so fascinating, that, if you had a real candlestick all of gold, for your very own, you would be very proud of it. I can see only one drawback to your having it, and that is, that, before very long, you would think your candlestick was very lonely, and you would wish for another one like it so that you might have a pair, and you would be unhappy till you got it.
The other evening I was coming back from a walk over the Moors, and I was taken up with noticing the big battalions of blue-black clouds with which the sky in front of me was filled, so that it never occurred to me to look behind. But, when I reached the top of a hill, I paused for a moment to take breath, and then I did turn round, and I saw a great “candlestick all of gold,” with a stream of golden light pouring out from it and holding in check the angry masses of dark clouds which were doing their best to extinguish it. It was a splendid battle between darkness and light. But I did not stop to see the end. I knew very well that the river of gold would die down to a thread, and that the black battalions would cover all the sky.
Gold has drawn men to Africa, to Australia, to California, and many other places to hunt for it. In the countries where it exists, it is sometimes washed down by the little streams, and then men peg down sheepskins or ox-hides, so that the water runs over them and deposits the tiny fragments and films of gold upon the hair. Or else they dig for nuggets of gold with pick and shovel. Or they crush the lumps of quartz rock in great machines, and extract the gold with chemicals.
Some years ago, two miners set out from Cornwall for the gold mines in Australia, and worked together for years, but hardly found enough gold for a bare living. Then they moved to another mine, where they found a few small nuggets, but afterwards nothing. They were getting very discouraged, because they had to borrow money for their food, and people were hardening against them, and refused to help them. One day the man at the stores said they could have no more food there, till they had paid their bills. So they had to go off to work without any breakfast. Hungry and gloomy, they shouldered their tools, and resolved to have one more try. They arrived at the diggings and began. As they were breaking up the earth around a tree, one of their picks struck something hard, and bounded back. The miner called out, “Look here, see what this is!”
It was gold, a nugget of gold, a foot long and a foot broad, the largest that ever was seen, and so heavy that they could hardly lift it together. They took it on a wagon into the town, followed by an admiring crowd. There they sold it to the bank for thousands of pounds, and then, what do you think they did? They went away, and had some breakfast.
So you see that it is not always a bad thing to go to work before breakfast. And, however discouraged you may be, that it is not wise to give up till you are obliged.
“A candlestick all of gold.” This one that I am thinking of was seen by a man in a dream. It had a bowl upon the top of it, and seven lamps were resting on the seven arms of it, and there were seven pipes leading from the bowl to the lamps, and two olive trees were growing beside the candlesticks, one on the right side and the other on the left.
And in his dream the man saw the oil of the olive trees flowing from the branches like a stream of gold into the golden bowl, and thence through the golden pipes, to the golden lamps, on the golden arms, and the lamps when lit shone with a golden light. So it was all of gold, and the dream means that, if we try to do the will of God, we may make our life pure and shining and beautiful throughout, and throw a light like golden sunshine into dark places.
“God, make my life a little light
Within the world to glow,
A little flame that burneth bright,
Wherever I may go.”
I have a golden candlestick at home. It is a book bound in leather, with big brass clasps to it, and on it the letters I. H. S. It was given me by my father when I left College, and I often read it. It shines with a light all golden. Can you guess what it is? The Bible is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path. And the letters I. H. S. mean “Jesus, the Saviour of Men.” He is the Light of the world. If we follow Him, we shall not walk in the darkness, but shall find our way to that beautiful City whose streets are paved with pure gold.