The Savannah morning news., 1900-08-27
THE WORLDS TRUE LIGHT.
REV. $. w. ROGERS SERMON AT
SEVENTH STREET CHURCH.

Every Man That Cometh into the
World" the Preachers Text-The
Meaning of the Apostle John Ex-
planned.
Rev. S. w. Rogers of Columbus preach
ed at the Seventh rect Methodist
church last night before a large congre-
cation. DR.. Rogers is a preacher of abb
itv and his sermon held the closest in
terest of his congregation. His subject
was The True Light" from the text,
THAT was the true Light which lghteth
avery man that cometh into the world"
What does the apostle mean?' asked
DIR. Rogers. lis he INDUCING in wild hy-
perboie, or is Re speaking the words of
truth and soberness? At the writing of
the text st. John, though poet of the
first water, had passed the heyday of
youth, when hyperbole is the favorite
figure. and was in extreme old age. His
eospel was written A D. 81, even after
Revelation, which succeeded all his other
books. The figure in the text may be
metaphor. but certainly not hyperbole.
Let us trace the meaning Of his meta
phor.
THE Gospel according to s.. John
commences with a spiritual para
nhrase on the first chapter of
Genesis Let us compare the two para
graphs Moses says, In the beginning
God created the heaven ana the earth.
John says, In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God. and
the Word was Cod The same was in
the beginning with God
Moses says And the earth was
waste and a desolation; and darkness was
upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit
of God moved upon the face of the
waters. And God said. Let there be light
and there was light And God saw the
light, that it was good Note this:
that it was good And God divided the
light from the darkness A scientific re-
mark just here. The sun was the source
of that light just mentioned and was ere
ated on the first day, but was appointed
for signs and seasons on the fourth day.
Bear this statement in mind when con-
sidering our proposition concerning the
sun. Now, let us see how John gives q
spiritual Specification to the foregoing
words in Genesis. He says All things
were made by him; and without him was
not anything made that was made. In
him was life; and the life was the light
of men. And the light shineth in dark
ness; and the darkness comprehended it
not
Il will now read the sixth, seventh and
eighth verses, closing with the ninth
verse. from which my text is taken.
There was man sent from God whose
name was John. The same came for a
witness. to bear witness of the light
that ali men through him might believe
He was noe that light, but was sent to
bear witness of that light. That was the
true light, which nteth every man that
cometh into the world Having exam
ined Johns spiritualized version and par
aphrase of the creation. we are now
ready fer our first proposition. As
the sun lighteth every material
substance in the world, SO Christ. the
Sun of righteousness, lighteth every man
that cometh into the world
From the sun we receive light, heat,
life, and from its actinic rays, chemical
force. The sun on the surface of the
earth has imprisoned It's light in every OBJ
ject, insects are imprisoned in amber,
and under its magic stroke each object be-
comes "a thing of beauty and joy for
ever II is the great source of getable
and animal life. From its iridescent
paint-box of violet, indigo blue, green,
yellow, orange, and red, a world formless
and void has blushed into the roseate
hues of Eden. Ii paints the flowers land
scapes, and fruits 1t colors the ceiling
of the armament with ceruean blue and
carpets the earth with living beryl. 1t
literally gives us bread from heaven; for
the food which we eat is only transmitted
sunshine. The ruddy cheeks of adolescent
beauty are but sun spots-eXcept when ar
tifcial
Men and women are but animated sun
beams Let us hope that this literal
statement may be true in a hguratiVe
sense of all around us-that they may be
sunbeams of love, scattering their rays of
kindness and cheerfulness on all whom
they meet But the sun is also beneath
the surface of the earth. The philosopher
who puts more coal on his empty CRATE,
knows that those Jumps of coal are but
blocks OF sunlight Fire light, candle
light gas light, and electric lights are only
borrowed solar rays. Prometheus-like we
have stolen fire from heaven and witp
that celestial fire have lighted our house
hold affairs and marts of commerce.
The sun is the source of the
earth's internal heat. In the dim
cycles of the past. caught by some
nebular tempest from the parent iumlha-
~. those solar flames which erstwhile en-
veloped a word, were whirled into their
Plutonic abodes and now light their Ia
pers on volcanic peaks, and impress their
warm kisses on scoriae and lava.
"All the forces of nature come from
the sun. BY the conservation of energy,
heat and electricity may be changed into
light, and that light comes from the sun.
cyclone is light changed into solar IRE
and that fire in it's turn transformed into
motion. Thus the sun originates evil as
we'll as good; but the contradistincton 10
its light, let US place Christ, the true
Light Everything good in The word
comes from Christ; everything evil from
the non-Christ. Do not misunderstood
this statement; for what feeble human in
tellect sometimes calls good is not really
good According to etymology, god and
good were originally the same word.
Under the hand of Providence, what we
consider evil may be turned into good
and all things work together for good 10
them that love Cod
That was the true Light, which light
eth every man that cometh into the
world"
What does the text imply? II implies
the following corollary to our first PROPOSE
ton:
God has made provision for the saliva
ton of every man, woman and child in
the world.
1T is not necessary to enter into an
elaborate discussion OF this theorem. but
merely to hinge the assertion on few