Varieties of Light

VARIETIES OF LIGHT. BY DR. J. X. ALLEN. "This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made.'' (Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 88: 7.) Light is that form of radiant energy which enables us to distinguish physical objects. Light is that condition of mental excitation which reveals to our consciousness truths heretofore but dimly conceived, if conceived at all. **He is in the sun, and the light of the sun.'' Therefore, what good we derive from the sun, it is God's free gift unto us. The sun is God's agent in the great economy of nature. The sun holds the earth in her orbit, and prevents her from flying off into unfathomable space. The light of the sun not only illuminates the surface of the earth, but its kinetic rays constantly warm the earth, which makes it a pleasurable habitation for man. And so abundant is the illuminating and warming supply given off by the sun, that astronomers have calculated that there is constantly emitted from the orb of day sufficient light and heat to accommodate two billions of worlds the size of mother earth. The sun is God's agent; therefore, all the good that comes to us from it is God's free gift—through his agent, just as we were baptized into Christ's Church, through his agent. Just as we have our partners sealed unto us for time and eternity, through his duly appointed agent. "And he will raise us up at the last day," through his agents. THE POWER OF LIGHT. The light of the sun is life. Without this light there would

600 IMPROVEMENT ERA. be neither animal nor vegetable life on the face of the earth. The light of the sun gives and supports life. While the luminous rays render objects visible, they are devoid of heat; but the red and darker rays supply that requisite condition. The kinetic rays decompose carbonic acid and water in the leaves of plants, and appropriate the carbon to build up the wood fibre, lifting the plants up from the earth and sustaining them against the enormous down-pressure of gravitation, which is about fifteen pounds to the square inch. Chlorophyll: this is the green coloring matter of vegetation, which, we suppose, is manufactured by the kinetic rays of the sun —as plants do not take on this color unless they be exposed to the sunlight. And being already grown, when deprived of the sun's rays, they soon lose their coloring. Did you ever contemplate what vast energy the sunlight exercises on a vast forest, thousands of acres in extent, every square yard of which sustains a downpressure of more than twelve hundred pounds? The earth does not lift up and sustain the spreading branches against the great force of gravitation. It is the light of the sun which sustains them as it does you and me—God's sun and his eternal agent. Did you ever contemplate the flow of water in a mighty river, and realize that every drop of that vast, living stream had been raised by the sun's rays into the upper air and transported to the mountains, from the torrid zone, for your benefit and for mine? Did you ever think of the vast glaciers of Alaska, and, thinking, realize that every pound of that almost unweighable and unmeasurable body of ice had been transported from the torrid to the frigid zone by the sunlight—God's untiring agent? THE SUN AS AN ARTIST. Sunlight paints the rainbow on the sky, and it decorates most gloriously the lilies of the field. It embellishes the plumage of the feathered tribes of the forests, as well as the enchanting landscapes of both mountain and dell. The sun paints for us the enrapturing glories of the rosyfingered morn, and portrays on God's canvas—the firmament— the majesty of the god of day. Its work is the despair of the

VARIETIES OF LIGHT. 601 artist, and the joy of the million. Oh, glorious sun! Well may the prophet have described the heavenly messenger as being "clothed in light." THE LIGHT OF DISCOVERY. When the great Pythagoras discovered the 47th problem of Euclid, he was so overjoyed that he offered ud many oxen in sacrifice to the gods. Tradition has it that he was overjoyed to that extent that he ran wildly through the streets crying, eureka! eureka! *'I have found it!" Who can describe the exaltation of soul experienced by Galileo, when, after having completed his wonderful telescope, he pointed it to the greatest of all planets—Jupiter, and there discovered the satelites of Jove circulating round their primary! With his great discovery he had verified Copernicus, justified his disciples, and confounded the fanatics. No wonder that he could not hold his peace, though his very life should pay the penalty. Talk! Why of course he talked. He could not help talking! *lf these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.'' He beheld a miniature solar system, a revelation so grand, so soul-inspiring as to lift his joyous spirit above the earth into the realms of the infinite. He was filled with amazement, and his buoyant spirit knew no earthly bounds. He had to talk and explain to every one with whom he came in contact. Many enlightened people readily believed in and accepted his God-given revelation, and rejoiced with him, while the fanatics spurned his new discovery. When he invited them to come and see for themselves, they spurned his message. They shunned his telescope as they would the plague. "No; I will not look through your devilish instrument of magic, your soul-destroying tool of the Evil One." They were afraid to look, lest they should be convinced. Just as thousands refuse to investigate the revelation of the prophet of the last days for fear of being converted. "They love darkness rather than light." THE LIGHT OF EDUCATION. It lifts its votaries out of savagery into civilization. In the savage tribe everybody does everything that anybody else does, and nobody does anything in advance of his neighbor. With the edu-

602 IMPROVEMENT ERA. cated community, every man is expected to know a little of everything and everything about something. The educated man specializes. Each man perfect in his line, and the community, segregated, attains to greatest advancement. But why dwell upon this theme? This truth is so sufficiently self-evident that the illustration becomes superfluous. THE LIGHT OF RELIGION. It may be, and no doubt is, called in question by many ungrateful persons, but not by many of the class of young men by whom this article is likely to be read. "And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you, and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things." (Doctrine and Covenants, 88: 67.) What glorious promise the Father makes to those who love him! "Your whole bodies shall be filled with light." We are responsible unto God for the light that shines upon us, which light should shine in us, and radiate from us. "No man lighteth a candle and putteth it under a bushel. That others seeing your good works may glorify your Father which is in heaven.'' Our every day life is a testimony either for God, or else it is a reflection on his parental care. How about attending baseball games on the Sabbath day? How about Sabbath day excursions? How about attending theaters on a Sunday evening? Where is our light on these occasions? Is it giving light to "all around?" or is it under the bushel? Who among our acquaintance will glorify our Father the more for witnessing our desecration of the Sabbath day? Boys, do not put your light under a bushel. It does not pay. ' 'The wages of sin is death." May the light of the Spirit be and abide in you always. How about those who turn their backs upon the Church? Those who say that they have found a greater light, to whom the presidency and apostles are under a cloud of darkness? My answer is: They have closed their eyes and hearts against the light which God, in his loving kindness, has shed abroad in our hearts. They are following a false light, a.n ignis fatuus, that leadeth to disappointment and sorrow. May the Father of our Lord bless and preserve the young men of Israel. Ogden, Utah.