The Savannah morning news., 1900-08-27

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lighted the world before His incarnation
and after
How has He lighted the nations?
First, in the universal conception of
light and wrong. All nations have tn S
light. The Eeyl tians, C4n,autes Baby
lonians, Chaldeans as well as the He
brews, had cen es,t on of right and
worng. Abraham voiced this universal
sentiment when he challenged Jehovah
Himself in his query, Shall not the judge
of all the earth do right? 1t Is not our
ace in this sermon to discuss con-
cience; for true consci nee involves the
lea of a Divine reve alton. The light of
which We are sp aklng is common to
Caucasians, M-ngo ians, Malays. Indians
and Negroes. 1t raCiates from the co..
SC ousn SIS of Can when his brother
blood cried TO him in voice!ess agony
fiom the ground. 1t streamed frcm
the soul Of Lady Macbeth
who, walking in her sleep the gloomy
watches of the night, said of her hand
The smell of blood is on It.
and all the perfumes of Araby
will not sweeten this little hand Sec
ond, how his Christ lighted the
nations In their system of sacrifices
A system of blood sacrifices was early
manifested among the nations. The Hit
tites, Invites, Jebusites, and other ma
tons driven from Canaan by the Israelites
all offered their sacrifices with blood,
and so with all the other nations of an
tiquity The Hindoos, North American
Indians, and other peoples widely removed
from each other by climate and location
verify the grand scriptural truth, With
out shedding of blood is no remission.
| There is a growing disposition in the pull
pits of to-day to nlinify the atonement
! and stress only the life of Christ. Prag-
NAUTICAL pulpiteers! These theological
| chameeons, like the Athenians of old, are
! continually waiting for some new leaf or
flower of doctrine to be blown their way.
Let them rave over the aesthetics and
harmonics' discovered in the life of
| Christ, but as for me, give me the blood
l preach the gospel of blood. Eliminate
the blood from the life of Christ and that
life becomes dismal farce, Christianity
degenerating into mere hero-worship.
Let us now consider the true Light I'M
der two phases: Christ as a principle
| and Christ as a personality.
This principle embodied in Christianity
reveals itself in thought word and deed.
DIR Rogers then dealt with these points.
DR. Rogers dealt eloquently with the per-
sonality of Christ and mis- career on earth.
THE body of Christ is in heaven" he
| said but his ommpresent personality
con tinues in spirit to light humanity. See
| Christ lighting the Roman Empire. The
light burned through Judea, Samaria and
| Galilee. Il burned in the Roman prov
inces around Palestine. 1t burned in Rome
| itself until the disciples of the humble
| Galilean could be found in the palaces Of
| the Caesars
1T seized on peasants and princes; the
rich, the poor; the learned, the I'M
learned. 1t burned its way TO different
countries of the Roman Empire. until
Spain, France. Italy, Greece. Asia Minor
and North Africa teemed with Christians.
at burned on until Constantine saw IN
the FURNISHED clouds crimson cross and
surrendered to that God, whose blood-red
letters said BY this sign you conquer
| 1t found it's way to the Anglo-Sa xon
heptarchy of Britain, being introduced
| into the kingdom of Kent. through the in
fiuence of Bertha, Christian lady, who
had married Ethelbert the King. Soon il
had possession of England. being carried
there by missionaries from Rome. 1t
seems strange that any one should oppose
foreign missions, when we recollect that,
| but for the faithful missionaries who
brought the gospel to our ancestors We
ourselves would be to-day in the depth
| of heathenism The true Light soon
| burned into every nation Of Europe; il
blazed in the deserts and on the coasts
| of Africa; it shone on Asia; and when
America was discovered it lighted these
! distant shores. 1t is shining to-day on
almost every nation. The morning light
of the millennium IL breaking when
| China, Japan and the Philippines will hail
| Jesus as the King of Peace, and crown him
| Lord OF all; when Europe, Asia, Africa.
! America, and the isles of the sea will be
| christianized and when every Christian
will let his light shine for Jesus
That was the true Light which
| lighteth every man that comelh into the
world Let the false lights of atheism.
agnosticism. deism. higher criticism, and
every other sort of ism delude their fol-
| lowers: but Christ stands as a Pharos to
| overpower their feeble rays and tighten
a world Christianity is the power OF the
| ages. II is the dynamcs of the universe.
II is dynamite and can overturn the loft
! lest mountains of Sin and ignorance. II
! has planted schools and colleges in the
waste places, and the desert has been
made 10 blossom as the rose.
"Ah! how much the church OF God needs
| that power to-day. We speak OF getting
religion as If we were getting a hat or
shawl. What we want is to get Christ.
| Get Him. Let Him take possession OF
your heart; and then The woes the heart
| sches that secret sorrow which none but
| col has seen, the bitterness and the fret
fnl fever of life. under His benign light
will sparkle like the gems of Golconda.
blessed light! Glorious light Shine on.
shine on until the jails, penitentiaries
moor houses. and houses OF correction will
only be read Of in the histories of the
past; until there will be no lawyers
nor courts. but in place OF litigation the
golde nrule, DO unto others as you
would have them do unto you, until war
shall be teiegnted 10 the barbarian OF the
past. the lion and the lamb shall lie down
together. and little child shall lead
| them.
"shlne on. until we will 70 longer need
foreign missions. for all the foreign mis-
sions will be az home.